By extremely “dizzy” speed I was landed at the end of the track, 180 miles from Winnipeg, on the evening of the 9th (4 days).  My outfit consisted of three assistant engineers and the necessary paraphernalia for three complete camps, 30 days’ provisions (which turned out to be about 20), 11 carts and ponies, the latter being extremely poor after a winter’s diet on buffalo grass and no grain.  On the 18th day of May I had my division organized and camps in running order.  The country was literally under water, dry ground being the exception, and I look upon the feat of getting across the country at all as the engineering triumph of my life.

On May 20 a genuine blizzard set in, lasting 24 hours, snowed five inches, and froze the sloughs over with half an inch of ice, a decidedly interesting event to the writer, as he was 18 miles from the nearest wood, therefore lay in his blankets and ate hard tack.  I stabled my ponies in the cook tent, and after they had literally eaten of the sod inside the tent, I divided my floor with them.

On 28th day of May I saw the first contractor, who broke ground at station 7,150.  On the 1st of June I was relieved from this division, and ordered to take the next, 50 miles west.  On the 13th day of June ground was broken on this division, at station 8,070, or only about 62 miles west of the east end of the 500-mile contract.  It looked at this time as though they might build 150 miles, but not more.  But from this time on very rapid progress was made.  On July 17 the track reached station 7,000, making however up to this time but about 50 miles of track-laying, including that laid on the old grade; but large forces were put on to surfacing, and the track already laid was put in excellent condition for getting material to the front.  The weather from this until the freezing-up was all that could be desired.  Work ceased about the 1st of January, 1883, for the season, and the final estimate for the work was as follows:  6,103,986 cubic yards earth excavation, 2,395,750 feet B.M. timber in bridges and the culverts, 85,708 lineal feet piling, 435 miles of track-laying.  This work was all done in 182 working days, including stormy ones, when little, if anything, could be done, making a daily average of 33,548 yards excavation, 13,150 feet B.M. timber, 471 feet piling, 2-38/100 miles track-laying.  We never had an accurate force report made of the whole line, but roughly there were employed 5,000 men and 1,700 teams.

The admirable organization of the contractors was something wonderful.  The grading work was practically all done by sub-contractors, Messrs. Langdon, Sheppard & Co. confining themselves to putting in the supplies and doing the bridge work, surfacing, and track-laying.  The grading forces were scattered along about 150 miles ahead of the track and supply stores, established about 50 miles apart, and in no case were sub-contractors expected to haul supplies over 100 miles.  If I remember rightly, there were four trains of about forty wagons each, hauling supplies from the end of track to the stores.