Show STUDENT LIFE 104 to the Cardovan district The terminal point was the town v'hich lay on the western side of Silver Zone pass This place was the goal and the railroad reaching it first would be the vicThe most available and tor cheapest route was through Silver Zone pass and both roads were striving to secure an entrance through it As winter neared it was evident that the scene of struggle would be at the pass The X C & S Railway had let Tlicr-mopol- is the contract for building the road to the Western Construction Co The terms were peculiar as it was specified that should the Construction company fail to secure the route through the pass it must build the road over a neighboring hill at the same cost per mile as it would have cost through the pass and he ready by January first Failure meant an enormous expense to the Construction company and a loss of profits on the summer’s work On account of the difficulties encountered the Construction company placed as superintendent over the work their most experienced man Dan Fitzmaurice an old railroad man of thirty years experience As November days came on the task became more difficult and the became Construction company more anxious as to the general outcome Finally conditions reached a crisis when the T and T W Railway people carried the case to the State Supreme court which declared the pass neutral ground and that the railroad which ran a train through it first would have legal right of way This simply meant that there could he no temporary road bed build over the pass so as to hold the right of way but it meant that a continuous track must he built so that a locomotive and train could pass It was plain that the construction train would fill the legal requirements The T and T W people were nearest to the pass and were straining every effort to reach it first It was just at this stage that Fitzmaurice of the Western Construction company was sent to the hospital with his legs broken as a result of a runaway accident The Construction people hastened their general superintendent to the scene When he got to the Construction camp he found more trouble The labor employed on the work was entirely foreign composed of Greeks Italians and Austrians When they realized the importance of their position they became arbitrary and made demands of the Construction company At firjd these demands were met but as they became more unreasonable the company hesitated and discontent arose When Fitzmaurice became helpless the “hooligans” seized the opportunity and called a “strike” Everything was tied up when General Superintendent Henderson of the Construction company |