Timothy Watkins

War was going on at the time in China. The Opium war so soldiers were in short supply. The big advantage to sending Engineers was the could be billed to the colony so it was no cost to the crown. A wonderful answer to the bureaucrats in London. Part civil engineer and army in one. The boundary commission was set up to establish the 49 parallel. They were put in charge of the construction. Survey and crowd control at the same time. All the engineers had been to college in England so were educated men. They were allowed to bring their wives or girlfriends if they chose and were offer 30 acres of land after their commission. Thast was later upped to 150 acres. This was immigration at no cost to the crown what a windfall! They built the North Road to Coquitlam and Kingsway. Then they set about building the Fraser canyon road and the Duffy lake road. This was named after the Irish sapper who froze to death whilst trying to walk home. They named the road after him. Beans and Bacon was the staple diet of the day but one man companied about having had it 23 times last month. By 1842 they had 142 men. Sapper Digby was the last man to join them and their last re union was in 1909. Timothy made what could have been a boring subject come alive and was well thanked by Marta B.