Two steel ribbons that tie our nation together were not easy to accomplish, it was a long, exhausting journey that cost many men their lives and also made many men rich.
The railway's history begins with Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick joining the Confederation of Canada in 1867. Other provinces were not convinced enough to join, and one of these provinces was British Columbia. British Columbia had a choice, they could become part of the United States of America, or they could join the recently formed Dominion of Canada. Canada had one disadvantage, they did not have a transcontinental railway that could link them to British Columbia, and the United States did.
In 1871, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald promised British Columbia that they would have a transcontinental railway in ten years. This proposal was to entice them to join the Confederation. This was the reason for the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
The railway did not do so well at first. The government needed a private company to build the railroad. John A. MacDonald set aside $30 000 000 dollars and 50 000 0001 acres to get the job done. Everyone was satisfied that their Prime Minister had found the right man, Hugh Allan. Hugh Allan was an industrialist and shipping mega-man and Canada was convinced that he could get the job done the fastest and at the best quality. The Liberal government stumbled across something that they found most interesting, they found that Hugh Allan had given the Conservative government large sums of money for their campaign in return for the building rights of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Now, the Liberals knew that Canada's Prime Minister would have to resign, and now the Liberals were destine for power. The Liberals did not seem so much as interested in building a railway than the Conservatives, so they slowed down, and almost stopped work on the railway. Sure enough, the Conservatives got elected back in power, and now the could set their minds to completing this railway.
The ground breaking ceremony took place in Fort William (the present day Thunder Bay) and was conducted by Judge Van Norman on June 1st, 1875. Still, the future of the Canadian Pacific did not look so bright. The 10 year deadline to have the transcontinental railway finished was fast approaching, since years were wasted with The Liberals and Hugh Allan.
All that Hugh Allan was looking for was to become the president of the C.P.R., and to get an everlasting lock on Canada's transportation economy. In 1878 Allan's deal was ended. Allan had only made a few railway construction starts in Western and Eastern Ontario. All his years were a huge waste of time, and British Columbia was becoming less convinced that Canada would be able to connect them with the rest of the nation.
The government had to act fast, so John A. MacDonald hired Andrew Onderdonk. Andrew Onderdonk was an American who favoured the way that the Americans built railways; get as much done as cheaply as possible. But what labourers would want to work for cheap pay and dangerous conditions? Andrew Onderdonk had the right solution, he would ship in boatloads containing thousands of Chinese labourers.
Instead of hacking away at a mountain with a pick-axe, which could take months to complete, Andrew favoured the method of blowing the side of the mountain up with dynamite. In order to keep construction costs down, he used nitroglycerin. Nitroglycerin, defined by Gage Canadian Dictionary is 'a heavy, oily, explosive liquid made by treating glycerin with nitric and sulphuric acids'. Nitroglycerin is also very unstable, which means it could explode at the lightest of rumbles making it very dangerous to handle. This is why nobody would want to place the explosive inside the tunneling shafts. The supervisors on the job would bribe the labourers with a few cents raise if they came out of the cave alive. Another problem which caused a dangerous work environment was the chance of an avalanche. If you heard avalanche, it was probably already too late. One avalanche would put the crews months behind schedule, because of the clean up, and the replacement of equipment.
Over the construction period of the Canadian Pacific Railway some 8002 people lost their lives, and most of them where Chinese. This number amounts to about 6 percent of the total Asian railway builders at the time. This is a catastrophic number. While Andrew Onderdonk worked on completing Ontario and the Eastern Prairies, Prime Minister John A. MacDonald looked for another man to fund the completion of the central and eastern prairies, and this man was Donald A. Smith. But the 1881 construction season was disasterous, as only 211 kilometers of track was laid.
What the Canadian Pacific Railway needed was a man of action. That particular man would be William Corneluis Van Horne. Van Horne was becoming more popular in the United States, so C.P.R offered him a salary of $15 000 a year to lure him away from a promising job down on the Milwaukee Road. Van Horne proudly boasted that he could build 800 kilometres of new main line track in his first year, 589 more kilometres than the 1881 building season. That did not happen, partly because of flooding, which postponed that construction season. William Corneluis Van Horne still built 673 kilometres of main line track, and 177 kilometres of branch line track, bringing that to a total of 850 kilometres of track, which was a great accomplishment for the C.P.R.3
The Canadian Pacific's hardest task was upon them, to cross the unforgiving Rocky Mountains. The major task would be to go over an especially difficult region. Sandford Fleming's Yellowhead Pass on the original plan was changed, instead they hired a willing, and eager man Major A.B. Rogers. He found a better region to cross, and he named it the Kicking Horse Pass.4 He was also promised a $5 000 dollar bonus, if he was to find a pass over the more treacherous Selkirks. He did, and he named it after himself, and to this day it is still known as Rogers Pass. He got the $5 000 bonus, but instead of cashing the cheque, he framed it and hung it on his wall. William Corneluis Van Horne finally persuaded him to cash the cheque by bribing him with a gold watch.
But now, after over ten years of construction, it was completed. The C.P.R. was finally joined together in Craigellachie, in British Columbia. Donald Smith had the pleasure of driving the last spike, and since everyone's not perfect, he missed on the first try, but finally on the second try he hit it square in the middle, echoing throughout Canada, marking one of Canada's greatest accomplishments.
The Canadian Pacific Railway's history didn't end there, it actually goes on for many more decades. An important part of the C.P.R. which you can still see if you cross any tracks is the abundance of telegraph lines. The telegraph lines made it possible for someone in Ontario to telegraph someone British Columbia. This was a profitable decision for the Canadian Pacific Railway and created many more jobs, such as telegraph operator, and telegraph deliverer.
The C.P.R. also started to build and assemble steam locomotives and passenger cars, making them one of the two companies in North America to do so. The other company is the Pullman Company of Chicago, Illinois, and is still in business today.
Another industry that was profitable, and also made the Canadian Pacific famous for luxury was their elegant, remarkable hotels. Some of the more famous hotels include The Lake Louise, in Lake Louise, Alberta5, The Royal York in Toronto, Ontario6, The Banff Springs, in Banff, Alberta7, and the more interesting and famous Chateau Laurier in our nations capitol, Ottawa8. The Chateau Laurier has a more fascinating history to it. The founder of the Chateau Laurier was Melville Hays, and he was expected to take the Titanic home from England to open the hotel. Unfortunately Melville Hays did not make it home as of the tragic sinking of the Titanic, but instead Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier cut the ribbon at the Chateau Laurier
The Canadian Pacific Railroad has been through some tough times, such as when the Canadian National Railways was formed. C.N.R. was also a government establishment to take control of all of Canada's bankrupt and abandoned railways.
Canadian Pacific's greatest challenge was when World War II broke out, and C.P.R. was at Canada's army's disposal. The Canadian Pacific Railway transported ground troops and tanks. Canadian Pacific also had a fleet of 22 ships, which all went to war, and sadly to say only 10 returned.9
The Canadian Pacific Railway has operated many great locomotives, such as the Class 300 Jubilee, which holds the Canadian speed record, for reaching a speed of 180 kilometres per hour10, and the engineer's most favourable, The Royal Hudson.
The sounds and smells of steam could never be forgotten, but by this generation, they almost have. Now we have moved from the steam age, to the diesel age, and are now in the electric age, and we will soon be in the magnetic elevation age. Magnetic elevation also called MagLev11, and the Japanese have discovered how to make trains levitate above the tracks, and will be able to travel to speed approaching 500 kilometres per hour12. Already the United States sounds interested in it and is considering getting rid their system, Amtrak and replacing it with MagLev13.
The Canadian Pacific Railroad Company has lived for over a century, and it was not all easy, some small sections of track cost almost a million dollars per kilometre, and yet the company has still pulled through. On October 3, 2001 the Canadian Pacific Finally broke off into five different companies; Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadian Pacific Ships, Fairmont Hotels, Fording Coal and PanCan Energy14. Yet, some could say, this is only a new beginning of another generation of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
