Building The Canadian Pacific Railway.

Historical grabs of people, line and locomotives.

Canadian Pacific Railway Crew laying tracks at lower Fraser Valley, 1883. By Unknown author — Canadian Pacific Railway, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22943526

Lethbridge Railroad Bridge, Alberta, Canada. Picture by Richard Peat from Arborfield, UK — Geocaching in Lethbridge (3), CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2223096. (Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

John Alexander Macdonald, first prime minister of Canada, in 1867. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=678469. (Copyright expired. As a pre-1946 Canadian image, also public domain in the United States).

Building Canadian Pacific Railway,
Task originally started under
government of Prime Minister
John A. Macdonald
1st Canadian Ministry,
British Columbia being
four-months sea voyage
away from East Coast
insisted upon land
transport link to
East as condition for
joining Confederation.

Bribery scandal 1873,
Conservatives removed
from office,
Liberal government
ordered construction of
segments of railway as
public enterprise under
supervision of
Department Public Works,
Surveying carried out
then telegraph built
following agreed route,
By 1880
around 700 miles
nearly complete with
trains using 300 miles.

Macdonald returned to
power 16 Oct 1878,
21 Oct 1880 new
arrangements made,
New syndicate agreement
Collingwood Schreiber
appointed chief engineer and
general manager of
all government railways,
Syndicate agreed to
build railway for
$25 million in credit and
grant of 25 million acres,
Government defrayed
surveying costs and
exempted railway from
property taxes for 20 years,
15 Feb 1881
legislation confirming
contract received
royal assent and
Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CPR)
formally incorporated next day.

Building the Railway

The system in 1906, soon after the construction of the transcontinental railway. By Morgan-Grampian — https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Engineer/vGC_bysUoTEC?hl=en&gbpv=0, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=95471147. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1928.

Building railway took
over four years with
bickering and controversy,
CPR chose southerly route,
Closer to Canada–US border,
Making it easier for
CPR to keep
American railways from
encroaching on
Canadian market.

Southerly route had
several disadvantages:
Route selected without
knowing if path
existed through
Selkirk Mountains,
Finally April 1881
pass discovered.

Route passed through
Blackfoot First Nation
requiring careful
negotiations that
certainly seemed
unfair to my
twentieth century eyes.

Greatest issue,
Kicking Horse Pass at
Alberta-British Columbia
border on continental divide,
Long stretch of
very steep gradient,
Despite safety precautions
serious runaways occurred
including first locomotive to
descend the line.

3D model of the Spiral Tunnels and Highway 1 (black). Picture by S.Wetzel, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15992728 (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license).

Took 25 years until
completion of
Spiral Tunnels in
early 20th century
before gradient
risk resolved.

Last spike in CPR
driven on 7 Nov 1885
by one of directors
Donald Smith.

First Transcontinental Train arrives in Port Arthur on 30 June 1886. By Unknown author — Library and Archives Canada/Image # C-014464, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2247644. This media file is in the public domain in the United States.

No29 was built in the Canadian Pacific Railway’s new shops in 1887 and rebuilt for coal fuel in or about 1913 Original no 390 class SA 1. No.29 was the last CPR steam locomotive to pull an official train on November 6 1960 and now resides out front of the main CPR offices in Calgary on display. No.29 is depicted as she would have been fitted in 1960. Photograph by Bernard Spragg. NZ from Christchurch, New Zealand, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. (Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication).

Engine №374 is the Canadian Pacific Railway locomotive that pulled the first transcontinental passenger train to arrive in Vancouver, arriving on May 23, 1887. This was a year after sister Engine №371 brought the first train to cross Canada into Port Moody, roughly 20 miles to the east. Picture shows 374 in Vancouver, BC. Picture by Ɱ — Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=85981766. (Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license).

Acknowledgment.

Story suggested by my head
following comments by
my good friend
Debra Groves Harman, MEd.

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