Port Moody, B.C. 26 June 1881 Marcus Smith 3-page letter to his wife
Lot 98 in our auction Saturday 6th November 2021
#canadianrailwaysurvey #britishcolumbiahistory #marcussmith #bchistory
Port Moody June 26th/81
My dear Wife
I have received two letters from you- glad to learn you are all well- The surveys are fairly commenced and I have been forced to do some very hard work- owing to the incompetency of the assistant Ailyn who has had very little experience and is naturally very dull & stupid- Gamsby is very little better. He has hitherto got on by always having good assistants but knows nothing himself- has no brains but for old woman’s gossip- has no instruments, never had any in his life nor does he care about the work- We are camped at the head of the South arm of Burrard inlet- which is a cul de sac (pudding bag) surrounded by high hills coming steeply down to the water’s edge covered with huge trees- some nearly 200 feet long and are 6 feet diameter- half of them fallen so that the whole ground is covered with these and roots and dense underbrush so you may guess what sort of a place it is to get across- add to this the discomfort of being almost always wet- It has been raining heavily the last 24 hours in fact rain is the normal conditions- We hope to get out of this in 10 days and get on to more open ground- I am well except a chronic soar throat and gums- no doubt caused by the excessive humidity-
I expect another party out soon after which I shall not have to do assistant’s work and my headquarters will be at the Old Government house about a mile and a half above New Westminster- on the bank of the Fraser- Most of my travelling will be by canoe. But I can have a horse to ride if I want it- I hope you will enjoy yourself during the summer- If you don’t go down the St. Lawrence go often out by boat &c.
Love & kisses to all
Yours ever
M. Smith
Address New Westminster
