Canadian Pacific Railway

When British Columbia joined Canada in 1871, a promise was made that a railway would be built between the new province and Ontario within ten years. Prime Minister John A. Macdonald championed the railway. He believed that it was crucial to the future of Canada. Without it, he believed Canada would lose its claim on the western territories to the United States, which was expanding rapidly westward.

Pacific Scandal

The railway was the most important political issue of the day. Its costs, its route, its schedule were points of bitter debate. In 1872, Macdonald ran out of money during a hard-fought election campaign. In desperation, he asked Sir Hugh Allan for cash and Allan agreed. Allan was one of the men trying to get the contract to build the railway. After Macdonald won the election, he gave the contract to Allan. When Macdonald's enemies uncovered this conflict of interest in 1873, they raised such a furore that Macdonald had to resign. It was called the "Pacific Scandal" because it involved the Pacific Railway. The new prime minister, Alexander Mackenzie, believed that Canada could not afford the railway, and he moved ahead very cautiously with the project.

Formation of the CPR

Work began in 1875 at Fort William, Ont., but it made little headway until after Macdonald regained power in 1878. Finally, in 1881, a group of Montreal financiers formed the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CPR). They received generous help from the government in the form of land, money, and a monopoly over rail transport between the CPR main line and the U.S. border for 20 years.

The CPR gave the task of building the longest railway in the world to a dynamic American engineer, Cornelius Van Horne. Van Horne was a brilliant organizer. In the six years before he took over, only 180 km of track had been laid. In his first year as general manager, the CPR laid almost 900 km.

Construction over the flat prairie moved about as fast as the men could drive the spikes. However, in the Canadian Shield, north of Lake Superior, crews had to blast their way with dynamite through the hard rock. In other areas whole sections of track sank into the spongy muskeg.

In British Columbia, construction crews carved narrow ledges into the mountain sides, tunnelled through solid rock, and erected flimsy bridges across the deep gorges and fast-moving rivers. There were not enough men available for such dangerous and heavy work. To complete the railway on time, the CPR brought thousands of workers from China. The Chinese workers were paid very low wages. Many died from accidents and disease. They were forced to live in squalid conditions in segregated camps. Yet without them the railway could not have been built.

By 1885 the CPR was running out of money. Workers went weeks without pay and protested with a strike. Macdonald wanted to help but he could not gain enough support. During the North-West Rebellion, Van Horne seized the chance to show how important the railway was to Canada. Using the partly completed line, he rushed soldiers to the West. The rebellion was soon over and Macdonald was able to raise the needed cash.

The Last Spike

On November 7, 1885, the line moving west met the line moving east at a small siding at Craigellachie, in the mountains of western B.C. Many of the businessmen, contractors, surveyors, and workers responsible for building the railway gathered there and Donald Smith drove the "last spike."

On June 28, 1886, the Pacific Express left Montreal. It reached Port Moody, B.C., on July 4. It was the first passenger train to travel across Canada.

Beyond Railways

The CPR expanded in the 1880s into telegraph services and hotels. It purchased ocean vessels in the 1890s and rapidly expanded its rail lines in the early 20th century. It moved into mining and organized Canadian Pacific Air Lines in 1942 (later called CP Air). In 1987 CP Air was bought by Pacific Western and the two companies became Canadian Airlines International.

Today, Canadian Pacific Ltd controls real estate, hotels, oil and gas, shipping and trucking, as well as railways. It is one of Canada's largest corporations and has over 30 000 employees.

Suggested Reading David Cruise and Alison Griffiths, Lords of the Line (1988); Stephen Mayles, William Van Horne (1976); William C. McKee, Trail of Iron: The CPR and the Birth of the West, 1880-1930 (1983); Christopher Moore, William Van Horne (1987); Keith Wilson, Donald Smith and the Canadian Pacific Railway (1978); Railways in Canada: The Iron Link (1982).