Canadian History 1201

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The Canadian Pacific Railway

• Canadian History 1201
• October 4, 2004

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CPR.History

• Canadian Pacific Railway was formed to physically
  unite Canada from coast to coast.
• B.C joined in 1871 with the promise of a railway
  in ten years that would link it to central
  Canada.
• A railway would also be used to transport new
  settlers into western Canada
• Used to transport goods to market

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CPR.A Rough Start

• Pacific Railway Scandal (Review)
• When?
• Who was involved?
• What was the result?
• Who replaced John A. Macdonald in the
  1873 election?

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CPR.a new beginning

• John A. Macdonald returned to power in 1878
  continued govt policy of railway construction
• In 1880 George Stephen Donald Smith formed the
  new Canadian Pacific Railway Co
• CPR construction was directed by William
  Cornelius van Horne.

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CPR.Construction Challenges

• Check out pages 33-35 of Spotlight Canada focus
  on the following
• Geography
• Laborers
• Climate
• Personalities
• Money
• Lets complete a concept web on the board to
  summarize these

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Geography

• Physical features of the land such as hills,
  mountains, swamps, lakes, bogs all causes
  problems with railway construction
• Northern Ontario B.C. proved especially
  dangerous with respect to blasting of rock,
  tunnel construction, building of trestles over
  deep valley canyons

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Laborers

• Many of the laborers were immigrants to Canada
  from other countries
• Chinese workers played a major role on the B.C
  rail construction
• They worked cheaper than others were often
  given the most dangerous jobs

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Climate
What effect did climate play on construction?
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Personalities

• John A. MacdonaldCanadian Prime Minister
• George Stephen Donald Smith.formed the
  Canadian Pacific Railway Co. to construct the
  Canadian railway during the 1880s
• William Van Horne..supervised the construction
  process

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Money

• Land was sold to settlers to fund the railway
• Railway construction material could be brought
  into Canada free of taxes

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Railway Construction Pictures
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• Mountain Creek, B.C, 1880S

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Mountain Creek Bridge
"The Mountain Creek trestle looked so fragile
that one engineer refused to drive his engine
over it. Van Horne said that he would drive the
engine across himself. The engineer said, 'If you
ain't afraid of getting killed Mr. Van Horne,
with all your money, I ain't afraid either.' Van
Horne replied, 'We'll have a double funeral -- at
my expense of course.' The engine passed safely
over the bridge."
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The Last Spike
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What did the CPR mean to Canada?

• B.C was now linked to the rest of Canada
• New settlers could easily arrive in western
  Canada
• The railway made it easier to travel from coast
  to coast
• It encouraged trade within Canada because goods
  could be moved easier

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Other items

• Check out Supplies overhead
• Role of Chinese workers at historica minutes
• http//www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?ID10196

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Review

• Write a well constructed paragraph summarizing
  the railway construction during the 1880s.
• What effect did the geography, laborers,
  personalities play in the construction.
• What did the completion mean to our country.

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