Snow started unusually early in British Columbia in October 1899, and the weather forced Karl to deviate from his planned route and travel south into America for better weather.

On October 23rd, he arrived in Spokane, Washington, providing a summary report to the local Truro ‘Daily’ news:

“Snow had fallen all through the boundary country BC unusually early this fall, and about the time I got started through there I found 8 inches of snow on the main road, consequently I was obliged to come further south to get a road to the coast.

Large quantities of rain have fallen in these parts during the last two weekends and wheeling is bad. It took me over a week to come from Rossland, 145 miles to Spokane. I got lost twice from the trail and once I got back to the right trail again by putting my wheel into a 6 horse freight wagon, riding about 10 miles on it, over a rough mountain road, so narrow, that to pass another team was almost impossible. Often 4 of the horses would be down in the mud and finally one was disabled and killed. We averaged 2 miles an hour that afternoon.

I will go to Seattle along the Great Northern or the Northern Pacific One route is all sand and the other is mud, so I am undecided which way to go. But after finding out which railway track is the best wheeling I will make another break for the West. It is 5 or 6 hundred miles to Vancouver yet so it will be a few days yet before I get to that town.

Rain is falling every day over on the sound so it will be too late for me to wheel to San Francisco…I picked up a ‘Daily’ a week or so ago and hardly knew it for the several improvements you have made on it, in size and style, etc.

Yours in great haste, Karl M. Creelman

PS: I wheeled through 5 of 6 inches of snow for 20 miles the other day in BC and after getting down the hills it was mud and rain. Crossing America on a bike is no snap.

In December 1896, two railway lines connected Rossland, Canada, to Spokane, Washington. A train station and port of entry were established, named Sheep Creek after a nearby stream. Karl’s travel book includes a Canadian Customs stamp dated October 15, 1899, from Sheep Creek, when he crossed the Canadian border into America. (Include image of stamp)

A year later, in July 1900, the customs house was renamed Paterson, possibly in honour of Archie William Paterson, Canada's Minister of Customs, or Thomas Wilson Paterson, a railway manager and later lieutenant governor. The train station followed suit, renamed Paterson in 1905. Today, the Frontier–Paterson border operates from a 1950s-era station, open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

When I arrived at this border, there were no line-ups; I seemed to be the only person crossing—effortlessly venturing into Newport, Washington State, in a "snap" or, should I say, like a walk in a park!