The Canadian Pacific Railway The Steel Ribbon

The Canadian Pacific Railway The Steel Ribbon…

The Story of the CPR The first Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John A. Macdonald, dreams of a railroad that would connect the vast areas of Canada n

This railway would help transport people from the East to West and vice versa n Also, it would be a great hand in moving new immigrants from the East coast to the vast areas of land in the West n With this railway, farmers from the West could bring their products to the East n What an excellent idea! n

After being re-elected in 1872, Macdonald and the conservatives decide to begin on this project n The Canadian Pacific Railway, under Sir Hugh Allan, take over the construction n But then something went wrong… n Word got to Canadians that Allan and his friends had given Macdonald lots of cash to help him get elected, in return for Macdonald to guarantee his company the right to build this railway. This was known as “The Pacific Scandal” n

This ‘bribe’ , ladies and gentlemen, cost Macdonald his job…for now at least… n Macdonald resigned, and the Liberal leader, Alexander Mackenzie took over as Prime Minister n Mackenzie saw this whole railway thing as a waste of time, too good to be true, and far too expensive n During Mackenzie’s 5 year term, a great economic depression set in… n

Canadian crops were attacked by insects (weevils and grasshoppers) n Many small businesses ran out of money because they could not compete with cheaper goods from the United States n The people of Canada blamed Mackenzie’s government… n

n 1878…Macdonald’s National Policy… Keep cheaper American goods out, and encourage Canadians to buy domestic products n Fill the rich prairie lands with settlers n Have the settlers of the West buy products from the East, and vice versa n And most importantly, continue the construction of the CPR. n

The Canadian people re-elected Macdonald in 1878. n By 1880, the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway is back in full throttle under the management of George Stephen and Donald A. Smith n

So before we go on, a little side note… n William Cornelius Van Horne – Railway supervisor who proved his success through his accomplishment on the CPR His idea was to work on the railroad at different places n We must understand that building the railroad was not a simple process…It entailed surveying the route by land by sea (through canoeing), and laying the track n Spikers would hammer in steel spikes to lay down the foundation for the railway n

Building problems… n In Northern Ontario: cutting down hills, filling in swamps, blasting through granite, lowering lake levels “two hundred miles of engineering impossibility” Van Horne Some swamps were really hard to get through, with mosquitoes and blackflies distracting the workers The Granite had to be blasted through with explosives, and many workers lost their lives doing this

n The Prairies: Even though the prairies were a little easier to get through because the land was more flat, it was still hard to lay the foundations for a railway Van Horne fired any workers who complained, because he was determined to finish as much of this project as possible in the least amount of time Stations along the prairies were used to store material and different gangs of workers were responsible for different parts of the railway

n The Mountains: This was the most difficult and dangerous part of building the railway Trestles (framework used as a bridge to support the railway tracks) had to be set up and built Sometimes, workers had to blast through rocks to make paths Other times, workers had to walk along narrow paths and on the edges of cliffs It was so dangerous that some claimed “every kilometre of tunnel and track was stained with blood along the British Columbia section of the line”

Meet the Builders… n The workers of the railway were called Navvies. They came from all over the world. They included: Americans, English, Scots, Irish, Italians, Swedes, Chinese, and Canadians

Chinese workers: Andrew Onderdonk, workers contractor in BC, brought in thousands of Chinese workers n These workers were often treated very badly and lived in terrible conditions n They also faced a lot of racism and discrimination n Often they were given the most dangerous jobs n They were ridiculously underpaid n

The Aboriginal Point of View… The aboriginals were very unhappy when the path of the railway swallowed parts of their land n Many on the Blackfoot (Siksika) reserve were very upset when it was decided that the railway would pass through their reserve, even though Treaty 7 had promised them full ownership of the reserve n Father Lacombe, a missionary, was able to diffuse this situation by promising Crowfoot, and the aboriginals, government compensation n

And, of course…Money Problem$ By 1885, bug parts of the railway were completed, but it was far from done n Not many people wanted to invest in this project, just yet, and the opposition in parliament were still against the idea of lending anymore money to this project n Workers were scared that they would not be getting paid, and began to strike n

However, it’s a Happy Ending… George Stephen and Donald Smith were able to put together 1 million dollars, and Macdonald secured another government loan to finish off the project n At 9: 22 a. m. on November 7, 1885, the last spike was hammered into the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Ribbon of Steel was finally in place… n

Donald Smith, the bearded man in the centre of the picture, hammers in the last spike of the CPR

First Passenger Train Ride… n n At 8: 00 p. m. on June 28, 1886, the first passenger train left Montreal. 139 hours later, it arrived at Port Moody, British Columbia, on July 4, 1886. The train was only one minute late This day was known as “red letter” day

First Trains n n Consisted of a baggage car, a luxurious first-class day car and sleeper, the dining car, and the colonist car The colonist cars would become very important as they transported new immigrants to Western Canada

As The Years Went On… The Mounties faced several attempts of robberies over the years. In one case near Kamloops, BC, a group of bandits stopped the train at gunpoint. The Mounties ended up arresting them two days later n Over the years, Van Horne promoted the railway through advertisements on the comfort of the trains, and CPR hotels. Artists were encouraged to paint pictures which were sent across the world n

Questions… Please answer number 1 -5 on page 169 n Additional questions: 1) Why was the construction of the CPR so important to British Columbia? 2) What kind of hardships did the Chinese workers endure? 3) Overall, was the CPR beneficial for Canadians or not? Why? n