by Larry Stuart
Cameron still found it strange to be back in the office, and being addressed by his last name. However, he did have to admit having underlings did have its advantages – at least you never had to make your own coffee.
Ten minutes later, Cameron knocked on his boss’s door.
‘Mr Stuart…How nice to see you. Please…take a seat.’
Cameron was still quite impressed by his boss’s office, and each time he entered new artefacts of one kind or another seemed to have appeared. This time, what looked like a gold spike lay on his desktop, seemingly being used as a paperweight.
‘Ah…I see you’ve noticed my spike. It’s not solid gold, or else as you can well imagine, wouldn’t stand up very well to a sledge hammer. It’s actually iron painted in gold leaf, and is going to be used when they take a picture of us connecting up the last rail…somewhere in the Rockies. I had hoped you would join us…however…a rumour has come to my attention suggesting you may not be with us when that takes place. Is this true?’
Cameron had hoped to delay this bit of information, but by the looks of it, his inquiries at the C.P.R. land agent’s department had made its way to this office.
Over the next little while, Cameron outlined his and Catherine’s plans to become more
settled and start up a cattle ranch. While he talked, Mr Van Horne sat listening and nodding, his face totally relaxed and his forearms crossed on his desk. Only once did he interrupt, and that was to reach into the ornate wooden box at the corner of his desk, pluck out a cigar, and offer one to Cameron. Finally, when Cameron had finished, the General Manager reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a roll of papers held together by a ribbon and red wax seal. Then, reaching across the desk, he laid them in front of Cameron.
‘I’ve told you before how much I’ve valued your expertise, and appreciated the loyalty and energy you’ve put into the building of this railway. But for some reason best known to yourself, you’ve never been willing to accept any recognition. Well…I was determined that one day you would get the credit you deserve…and when I heard what you were doing at the land office, I knew I’d finally found something you couldn’t turn down. Those are the title deeds for Alberta section 11, which I believe you’re interested in buying. That land is now yours, a gift from a grateful company.’
Cameron was dumfounded. His hand shook as he reached forward to grasp the documents.
‘I don’t know what to say. It’s more land than Catherine and I could ever afford.’
For the first time in Cameron’s presence, Cornelius Van Horne rose to his feet from behind his desk and put out his hand.
‘I’d like to shake your hand. Your determination and foresight may well have saved this railway from bankruptcy…and I’m truly sorry you’re leaving. I’d still like you to be there for the picture when we complete the line. So, if you’re in agreement, when the official driving of the last spike is to take place, I’ll have somebody from Fort Calgary contact you.’
Cameron rose and nodded his assent, before turning to head out of the office.
‘Oh, before you go…I just remembered. You don’t by any chance have a relative, or know of someone called Stewart, who might have lived in a place in Scotland called Dufftown, do you?’
Cameron froze to the spot, before slowly turning back to face his boss.
‘No…I…ah…can’t say I do.’
‘I just wondered, because George Stephen…you know, one of our Directors… well, he comes from near there, and he mentioned to me the other day that the last time he was back, he’d met some fellow called Campbell…who told him his son had been killed by a man named Stewart who used to work for a railway. He supposedly got away on a ship to Australia, which then sank in the Bay of Biscay... which, I guess, was some kind of justice. Anyway, I just wondered if maybe you’d heard of him…but then thinking about it, your name’s not spelt that way anyway, is it?
‘That’s right, Sir…and…and I don’t ever recall having been to some place called Dufftown,’ Cameron replied. ‘Is there anything else, Mr Van Horne?’
‘No, that’s all, thank you.’
Thank God for that! And from the sounds of it, maybe it’s just as well Catherine and I
have decided to move on, thought Cameron, as he opened the door and stepped out of the office.
That night, he and Catherine sat in front of the fireplace talking about the day’s big surprise.
‘My God, Cath, a whole section of land! That’s 640 acres…free! We could never have bought that much land. In fact, prices have gone up by so much that I was only planning on buying a quarter-section.’
‘Well, I think you deserve it.’
‘It isn’t just me that deserves it, after all…’
‘Never mind that…that wasn’t the railway’s fault.’
Anna suckled at her breast, as Catherine rocked back and forth in the new chair Cameron had bought her after the birth.
‘You know…all the money we saved can now be spent building a house and setting up the ranch. And now we can probably afford to have that extra room added to the house…in case of visitors…or other new arrivals?’
Her life was now nearly fulfilled, Catherine thought, as she sat listening to Cameron talk about their new ranch. She did have to admit, his enthusiasm was hard to resist, even if common sense told her they should be easing their way into this new way of life. Still, he did seem to know what he was talking about, and all she really wanted was her own home with her family around her; as opposed to a temporary house provided by the nation and a family of servants paid to fill in the spaces.
The following Monday, Cameron was again requested to meet with the General Manager, and as he strolled down the corridor, he did begin to worry if maybe this meant the boss was after more information from him to pass on to George Stephen, or if not, was about to rescind their gift.
‘You asked to see me, Sir?’
‘Yes…please sit down. Would you like coffee? It is quite early, isn’t it?’
This didn’t bode well, Cameron thought.
Mr Van Horne poured out their coffee from a china pot sitting on the tray on his desk, and then lifting the cups and saucers walked over to the two chairs placed in front of the windows overlooking Main Street.
‘Let’s sit over here, shall we? It’s much more comfortable.’
After taking a sip from his cup, the General Manager set it down before turning towards Cameron.
‘I trust you and your wife had an exciting weekend discussing your plans?’
‘Yes, we did…and she asked me to pass on her thanks when the opportunity arose.’
‘I’ll get right to the point. I was rather hoping you might see fit to do me a small
favour. I know I’m taking a bit of a liberty…and that you’d probably like to get started on your new life as soon as possible. It’s just that…well…I’ve got a bit of a problem.’
For a moment Cameron sat perfectly still, and then with increasing apprehension leaned forward and put down his coffee.
‘I’m not very happy about the survey that’s been done between Fort Calgary and the Kicking Horse Pass in the Rockies. The route mileage and cost estimates seem to me to be wildly over-estimated. I was hoping I might be able to talk you into re-assessing the route for me.’
Hard as he tried, Cameron could not disguise the look of incredulity on his face; and then as he sighed with relief, a slight grin spread across his face.
‘I do apologise if this has upset you. I’m just really stuck and don’t have anyone else to turn to. I’ll try to make it up to you…somehow.’
Cameron could barely stop himself from chuckling, as Mr Van Horne had so obviously misread him.
‘I’m sorry, Mr Van Horne. Please forgive my apparent amusement at the position you find yourself in. It’s just that…I was worried sick the railway had had second thoughts about the offer of the land.’
Cameron left Cornelius Van Horne’s office with a spring in his step. No
t only had he not lost the land, but in his pocket he now had a free railway pass for life – for himself and the family – and the promise of a two hundred dollar bonus. The downside was that he wouldn’t be able to begin the survey until next April at the earliest. But then, the more he thought about it, the more he realised that this wasn’t a problem, as he and Catherine had no intention of moving out to their new property until early the following summer, by which time he should have completed the survey.
By the end of October, the track had been laid to Fort Calgary. A new station was immediately erected, and a depot and marshalling yards were well under construction. The newly named city of Calgary was in fact founded on the west side of the Elbow River, much to the chagrin of the speculators who had staked out most of the land to the east. C.P.R. management had finally realised that the only way to maximise their profits on land sales was to make the decisions about new stations and cities at the very last minute.
I.G. Baker’s was the first business to relocate to the city’s new location, followed by the Hudson’s Bay Company; and within days, the air resonated to the hammering of nails, sawing of wood and screaming of foremen.
Wood was in plentiful supply. The foothills of the Rocky Mountains were covered in bountiful forests, and were only a short wagon ride away. Soon one enterprising businessman opened a sawmill alongside the Bow River west of the city, and in no time at all, dressed planks began to replace the roughly sawn timbers.
It didn’t take long before those representing the moneyed investors back east realised that, Calgary was to become a major western city. And as had happened in Winnipeg not
many years before, finance poured in, starting another property boom.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
They were only a few miles west of Calgary, following the north bank of the Bow River, when Cameron started to feel the muscles in his thighs and back beginning to rebel. He found it hard to believe how little it took of what George called “the soft life”, before one’s body was once more out of condition. But one thing was for sure, he had no intention of revealing his discomfort to his travelling companion!
The two men quickly passed the Old Bow Fort and, after following the waterway through the Bow River Gap, arrived at Padmore. This settlement had already been designated by the railway as the main water and coaling station for locomotives prior to their commencement of the tortuous passage through the mountains. A small siding and depot were now under construction; and an enterprising family called Jones had already established a small trading post a few hundred feet from the tracks.
Cameron and George carried on in a west north-westerly direction, getting ever nearer to the majestic mountains. Cameron was still puzzled why Van Horne had wanted him to check this route, because so far the previous surveyor had done exactly what he would have done, by following the Bow River valley.
One afternoon, as they rounded a small hill on the western side of the valley, a huge mountain loomed into view completely blocking further progress. This was what it was all about, thought Cameron, as he withdrew a leather-bound notebook from his saddlebag and consulted the previous surveyor’s notes.
‘We’ll camp here for a while, George. We need to have a good look around.’
That night, after cleaning up their dishes, which had been totally soiled by their gourmet pork and beans, Cameron sat warming his hands in front of the fire. As he stared into the blaze, idly kicking the unburned ends of the logs into the dying embers, his thoughts once more returned to his future plans; while above him, the moon lit up the area like a flickering light bulb, as the clouds raced by overhead.
‘Cameron…why you leave soft job in city to work with crazy cows…in place south of river?’
It was then Cameron decided to be honest with his friend. So, over the next two hours he told George about his real family’s history, and his own murderous past.
‘Well, George…you know more about me now than Catherine…so maybe you understand why I feel I must move on.’
George said nothing for ages, making Cameron wonder if maybe he’d gone a step too far. But then, without taking his eyes from the flames, George responded.
‘I not understand you white men. In my world…we do same…like you…because spirits of dead not rest until death paid for.’
Three days later, he and George found a new route by-passing the offending mountain. A small creek disappearing into a nearby wood had in fact opened out into another valley. Following that valley would still meet the gradient requirements of the railway, while at the same time negating the need for a long tunnel. That tunnel alone would have taken at least a year to build, and cost over a million dollars – as opposed to Cameron’s diversion, which would increase the track distance by less than a mile, equating to a cost increase of less than fifty thousand dollars.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
It was unusually warm for the first week of June, in this part of Canada. Cameron stood on the platform at the station in Calgary, awaiting the arrival of the express train from Winnipeg. Finally, a muted blast in the distance announced its impending presence, followed a few minutes later by its appearance between the buildings on the eastern edge of the city.
As the train drew to a halt, the screech of the brakes was the only arrival announcement required. With a loud thump, the door of the first-class passenger car swung open and then clamped itself to the side of the carriage. Within seconds, a uniformed conductor stepped down from the opening, placing a metal, box-like step onto the platform. Climbing back on board, he soon re-appeared carrying two large suitcases, carefully setting them down before turning to offer a hand to Catherine.
Thirty minutes later, Cameron and Catherine were on the dusty, worn trail heading south-east from Calgary. Initially, their non-stop chatter drowned out any sounds that might have accompanied their progress, but after they’d caught up with their news, both lapsed into silence; and Nature’s symphony and scenery began to weave its magic.
To their left, an emerald-green valley descended towards the Bow River, its surface sparkling in the noon-day sun, while to their right, the track was bounded by splendid fir trees interwoven with groups of birches and cottonwoods. As they ventured further south, the river continued to trail along beside them, but the stalwart sentinels to their right gradually disappeared from sight, giving way to grasses and foothills hinting at the greater majesty to come. Finally, as the land alongside the Bow began to rise, the magnificence of the snow-capped Rockies burst into view, lying like the ragged teeth of a saw against the incandescent sky.
Three hours into their journey, they arrived at another river.
‘This is it Cath.’
‘Where?…Which part is ours?’
Cameron turned the buggy parallel to the new river, before reining in the mare.
‘As far as you can see along this river…and then over that way for three miles,’ he said, indicating with the sweep of his hand. ‘Oh…and we’ve been on our land for about the last ten minutes as well.’
Catherine was momentarily stunned.
‘My God…I didn’t realise 640 acres was so large.’
‘Well, it’s actually slightly more than that. Under the Dominion Land Act, we’re allowed to file an interim claim on each adjoining quarter section of land...so that’s what I’ve done. That means we now have claim over another 640 acres…and the best part is, we don’t have to start paying the government for another five years.’
Just then Anna began to cry.
‘Well…that little noise means its feeding time. Are we near home or shall I feed Anna
as we go along?’
‘There’s a little way to go yet, so you might as well start,’ he said, snapping the reins.
Catherine did her best to feed Anna, while Cameron guided their horse along a barely visible track beside the High River. Finally, on rounding a small hill, two large tents came into sight.
Catherine’s heart sank.
‘What the…’
‘Hang on a minute.’
As they got a little further around the hill, a small log cabin with an adjoining fenced corral became visible.
Catherine said nothing while she stared at what she assumed was their new house.
Pulling up in front of the cabin, Cameron reached down and tied-off the reins, before jumping down from the buggy. Turning back to help Catherine, it was obvious from the look on her face that she wasn’t exactly thrilled by what she’d seen so far.
‘Is everything all right, Cath? You look a little pale.’
‘Is that...our...our house?’ she stammered. ‘It looks smaller than the one we’ve been using in Winnipeg…and that was just a summer home. I’m not going to.…’