Volume 13    Number 14    26 October 1983

Trail of Iron Was a Labour of Love for Authors Who Traced CPR Past

by Ralph Wilson
 

Georgeen Klassen.

Calgary - It's called "Trail of Iron", and it was a labour of love for the Glenbow Alberta Institute's Bill McKee and Georgeen Klassen, the co-authors.
 
"Trail of Iron" is the companion piece of the Glenbow Museum's Great CPR Exposition, which opened in Calgary on 11 August 1983 and continues through 13 May 1984.
 
Mrs. Klassen and Mr. McKee spent hundreds of hours of detailed research and travelled across Canada reviewing dozens of private and public collections in preparation of the book, which chronicles the impact of the CPR on the making of Western Canada.
 
Giant Jigsaw Puzzle
 
"We dealt with a great volume of material. It was much like piecing together a giant jigsaw puzzle", Mrs. Klassen said during a recent interview.
 
While Mr. McKee poured through the millions of words of history, Mrs. Klassen sorted through more than 5,000 photographs collected from the Glenbow Archives as well as Canadian Pacific's Corporate Archives and numerous collections from coast to coast.
 
"There were more than a few suprises", Mrs. Klassen said. "We found some wonderful photographs we never knew existed".
 
These included pictures stored at the Interior Photo Bank in Kelowna, BC, and a collection owned by Taylor Stoess, of Vancouver, whose grandfather was involved in the construction of bridges and snowsheds for the CPR.
 
"We contacted virtually every public archives in Canada and received excellent co-operation from everyone", Mrs. Klassen said.
 
Research for "Trail of Iron" began in earnest more than two years ago when the Glenbow first began the monumental task of organizing the Great CPR Exposition.
 
"I know Bill sorted through a vast volume of material and we both worked very closely with Ruth Fraser ( of Douglas and McIntyre, the book's publishers ) in editing the material. Omer Lavallee of CP's Corporate Archives was also indispensable... he was marvellous", she said.
 
Aside from dealing with a mammoth amount of research material and making decisions as to what was to be included, Mr. McKee and Mrs. Klassen also had to expand on some areas where information and material was scarce.
 
"There were many areas that had to be amplified. Bill asked several of our staff to prepare research papers on various topics, including Crowsnest Pass and the meat industry... the industrial areas. Bill made considerable use of those papers. So, really, the finished product was a collective effort involving the talents of many, many people".
 
Hours of Devotion
 
The first draft was completed in November, 1982, and then the process of fine-tuning began, a task nearly as difficult as the initial preparation itself. A second draft was produced and, after several revisions, the final version was ready - about six months ago.
 
"Bill devoted many, many, long hours to the preparation of the final text. But I know it was a labour of love for him, as it has been for me. We're both very, very, pleased with the result. It was a deeply committed effort", said Mrs. Klassen.
 
One of Mrs. Klassen's sincerest hopes is that "Trail of Iron" will make its way into schools across Canada. "I sincerely hope it's seen by the school children. We've tried as best we could to accurately chronicle the impact of the railway on the development of the country. We believe it is an important book", she said.
 
Bill McKee was born in Vancouver and graduated from the University of Victoria with a Master of Arts degree in history. He served as an archivist with the Vancouver City Archives for six years and joined the Glenbow as chief archivist in 1979.
 
Georgeen Klassen was born and educated in Scotland. She joined the Glenbow in 1962, becoming assistant chief archivist of the Glenbow Alberta Institute in 1968 where she had particular responsibility for the photography section of the archives.