rties could do to keep out of the way of the
construction. The roadbed was built 14 ft. wide in embankment and 20 in
the very few cuts there were, there being no cuts of any moment except
through the Coteaus and the Saskatchewan crossing, and these have since
been widened out on account of snow, so that the road can be operated the
year round and the bucking-snow account cut no figure in the operating
expenses.

The country is a virgin desert. From Winnipeg to the Pacific Ocean there
are a few places that might attain to the dignity of an _oasis_--at
Brandon, Portage la Prairie, etc.--but it is generally what I should call
worthless; 100 miles to wood and 100 feet to water was the general
experience west of the Moose jaw, and the months of June, July, and August
are the only three in the year that it is safe to bet you will not have
sleighing. I burned wood and used stakes that were hauled by carts 85
miles, and none any nearer. It is a matter of some pride that both the
engineering and the construction were done by what our Canadian neighbors
kindly termed "Yankee importations." However, there was one thing that in
the building of this road was in marked contrast to any other Pacific road
ever constructed, that is, there was no lawlessness, no whisky, and not
even a knock-down fight that I ever heard of the whole season, and even in
the midst of 12,000 Indians, all armed with Winchester rifles and plenty
of ammunition, not one of the locating or construction parties ever had a
military escort, nor were any depredations ever committed, except the
running off of a few horses, which were usually recovered; and I think
there were but two fatal accidents during the season, one man killed on
the Grand Coule Bridge, and another from being kicked by a horse.

The track was all laid from one end, and in no case were rails hauled
ahead by teams. Two iron cars were used, the empty returning one being
turned up beside the track to let the loaded one by.

The feat in rapid construction accomplished by this company will never be
duplicated, done as it was by a reckless expenditure of money, the orders
to the engineers being to _get there_ regardless of expense and
horse-flesh; if you killed a horse by hard driving, his harness would fit
another, and there was no scrutiny bestowed on vouchers when the work was
done; and I must pay the tribute to the company to say that everything
that money would buy was sent to make the engineers c