The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-04-13
A Trip Across The Continent.

weleave Haverhill at two o'clock and thir-
tv minutes on February l4th. Make rap
ii RIM TO Montreal Junction, where our car
is attached to the through train for the IA
cifc. The porter soon has our berths ready
and we slumber while the train carries us
most Vermonters. The porter exchanges
our tickets at Ottawa without disturbing
orr dreams, and at noon the 10Th we reach
Sudbury, 443 miles from Montreal and 4b3
miles from Vancouver From here we pass
around the north of Lake Superior. A more
dreary, desolate country could not well be
imagined, wholly unlike the south side.
Along here you run out of good timber
and are destined to see no more until you
reach the Pacific slope. Feb 10th, we turn
out at 730 to find ourselves at Rossport,
Ontario, $50 miles from Montreal and 2026
miles from Vancouver. Fort William,
where you turn your watch back one hour,
and which was formerly Hudson Bay
COmpanys post. The fur house of the old
fort is now used for an engine house for the
coal docks, and some of the largest grain
elevators in the world are here, is left be-
hind and we travel wild, broken country,
yes, just country, no people, until we reach
Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, with
population of about 10000, and the chief
post of the Hudson Bay Company. 1t has
electric street railways and lights and the
principal land office of the government, in
here. But it is too near the teeth of the
blizzard for me, and you ought to see the
people, dressed in furS from head to foot
Stare at a man with stiff hat on, and be-
fore had gone twenty yards from the sta
ton concluded we were no good either
for that cline. Leaving here, the great
wheat fields of Manitoba extend over 400
miles. We pass through the great Bell
farm containing one hundred square miles,
with burrows four miles Tonga trip out
and back being half days work. There
must be quite population along here, for
nice little towns appear quite often. Some
places you see pillow handles sticking out of
the snow and in one place | saw five har-
veSting machines sticking out of snow two
feet deep Today we overlook the train
which left Montreal twenty four hours
ahead of us, the engine had become dis
abled and we had to haul it to Winnipeg,
which made us one hour and thirty minutes
late. You can judge how good natured
those passengers were.
Sunday morning, the 18th, watches
turned back one hour, we find ourselves at
MOOSejaw, ASSiniboia, on the western lin |
it of present settlements. MooSejaw, an |
abridgment of the Indian name, translated |
is the-creek- wherein WATERMAN mended- |
the cart with-a-mOoSe' jaw-bOne, has pop |
ulation of 600 And the greater number |
of miles are behind us, Montreal, 1923 miles,
Vancouver 1884. From here to Calgary |
pole, you are between the jaws of the biz
Zard whose head extends far north and i
body running down through Montana ana
the Oakotas, and one leg extending to Tex
as, the other swinging towards the Middle
and New England States. Think of what
fine country he has to roam in, not tree
from the Arctic divide to Texas. Yes, he is
cold when quiet, 81 degrees below zero this
morning,
Way out on the prairie, in the midst of
this, we are stalled in the snow, and in try
ing to start they pull out the coupling of our
car, and we are compelled to vacate, but
travel is light now, and we get the same
number OF sections in another car. Mon
day we are climbing the Rocky mountains.
We ascend the eastern slope easily with one
engine but when we reach the summit it is
another thing here ponderous engine is
run up, not to push us up, but to hold us
going down, and as we descend the engine
keeps signaling the men at the safety |
switches that all is well. If control of the |
train were lost the switches would be
opened and we wonld run off up the side
OF the mountain until stopped. For two
days and one night, for it is clear and full
moon, we look and look at the grandest |
mountain scenery in the world Here in
the Rockies are glaciers sou feet thick, and
up here the Rockies run to the west so that
when you leave them, you Immediately as
cend the Selkirks, which far surpass any
thing ever saw in five trips across the con-
tinent.
AL the summit we stop for supper at the
Glacier House in full sight of the "Great
Glacier of the Selkirks," only one and a
half miles away. 1t is said to be as large
as all those ofSwitzerland combined. Now
the descent to the Pacific which is made by I
twists and turns that make your head dir
Zy, now making complete loop, running
nine miles to make three, but down, down
the Fraser river canyon, along by the old
nVnr mi me mt roo 4 hot, |