including the hit poem Sweet Marie, inspired 
by his second wife. This poem was set to 
music by Raymon Moore and became a 
popular success in 1893 (and was later 
featured in the 1947 film Life With Father). 
One of his notable works, Tales Of An 
Engineer: With Rhymes Of The Rail (1895), is 
a collection of poems and stories capturing 
the rhythm and energy of the railroads 
and those who worked on them. Along 
with authoring 17 books, he was a regular 
contributor to magazines like The Youth's 
Companion and Harper's Weekly, where 
his vivid depictions of Western life and the 
rugged and adventurous spirit of railroaders 
and the landscapes they traversed 
captured readers' imaginations. His literary 
contributions earned him a respected place 
in early Western American literature.
Warman and his wife lived in New York, 
Washington for several years from where 
they travelled Europe, the Far East, and 
Alaska, settling in 1899 in London, Ontario, 
where he did consulting and writing work 
for the Grand Trunk Railway. Around 1904, 
Western Canada experienced a railway 
construction boom, with the Canadian 
Northern rail line expanding across the 
western territories. Warman travelled 
with the rail crews, writing about the rail 
line expansion which helped encourage 
immigration to the newly-formed provinces 
of Saskatchewan and Alberta.
 
On April 11, 1914, Cy Warman died in Chicago 
after suffering a stroke that left him 
paralyzed and ill for several months.
In 1905, the settlement initially known 
as "Diamond," named for the diamond-
shaped intersection of the Grand Trunk and 
Canadian Pacific railway lines, was renamed 
Warman. This name honoured Cy Warman, 
recognizing the city's origins as a railway hub 
and its deep connection to the rail system.
123
Will the Lights Be White?
Oft, when I feel my engine swerve,
As o’er strange rails we fare,
I strain my eye around the curve
For what awaits us there.
When swift and free she carries me
Through yards unknown at night,
I look along the line to see
That all the lamps are white.
The blue light marks the crippled car,
The green light signals slow;
The red light is a danger light,
The white light, “Let her go.”
Again the open fields we roam,
And, when the night is fair,
I look up in the starry dome
And wonder what’s up there.
For who can speak for those who dwell
Behind the curving sky?
No man has ever lived to tell
Just what it means to die.
Swift toward life’s terminal I trend,
The run seems short tonight;
God only knows what’s at the end –
I hope the lamps are white.
From the book of songs and rhymes, 
Songs of Cy Warman, 1911
Cy Warman married his first wife, 
Ida Blanche Hays, in 1879 and 
they had one daughter, Charlotte 
in 1881. Ida died in childbirth (as 
did the baby) in 1887. Cy married 
his second wife, Myrtle Marie 
Jones, in 1892. They had three 
sons: Dana Cy, born in 1894, Bryan 
in 1896, and Robert in 1897, and a 
daughter, Vonda Marie, in 1899. 
(Vonda, Saskatchewan is named 
after her.)

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