Canadian Transport Sourcebook

Chapter 4: The Story of the Canadian Pacific Railway by Keith Morris

The Saving of British Columbia.

The Canadian Pacific Railway Company saved British Columbia for the British Empire. The driving of the last spike at Craigellachie automatically drove the last nail into the coffin of Separation, a policy which threatened the disruption of Confederation.

How serious that danger had become and how it was averted only by the linking by rail of the Dominion from East to West is recorded by Sir Charles Tupper in his memoirs. It is a record fraught with interest.

'The motives that impelled Sir John A. Macdonald and his colleagues at Ottawa to "round off" Confederation by adding the Province of British Columbia to the Union after the North West Territories had been acquired from the Hudson's Bay Company were based on national as well as Imperial considerations,' he says.

'What would have been the fate of British Columbia if it had remained isolated from Eastern Canada by an unexplored "sea of mountains" and vast, uninhabited prairies?

'There is no question that it would have inevitably resulted in the absorption of the Crown Colony on the Pacific Coast by the United States. Social and economic forces were working in that direction from the date of the discovery of gold in 1856. Thousands of adventurous American citizens flocked to British Columbia, and between the two countries there was a good deal of inter-communication by land and sea. Sir James Douglas, an ex-Governor, a prominent figure in the early days of the colony, was opposed to Confederation.

'Until his eleventh-hour conversion, ex-Governor Seymour entertained similar views. The appointment of Anthony Musgrave, a pro-Union man, in 1869, came at a psychological moment when the Imperial authorities in London were giving their ardent support to the cause dearest to the hearts of Canadian statesmen.

'The offer of the Dominion Government to build a railway from the head of the Great Lakes to the Pacific coast was the chief inducement that settled the political destiny of British Columbia. The story of the great difficulties encountered and the obstacles overcome in carrying out that gigantic and epoch-making project forms an interesting chapter in Canadian history. As Minister of Railways at the time, I had something to do with the preliminary negotiations and the carrying out of the work.

'The Government of Canada, having been successful in acquiring the North-West Territory, felt that the completion of Federation, both for national and Imperial considerations, involved the addition of British Columbia. Sir John A. Macdonald's views in regard to the wisdom of this step were shared just as strongly by every one of his colleagues. They realised that a federation, to be effective for a young nation, must represent a union extending from sea to sea. . . . .

'It would have been impossible to retain British Columbia as a Crown Colony if overtures in favour of the Union had not been made by the Dominion. How could it have been expected to remain British when it had no community of interest with the rest of Canada, from which its people were separated by two ranges of mountains and the vast prairie? Under the existing circumstances it had no means of advancement except by throwing in its lot with the great nation to the south, with which it had constant communication both by land and sea.

'We all felt that we were bound to make the hazard of incurring the large outlay for a transcontinental railway if Confederation from coast to coast was to be made a reality, and if the sovereignty of Britain was to be retained. . . . .

'The most potent of all the arguments for Union was the promise it held of promoting overland communication with Eastern Canada.'

In 1871 British Columbia entered Confederation. 'The main provisions upon which the Pacific coast province entered the Union ensured, in the first place, that the Dominion should assume all debts and liabilities of the colony, as well as undertake to build a railway from the head of the Great Lakes to the Pacific coast within ten years, and to commence actual railway construction within two years after the date of the Union. The idea of an all-rail route to Eastern Canada from British Columbia did not take shape until about 1880, as it was through that the needs of the situation could be met by providing steamboat communication between the head of the Great Lakes and the settled portions of Ontario.

'At that time there did not exist any road worthy of the name of highway across Southern British Columbia to the vast and lonely prairies. It is true that the Hudson Bay Company had its own trails through the northern and central sections of the province, but only for the purpose of packing in supplies or shipping of the fur catch. Of commerce in the ordinary sense there was none. Ordinary communication between British Columbia and Eastern Canada in those days had to be conducted via San Francisco or the Isthmus of Panama.'

Thus, in the words of one of the 'Fathers of Confederation' himself, is shown the dominating part of the proposed railway to the Pacific in the negotiations for the entrance of British Columbia into the Dominion of Canada.

The Canadian Government undertook to build the line, but a political upheaval and other causes prevented the fulfilment of the compact. In 1878, seven years after the agreement had been made, not one yard of railway had been built in British Columbia.

Feeling in the Pacific province became bitter in the extreme and threats of secession were openly made. The Attorney General was instructed, in 1874, to proceed to England to present a petition from the Executive Council of British Columbia to the Imperial Government complaining of the breach by the Dominion Government. He interviewed Lord Carnarvon, Secretary of State for the Colonies, who ultimately forwarded a despatch to the Governor General, Lord Dufferin, containing his recommendations, which became known as the 'Carnarvon Terms.'

The embittered state of public opinion in British Columbia was exemplified during the visit of Lord Dufferin to Victoria, in 1876. On one of the arches erected on the Governor General's line of route the words, 'Carnarvon Terms or Separation' had been inscribed. Lord Dufferin declined to pass under this arch unless the letter 'S' in the last word was altered to 'R'—a witty and diplomatic suggestion which was not adopted.

Six days later a deputation waited on the Governor General with an address in which reference was made to the unsatisfactory relations which existed between British Columbia and the Dominion, owing to the non-fulfilment of the terms of union, and stating that it was the opinion of a large number of the people of the Province that separation from the Dominion would be the inevitable result. Lord Dufferin, who was placed in a delicate position, declined to receive the address and suggested that it should be presented by memorial or petition to the Crown in the usual manner.

The return of Macdonald to power and the appointment of Sir Charles Tupper, who was known to be a strenuous advocate of the building of a railway to the Pacific, to the position of Minister of Railways, resulted in a lull in the storm. But difficulties, continued to arrive, and the conviction was forced upon the Dominion Government that the construction of the highway would have to be transferred to a private corporation.

The wisdom of this decision has been amply demonstrated in this narrative. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company succeeded where Governments had failed. Five years after they undertook the great task, British Columbia was bound by a bond of steel to the Dominion of Canada and to the British Empire.

Sir Charles Tupper's contention that without a railway connection with Eastern Canada British Columbia, by the compelling force of circumstances, would inevitably have been drawn into the United States as a component part of that nation, has a solid basis. The Americans themselves contemplated such a union: to them it was to be 'annexation'; and annexation, not only of British Columbia, but of the whole of Western Canada.

Their aspirations and anticipations were openly and officially expressed. In the year 1869 the United States Senate Committee on Pacific Railroads issued a report of a nature as highly interesting to the people of the Dominion of Canada and of the British Empire as it was to those of their own country. 'The line of the North Pacific road runs for 1,500 miles near the British possessions,' this historic document read, 'and when built, will drain the agricultural products of the rich Saskatchewan and Red River districts east of the mountains, and the gold country on the Fraser, Thompson, and Kootenay rivers west of the mountains. From China (Canton) to Liverpool, it is 1,500 miles nearer by the 49th parallel of latitude than by the way of San Francisco and New York. This advantage in securing the overland trade from Asia will not be thrown away by the English, unless it is taken away by our first building the North Pacific road, establishing mercantile agencies at Puget Sound, fixing mercantile capital there, and getting possession on land and on the ocean of all machinery of the new commerce between Asia and Europe. The opening by us first of a North Pacific Railroad seals the destiny of the British possessions west of the 91st meridian. They will become so Americanized in interests and feelings that they will be in effect severed from the New Dominion and the question of their annexation will be but a question of time.'

Six years before the publication of the United States Government Report, the small pioneer settlement in the Red River Valley had pointed out this danger to Imperial interests in a memorial presented to the British Government, praying for the establishment of a highway between the eastern provinces and British Columbia, by way of Lake Superior to the Red River and the Saskatchewan River. Their plea was then unavailing, but, in the light of the United States document, their memorial is of permanent interest.

'The people of Red River have long earnestly desired to see the Lake Superior route opened up for commerce and emigration, and they rejoice to hear of the proposal to open up a road and establish a line of telegraphic communication through the interior to British Columbia, entirely within British territory, believing that such works would greatly benefit this country, while subserving at the same time both Canadian and Imperial interests,' said the petitioners. 'The whole country through which the proposed road would run, almost from Lade Superior to the Rocky Mountains, is remarkably level. The surface of this vast region is, generally speaking, like the ocean surface in a calm, and besides being so remarkably level, it is, for the most part, free from the heavy forests which, in Canada, and elsewhere, cause such delay and expense in road-making.

'Having thus cursorily alluded to this practicability of the road, on which point our local knowledge and experience ought to give our views some weight, and while admitting the intense interest and satisfaction with which we view the prospect of a work fraught with so much good to us politically, socially, and commercially, we might be allowed to point out very briefly the views we entertain regarding its importance to England and Canada alike.

'Canada would derive great benefit from the Overland carrying trade, which would spring up immediately on the establishment of this route, and the constantly growing traffic of this district and British Columbia would thereafter be an ever increasing source of profit.

'Besides this, it may reasonably be presumed that the people of Central British America, present and prospective, would prove permanent and liberal customers in the markets of England and Canada. Be it remembered, moreover, that a vast fur business is carried on in this country, and that, towards the Rocky Mountains, gold has been discovered in many quarters. Besides gold there are iron, lead, coal, petroleum, and other minerals which, together with the rich fur trade, would prove a source of great wealth, not only to this country but to Canada; and although the colonization and settlement of the vast area of cultivatable land would somewhat curtail the territorial limits of the fur business, still, the millions of acres north of the fertile tract will, in all probability, remain a rich fur country for centuries to come.

'This is the most natural highway by which commerce and general business with the East could be carried on. It would be also the most expeditious. And as a result of such commerce and traffic along this route, Central British America would rapidly fill up with an industrious loyal people; and thus, from Vancouver's Island to Nova Scotia, Great Britain would have an unbroken series of colonies, a grand confederation of loyal and flourishing provinces, skirting the whole United States frontier, and commanding at once the Atlantic and the Pacific. In this connection we fell bound to observe that American influence is rapidly gaining ground here; and, if action is long delayed, very unpleasant complications may arise. Thus both politically and commercially the opening up of this country, and the making through it of a national highway, would immensely subserve Imperial interests, and contribute to the stability and glorious prestige of the British Empire.'

The road from Lake Superior to Red River was wanted as part of a bigger project—a road from Lake Superior to British Columbia. And even this was to be but a preliminary undertaking to the establishment of a railway, or a combined rail and water route, that would ultimately traverse British North America from ocean to ocean.

They were men over vision, these Scotch pioneers of the Red River country.

'The British possessions west of the 91st meridian,' remained true to British allegiance, and to-day the only 'annexation' desired by Americans is the annexation of the friendship and good-will of Canada. What was the price—the price of Empire?

'To learn the price Canada was ready to pay for Confederation and for a pathway from ocean to ocean,' a historian of the period writes, 'the traveller must climb by rail from the prairies at Calgary through the gorges of the Rocky Mountains to the summit of the Kicking Horse Pass, and then sweep down through the defiles and valleys of the opposite slope, across the Selkirk and Gold ranges, and pas the canyons of the Fraser and Thompson rivers, till he has reached the Pacific. He must study the line of railway in winter, when, as he looks up, at a hundred points, avalanches of snow are seen ready to descend upon it from lofty peaks; he must visit it in spring, when, looking down, he sees the tremendous torrents that roar beneath, swollen from the melting snows; he must observe with what elaborate care these dangers have been successfully overcome; he must feel the sensation of gliding by day and night over bridges which stretch like immense slender spiders far over the top of lofty pines; he must look down almost from the carriage windows into the depths of the Albert canyon; he must be whirled, ascending and descending, around the curves of the Great Loop; he must look out for two days continuously on the marvellous succession of mountain peaks and range and gorge and embattled cliff guarding the long narrow valleys, all of which go to make up the impressive and magnificent scenery of the greater part of British Columbia. When he has wondered at the courage of the engineers who faced such a task of railway construction, and the energy of the contractors who transported the material and fed the armies of labourers by whom the work was done, he has yet even more striking conditions connected with its construction to consider.

'Ontario, the base from which the task was approached on the side of Eastern Canada, is sixteen hundred miles away. The first four hundred miles of road round the north side of Lake Superior had to be cut through a wilderness of rough granite country, uninhabited, and well nigh uninhabitable. Then followed twelve hundred miles of prairie, all of which was also uninhabited, or very thinly inhabited, until the railway opened the way for settlers. All this had to be traversed before the foot of the mountains was reached, where the really serious works begins.

'And for what purpose was this mighty barrier of the Rockies and Selkirks, six hundred miles wide, to be crossed?

'Not to unite two great communities, as was the case when the forty million people of the Eastern and Western States, already advanced far beyond the Mississippi, made the first American line across a narrower range of mountains to get in touch with San Francisco and the large population of the Pacific States, which was also pressing up to the base of the Rockies. In Eastern Canada there were only four million people; in British Columbia there were less than fifty thousand white people—the population of a small English manufacturing town—and few of these on the mainland, when the railroad was undertaken.

'It was to complete and round off a national conception; to prepare the way for commercial and political advantages as yet far remote, and by many deemed imaginary, that the work was faced. British Columbia insignificant in population, was significant enough in position and in its resources. It fronted on the Pacific; it had splendid harbours and abundant coal; it suggested a new and short pathway to the Orient and Australasia. The statesmen in Ottawa who, in 1867, began to look over the Rockies to continents beyond the Pacific were not wanting in imagination; many claimed that their imagination outran their reason; but in the rapid course of events their dreams have already been more than justified.'

The cost of saving British Columbia for Canada and the British empire was heavy, but the results were magnificently worthy of the price. A Governor General of the Dominion, the Marquess of Dufferin, regarded the association of the province with the Dominion as the crowning triumph of Federation. It is a country rich with promise. 'British Columbia is on the threshold of a destiny unparalleled in its magnificence,' a great statesman has said. 'With its salubrious climate, and enormous resources, embracing soil, minerals, coal, water-powers, fisheries, and forest wealth, no limit can be set to its possibilities.'

Greatest of all in its value as a national and Empire factor is its position as a Gateway to the Pacific, a Gateway without which the Imperial pathway to Asia would have remained an unrealisable dream.

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.