History

• In 1871, British Columbia entered into Confederation with the promise of a transcontinental rail line in return, so the government of the new Dominion of Canada set out to build one within 10 years. Initially they favored a private company (Canada Pacific Co.) to build the railroad, but it was short-lived as both it and the Conservative government were brought down by the "Pacific Scandal," when it was discovered the contract had been awarded in return for generous financial contributions. It would not be until the Conservatives were back in power a number of years later that the railway project would once again move forward.
  
  On Feb. 16, 1881, the Canadian Pacific Railway was founded by a group associated with the Bank of Montreal and awarded the government contract. Incredibly, it took CPR less than five years to complete the line. The driving of the last spike took place on Nov. 7, 1885, at Craigellachie, British Columbia.
  
  

Purpose

• The government had several reasons to take on this costly project, the main one being fear of U.S. annexation of the Northwest. Politicians also saw the vast resource potential of the region and the government was aware of the need for fast military access to the area because of the growing resistance of the Red River Métis.
  
  

CPR Route

• Much to the dismay of prospectors and farmers, the route was altered by the CPR when they were awarded the government contract. Originally intended to run through the Yellowhead Pass and along the North Saskatchewan River, it shifted to a more southerly prairie route through the Kicking Horse Pass, Fort Calgary, Swift Current and Regina. By its completion, the railway was two-thirds longer than any other line in existence.
  
  

Cost

• The CPR cost the Canadian government approximately $63.5 million in public funds, $35 million in loans and 10.4 million hectares of Canada's best prairie land. It only took CPR three years to start recovering its losses. A trip from Vancouver to Montreal took an estimated 85 hours and cost $123.35 for a first-class ticket, expensive considering a railway laborer made only $2 a day.
  
  There was also considerable human cost. The construction of the British Columbian section alone, in which an estimated 15,000 Chinese workers were hired as cheap labor, cost hundreds of lives. There was a Chinese-Canadian saying that "for every foot of railway through the Fraser Canyon, a Chinese worker died."
  
  

Expansion

• Today, CPR has a 14,000-mile network across both Canada and the United States. The company expanded immensely over the years, comprising an extensive range of businesses, everything from forestry and mining to shipping and hotels. Known now as simply Canadian Pacific, the company was the second largest in the country by mid-1980.