WHEAT IN WESTERN CANADA 83 



have both doors sealed at the shipping point, so that on 

 the arrival of a train at Winnipeg it is impossible with- 

 out breaking the seals to look into the cars and see what 

 is inside them. It is therefore sometimes asked: how, in 

 the ease of a mixed train in which some of the cars con- 

 tain grain and other merchandise, does the car opener 

 know which cars to open ? The answer lies in the in- 

 formation given by the train conductor. The conductor 

 has a way hill for every car on his train, and the way bills 

 provide him with particulars of the origin of each car, 

 its destination, the shipper, the contents, etc. From these 

 way bills he writes out on a card a train list which shows 

 the number of each car and the nature of the contents. 

 On arrival of the train in the railway yard, he takes his 

 way bills and his train list to the railway yard office. 

 The way bills are then given to the clerk in the inspection 

 yard office and the train list is put into the hands of the 

 car opener. The car opener then goes out to the train 

 ahead of the samplers and yard foremen, looks at his train 

 list, and opens every car containing wheat, rye, oats, barley 

 and flax, but leaves untouched all those containing mer- 

 chandise, such as coal, wood, machinery, etc. It is thus 

 the conductor's train list which enables the car opener to 

 do his work with the necessary discrimination. 



The seals on railway cars are composed of a narrow 

 band of soft metal with a perforation at one end and a 

 bulb at the other. After the ribbon is put through the 

 hasp of the closed door, the end with the perforation is 

 pushed into an opening in the bulb. Two tiny split rings, 

 like those used for holding keys, hidden in the bulb, then 

 come into play and lock the two ends of the ribbon to- 

 gether. It is impossible to get at these rings without 

 breaking open the seals. The seals are all numbered, and 

 the railway company keeps a list of all those supplied to 



