I thought while we were stopped at Winnipeg, I would catch up on some of the private labels I omitted on our trip East. The first is a Vancouver jeweler Grassi with a Waltham 1883 CPR movement.

Grassi & Co. Vancouver B.C. Waltham 1883 CPR movement 10586402.

Hamilton Grade #941 dial marked "Armstrong's Railroad Special"

Hamilton #941 movement.

Larry -

Received a question today via email from one of the contributors to the 50 state private-label thread ...

Do you consider the Waltham Dominion Railway as a Canadian private-label applicable to this thread?

Fred

Fred:

Yes I believe Waltham Dominion Railway watches are Canadian Private labels. I will comment on this subject when I get to Nova Scotia on this thread.

Larry

Hamilton dial on #924 Grassi, Vancouver

Hamilton #924 movement Grassi, Vancouver B.C.

First CPR railway station Vancouver B.C.

Postcard views of the Vancouver B.C.'s Union Station built for the Great Northern Railway, and
the Neoclassical Revival, Pacific Central Station was completed in 1919 for the Canadian Northern Railway, it is the only transcontinental passenger train station still in operation and is served by Via Rail, and Amtrak

CPR's second Vancouver Depot, called the Waterfront Station, was built in 1911, although the station is not used for long-distance passenger train service anymore. The beautiful building has been preserved and is used for Light Rail Transit on Vancouver's "Skytrain" And for the “Seabus” a catamaran ferry that links downtown Vancouver with North Vancouver by water across Burrard Inlet.

Watson Brothers Calgary Waltham dial

Watson Brothers Waltham 1892 movement

D.E.Black's store at 118 8th Ave. SW, Calgary Alberta, it's on the right hand side of the Avenue west of the drugstore and under the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) sign. it was formerly LH Doll store and block. Watsons Brothers Diamond Hall was further West up the Avenue. Across the Avenue from the drugstore is the old Victoria Hotel, I remember drinking draft beer there back in the 1960s. A lot of old engineers and conductors who worked passenger out of Calgary hung out there when off-duty. The Glenbow Museum now stands on this site.

CPR freight yards in East Calgary note Freight Sheds being built on the left side of the postcard circa 1907.

The success of building the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1883 started an unprecedented boom in railway building across this country, two of the contractors who helped build the CPR across the prairies West of Winnipeg, William McKenzie and Donald Mann dreamt of building their own railway and incorporated the Canadian Northern Railway in 1899 it took 20 years to complete it ran West of Winnipeg across Saskatchewan to Saskatoon and through Edmonton the capital of Alberta which was completed in 1905, while this Northern route was longer the grades through the Rocky Mountains on the Yellow Head Pass were less severe. The rail went through Jasper Alberta to Kamloops British Columbia where it then followed alongside the CPR route to Vancouver and was finished in 1915. It ran east of Winnipeg to Montréal, Québec

The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was incorporated in 1903, its mainline ran from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Prince Rupert, British Columbia a distance of 2982 miles. It was built to allow the Grand Trunk Railway in eastern Canada to compete with the Canadian Pacific Railway in western Canada. Construction began in 1905 and the line was opened on April 9, 1914 its route from Winnipeg ran westerly to Edmonton, Alberta, and across the Rocky Mountains using the Yellowhead Pass, then along the Fraser and Skeena Rivers to the Port of Prince Rupert. Several branch lines were built one to Regina, Saskatchewan and Calgary, Alberta and a connection was built between Sioux Outlook, and Fort William, Ontario to move grain traffic to the Great Lakes. The railway was the brainchild of Grand Trunk's president Charles Melville Hayes who was returning from a trip to England where he had arranged financing for the railway, unfortunately he had booked passage on the Titanic and was lost at sea when it sank April 1912. This was the end of his dream and the railway slid into bankruptcy in 1919.

All this construction was a great benefit to the city of Winnipeg, it became a important hub for supplying goods to Western Canada with its railway connections to eastern Canada, and its access to the United States through Minneapolis and St. Paul. Eaton's Stores of Toronto (similar to Sears in the United States) had a large mail-order distribution warehouse in Winnipeg, and it was the Canadian headquarters for the Ball Watch Company of Cleveland Ohio. The Burlington Watch Company also had an outlet based there.

Winnipeg's CPR freight yard

Hamilton Grand Trunk Pacific Special Time Service dial.

Hamilton #940 GTPSTS movement Serial #512205.

Time for us to depart Winnipeg for the East, we are out of the Prairies and our next stop is the Divisional Point of Kenora 125 mi. east of Winnipeg this is forested country on the shore of Lake of the Woods it was formerly known as Rat Portage here are couple of private-label watches from a local jeweler.

#926 Hamilton W. A. Ferguson Special dial.

#926 Hamilton movement Serial #407281.