Transcontinental Motor Car Journey Across Canada

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Earlier we told you about the REO that was used in the Transcontinental Motor Car Journey Across Canada, from Halifax to Vancouver in 1912. On one of the pictures we showed a rather nervous looking man - Jack Haney - driving the car over two thin wooden beams.

Peter Findlay commented on the article and told us "The 1912 cross-Canada REO trip was well documented in local photos and newspapers as well as in the book A motor tour through Canada written by Englishman Thomas Wilby, who is in the rear in this photo. The driver was Jack Haney, a REO factory mechanic who was supplied by the company to make the trip a success. It was Wilby's trip, but it was only due to Haney's driving skills, mechanical work, and some engineering genius that they managed to make it across the country.

Driving across the beams was rather tame compared to driving along the railway tracks at night after being assured that there were no more trains scheduled until morning, or driving through a rugged B.C. canyon at night, high above the river, with only the light of a lantern being held by a passenger laying over the front fender."

That must have been a real adventure! Recently we found some more pictures of the trip.

But Peter's story continues… "My father's retirement dream was to re-create this trip in his own 1912 REO. So, in 1997 we followed the original route and schedule, completing the trip in 54 days. We were accompanied by my mother and a writer, Mr John Nicol, who wrote the book The All-Red Route about the 1997 trip. Along the way, we took many "then and now" pictures to compare the two trips. The REO made the 5000-mile trip with no problems." How wonderful! This will definitely be continued...

After the 1912 trip, the cross-Canada REO was shipped by rail back to the REO factory at St. Catherines, where it in all likelihood returned to regular use. Does anyone know if the car is still around?

Words by the editor.Photographs courtesy B.C. Archives and the City of Vancouver Archives.

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