‘to Dawson, proceeding thence down the
Yukon and across to Fairbanks through a
sportsman’s paradise alive with moose, big-
horn sheep and grizzlies. Already there's
a good road running 200 miles north from
Prince George to Germansen’s Landing near
Finlay Forks which might have formed an
initial section of the highway.

To try out the possibilities of Route A,
Slim Williams and J. P. Logan, two young
Americans, set out from Fairbanks, Alaska,
for Hazelton with a motorcycle back in
May, 1939, just to show it could be done.
Two months later they reached Dawson.
Seventeen days later they turned up, be-
draggled and unshaven, at Whitehorse.
Then, following the telegraph trail to Car-
cross, Atlin and Telegraph Creek, they
struck south along the telegraph line near
the Fifth Cabin and eventually turned up,
somewhat the worse for wear, but still with
their motorcycle, at Hazelton, near the
southern terminus of the proposed highway.

Behind this telegraph line through the
heart of British Columbia lies another story

ada with the European telegraph system by
a line through British Columbia, Alaska,
across the Bering Straits and thence through
Russia. From Hiram Sibley, first president
of the Western Union Telegraph, he re-
ceived a cheque for $100,000, and another
for half that amount from Congress, with
their blessing on the enterprise.

From San Francisco a fleet of twenty-four
boats carried 500 men, 1200 miles of wire
and several tons of green glass insulators to
the mouth of the Fraser River. Although
the work proved onerous, on New Year's
Day, 1866, the Collins overland telegraph
pushed its way through the tangled forests
of British Columbia to the banks of the
Yukon, then Russian territory. From St.
Petersburg to Amur, Siberia, thousands of
miles of connecting line had also been con-
structed.

Suddenly the project blew up overnight.
Undefeated, Cyrus W. Field had stayed
with the submarine cable, and on July 27
America and Europe spoke to each other
by cable for the first time in history. The

Fort Nelson today. Machine shop in connection

of an attempt to open communication with
the outside world by way of the wilderness.
In 1858, after facing tremendous odds,
Cyrus W. Field had all but completed the
laying of a submarine cable between Am-
erica and England when it parted in mid-
Atlantic. Three more abortive attempts con-
vinced everyone but Field that the trans
Atlantic cable idea was nothing but a pipe
dream.

Watching Field’s failures, another Am-
erican, Peter Collins, decided it would be
easier to string a cable connecting the con-
tinents across the Bering Straits than across
the Atlantic. From the British Columbia
and Russian governments he obtained per-
mission to link the United States and Can-

SUMMER EDITION

with new airport link in aerial “Bomber Road.”

overland telegraph, through thousands of
miles of wilderness, was not required. And
for years thereafter squaws amused beady-
eyed papooses with shining glass insulators,
and be-decked their necks and wrists with
copper wire.

CHAIN OF WELL-EQUIPPED AIRPORTS

Instead of following Routes A or B, the
new highway will start east of the Rocky
Mountain chain and follow the aerial bomb-
er road rushed to completion last summer
to link Alaskan defences with the United
States by air. This consists of a chain of
fully equipped airports bridging the 2,000
miles of wilderness between Edmonton and
Whitehorse. The first is at Grande Prairie

Imperial Service |

Station

GORDON PRAT, Proprietor y
IMPERIAL PRODUCTS

Welding, General Repairs,

Lubrication

Phone 131
Beacon at 2nd, Sidney, B.C.

EAST ROAD SERVICE
and GENERAL STORE

H. D. Hansen
Phone Sidney 111

HOME GAS and OILS

SIDNEY, B.C.

Phone 31

LOCAL MEAT
MARKET

A. D. Harvey

Dealers in

DRESSED MEATS
FISH AND
FRESH VEGETABLES
*

Sidney, B.C.

Phone Sidney 135-R

COAL AND RANGE OIL

SIDNEY
FREIGHT SERVICE

(Brethour & Shade)

Sidney, V.I., B.C.

SIDNEY TRADING

CO. LTD.

G. A. COCHRAN, Manager

ASCOMPLETE LINE OF
GROCERIES, HARDWARE

and BOAT SUPPLIES
Phones 17 and 18

Beacon Ave. Sidney, B. C.

Page Seventeen