Conventional photographs of railway construction workers typically show several men perched on bridge girders suspended precariously over a river, masses of men swarming around complicated equipment, or still larger numbers lined up in front of, or on top of, a locomotive or a bunkhouse-boxcar. Railway construction was considered the work of rough and tough men. In other seasons they worked as agricultural labourers, miners or loggers or idled their winters away in the city. This photo is unusual since it shows five women operating horse drawn graders used in the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway near Viking, Alberta, in 1907.
A considerable amount of the work associated with railway construction, especially track-bed preparation, was contracted out to local businessmen who tendered bids to construct designated sections of line. If their bid was successful, they assembled their equipment and crews as cheaply as they could. If "the only women graders on the GTP" were not just posing for the camera, then they were probably working for this outfit either because there were no men available cheaply enough, or because they were related to the contractor.
