Previously, Constable Bigumpound stopped a hanging on the Mile 53 dock.
While on their trek back towards the Siems-Carey office, Sam gave Joe more details of his experiences at the shipbuilding yards at Mile 51.
"Last year I had a job building the skid ways and slip ways at Mile 51. During the time when we were busy doing the skid ways, parts of the conveyor and operator were arriving all the time. Those steamships came all the way from Victoria. Foley, Welsh and Steward had them disassembled and the pieces were shipped up here in ten railway cars. The train that brought them came up to Calgary from New Westminster, by way of Victoria, then over to Edmonton and Fitzhugh.
"From there the parts were shipped to Resplendent and were packed over here, to Tte Jaune, on the tote road. It was a tough job for them freighters. The two engine boilers took two and a half months to get here and traveled down the Fraser River and over two hefty waterfalls!" he said, referring to Rearguard Falls.
"When the boat-builders had the hulls reassembled we slid them into the water and down stream to Mile 52. That's when we tried getting them past the bend in the river. The water was so shallow, engineers set up donkey engines to winch the boats over the gravel bed. We finally got the hulls down to the wharfs at Mile 53 where the reconstruction was completed."
Joe interrupted: "When do the paddle-wheelers come back for their second season?"
"Well," said Sam, "I figure, any time now they'll be getting ready to send them back down from South Fort George."
When they came near the office building, Sam went in first to explain about the river accident and the loss of one of the company's canoes.
Ten minutes later Joe was given the all clear signal from Sam who stood smiling in the doorway. Sam came outside for a smoke and pointed to the shipping office over his shoulder with his thumb.
Mr. Bates welcomed Joe as he entered the room and then announced, "I've got news for you, Joe! The B.C. Express Shipping Company is looking for additional crew members for the coming season. They're hiring men to work on their main steamship, the B.C. Express."
Working on a paddle-wheeler sounds good to me, thought Joe to himself. This could be a real turning point in my life. Who knows? I may even get to be captain someday.
"Well, what do you think of their offer?" enquired Bates. "I think you should take the job."
Joe looked out the shipping office window. Sam was smoking a cigar on the front steps. He turned to Bates and said, "Yes, I'll take that job. Where do I sign up?"
The next episode is The Captain's Tour.
In the next episode, Captain Baker arrives at Tte Jaune Cache and prepares for an inspection trip of the Fraser River.
