Silk Trains
This report was written by Lillian Thompson of the Dixon family, early settlers on what is now the Kildare range. She travelled on the silk trains where she met and married the conductor.
Silk trains were CPR cargo trains carrying expensive shipments of Oriental silk. The trains sped from Vancouver to merchants in Eastern Canada and the U S from 1900 to the 1930’s. The valuable cargo deteriorated rapidly and the market fluctuated daily so speed, security and safety were essential.
Silk arrived by C P ship in Vancouver, was loaded into airtight cars specially lined with varnished wood, sheathed in paper and sealed so that no damaging moisture or thieves could intrude.
Trains of up to 15 cars rushed from Vancouver to Thunder Bay in 15 hours less than the fastest passenger trains. The silk trains had preference over any others on the tracks: once a train carrying Prince Albert, and later George VI, was held on a siding while a silk train went through. The trains were discontinued in the 1930’s with the advent of air transportation and man made fibres.
Armed guards were the only passengers.
Uncle Bill (Dixon) got paid for these fast trips as an armed guard on these trains. Although he was apprenticed in law in Vancouver and couldn’t have had money otherwise for trips east he was able to pursue his romance with Aunt Edna and they were married when he became a lawyer.
A postcript to this story taken from ‘’ Canada’s Quilts’’ tells of a quilt made about 1907 that was filled with raw silk. One car of trainload of silk on its way to the east left the tracks in the Fraser Canyon near Hell’s Gate. The car broke open and tumbled into the river with the raw silk being carried downstream by the swift current. Much of it soon became entangled in the branches along its banks The river was at a rather high level at the time and as it returned to a more normal level people gathered the silk strands, washed it well to remove the silt and teased it to make fillings for quilts and comforters. The resulting product was greyish white or a light cream colour. This quilt, the work of Mr.& Mrs. Lars Petersen of Popkum B.C. is still in existence today.