Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

258 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. A Slow Start. 250 miles of rail must be laid every one of the Company’s main assets—the powers and iron determination, said that the year 1881 should see the line completed. Unfortunately, he had not reckoned with, or at any rate had under-estimated, the po- litical element underlying so truly national an enterprise. Though actual surveying began in 1871, and was pushed ahead with the utmost vigour, construction was grievously- hampered by a lack of continuity of policy. The Conservatives, when in power, sought assistance from private persons ; and when the Liberals got their turn, they went solidly against the employment of any but Govern- ment officials. As a consequence, four years were practically frittered away, and the work done in that period totalled only a small amount of grading at the eastern end. By 1879 just 700 miles of track had been laid. British Columbia became excited, and re- minded the Government of their promise. The Government—now Conservative once more —fixed things up with “ B.C.” and called for tenders for the completion of the line. A syn- dicate undertook the contract —Messrs. J. J. Hill, R. B. Angus, G. Stephen, Duncan MacIntyre, J. S. Kennedy, Morton Rose, and Cohen and Reinach, the last three providing a large portion of the “ sinews of war.” The Company into which they formed themselves stipulated that it should receive 25,000,000 dollars in gold, and an equal number of acres of good prairie land ; that it should be accommodated with free right-of- way and sites for stations, docks, etc.; that all materials should be admitted untaxed; that the Company’s lands should be exempted from taxation ; and last, but by no means least, that the Government should make it a present of the 700 miles of partly completed track. The Government, on its side, exacted the condition that the line should be opened for traffic by May 1891, which meant that more to any profit Terms of the Contract. Public Tenders called for. than year. As land—depended for its value upon the railway, and so could not be realized until the railway should be built, the Company presently- found itself in financial straits. Its stock fell heavily, and a loan of £6,000,000 had to be made from the Government, which took advantage of the position to clip five years off the time originally allowed for construction. The engineering history of the C.P.R.—to give it its now familiar designation—opens with the reports sent in by the engineer-in-chief to his Government at Ottawa. The Government engineer, now known as Sir Sandford Flem- ing, outlines in his reports the broad principles on which construction was to proceed. “ On being called upon to take in charge the work of exploration, the deemed it best to leave me trammelled by any specific instructions. I was simply informed and directed that no effort should be spared to discover, with the least possible delay, a practicable route for the railway, in order that the terms of the union might be carried out. “ At the commencement of the survey the following leading principles were laid down •:— “ 1. That every effort should be directed to the discovery of a line through the wood- land region, which would prove the shortest and best possible between the existing railway system in the two elder provinces and the province of Manitoba. “ 2. That the above line should touch, or by a branch line connect with, Lake Superior, and constitute as nearly as possible the shortest and cheapest route for transport of natural products from the prairie region to the navi- gable waters of the St. Lawrence. Government entirely un- Surveys made. Points to be considered.