Click on the images below to enlarge them

"Rotary Crew and Outfit" shows the business end of Rotary No. 2, possibly at Glacier Station.

"Rotary Snow Plow on Tunnel Mountain" gives an idea of what battling the Coastal Mountains is like after an early-season snowfall. By mid-winter, this would be considered a very easy job. Photo by Harry Barley, 1899.

Rotary No. 1 on the descent from White Pass Summit to Fraser, B.C., on April 19, 1998. At least 400 people lined the highway, and followed the plow's progress for hours.

As you can see, weather and snow conditions were near ideal, both for the plow and the audience.

The magic of steam! The Caterpillars may clear the tracks quicker and more efficiently now, but the mood of the people watching this show was almost as much fun as the plow itself.

A photographer on snowshoes (to the left), and cross-country skiers join in the adventure. This is the kind of day that makes winter in the North a pleasure, not an ordeal.

Approaching Fraser, where it took a great deal of work to bust through the snow and gravel blown off the highway without blowing the windows out of the Customs Office!

As the unit got past Fraser, it started to snow - light at first, then heavier and heavier. With the Rotary very near the highway for much of the way to Log Cabin, this was a perfect way to end the day.

The historic photos are from originals in the writer's collection; the colour photos are all © 1998-2007 by Murray Lundberg, and are not to be reproduced without permission.

The Rotary's Last Trip, October 1968