David Guay 248 pages softcover
The untold history of two giants of early-twentieth-century Canadian railroads. A chronicle of the all-too-brief shipping ventures of two of Canada s great railways of the early twentieth century: The Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern Railways. A variety of vessels helped to build and serve these two railways, including sidewheel, sternwheel, and propeller steamers, tugboats and barges. Passenger and merchant ships served B.C., Alaska, Washington State, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, and Canadian Maritime and European ports. This was before navigational aids, in a time when groundings, shipwrecks, and sinkings often claimed lives. These same steamship lines played an important role in World War I, when many Canadian vessels were used by the British Admiralty to ferry men and war supplies. Numerous troopships and freighters were torpedoed, and Canadian Northern s entire transatlantic fleet was virtually obliterated. Illustrated with contemporary photographs and drawings, this book pays tribute to these two trailblazing Canadian railway greats.
