Hugh Macintyre's Journey

I am very excited! One of the goals of History Check is to tell the sequence of events or for users to find related content. I am writing the first of these using a diary from 1912. Hugh kept a well written diary that described people, places and the way of life of the era. Below is the first draft of the first Point of Interest along that journey to be placed in Edmonton.

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Imagine yourself a young man, coming across country from Pipestone Manitoba by train in 1912. Your job, to go by wagon to what is now Spirit River, to claim homestead land, but not to break & plow but to abandon so that the Edmonton Dunvegan & British Columbia Railway can purchase it. The section was later to become the Spirit River townsite.

Such is the story of Hugh Macintyre who arrived in Alberta’s capital on March 17, 1912 along with Donald Campbell, Thomas McNicol and Alexander Morrison. 

Hugh’s kept a well-written account of the journey in the form of a diary that can be found in the Provincial Archives of Alberta. This Point of Interest is the first of that journey. 

Put yourself in Hugh’s place. He was a small town boy from Pipestone Manitoba who entire municipal population in 1911 numbered just over 3,000. Winnipeg being the first city he had in seven years and he was on a cross-country tour to homestead land for the “Great Man”, J.D. McArthur, builder of the Edmonton Dunvegan and British Columbia railway.

His adventure started in Winnipeg, being shown the sites, going to restaurants and the theatre. He probably felt like he was in the lap of luxury. His curiosity and excitement almost ensured Winnipeg was the last stop as he was taken to see the power sub-station and a man named Bob explained the different engines.  

“I was very much interested but the thing that struck me most was the fact that had I reached up about 4 ft. and touched a certain innocent looking copper rod – Hugh M would have been a very small cinder in much less time that it takes to write it down. That scares me.”

They left on a Saturday afternoon, taking the train to Edmonton. “The most remarkable feature of the trip was up was the dining car. This was something quite out of the ordinary for me. It was no new experience to travel on the cars but to eat a meal on the diner ------!“

“Mr. McArthur was on the train too but we saw very little of him. Mr. McNicol had lots of opportunity to lounge around with the big bugs but – to his credit and no doubt he shows his good taste – he prefers to be with us lesser fry (or to be consistent the ‘lesser fleas’).”

Hugh’s narrative changed with his experience. He describes the country on this cross-country excursion as “rough and broken”, and “very bad indeed”. “I have seen no remarkable country since I left and certainly nothing our of Manitoba to compare with our own district and another noteworthy fact – have not seen such a neat clean little town as our own – [no not] on the whole trip. “

His tune changed after taking the train to Edson.  “I must comment on the excellent road-bed from [Winnipeg] to Edmonton. I think without exception it is one of the best I have travelled over- certainly the best in this country. The only fault I have to find with the system is that it only touches at the principal towns on the way up.

Follow Hugh’s journey to Spirit River. His diary offers great insight into the conditions, the people and the trail. This is the first of many Points of Interest, and each will be titled Hugh Macintyre’s Journey. You can search them on History Check using Hugh Macintyre where you will be able to choose from a list or the map to follow along. 

Reference Material: Provincial Archives of Alberta – PAA PR 1186 - ACC 82.38