On board the CP SS Alberta, Lake Superior, Friday Sepr. 16\/98.<\/p>\n

After finishing my journal yesterday, Thursday, morning, I had breakfast then prepared for posting. I wrote on a few post cards messages to some friends, Mr. Sinclair, Mr. Garden, James, Andrew, Mary\u00a0& a few lines to enclose for your worthy self with my diary. I\u2019d forgot 2 cards, Mr. Chrystal\u00a0& Mrs. Lax, & with these 3 newspapers in which you will personally be interested, the paragraph referring to [my?] impressions of Winnipeg is bunkum, I know nothing of it whatever. I also sent Andrew\u00a0one, however, preserve them. The previous night, whilst in the Manitoba Club\u00a0with Mr. Clark, he introduced me to a member who was a grain merchant, & in course of conversation, he suggested that I should go to Gordon & Ironside\u2019s new abattoir where a very extensive business was carried on with possibilities of enormous development. This I was sure would interest me greatly, & Mr. Clark\u00a0arranged to telephone the manager when he came down to his office on the following, Thursday, morning, & I agreed to go out to the abattoir after breakfast. Accordingly, after going to the post office & despatching all I\u2019ve mentioned above, I took the car, the \u201cBelt line\u201d one, got off at Logan St. & walked little over \u00bc mile & found myself on the out skirts of the city, tho\u2019 as I afterwards learned from Mr. Fares\u00a0that the city limits were a mile beyond their place & that the city sanitation works extended presently to their place & gave them every advantage necessary for slaughtering &c. &c. I was very [6:95] kindly received. They knew I was coming & soon they had a large coat on to me & off to see the system of slaughtering, dressing, transmitting, method of conveying the dressed carcasses into the chilling chambers &c. &c. The latter were immense areas in which were suspended more carcas[s]es than I could count, including sheep & various offall [sic], which is all marketable, such as tongues, heads, feet, livers, hearts, tails &c. Also the weighing & checking & ticketing system, as each carcase [sic] is duly recorded in all processes from purchasing to delivery, & any butcher or buyer can go in & choose the carcase [sic] he prefers. Unfortunately I had been later in getting there than expected, but as I said to you yesterday morning how tired I was, I didn\u2019t exert myself to weariness else I couldn\u2019t have enjoyed it, & there was no definite time fixed, only during the morning, however, they had just killed 4 bullocks & 10 sheep, & the dressers were busy with them. One of the bullocks & a few sheep lay where they had been killed. This I did not mind as I\u2019ve seen slaughtering frequently. My desire was to see the modern system applied to these great industries, & Armour\u2019s of Chicago\u00a0is on this same principle but, of course, the Winnipeg one is perfectly new. Only been opened a fortnight & up to date in every modern & known appliance. The chilling chambers were interesting too, but I had seen Adelaide, Melbourne, & Sydney\u00a0freezing & chilling works, & knew something of the system already, tho\u2019 here they were not refrigerating, simply chilling, & they don\u2019t intend ever to freeze, but to get the dead meat to England in its chilled state, & of course it will be all but equal to fresh killed meat to the customer. Frozen, you know what it is like & once this chilled process gets into use it will very seriously affect the colonial trade. Climate is perfect here in Canada for [6:96] the chilling process, ice they store from winter \u2013 \u201cready made\u201d, consequently no need for refrigerators \u2013 expensive plant \u2013 then these huge chambers are cased & cavities all around which are filled with block ice & air currents sweep through on revolving principle, & these chambers are wintery on the very hottest day in summer. Why they put the coat on me, & my chaperon[e] had one on also (several are kept in the office for the purpose) was to avoid catching cold, entering into a chamber of such low temperature, 34\u00b0, suddenly. I was a trifle warm with walking, the day was grand & the sun hot, & I felt it temporarily delightful in the sweet cold atmosphere, but therein is the danger, however, I think I was proof, tho\u2019 I had to use care, & their experience I deferred to. Next I was shewn the machinery department used for the converting of fats &c. into marketable products (& also used for electric lighting). This, too, I had seen on an extensive sale at the Sydney Meat Preserving Coy\u2019s Works at Alburn. Then a natural water supply, which is invaluable to their business, in the engine house is an ever flowing, rushing supply of the most delicious cool spring water. They sank only 40 feet, put down a 6 inch pipe. This stands about 3 feet above the surface & connected with 2 sections of smaller tubular pipes to check the rush, & out of the smaller, which is about 3 inches, flows this fine water into a huge tub with an outlet into a drain<\/u> for waste, & the power of this flow is equal to driving a small engine.[1]<\/a> But a short distance before I entered the works, walking up, I passed a cottage, probably one of the workmen, & in the neat little garden in front of this cottage was a fine flow out [6:97] of a similar pipe not, of course, so large, & I asked if it was a natural supply, & they said, yes, & I got a drink as curiosity.<\/p>\n

Well then, after I had seen all at the works, & how the meat was transmitted from these chambers to the chilled railway cars sided close up to the building, Mr. Fares\u00a0drove me in his buggy to view the great<\/u> cattle yards, a very short distance from their abattoir, & here was a sight as he told me, 12 to 1,500 head of cattle, & frequently double that number can be seen. These yards belong to the CP Ry. Coy., & the cattle are travelled [sic] from the ranches to nearest Ry. depot, then trucked & at stages of 30 hours they are let out into yards, fed & watered, & rested, & again trucked, & so on to destination or port of shipment. Some he pointed out as en route to Liverpool, & I never saw such handsome<\/u> large symmetrical cattle, no never<\/u>. I did enjoy the sight. Well, cattle rearers send or fetch their stock when marketable to such yards, & buyers pick & choose, & here Gordon & Ironsides buy their cattle \u2013 no travelling to seek, cattle close at their hand. Horses were in these yards also, & some pretty animals & cheap. These yards are in squares, each equal to one or two hundred cattle capacity, high rails & only one plank<\/u>, about 12 inches broad, runs along the top of the rail & traverses the whole area of the yard. This we walked on & on, looking down into each section, & from here, buyers pick & buy, no handling or gripping the flank, as I\u2019ve seen our butchers & farmers doing, but of course, experts only will go & buy here. A few sheds had roofs, these for the severe winter time.<\/p>\n

[6:98]<\/p>\n

Now I had seen all, including a small egg industry which they had \u2013 all in cases, not like our egg cases \u2013 in the cooling chamber. Mr. Fares\u00a0had to leave Winnipeg by the 1 train, so he drove me in his buggy to the city, about 15 minutes, a most handsome bay mare & a celebrated trained trotter by the \u201clatteral\u201d [sic] method, that is, lifts both left feet same time, curious method, waddling, but what a pace. He said she was what was called a pacer & had won many prizes. He & another are in partnership as horse salesmen, & he set me down at their depot, only 3 minutes from my hotel, the Leland. We parted merrily & I was very delighted with all he had so very carefully shown me, but I nearly forgot, while at the cattle yard, G&I have an office there & Mr. Gordon\u00a0was in, so Mr. Fares\u00a0took me into him, chair given me to be seated & a rare crack we had, & they are very anxious to get on with the chilled<\/u> meat business & introduced to England. The steamers have not yet got chilled<\/u> chambers, but are being fixed with them, & as this is the first<\/u> chilled meat undertaking in the dominion, the government are anxiously watching its progress, & will render all possible help, the supply of cattle being inexhaustible. I left Mr. Gordon\u00a0my card & hoped when he was over in the Old Country, he would look me up. On my post card to Mr. Chrystal\u00a0yesterday, I should have liked to tell him about this great cattle sight, but Willie\u00a0can tell him next time he is in. What a successful man he would have become had he begun out here, especially as he is essentially a cattle expert.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

[6:99]<\/p>\n

After leaving Mr. Fares, I had to go to the hair dresser\u2019s to get touched up, which is always a great luxury. Then I went to hotel, only a minute\u2019s walk, & through the market immediately behind the city hall. You\u2019ll see a photo of it by & by, had lunch, rested awhile, then went on to bid Mr. Clark\u00a0goodbye & thank him for his kindness, & he was kind indeed. He desired me to convey his compliments & respects to Mr. Leask. I returned by car, went to station & got all completed by way of information for my journey. The traffic manager\u2019s deputy, Mr. Cumming, was the cream of kindness to me & shewed me every attention, & rendered me much help by advising procedure at different stages on my journey forward. Mr. Kerr, the traffic manager, & to whom Mr. Burgis\u00a0kindly told me to make up to & mention his name, was unfortunately away at St. Paul\u2019s. However, I am certain greater kindness nor closer attention he could not have shewn me than Mr. Cumming, & I think he appreciated my affability & pleasure I couldn\u2019t but exhibit & express while in his presence. Mr. Flanagan\u00a0of King Wm. Street, EC, CP Agent, who at the instigation of kind Mr. Burgis, gave me a card commending me to the courtesy & consideration of the CPR officials, & this I have attached to my coupons, & Mr. Flanagan\u00a0wrote the commendation across the card in red ink<\/u>, so it is conspicuous. There was no need to show Mr. Cumming\u00a0this as his face indicated courtesy, but when he saw it he was pleased & knew Mr. Flanagan,\u00a0who had 2 years ago been over & visited the chief depots of the CPR.<\/p>\n

[6:100]<\/p>\n

Here is the last page of No. 6 book. Surely I must have written a lot, twaddle<\/u> & otherwise doubtful<\/u>, & I surely can\u2019t be charged with idleness.<\/p>\n

I made back to hotel\u00a03:15, got settled up & ready for bus at \u00bc to 4, tho\u2019 train only due to leave 4:30, but railway system is not like ours at home. A minute isn\u2019t enough here to be in time. Clerks & attendants hasten slowly, waiters in hotels too.<\/p>\n

A system of checking baggage is a splendid one here. They give you duplicate checks & attach the other with a leather tab on each of your packages, & on presentation at destination, you present your duplicate & get your baggage, no trouble \u2013 4 pkgs. are off to New York, sent from Vancouver. There they will await me claiming them. Same system in Australia & N. Zealand.<\/p>\n

Winnipeg, as I told you, impressed me as a city with a great future, & it is laid out with such an end in view, large, fine, wide<\/u> streets, wide causeways, open spaces, & in every thing & every way modern. Buildings are handsome in some places. The Hudson\u2019s Bay Stores\u00a0is a magnificent pile & in Main Street, also where a block had been burnt down, a very substantial handsome architectured building is going up, spacious shops on ground floor, cellared, grand post office, good banks, fine churches. The roads\u00a0are not first class, but nowhere<\/u> from the beloved<\/u> old country have I seen any roads\u00a0that are equal or approximate their condition.<\/p>\n

[7:1]<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Sketch of pipes inserted here.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Inserted on facing page: \u201cSome of these cattle had come over 1,000 miles road & rail \u2013 distance here are not surprises!<\/p>\n

Send Mr. Fares\u00a0c\/o Gordon & Ironsides, Abattoirs, Winnipeg, Canada, send him one of Robinson\u2019s egg lists!!\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On board the CP SS Alberta, Lake Superior, Friday Sepr. 16\/98. After finishing my journal yesterday, Thursday, morning, I had breakfast then prepared for posting. I wrote on a few post cards messages to some friends, Mr. Sinclair, Mr. Garden, James, Andrew, Mary\u00a0& a few lines to enclose for your worthy self with my diary. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wanderinggrocer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wanderinggrocer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wanderinggrocer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wanderinggrocer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wanderinggrocer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wanderinggrocer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":710,"href":"https:\/\/wanderinggrocer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions\/710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wanderinggrocer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wanderinggrocer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wanderinggrocer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}