Hello all.
The part about this story that bothers me most is the return movements.
Though I'm still skeptical, I can reluctantly accept that the CPR and
Canadian government may have managed to pull off such movements under
wartime censorship, but if these moves occurred in 1919, then it is very
curious as to why they would have been so completely hushed up. It
would be very interesting to know how the actual cars hauling these
labourers had been fixed up.
For one thing, were the windows blocked up so that nobody could see in
or out? Otherwise, many hundreds of Chinese faces peering out windows
would have had to have been noticed. Blanked out windows would have
immediately aroused curiosity.
I wonder if the truth of the matter is that these trains moved
(especially homeward bound) essentially disguised as something else.
There may have been the numbers of Chinese, but the story accompanying
the trains was plausible enough that suspicions weren't raised.
Another factor enters into this concerning the homeward movements in
1919. From my research, I understand that the railways were heavily
challenged in 1919 to move returning veterans across the country. The
Chinese moves must have occurred later in the year as equipment became
available. My first reaction is to doubt that the Chinese got priority
over returning soldiers. However, when I think about contemporary
accounts of the 1919 demobilization, there were plenty of complaints as
to how all that was handled, so maybe the Chinese DID go home first.
Instead of bringing home the longest serving soldiers first, the
Canadian government demobilized at home first and brought the overseas
crowd home later. Not a popular move! So, if we can pin down exact
dates of train movements, we may finally have an explanation for the
seeming incongruous delay in bringing overseas troops home in late
1918-1919.
Given the the distortions that attach themselves to both minor and major
events with the passage of time, it will be very interesting to see if
this story can be completely substantiated and detailed.
Joe Smuin
Doug Rhodes wrote:
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From: "Doug Rhodes" <drhodes@...>
Hello all
Many thanks to all those who have contributed to this discussion!
I'll try to address some of the notes that came in:
Bill Baird said that it seemed unlikely these trains could have run
through his area, as with all the "talk" that railroaders exchange
about anything that is "different" it seems impossible that we would
not have heard of it before. That's pretty much what people I
contacted
locally said - so much gets passed down in discussions on the job or
in
other "local" venues, how could this have stayed a secret all these
years? People familiar with the mainline and the KVR in BC had similar
comments to Bill's - but the records at National Defense and the
National Archives are way too specific to just write this story off as
I was tempted to do.
Several folks entered into a lively discussion about the train photo
included in the article. Impeccable logic, and much more erudite
regarding steam than I am! But perhaps not quite correct ... you were
all relying on my observations after all, and I am not a steam maven.
That feedwater heater is pretty hard to miss, but I could not actually
see all the wheels under the tender. The tender is a long one, and I
had seen these referred to in "Steam in Canada" as 6-wheel long haul
tenders. However a more detailed troll through that book shows that
many steam engines had long tenders with 4 wheel trucks. Several list
members also pointed this out. So thanks to those who reasoned from
their greater knowledge of 12 wheel tenders that the photo must have
been more modern - perfect logic but maybe I led you a little astray
there through my own ignorance.
However, I'm still pretty suspicious about that photo. As Ray Matthews
pointed out, our friends at the Archives can be a little "loose" with
technical data on photos, and magazines often just print something
that
"looks right" without much background research. Nonetheless, my look
at
"Steam in Canada" shows some heavier 4-6-2 locos with feedwater
heaters
that were put in service in 1919 and the years following. The trains
returning the Chinese to the Pacific coast were supposed to have run
in
late 1919. Also the consist in the photo looks right (as far as one
can
tell) for the descriptions in the article. A big clue came when Don
Scott in one of his notes indicated that CP pioneered the use of
feedwater heaters about 1927-1928. So, it may have seemed reasonable
to
the magazine to use this photo, but with Don's expert knowledge, it
looks like we may have caught them out!
I've been able to confirm from a couple of independent sources that
there WERE large numbers of Chinese labourers at the western front in
World War 1. However, how they got there (and home again) is still a
very interesting puzzle!
Thanks to all who have helped with this mystery. I have a couple more
ideas to run down bits of the story. I'll keep the list posted, and if
any one else can add some more thoughts or references, please do!
Doug
Victoria, BC
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C-P-R "Canadian Pacific Railway"
