Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

THE ROMANCE OF BANKING 267United States and Europe, which was at its height from 1900to 1905, and coincided with the construction of new transcontinentalrailways, created a situation where new townssprang into being almost hi a night.of the new-comersManyhad ample means and were eager to avail themselves of bankingfacilities. The more progressive Canadian chartered bankswere on the keen look-out for favourable locations for newbranches. They did not wait for the advent of the railway,but sought to anticipate the prosperity that the lines of steel,slowly reaching out across the prairie, would be sure to bring.It was realized that the first bank to put up its sign and toopen its books was in a position to make the strongest bid forthe business of the future. "Beating the other fellow to it"acquired a sporting interest almost as stimulating as "claimjumping" in the early mining days. For aggressive outdoormen, of the type prevalent among the staff of The CanadianBank of Commerce, the incidents of those days of rush andenterprise are cherished recollections. They assuredly neededall the stimulus that the sport of the thing could give them,for they had to endure perils of cold, blizzard and flood. Insome instances they took their wives with them, and to thesebrave girls the memories of their first winters, in places whichare now towns and cities gay with social life, recall the experiencesof their grandmothers and great-grandmothers in theearly days of settlement in eastern Canada.The story of the opening at Vegreville, in NorthernAlberta, is thus recounted by the officer entrusted with thetask: "Acting on telegraphic instructions from head office, Ileft Edmonton, in company with a junior clerk and a driver, at8.30 p.m., on September 8, 1905. The only horses we wereable to procure for the trip (a distance of about ninety milesby trail) were a team of only partly broken cayuses. Wemade Fort Saskatchewan late that night, and after a fewhours' sleep were ready to continue the journey at 5.30 thenext morning. I had placed our grip, containing fivethousand dollars in currency and several hundred dollars in