Tag Archives: diary

January 15, 1913 aboard the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway….

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….or what would become the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway! Clem mentions “the car” which is, of course, the railcar where they lived throughout the construction project.  No mention of the temperature today, but it did snow.  So much for today’s weather report!

Here’s today’s entry in “Lest We Forget”:

Steve and I in the car all day keeping on the fire.  Weather about the same as yesterday with a little snow.  No work all day.  I went out in the afternoon an (sic) started to clean the flat car.  I just got it cleaned when it started to snow.  All that work for nothing.  Cullerne came home on the mixed about 4.30 PM.  I wrote home to father.

 

Winter Scenes...Huge Snow Removal Car Up Front

Winter Scenes…Huge Snow Removal Car Up Front

Much warmer on January 13, 1913 near Spruce Grove, Alberta in “Lest We Forget”

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Weather much warmer about 20⁰.  We did nothing but clean up the car in the morning.  Steve and I walked to Spruce Grove on rail drainage.  Walked both ways eight miles.  After we started it started to snow and it lasted it till we got back at 4.30 and the car was very cold.

[From the diary of Clem Dickson “Lest We Forget” on the 100th anniversay of his entry while building the Grand Truck Pacific Railway in Alberta Canada]

Cold Snap Continues in “Lest We Forget” Saturday, January 11, 1913

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The cold snap conitnues and yet Clem and Steve still made it “uptown” for some relaxation.

Saturday, January 11, 1913:

Same old story stayed in the car all day could not work as it was only 35 below.  We found it bad enough to go to our meals.  I had to get up at 5.30 to put on a fire or we might have been frozen.  Steve and I went uptown and played 4 games of pool then went back to the car.  The first pool we played for some days.

“lest we forget” that it was 35 below zero on January 10 1913!!!

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When he describes the weather that day, he states that it was “35 below”. Now that’s cold! But keep in mind that he’s talking about 35 degrees Celsius, not that 35 degrees Celsius is tropical….That’s still pretty cold!

At any rate, here’s the entry for January 10, 1913 in Saskatchewan. I know it’s Saskatchewan because there are references to “Spruce Grove” and other towns that are in that Province:

Friday, January 10, 1913
Weather a little colder only 35 below this morn. I got up at 5 oclock to put on more fire but I didn’t stay up very long. About 10 oclock the sun came up and it got much warmer. Tonight it is getting much colder. Now about 15⁰ below.

Clem Dickson Diary “Lest We Forget” Wednesday, January 8, 1913

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Keep in mind that when my grandfather, Clem Dickson, wrote this diary 100 years ago, he was working on the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad in northwest Canada, a bitterly cold and primal wilderness .  He worked with the team that was responsible for construction westward from Winnipeg, Manitoba toward the team that began in Prince Rupert, British Columbia and worked eastward toward Winnipeg a total distance of about 1,500 miles.

[NOTE: I make no attempt to interpret what he wrote.  What I’ll be posting every day this year is a simple transcription of each page of the diary as he wrote it.]

Here’s the entry:

Stayed in the 7 spot all day and kept on the fire all day.  Weather was about 24 below and a cold wind blowing the same as day before and snow blowing.  Wrote two letters in the afternoon one to J/A/ R. Bob Dickson Nan(?)

Lest We Forget for January 7, 1913

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The sign reads: “SUMMIT of YELLOWHEAD PASS and WEST BOUNDARY of JASPER PARK ALTA.”  Each corner has the name of the railroad, “GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RAILWAY”.  Clem Dickson, arms folded, stands just above the word “TRUNK” over the upper right hand corner.

The left side of the sign reads, “PRINCE RUPERT 498 MILES” and the right reads, “WINNIPEG 1045 MILES”.  It looks as though the team heading west out of Winnipeg was making better time than the eastbound team out of Prince Rupert.  That makes sense as the Prince Rupert team had a much more difficult job!

Yellowhead Pass, Jasper Park, Alberta, Canada

Here’s Clem’s diary entry for Tuesday,January 7, 1913

Left north yards at 930 for Story Plan (sic).  Arrived at Stony Plain 11 oclock had dinner at the hotel.  The weather a little colder.  The wind was very high and cold.  Snowed a little all day. Weather about 23 below.  Cullerne went to town was in all day came out on the 1118 train.

Lest We Forget

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Clement A Dickson, the Dickson Family Patriarch

This will be a series of blogs that I should have started January 1st. By sheer luck, I happen to have the diary that my maternal grandfather kept while he worked for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railroad. He made an entry every day during the year 1913. That’s right; the diary is exactly 100 years old. It was written in pencil as a bottle of ink for an ink pen would have frozen in a heartbeat in Northwest Canada in the winter! What follows is as close to an accurate transcription that I can produce, warts and all!

His handwriting leaves a great deal to be desired, but it’s function rather than form here that’s important to me. Truthfully, the entries are, by and large, extremely boring. But every once in a while, something is written that piques my interest. I’ll let you be the judge.

Clement Alexis Dickson was born in Williamstown, Glengarry County, Ontario in 1888. As a young man, he went off to help build the Grand Truck Pacific Railroad. It is reputed to have been the most expensive section of a railroad ever built in North America at $112,000 per mile which roughly converts to $2,600,000 in today’s dollars. It was built from 2 directions: Winnipeg, Manitoba west and Prince Rupert, British Columbia east.

To get us up to date, here’s 01 JAN 1913 through 06 JAN 1913:

Wednesday January 1, 1913
This being the first day of the new year. We went into Edmonton Cullerne, Steve and I. Had dinner at the Royal George then took in a show at the Empire. Mr Cullerne bought the three tickets. Then had the pleasure to walk home two miles after the show. The weather was very mild.

Thursday January 2, 1913
We went out to work at 1030 A.M. to get plus (sic) of the oil house. In the afternoon, L. St V. went to town about 1.30. About 4.30 I went in on the train to have a skate that night. I got in about 5.30 went to the rink and had my skates sharpen (sic). I found out that there was a bunch of the caps going out to prac(tice) at 6.30 so I went out with them and had some time with them. Got home about 130 A.M.

Friday, January 3, 1913
This morning we had to get up a (sic) 6 oclock much against our will. We went over town to run levels on a drain for Jan is on over at Strathcona. We had to work till 1.30 took dinner at Strathcona came over to the city. Alvin Cullerne let us do as we like on $2.00 but we got ( ) and he will know the rent. We came home on the 10 oclock train. Cullerne stayed in town with a cold.

Saturday, January 4, 1913
Got up at 10 oclock this morning, went over to Johns to breakfast, then came back and had a little sleep till 1 oclock then went over to dinner and the same thing this afternoon. Mr Cullerne still in town with a cold.

Sunday, January 5, 1913
Got up at 9 oclock had breakfast. The first thing on sunday is washing day had a big washing stang (sic) out side door on 7 spot in the afternoon 20 below. After super (sic) we stayed in the car at north yards all evening. I wrote three letters one home the other two L. J. A. D.

Monday, January 6, 1913
The weather is about the same maybe a little colder. We did nothing but stayed in the 7 spot. About 4.30 I got the train and went to Edmonton for a skate had a little workout with Esk. From 630 to 7.30. Then met Cullerne and we got all the instruments and came out to the north yard at 10 oclock