The Great Railway 1871-1881
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The Great Railway 1871-1881 The National Dream “Size is not grandeur, and territory does not make a nation.”- Thomas Henry Huxley By Pierre Berton “Until this great work is completed, our Dominion is little more than a ‘geographical expression.’ ” -Sir John A. Macdonald McClelland and Stewart Limited Toronto/Montreal 1 2 Contents From Sea to Sea............................................................................................10 Chapter One..................................................................................................12 1 An act of “insane recklessness” ........................................................................13 2 The dreamers.....................................................................................................16 3 “Canada is a corpse”.........................................................................................20 4 The struggle for the North West ........................................................................23 5 The land beyond the lakes ................................................................................27 6 Ocean to Ocean.................................................................................................31 7 The ordeal of the Dawson Route.......................................................................37 Chapter Two .................................................................................................41 1 Poor Waddington...............................................................................................42 2 Sir Hugh Allan’s shopping spree.......................................................................45 3 The downfall of Cartier.......................................................................................49 4 George McMullen’s blackmail ...........................................................................53 Chapter Three ..............................................................................................59 1 Lucius Huntington’s moment in history.............................................................60 2 Scandal !............................................................................................................66 3 The memorable August 13 ................................................................................70 4 The least satisfactory Royal Commission..........................................................73 5 Battle stations ....................................................................................................78 6 Macdonald versus Blake ...................................................................................84 Chapter Four.................................................................................................91 1 “Hurra! The jolly C.P.S.!” ...................................................................................92 2 The bitter tea of Walter Moberly ........................................................................96 3 Ordeal in the mountains ..................................................................................100 4 “That old devil” Marcus Smith .........................................................................106 Chapter Five ...............................................................................................111 1 Lord Carnarvon intervenes ..............................................................................112 2 “The horrid B.C. business” ..............................................................................120 3 The Battle of the Routes ..................................................................................124 Chapter Six .................................................................................................131 1 The first locomotive..........................................................................................132 2 Adam Oliver’s favourite game .........................................................................136 3 The stonemason’s friends ...............................................................................142 4 “Mean, treacherous coward!”..........................................................................147 3 Chapter Seven ...........................................................................................154 1 Resurrection.....................................................................................................155 2 “Get rid of Fleming” .........................................................................................160 3 The Strange Case of Contract Forty-two.........................................................164 4 Bogs without bottom .......................................................................................166 5 Sodom-on-the-Lake.........................................................................................170 Chapter Eight .............................................................................................177 1 Jim Hill’s Folly..................................................................................................178 2 “Donald Smith is ready to take hold” ..............................................................180 3 Enter George Stephen.....................................................................................185 4 A railway at bargain rates ................................................................................189 5 The Syndicate is born......................................................................................192 Chapter Nine ..............................................................................................197 1 “Capitalists of undoubted means”...................................................................198 2 Success ! .........................................................................................................202 3 The Contract ....................................................................................................206 4 The Great Debate begins ................................................................................210 5 The “avenging fury” .........................................................................................215 6 Macdonald versus Blake again .......................................................................217 7 The dawn of the new Canada..........................................................................223 Chronology......................................................................................................227 4 Cast of Major Characters The Politicians LIBERAL-CONSERVATIVES (TORIES) Sir John A. Macdonald, Prime Minister of Canada, 1867-73, 1878-91. Sir George Etienne Cartier, Minister of Militia and Defence, 1867-73. Macdonald’s Quebec lieutenant. Doctor Charles Tupper, M.P. for Cumberland, Nova Scotia; President of the Privy Council, 1870-72; Minister of Inland Revenue, 1872-73; Minister of Customs, 1873; Minister of Public Works, 1878-79; Minister of Railways, 1879-84. Sir Francis Hincks, Premier of United Canada, 1851-54; Minister of Finance, 1869-73. 5 Hector Louis Langevin, Minister of Public Works, 1869-73; Postmaster General, 1878-79; Minister of Public Works, 1879-91. Cartier’s successor as Macdonald’s Quebec lieutenant. J.J.C. Abbott, M.P. for Argenteuil, Quebec. Sir Hugh Allan’s legal counsel in 1873; legal counsel for the CPR Syndicate, 1880. LIBERALS (CLEAR GRITS AND REFORMERS) Alexander Mackenzie, Prime Minister of Canada and Minister of Public Works, 1873-78. Edward Blake, M.P. for Durham West, Ontario; Premier of Ontario, 1871-72; Minister without Portfolio, 1873-74; Minister of Justice, 1875- 77; President of the Privy Council, 1877-78. Succeeded Alexander Mackenzie as Liberal leader, 1880. 6 Sir Richard Cartwright (Conservative to 1869), Minister of Finance, 1873-78. Lucius Seth Huntington, Solicitor General for Lower Canada, 1863-64; M.P. for Shefford, Quebec, 1867-78; President of the Privy Council, 1874- 75; Postmaster General, 1875-78. His speech in 1873 touched off the Pacific Scandal. James D. Edgar, chief Liberal whip, 1872-74; delegate to British Columbia on CPR negotiations, 1874. 7 The Pathfinders Sandford Fleming, chief engineer of the government-owned Intercolonial; Engineer-in-Chief of the CPR 1871-80; succeeded by Colling- wood Schreiber. Devised a workable system of standard time. Marcus Smith, in charge of surveys in British Columbia, 1872-76; Fleming’s deputy in Ottawa, 1876-78. Strong proponent of Bute Inlet as CPR terminus. Walter Moberly, assistant surveyor-general of British Columbia, 1865-66; in charge of mountain surveys for CPR, 1871-72. Discovered Eagle Pass. Henry J. Cambie, in charge of British Columbia surveys after 1876, replacing Marcus Smith. Charles Horetzky, photographer and explorer. Conducted exploratory surveys in the Pine Pass and Kitlope River regions. The Entrepreneurs Sir Hugh Allan, Montreal ship owner and financier whose syndicate was awarded the CPR contract in 1872. His heavy subscriptions to the Conservative Party implicated him in the Pacific Scandal. Jay Cooke, Philadelphia banker who financed the Northern Pacific Railroad and hoped to control the CPR. George W. McMullen, Canadian-born promoter from Chicago who produced American backers for Sir Hugh Allan’s company. Senator David L. Macpherson, Toronto railway builder and rival of Sir Hugh Allan. He made a fortune in Grand Trunk Railway construction contracts and headed the Interoceanic Company, which bid unsuccessfully for the CPR contract in 1872. James