Crossing Canada by Car

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 554, 5 January 1929, Page 4

Crossing Canada by Car

New Zealander Works His Passage

(Written for THE SUN by

BRIAN McLEAN.)

[The author of this article left New Zealand in May last year -with two other young men from his home town, Feilding, with the object of working his way round the world. This article describes experiences in Canada.] T ANDING in Vancouver in July, we looked for work in vain. Ultimately Saltex got a job on a C.P.R. boat, and the trio was broken up. So Svendsen and I purchased a second hand car for £3 0, and went into the country berry-picking. Armed with a slip from the employment Service of Canada we left Vancouver for Mission, a town. 50 miles up the Fraser Valley. That night we removed the front seat and slept in the car. We began work on the next day. Provided with small cans with hooks, which we fitted on our belts, we did our best to fill the wooden pails given us. At dinner and ‘'supper” time we carried the pails to the ■weighing room, and were credited with picking 201 b to 301 b. Early in the aeasou, “crate” berries are picked for preserving. These are put in crates, instead of pails, to keep them in good shape. Those berries which are at all ripe, however, are only good for jam, aud are duly sent to the cannery, a cannery which uses 13 tons of sugar a day In making jam. Although the record picking is 1301 b in one day, we generally picked about 501 b. So, as ■we were paid only three cents a lb we didn't make fortunes. Here one finds all nationalities. Nearby two Czecho-Slavs jabber incessantly, while a Dane works with an Englishman alongside. A few rows away a Vancouver schoolgirl inquires the time in French. Canadians seem very courteous and pleasant people. Of course, the “I’m from New Zealand” makes some open up who otherwise wouldn't. They’re enterprising as compared with us and, of course, that also means they're

shoddier. Shingles on roofs, for Instance, are universal. In New Zealand the insurance people won’t allow shingles; and so on, all through. Things which at first gave us a little “kick’' now pass unnoticed—rolled stockings, paint and powder, righthand traffic, bells on railway engines, hut not in churches, etc. No doubt some of the above things serve as a reminder that I’m not from Auckland. After three weeks of berry-picking, the season finished, and we were again on the move. We left Vancouver in the faithful car, determined to see as much as we could of the real Rockies, a change from gazing at Canadian Pacific Railway booklets. Our first hundred miles were In an easterly direction, going up the Fraser Valley, a valley renowned for its butter and small fruits, including hops. At Chilliwack, the road turns north and runs alongside the Fraser, not now in an open valley, but enclosed in a precipitous canyon. We camped the night at Hope, surrounded by mountains of 7,oUoft, some holding snow all the year round. The two railways, the Canad- j ian National and the Canadian Paci- j tic, run from Vancouver to Kamloops, j one on each side of the Fraser, and | then its main tributary, the Thomp-! son. We had been passing through fir | and spruce forest. Next day, however, the trees changed to jack pines. They ! resemble our pinus inslgnis, but are! smaller. Very little grass grew on the j rocky hillsides. In its place grew I sage plants, a foot high. Near Spuz-! zum, a fine bridge, the Alexandra, spanned the river, affording views reminiscent of the Mar.awatu Gorge. One minute the road would be. say,! 20ft above the river, while a mile or two on. It would be 500 ft or 600 ft above j It. Notices, warning us to “roll no i rocks” reminded us of the railroad below. At Lytton. once the starting i point for pack trains during the Cari- \ boo gold rush, we left the railroads and continued up the Fraser. The i river has cut Its way between mountains. That night we camped alongside the Pacific Great Eastern railway, an expensive “white elephant" of j the British Columbian Government. The following day we climbed a i watershed, leaving the Fraser, and dropped down to the Thompson and Kamloops. Kamloops, being a divisional point for both railways, aud! situated at the confluence of the I Thompson and North Thompson Rivers, is quite a city. At least that’s what the Canadians call It, although it has only five or six thousand people. | From Kamloops our way lay south-' east to Veruon, where we entered the! Okanagon Valley, passing, on our way, | a gypsum mine. This dry, but irri-! gated valley, extends south iuto the j States. Some of the land Irrigated by the Provincial Government’s own stystem may be bought for 50 dollars an acre, while water costs another six dollars a year. Okanagon Lake, down which we travelled may be beau- j tiful to some, but not to us or others who have seen bush-surrounded Waikaremoana. We passed the deserted town of Phoenix, which once boasted 7,000 people, and saw the huge smelter at Trail, a smelter employing 2,700 and i producing 450 tons of lead and 300 of i Zinc daily. Trail gets the concentrated ore i from Kimberley, and so, later, we hied us to Kimberley, only to be refused! entrance to the biggest mine in the world. "Accidents might occur.” we I were told. From the smelting town, our route j fpronounced “rout” in Canada) lay northwards up the valley of the Col-i timbia River. We left the Columbia!

and followed its tributary, the Kootenay to Nelson, a “city” of 8,000. Here, in the “Queen City of the Kootenays,” we stayed a few days making full use of the splendid auto.camp, which offers the use - 'of electric cookers, shower baths, and shelter for 50 cents a night. I noticed from an advertisement in the “cook house” that one, Angus Wufle, keeps the “New Zealand Hotel” in Northport, a small town in the adjoining American state of Washington. Starting off again we camped at Radium, under the shadows of the Rockies, in the Columbia River Valley. At Cranbrook, by the way, we met a New York doctor, to whom we suggested a trip to New Zealand. He asked, “How far is it by car?” Incidentally. he told us that 30,000 cars leave New York daily for Canada for liquor. As we again travelled northwards up the Columbia Valley next day the mountains on our right seemed to have all the colours of the rainbow in their scarred cliffs. At Golden, we turned eastwards and, left the Columbia to climb up the precipitous Kicking Horse Canyon—so named by Sir James Hector in 185 S. The river, a foaming mountain stream, is shut in on both sides by mountains rising to B,oooft.or so. Below near the river, the C.P.R. runs, while above the road is now 600 ft above the river, now only 50ft. At places the | gorge is only 30ft across at the j bottom. The railway finds a footing [ first on one side, then on the other, ! while occasionally it perforce has to | tunnel. Although the road is j the drop of a few hundred feet scares some drivers. One or two, although on | the safe side of the road, stopped to let us do the passing. In places the | road had to be cut from sheer rock. |To do the necessary blasting the workmen had to be suspended by rope from above.

We entered Yoho National Park, through which our road passed, and paid our two dollars entrance fee. Lighting fires (except in the provided camps) or any interference with the wild life is “tapu” in these National Parks.- As we came out Into a wider valley, we saw many ice-covered peaks. Through avenues of fir and spruce we reached Field, the headquarters of the park and camped in the auto.camp ground. These auto.-camps in British Columbia are worth the name. A charge of 50 cents a car is usually made —reasonable enough, when one has the use of electric cookers, shower baths, shelters and other conveniences. Next day we saw scenery to remember many a year. Emerald Lake, with snow-clad Mount Burgess rising sheer in the background; the Natural Bridge, where the Kicking Horse River forces its way through rocks only a few feet apart; the Yoho Valley, with the Yoho Glacier glistening at its head; the Takakkaw Falls (1,346 ft high), said to be the highest waterfall in North America, and Lake Louise, made it a memorable day. We arrived at Banff and registered at the Rocky Mountains National Park Auto. Camp.

The final SO miles ;o Calgary took us out of the Rockies on to the prairies. As we passed down the Bow Valley, the ice-capped peaks made us wonder when we would again see mountains. In the “City of the Foothills” we found we had come over 1,3D0 miles from Vancouver in 15 dayd, 15 days on good roads with the* best of scenery. Further, we now know where some of the lead, zinc, cadmium, gypsum, slates and apples come from. After leaving Calgary we found our way eastwards, passing through Basano, Brooks, Medicine Hat in Alberta, Swift Current, Moose Jaw and Regina in Saskatchewan, to Winnipeg. In the Brook’s district we spent a fortnight doing odd .work and another fortnight harvesting.. Autumn was here with a vengeance. Out in the street at about 10 o’clock, the thermometer showed 38 degrees. . I was still a marvel to Canadians, however, as one who had not seen snow. Going on to Winnipeg, we found a line city, with some remarkable stores including Eatons, the largest mail

order house in Canada, and the Hudson’s Bay Company. At either one may buy anything from coal to a radio set, or have a prescription or an order for a meal filled. The authorities brought out about ten thousand British unemployed for harvest work. Some were willing and some weren't, while quite a few suffered raw deals here. I met quite a few of them, including the Rev. Franklin Hutchison, who excited the cableman’s curiosity over his “mysterious disappearance” from his parsonage in Essex. We were quite friendly with him. before we even knew he had the limelight. I took the first job that was offered and became factotum in an implement man’s store at Darlmgt’ord, 92 miles south-west of Winnipeg. Strange to say (for Canada), it is an Englishspeaking community. No Chinese, no Japs, no Mennonites (German-speak-ing Russians). After freeze-up, the programme includes repairing implements, engines, etc. Lighting, by the way, was 20 cents a unit and a minimum monthly charge of three dollars. 1 doubt whether anyone in New Zealand suffers from such robbery. The job at Darlingford was casual labour, and at the moment I am again on the unemployed list. If nothing turns up we will be moving on. In the ! meantime I intend to look in at the office of the Winnipeg “Free Press” to, inquire if they want some sidelights) on Canada through rose-tinted glasses.