Appendix: The Story of the Canadian Pacific Railway by Keith Morris

Appendix.

Canadian Pacific Development.

A Romance In Figures.

The Canadian Pacific railway is an international barometer. By the prosperity of the Company is judged the prosperity of the Dominion. On the stock exchanges of Europe and America every passing or permanent phase of Canadian economics and world politics is depicted in "the latest price of Can. Pacs.", in the nomenclature of the market.

The growth of Canada is represented in the growth of the C.P.R. To say the prosperity of the Canadian people has been made possible by the Canadian Pacific is merely to state an axiom.

On February 17th, 1881, the Canadian Pacific were incorporated under a Dominion Government charter, and during the intervening period the Company have advanced to the greatest transportation corporation in the world.

Under the original charter, the Dominion Government gave a subsidy to the Company of $25,000,000 in cash, 25,000,000 acres of land, and sections of railways, some built and others to be built, to the extent of 713 miles. To compensate the Company for the extra expense incurred in anticipating by five years the contract time for the completion of the railway further assistance was subsequently given by the Government, the most important being the purchase back, in 1886, of 4,528,676 acres of the land grant at $1.50 per acre.

The phenomenal and inspiring growth of the system may be illustrated in figures, and figures are, in the words of Scotland's national bard, "chiels that winna ding."

Since the first railway line was completed the growth in mileage has been rapid and continuous. The total length between the first termini, Montreal and Port Moody, was 2,285 miles, or to Vancouver, the present Western terminus, 2,898 miles. By 1910, the mileage was 10,480. In 1922 the C.P.R. and other controlled mileage had increased to 19,924 miles. Plans were announced for the construction of 97 miles of new lines during 1923. This will bring the mileage to 20,021 miles.

The railway equipment owned by the Company at the end of each of the fiscal years 1886, 1896, 1906, and 1922 respectively was:—Locomotives, 372; 584; 1,109; 2,255. Passenger Cars, 378; 709; 1,207; 2,857. Freight and Cattle Cars, 8,253; 15,162; 34,152; 90,542. Conductors' Vans, 178; 297; 658; 1,337. Boarding, Tool, and Auxilliary Cars and Steamshovels, 71; 554, 1,745; 6,868. Plans were announced for the increase of equipment during 1923, at a cost of $12,295,000, by 36 locomotives; 1,966 cars of various types; and 50 oil tanks.

The assets of the Company in railway property and equipment in 1922 were valued at $605,989,405.

The total amount of freight carried during each of the fiscal years, 1886, 1896, 1906 ,and 1922, respectively, was, in tonnage:—2,046,195; 4,442,055; 13,933,798; 27,744,586.

The number of passengers carried during each of the fiscal years, 1886, 1896, 1906, and 1922, respectively, was:—1,899,319; 3,029,887; 7,753,323; 14,436,764.

The growth of the Canadian Pacific Company's steamship interests has been equally phenomenal. In 1887 the Company inaugurated a trans-Pacific service, with three chartered vessels; in 1891 they joined the ranks of ocean steamship owners as possessors of three fast liners on the Pacific. In that year the Company also established their British Columbia Coast Service. Five years afterwards they acquired a fleet of steamers on the lakes in British Columbia. In 1903 the Canadian Pacific purchased the Elder Dempster Beaver Line, comprising fifteen vessels, thus inaugurating their service on the Atlantic.

In 1922 the Canadian Pacific Company owned and operated 62 ocean and coastal steamships, with a gross tonnage of 440,809 tons. The assets of the Company in ocean and coastal steamships were valued in 1922 at $59,787,250. In addition the Company owned and operated 24 lake and river steamships.

The Canadian Pacific Company have played the chief part in opening to settlement the prairie provinces of Western Canada and in placing people upon the land. They have been the most active and the most successful of all immigration agencies. In 1922 the Company had still a large area of their land of various sorts to dispose of, viz., 5,752,067 acres. Of this area irrigated land realised a record average of $61.73 per acre, and other land $15.06 per acre, the total average being $16.12 per acre. Twenty years ago the Canadian Pacific were selling their lands at an average value of $3.26 per acre.

The immense development of the Canadian Pacific Company since 1886 is illustrated in the following financial statement:—

Truly, a Romance in Figures.

An enterprise of the magnitude of the Canadian Pacific Company never reaches finality. They are constantly extending their ramifications, enlarging their facilities, conquering new fields and acquiring new business. During 1922, for example, the Company sold £3,087,000 in London and $2,000,000 in New York of 4 per cent. debenture stock, turning the proceeds into various betterments, while arrangements were made for spending, during 1923, $7,630,000 on roadway, the Chateau Frontenac Hotel, and miscellaneous works to improve facilities and effect economies, to build 97 miles of branch lines in the West, and to acquire new rolling stock at a cost of $12,295,000. The high credit the Company enjoy in the money markets enables them to make new capital expenditures without increasing fixed charges. 'The market for the Company's securities both in London and New York continues active and favourable' is a typical phrase in the annual reports of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

Copyright/Licence: The author or authors of this work died in 1964 or earlier, and this work was first published no later than 1964. Therefore, this work is in the public domain in Canada per sections 6 and 7 of the Copyright Act. See disclaimers.