

 |
RICHARD MOODY (PART 2)
.
Who surveyed the borderline from the
Pacific on through?
Spanned raging rivers and quarreled
through stone
Building roads to the Cariboo?
Who laid out each highway, townsite and
city street?
Upheld the Queen's law when necessity
called
as keepers of the peace
Architects, tradesmen these engineers all
Gentlemen scholars to answer the call
With shovel and pack, by compass and map
They tamed the wilds unruly
Here is a health to the Royal Engineers
and a cheer to Richard Moody


Choosing the site
for the capital was only the first of many tasks
performed by the Royal Engineers. At first one of
their most pressing jobs was to clear and survey
the site of the New Westminster and to construct
the first buildings for housing and
administration.
They surveyed town sites, laying out the
original streets and lots of Yale, Hope,
and Vancouver. The primary duty of the
Royal Engineers was to lay out and make
roads and trails throughout the lower
mainland and interior. The grandest road
construction project they were involved
with was the Cariboo Road, which provided
a desperately needed safe route for
transportation between the Lower Fraser
River and the Cariboo Goldfields. The
Royal Engineers risked their lives,
climbing cliffs and balancing on steep
ridges, to survey and map the route it
would take. |
|