Now, since the Panama Canal has been opened, it is evident that trains of wheat will come to the Pacific in ever-growing number from some economic watershed on the plains. Outlets, both East and West, will be increasingly necessary to carry the produce of the vast prairie section to the food markets of the world. For many years Fort William and Montreal have struggled to handle the immense burden of this growing wheat traffic. Now the Pacific route has come to relieve the abnormal pressure on Eastern ports and lead to further developments in agriculture on the prairies. And from Vancouver and other points on the West Coast this wheat will go by vessels of all kinds to the ends of the earth—to the over-crowded centres of Europe and Asia and Africa, as well as to the islands of the sea. Thus shall the forecast made that day on the site of Vancouver City by Mr. Van Horne, the builder of the Canadian Pacific Railway, be justified, even though that forecast was made at the rough-looking outpost of
“A great new land,
Half-wakened by the wonder
And the prophetic thunder
Of triumphs yet untold.”
CHAPTER XVIII
Special Features
An alien traveller in this country, looking for an expression in which to indicate the extent and character of the Canadian Pacific Railway, finally settled on “The Dominion of Canada on wheels” as sufficiently descriptive. This, of course, is overdoing it very considerably, but one who passes through the length and breadth of the country and finds this great organization ministering to his comfort and convenience at all points on land and water, can be excused for his exaggeration. So popular and universally known are the letters “C. P. R.” that there has been a general popular tendency to use them without authority for commercial advantage. Behind the letters there has come to be a guarantee of value and efficiency which trades of various kinds have been quick to see. The Company had to put a stop to this monographic proclivity on the part of the public, lest the practice of some should lower their reputation for efficiency. But Colonel George Ham tells us of an attempt to stop the unauthorized use of the letters on a barber-shop on the prairie, which ended in a truce. An Irishman who ran what he called “The C. P. R. Barber Shop” received a note to desist from the use of the famous letters. He replied, “I don’t want no lawsoot with your big company. The letters on my shop don’t stand for your ralerode, but for something better. I left a mother in Ireland. She is dead and gawn, but her memories are dear to me. Her name was Christena Pearson Riordon, and what I want to no is what you are going to do about it.” To prosecute that man under the circumstances would be a sort of sacrilege, and so the Company let it go, secretly doubting the witty story, but rather pleased that the repute of the Company made it worth while to use the letters and write the legend about their origin.
Of course so far-flung a system as the Canadian Pacific must have many places where the traveller shall find rest and refreshment with a stop-over on the way. And so, amongst a few special features to be noted in this closing chapter, are the palatial hotels in the big centres of population, the chalets and bungalow camps in the mountains and by the streams and lakes all across Canada.
The names of some of these big hotels, which are not only stopping places for the traveller, but social centres and community service club meeting places in most localities, have an element of romance about them. Several indicate the devoted loyalty of the Company to the sovereigns of Britain, such as the Hotel Empress, of Victoria, the Royal Alexandra of Winnipeg, in honour of the Queen, and the Queen-Mother, two of the greatly beloved women of the Empire. The Hotel Vancouver, in the city of that name, commemorates Captain George Vancouver, the illustrious British sea-rover who sailed his wooden vessel into the harbour one hundred and thirty-two years ago. In Calgary the Hotel Palliser recalls the famous explorer of that name, who was sent years ago to explore the mountains and report on the possibilities of a railroad being built through to the Coast. He reported that a railway could not be built across the continent on British soil. Years afterward the Canadian Pacific proved that Palliser’s conclusion was incorrect. Nevertheless the big Company recognized the greatness of the man, and named the hotel under the shadow of the mountains after him. In those mountains a chain of hotels and chalets and camps, at Banff, Lake Louise, Emerald Lake, Glacier and Sicamous, supply accommodation amid the cathedral mountain peaks where the scenery is conceded to surpass anything of that type in the world. At the Atlantic gateway, in the ancient fortress city of Quebec, stands the Chateau Frontenac, on the site of the chateau of a Governor or Intendant in the old French regime. The architecture of this hotel is of the seventeenth century, and so magnificent are its proportions that as high as fourteen hundred guests have sheltered under its roof at one time during the tourist season. Up in Montreal the Place Viger Hotel stands at the heart of the historic site of the ancient Montreal, a city that was old when our Western cities had not been born. The Hotel Algonquin, down at St. Andrews-by-the-sea, in New Brunswick, swings an Indian name into the orbit of the fashionable tourist traffic of Canada and the United States. Bungalow camps all through the mountains furnish for the tourist, resting places at points so amazingly splendid from a scenic standpoint that they summon annually hosts of tourists who wish to get “near to nature’s heart,” and “far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife.” Thus has the pioneer Canadian transcontinental, built by toilers who slept under the open sky or in the tent by the right of way, erected palatial and romantic resting-places for travellers who desire relief from the rush of modern business, or recreation, in the true sense, after social dissipation of energy in the crowded haunts of fashion. There was a time long ago when only the wealthy and the “leisured” classes could travel and enjoy the quiet by the sea or the majestic scenery of the mountains. But now, by availing themselves of special rates in excursions, touring parties and such like, great crowds of those who best appreciate the opportunity are found on trains making their way to these tonic resorts.
In this chapter on some special features on the Canadian Pacific, we are claiming the liberty of swinging from one subject to another as they come our way. And so we get back to the land and the foundational occupation of tilling the soil. It has always been the policy of the Company to encourage this fundamental industry and to help build up the agricultural side of life on the great Western plains. This, of course, in turn builds up the traffic without which railroads cannot operate anywhere. To this end, apart from the ordinary means of securing settlement and cultivation of land, Mr. Van Horne years ago started a large farm at East Selkirk on the Red River, and the Company, in more recent years, established the famous farm at Strathmore in the irrigated region of Southern Alberta. With means for experiment at their call beyond the reach of the ordinary farmer, the Company has set a higher standard both in grain cultivation and stock, especially the latter. Through sending their stock to exhibitions and in other ways the Company sought to show to farmers the wisdom of eliminating “scrubs” of all kinds, which cost as much to maintain, but produced less in every particular. The other day I saw some beautiful photographs of stock now at the Strathmore farm. They all held fine records and, standing in the pasture beside the irrigation lake, were a joy to behold.