Item is an original Canadian Pacific Railway telegraph ledger containing approximately 1000 original handwritten transcribed telegrams sent and received during the period April 18 to June 26, 1885, during the final months of the North-West Resistance. It appears this ledger was created and later kept by John Myers Egan, while he was General Superintendent of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Western Division, from 1882-1886, with the headquarters located at Winnipeg. It is likely that most of the telegrams in this ledger were sent from, or received at this Winnipeg office, where the telegraph system was located, and the incoming and outgoing telegrams transcribed by Egan, or another telegraph operator. The CPR had offered its train and telegraph services to move troops and supplies and facilitate communication during the Resistance. Many of the telegrams were also sent from or to the Clark's Crossing telegraph station near Batoche, and relate to the battles around Batoche and Battleford. Others were sent from or to Swift Current, Saskatchewan Landing, Fish Creek, Walsh, Qu'Appelle and Fort Pitt. Besides John Egan, other individuals sending and/or receiving the telegrams, or names referenced throughout the telegram collection include Frederick D. Middleton, Mrs. Middleton, Edgar Dewdney, Hon. A.P. Caron, William Bell, General Strange, Chiefs Pasqua, Big Bear, and Poundmaker, John A. MacDonald, and Louis Riel. The telegrams make reference to attack strategies, casualties at various battles, request for supplies, and the capture of Riel. There are many long dispatches to newspaper offices describing updates on the battles.
Notable telegrams include:
- John A. MacDonald to Chiefs Pasqua and Muskowptena, April 24, 1885, regarding parliament carrying out promises made in treaty (page 27).
- Dispatch (from reporter?) to Winnipeg Sun and Times newspapers, April 27, 1885, with detailed update on battles (pages 71, 72).
- Detailed dispatch updating events from (unclear) to J.M. Egan, May 10, 1885 (pages 108-111).
- H. Swinford to Col. Jackson regarding getting ammmunition to Gen. Middleton because of "hard fighting at the front", May 12, 1885 (p. 129).
- Telegram from (unclear - E. Warner?) to J.M. Egan, May 16, 1885, regarding the capture of Riel the day earlier (p. 189).
- A.P. Caron to "Officer in Command", May 21st, 1885, regarding the transportation of Riel and other prisoners to Regina instead of Winnipeg (p. 193).
- C. Fitzpatrick and (F. Lemiux? - unclear) to Louis Riel at Common Goal, Regina, regarding Riel's brother being asked "to come here immediately", June 15, 1885 (p. 212).
- Several telegrams from June 10 to 26, 1885 regarding the search for Big Bear (pages 213 to 222).
- Middleton to A.P. Caron, June 26, 1885, stating that "the object of the campaign has been attained - Riel's party defeated and broken up, himself a prisoner" (p. 212).
Item also includes a letter from D.C. Shepard to John Egan, while Egan was Vice-President of the Central of Georgia Railway Company, dated September 13, 1899, and Shepard's memoir which he enclosed with the letter. He states that the memoir was prepared "last year", which would have been 1898. The memoir outlines Shepard's career as chief engineer in the construction of railways in the United States and Canada. Also included with Shepard's correspondence to Egan is an article from "The Railway Age", dated December 27, 1883, which details the places and length (in miles) of railway track laid in the United States and Canada.