that the Canadian Pacific railway never had any occasion to ballast the track on the “Big Hill.” The engines performed this operation spontaneously and automatically in their labour, and to far better effect than would have been possible by ordinary means. Considerable excitement was experienced in its construction. According to some of the men whom I met, and who had been connected with the grading through the Kicking Horse Pass, the ballast trains failed time after time to secure a grip on the metals, and with their driving-wheels spinning round madly in the forward direction they skidded backwards down-hill. Now and again there would be a nasty smash, in which engine and the ballast cars were mixed up in an inextricable heap. It is reported even that on one occasion, while the snow-plough was out clearing the drift on the “Hill,” the driver of the locomotive lost the plough, and did not discover the fact until he had gained the top, although he was pushing the snow-clearing apparatus! It was so difficult to keep the wheel gripping the rails that he did not notice the difference in the resistance when the snow-plough went over one side. From the Government’s strict point of view the Canadian Pacific was not completed until about two years ago, although trains have been running between the Atlantic and Pacific for some thirty years. The authorities pointed out that the grade was an essential part of the contract, and yet, in order to pass through the Kicking Horse Pass, the company had exceeded that grade to a very considerable extent. Consequently eight miles of line was non-existent so far as the Government was concerned, and it declined to contribute any subsidy to that short length of the railway. Two years ago compliance was made with the Government’s agreement. The route through the Kicking Horse Pass was re-aligned. This piece of work was carried out by the late J. E. Schwitzer, and from its daring nature it will always stand as a monument to his engineering ability. He cut out the “Big Hill” entirely. Where previously a bank rising 1 in 22¼ existed for 4.1 miles, he provided a stretch of line double the length and of one-half the gradient, so that the engines only have to overcome a climb of 1 in 45½.