At the end of March, 1912 the lWW led a strike of approximately 6,000 workers on the CN line between Hope and Kamloops. They hoped, above all, to achieve improved living conditions. The men set up their own camps, established commissaries, and imposed a system of discipline on the line. It was a violent but effective strike. The songs which Wobbly bard, Joe Hill composed for the stiffs undoubtedly lent solidarity to their effort. One of Canada's finest labour songs, "Where the Fraser River Flows," came out of this strike. At the end of April, the BC government came to the aid of its political railway. Provincial police began raiding lWW halls and strike camps and driving men who refused to work out of the construction zone. In all, over 200 Wobblies were jailed. This photograph shows strikers being rounded up at Savona.
