C.P.R. Manitoba District Engineer’s Office 7 Se 1878 Marcus Smith letter to his wife.
Lot 33 in our auction Saturday 10th July 2021
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Canadian Pacific Railway
Manitoba District, Engineer’s Office
Winnipeg, Sept. 7th 1878
My dear Wife
I arrived here a few days ago pretty well used up by a tramp of more than 50 miles over a rough country and half formed railway with weather very hot. There was a lot of office business to attend to at once then I had to go out on the Pembria line two days which were cold and wet and we had to camp on the bleak prairie with only one fence rail for firing- but on the whole I feel though tired all the better for the trip- I had two or three letters from you- glad to learn all are well, and that Tom paid you a visit- he is really a good boy and it is well that he is so as he must be the mainstay of yourself and his brother and sisters as William has been to his- I feel constantly getting feebler and though I could get on very well for a few years yet in charge of works I could hardly stand another season’s harassment in Ottawa such as I had last winter nor do I think I could ever work under Fleming again, after the insulting manner he treated me professionally on his last visit- besides the works are conducted in a disgraceful manner ruinous to the country through the incompetence of those he puts in charge strong favoritism and must be exposed at no distant day- I have just had a letter from G. Lowe Reid of Brighton. He says our profession is still very dull in England he has seen Fleming lately- who hypocritically said he was extremely sorry for the course I had taken &.c- I took the straight forward honest course and reported conscientiously to the Govt. having no right to suppose- whatever I might suspect- that they had any motive to act dishonestly or underhand in a great national question- he took the sneaking course of finding out what the Govt. wanted and acted accordingly- ignoring me altogether, and keeping me in the dark as to what he was reporting even up to the last moment both in regard to the work to be done and the assistants to be appointed &.c-
Mr. Whitehead the best contractor on the line- a Yorkshiremen- has made a proposition to me to join him in tending for the new work advertised between Lake Superior and Rat portage- he was a member of Parliament and on Mackenzie’s side- but there is hardly a chance of getting anything except at prices too low to make anything by- but he has plenty of plans and in a better position to do work than any one in the Province. I shall also look out for other things and something may possibly turn up- I enclose a note to Brophy-
Love and Kisses to all,
Yours ever
M. Smith
