Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

282 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. train at one point, and by quickly climbing a hundred feet or so of steep bank, reach a point to gain which the train must travel a mile or more. The crossing of the Gold Range by the Eagle Pass was a simple matter compared with the Titanic engineering accomplished on the Kicking Horse and Rogers The Passes ; but here it was that the drama drew to its climax, meet. The rails being built from the Pacific and the Atlantic met at Craigellachie. One cannot do better than describe this meet- ing in the words of the great engineer who was present on that occasion, Sir Sandford Fleming : * “ Early on the morning of November 7 (1885) the hundreds of busy workmen gradu- ally brought the two tracks nearer and nearer, and at nine o’clock the last rail was laid in its place to complete the railway connection from ocean to ocean. All that remained to finish the work was to drive home the last spike. This duty devolved on one of the four directors present, the senior in years and influence, he who is known the world over as Lord Strathcona. No one could on such an occasion more worthily represent the Company by taking hold of the spike hammer and giv- ing the finishing blows. “ It was indeed no ordinary occasion. The scene was in every respect noteworthy, from the groups which composed it and the cir- A Dramatic Scene. cumstances which had brought together so many human beings in this spot in the heart of the mountains, until recently an untracked solitude. The engineers, the workmen, every one present, appeared deeply impressed by what was taking place. It was felt by all to be the moment of triumph. The central figure—the only one in action at the moment—was more than the representa- tive of the Railway Company. His presence * Canadian Alpine Journal, Vol. I. had worked a The Last Spike driven. recalled memories of the Mackenzies, Frasers, Finlaysons, Thompsons, M‘Leods, MacGilli- vrays, Stuarts, MacTavishes, and M‘Loughlins, who in a past generation had penetrated the surrounding mountains. To-day he is the chief representative of a vast trading organiza- tion in the third century of its existence. “ The spike driven home, the silence for a moment or two remained unbroken. It seemed as if the act now performed spell on all present. Each was absorbed in his own thoughts. The silence was, however, of short duration. The pent-up feelings found vent in a spontaneous cheer, the echoes of which will long be remembered in association with Craigellachie. “In a few minutes the train was again in motion. It passed over the new-laid rail amid further cheering, and sped on its way, arriving the following morning at Port Moody, where a connection was made with the Pacific on November 8, 1885.” The feat of building the transcontinental railway, with which we are here mainly con- cerned, was now achieved. The tale would be but incomplete without a glance at what has been done since then. 'It is not often given to those who play the principal parts in such achievements to see, in their own day, the child of their hands and brains grow to such enormous proportions and loom so large in the history of the world’s progress. At the date of the driving of the last spike the site of the present city of Vancouver was an almost untrodden forest. Now, with its popu- lation of 100,000, and its magnificent land- locked, mountain-sheltered harbour—the port for the yacht-like Empress steamers that ply- in the great Pacific—Vancouver is counted among the gateways of the world. The valleys of British Columbia and the vast prairies of the North-West Territories were then sparsely tenanted by a few cattle-