Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

260 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. Lord Mountstephen), took over construction from the Canadian Government that the present route vid Calgary was decided on. Fortunately, until 1881 actual construction was confined to the sections north of Lake Superior, from Fort William to Winnipeg, and from Port Moody on the Pacific coast to Kam- loops, so that there was no necessity to scrap any of the work completed, even though a new route over the prairies and the Rockies was ultimately chosen. Work began in the year 1874. In that year there was a fall in the price of steel rails, and 50,000 tons of rails with the neces- sary fastenings were bought c,, , . from English companies, who Start made. 0 r were allowed to import duty free. Later on Krupps of Essen obtained some large orders. It was natural that the first efforts of the Government should be devoted to that por- tion of the line which was sure to pay— namely, the section from Fort The William, at the head of Lake Superior Superior, into Manitoba. In Section. August 1876 the first locomo- tive was landed at Fort William, and by 1881 the line was open for traffic north of Winnipeg as far as Selkirk. This section presented heavy engineering difficulties, espe- cially as the lowest possible gradients had to be secured to make the line pay. Mr. Fleming’s notes provide some interesting comment on this aspect. “ The gradients and alignment of a railway have much to do with its capacity for business and the cost of working it ; by attention to these features it is quite possible in some cases to double the transporting capa- city of a railway, and very largely reduce the cost of carrying freight over it. That portion of the C.P.R. between Red River and the navigable waters of Lake Superior is precisely one of those cases where the utmost attention should be paid to its engineering features.” As a matter of fact, from Fort William to Selkirk the gradients were kept under 1 per cent. Only 60 miles out of 410 were over •5 per cent. So profitable has this section of the line proved to be, and so heavy the traffic, that it has now been double-tracked. Sandford Fleming was also the engineer of the Intercolonial Railway, and this, one of the best laid railways on the American con- tinent, was set up as the standard for the Canadian Gauge Pacific. The gauge of the road . . e , , Weight of is 4 teet 8^- inches, and the Rails original rails laid of 56 lbs. to the yard were replaced by 70 to 80 lb. rails where the traffic demanded. The specifica- tions for contracts were rigorously upheld. Among the working regulations were the following : “ The contractor shall not permit, allow, or encourage the sale of any spirituous liquors on or near the line of railway.” “ No work what- Camp i ii + i Regula- ever shall at any time or place tions be carried on during the Sun- day, and the contractor shall take all neces- sary steps for preventing any foreman or agent from working or employing others on that day.” These regulations were enforced where pos- sible, as it was to the contractors’ own interest that their men should keep in good condition. Neither railroad contractors nor their foremen, however, still less the men themselves, were, or are, of the “ kid glove ” variety of the human species, and in many camps Sunday was considered a better working day than any of the other six. The sub-contractors realized that the completion of one stretch of work meant the earlier commencement of another ; and the men found that four or five additional days’ pay per month was not to be despised. In the construction of the main line and branches alike, even as late as 1896, Sunday work was—as in mining camps—the almost invariable rule. The C.P.R. offered the engineers one advan-