Canadian Transcontinental RR
First of all Happy Halloween to all!
Secondly, last night on a show called "Voyages" was a history of the Canadian Transcontinental Railroad. Since it was on at 1:00 in the morning! I only saw the first 20 minutes (but I taped it so I can watch it later on) - didn't realize how much effort it took from MacDonald to first, make people believe it could happen, and then, trying to pay for it, and establishing postal routes in the South Seas was a part of obtaining money to keep it going. Of course, the show praised the men who "'bent" their backs' working to make that dream happen - going through the Laurentian Shield and the muskegs....Surehope that CRT is talked about in the part that I haven't seen yet! I fell asleep "around 1890," when they were discussing the Indian/French group in Manitoba and the push to get more people to populate "the big lonely"...
Very interesting that before it was built, other ideas were to have the train go from Ottawa down through Chicago and around the Great Lakes through the U.S., then back up into Canada. Another idea was to have a combination water/overland route - oh yeah, let's rely on getting across the Great Lakes from November through March!
I was lucky enough, as I know mandoann was, to take the train across Canada - don't know about it now, but back then, the CP was so much better than Amtrak, it wasn't even funny!
Well, work awaits! SherylKat
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"You don't have to play to win, but then you might!" (I draw to inside straights....)
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