CHAPTER XL

TRANSPORTATION BY RAIL

IV

MONTREAL AND THE RAILWAYS OF CANADA

MONTREAL THE CENTRE OF RAILWAY COMMUNICATION--THE FIRST RAILWAY--THE SNAKE RAIL AND THE “KITTEN”--“THE CHAMPLAIN AND THE ST. LAWRENCE”--THE SECOND RAILWAY, THE ATLANTIC AND ST. LAWRENCE--THE AMALGAMATION INTO THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY COMPANY.

1. ITS HISTORY--ITS PRESIDENTS--AN INTERESTING REPORT AT CONFEDERATION--NEW FREIGHT YARDS--CHAS. M. HAYS AND THE GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RAILWAY--THE BUILDING OF THE VICTORIA BRIDGES BY THE GRAND TRUNK RAILROAD.

2. THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY--ITS FINANCIERS--TWIN TO CONFEDERATION--OPPOSITION TO PROMOTERS--EARLY FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES--NO BIG FORTUNES MADE--ROLLING STOCK--A REAL EMPIRE BUILDER--HELPING NEW INDUSTRIES--HUGE LAND HOLDINGS--IRRIGATION OF BARREN LANDS.

3. OTHER SYSTEMS--THE “INTERCOLONIAL”--THE CANADIAN NORTHERN AND ITS MOUNTAIN TUNNEL.

Night and day from January 1st to December 31st, year in and year out, the heavily loaded passenger and freight trains pass into and out of the railway terminals of Montreal, bearing to their various destinations millions of human beings and thousands of tons of freight.

Altogether eight important railways have entrance to Montreal at the time of writing, while yet another transcontinental line, the Canadian Northern, is planning a new and imposing terminal in connection with the tunnelling of Mount Royal, which is the most important engineering undertaking in Montreal projected since the construction of the Victoria tubular bridge. At the present time the Canadian Pacific, the Grand Trunk, the Intercolonial, the Canadian Northern, the New York Central, the Rutland, the Delaware & Hudson, and the Central Vermont railroads are all running trains directly into Montreal. The railway freight yards are crowded with cars bearing the initials of practically every road of any importance on the continent.

This huge business in carrying, of such vital importance to the city of Montreal, yet so little appreciated, because of our familiarity with it, is less than a century old, for the success of the locomotive was not admitted until the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1830. On the news of this the first railway in Canada, the Champlain & St. Lawrence, was chartered in 1831 to run from La Prairie to St. Johns, P.Q., and opened for traffic with horses in 1836 and first worked by the locomotives in 1837. Its length was only sixteen miles.

The rails were of wood with flat bars of iron spiked on them, and from the tendency of this class of rail to curl or bend upwards as the wheels passed over it, it became known as the snake rail. The first locomotive used on the line was sent from Europe, accompanied by an engineer, who for some unexplained reason had it caged up and secreted from the public eye.

The trial trip was made by moonlight in the presence of a few interested parties and it is not described as a success. Several attempts were made to get the “Kitten,” for such was the nick-name applied to this pioneer locomotive, to run to St. Johns, but in vain: the engine proved refractory and horses were substituted for it.

It is related that a practical engineer being called in from “the States,” the engine which was thought to be hopelessly unmanageable, was pronounced in good order, requiring only plenty of wood and water. This opinion proved correct, for after a little practice the extraordinary rate of speed of twenty miles per hour was obtained. It was a “strap” rail until 1847 when the heavy T-iron was laid.

The Champlain & St. Lawrence Railway, thus inaugurated the railway era of Canada in the year 1832, and the line continued to be operated as a separate and distinct organization for just forty years. In 1872 it was made a part of the Grand Trunk Railway, and it is operated as a part of the Grand Trunk organization at the present time.

The Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad followed the Champlain & St. Lawrence. Although not a Canadian railroad, this line had a tremendous influence on the development of the country, since it gave the Canadian people access for the first time to an all-the-year-round port. Halifax and St. John were yet mere villages without any rail communication with the industrial heart of the country, separated from it by that vast stretch of then undeveloped and almost unexplored country which we now recognize as lower Quebec and upper New Brunswick. The Atlantic & St. Lawrence line gave access to the port of Portland, running from that city through a thriving agricultural country to Norton Mills, Vermont, just on the Canadian border. Norton Mills and La Prairie, now merely villages without any special importance, were at this period in Canada’s growth railway terminals of consequence.

The Atlantic & St. Lawrence road was built with a purpose. It was chartered in 1845, and long before it was completed, in 1852, to be exact, the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada was granted a charter by the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, which, with subsequent additions, provided for the construction of the present Grand Trunk line between Riviere du Loup, Quebec, and Sarnia, Ontario.

The Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad was completed about 1860, and was at once leased for a period of 999 years to the Grand Trunk Railway. This gave the Canadian people unbroken stretches of railroad from Portland, Maine, and from Riviere du Loup to Montreal, and on this foundation the present huge transportation business of this city has been erected. The people of Canada recognized the importance of this development by grants of cash and mail subsidies to the line.

In point of age, therefore, the Grand Trunk Railway claims priority over all the Canadian railways now existing, and the road may be said to be the pioneer railway of Canada.

THE GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY

The first meeting of the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada was held in the City of Quebec on Monday, July 11, 1853. The Hon. John Ross was appointed president of the road; Benjamin Holmes was made vice president, while Sir C.P. Roney became managing director and secretary-treasurer.

The following is a list of the presidents and general managers of the road, with their dates of service:

Presidents. Dates of Service. Hon. Jno. Ross 1852-1862 Sir Edward Watkin, Bart 1862-1869 Richard Potter 1869-1876 Sir Henry W. Tyler 1876-1895 Sir Charles Rivers-Wilson 1895-1910 Chas. M. Hays 1910-1912 E.J. Chamberlin 1912-

General Managers. Dates of Service. Sir C.P. Roney (Man. Dir.) 1853- T.E. Blackwell (Man. Dir.) 1853-1862 C.J. Brydges (Man. Dir.) 1862-1874 Sir Joseph Hickson 1874-1890 L.J. Seargeant 1891-1896 Chas. M. Hays 1896-1901 Geo. B. Reeve 1901- Chas. M. Hays (Vice Pres. and Gen. Mgr.) 1902-1912

(Since January 1, 1910, Mr. Alfred W. Smithers has been Chairman of the Board of Directors in London, England--a new departure in the organization.)

In order to gain insight into the conditions under which the railway was operating, Sir Henry Tyler, who later became president of the road, paid an official visit to the Dominion in 1867 under instructions from the Board of Directors. Sir Henry’s report gives some interesting information about the road as it then existed.

He found that the Grand Trunk at that time comprised a total length of 1,377 miles. In addition to the water routes hereinbefore mentioned, the chief competitor in Canada of the company was the Great Western Railway Company, extending from Niagara Falls to Sarnia, Ontario, and to Detroit, Michigan. As a result of this competition Sir Henry reported (1867) that the rates for freight service averaged 0.92 of a cent per ton per mile--flour being carried between Montreal and Toronto as low as a cent per ton per mile. The average rate on the Grand Trunk System for the year 1910 was 0.69 of a cent per ton per mile.

The average number of freight cars to a train was then reported as 15.5; the average net load of each train as 150 tons.

The records for 1910 show an average of 26.6 freight cars per train and the average weight of “revenue” freight carried, per train, was 299 net tons.

The original gauge of the Grand Trunk was five feet six inches, except that portion between Port Huron and Detroit, where the “narrow gauge” of four feet eight and one-half inches was used. Sir Henry’s report recommended the adoption of the wider gauge for the whole of the road, bringing it into conformity with the other lines on the continent.

The year of Sir Henry’s visit was also the year of Confederation, and this change, which had so tremendous an effect upon Canada’s history, had also an important bearing upon the history of the Grand Trunk Railway. The new Dominion Government, being desirous of opening up the country purchased on the 17th of July, 1879, that portion of the Grand Trunk road which lies between Riviere du Loup and Point Levis, with the object of making it a portion of the new Government road, which subsequently became the Intercolonial Railway.

With the proceeds of this sale the Grand Trunk agreed to construct a line between Port Huron, Michigan, and Chicago. The International Bridge Company undertook another great engineering feat in 1857, in the building of the Niagara River Bridge, between Fort Erie and Buffalo. This bridge was completed in 1873, and entirely rebuilt to accommodate the heavier traffic in 1900. The two systems of railways, the Grand Trunk and Great Western, were amalgamated into the present system under agreement dated August 12, 1882.

The directors started out in 1889 to make the Grand Trunk the longest double tracked system on this continent, and the line is now double tracked from St. Rosalie, a point thirty-eight miles east of Montreal and St. Johns, twenty-seven miles south, to Chicago, an unbroken double tracked run of 907 miles. With other double tracked lines connecting principal cities the Grand Trunk is now in possession of 1,037 miles of duplicate tracks.

The Grand Trunk owns and controls ten grain elevators in various parts of the Dominion and the United States, having a total capacity of 20,000,000 bushels of grain. The latest of these, an elevator with a capacity of 5,500,000 bushels, is located at Fort William, and was built in connection with the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.

The four principal bridges owned by the Company, the Victoria Bridge, the Coteau Landing Bridge, the steel arch bridge across Niagara Gorge, and the International Bridge across the Niagara River, have a total length of 16,653 feet, and the railway owns other bridges in different parts of the continent, which have a total of 18.43 miles.

Recent improvements and developments of the line in the city and district of Montreal include the erection of the magnificent new offices on McGill Street and the promotion, in connection with the Jacques Cartier Union Railway, of a belt line around the city. Also, in 1892, the company secured control of the Canadian Express Company, which now operates over all the Grand Trunk and connecting lines from Montreal.

In order to better the existing conditions of handling its train service, and to relieve as much as possible the already heavily worked yards and general freight terminals, both at Point St. Charles and on the Mountain Street to Chaboillez Square freight sidings, the company has constructed two extensive systems of freight yard tracks. One of these is located at Southwalk, about two miles east of the passenger station at St. Lambert, and the other is at Turcot, in Notre Dame de Grace Ward of the City of Montreal. At St. Lambert there is an aggregate of about twenty-seven miles of new sidings, and at Turcot, twenty-two miles of new tracks have been laid down.

It is an interesting feature of these yards that no shunting or switching movements is done on the main lines.

So far this chapter has dealt exclusively with the Grand Trunk Railway System proper, and no mention has been made of that momentous period of the railway history of the Dominion in which we now live and which followed the agreement entered into between the Grand Trunk Railway and the Dominion Government. This agreement provided for the construction of a railroad clear across Canada, from Moncton, New Brunswick to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, wholly within Canadian territory. The project was conceived by the late President Chas. M. Hays, of Montreal, who was one of the victims of the Steamship Titanic disaster.

The new line, known as the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, is now practically complete and is already operating over the major portion of its road, there being a fine passenger and freight service between Ft. William, Ontario, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Its construction marks the most important development of the Grand Trunk, since the amalgamation with the Great Western Railway of Canada, and it is expected to make the Pioneer Railway of Canada one of the greatest forces in the development of the country, the uniting of East with West into one huge harmonious whole.

The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was incorporated October 24, 1903, following the contract entered into between the G.T.R. and the Dominion Government, on July 29th of the same year, providing for the construction of the line as a joint government and Grand Trunk enterprise.

Roughly the terms under which this huge work is being carried out are as follows: The railway is divided into two sections, Eastern and Western. The Western Division, extending from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, is subdivided into the Prairie and Mountain sections, and the entire line has been constructed by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company.

The Eastern Division, 1,804 miles in length, is being constructed by the Canadian Government, under supervision of the Commissioners of the Transcontinental Railway. It links Moncton with Winnipeg, and thus gives the company a clear coast to coast line. Upon the completion of the work, the Government leases the Eastern Section to the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway for a period of fifty years, on the following terms:

For the first seven years of the said term, the Company shall operate the same subject only to payment of “Working Expenditures;” for the next succeeding forty-three years the company shall pay annually to the government, by way of rental, a sum equal to 3 per cent per annum upon the cost of construction of the said division, provided that if, in any one or more of the first three years of the said period of forty-three years the net earnings of the said division, over and above “Working Expenditure” shall not amount to 3 per cent of the cost of construction, the difference between the net earnings and the rental shall not be payable by the company, but shall be capitalized and form part of the cost of construction, upon the whole amount of which cost a rental is required to be paid at the rate aforesaid after the first ten years of the said lease, and during the remainder of the said term.

All the branch lines of the Eastern Division will be constructed by and at the cost of the company.

The company is responsible for the construction of all lines west of Winnipeg, the Government guaranteeing the principal and interest of three-quarters of the cost of the main line from Winnipeg to the Pacific Coast terminus at Prince Rupert, B.C., for fifty years, but with the limitation that such three-quarters of the cost shall not exceed thirteen thousand dollars per mile on the Prairie Section--with no limitation, however, in regard to the cost of the Mountain Section. The Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada has guaranteed the principal and interest for fifty years of the balance required to complete the main line of the Western Division.

The line has created a new seaport on the Pacific, which will give a further impetus to our already immense trade with Japan and the other commercial countries of the Orient, as well as opening a fresh route to Australasia which cannot but help bind in closer union the British Dominions of Australia and New Zealand, already closely related to us by the splendid sentiment of Empire. It opens up splendid new wheat fields in the Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and taps also immensely valuable coal and agricultural areas in British Columbia. Through its branches it reaches the already created industrial and commercial centres of the great West, while its fleet of steamships links Prince Rupert with the other Pacific Coast ports, both on the Canadian and the United States shores. With the example of the growth of the Western United States since adequate rail facilities were provided for their cities and towns before us, it is difficult indeed to see how the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway can fail to establish itself as a dominant factor in the growth of Western Canada, a growth which at this view it is impossible to estimate and which only time can show.

Before passing from the history of the Grand Trunk Railway, a place must be given to the record of the great engineering feat in transportation effected by them. Previous to the building of the first tubular Victoria bridge erected by this company over the St. Lawrence at Montreal, the only communication with the Grand Trunk lines hitherto, was by ferry to Longueuil, then the terminus. Passengers and freight were carried on barges across the St. Lawrence. In winter sleighs were used across the ice. In a period of one to three weeks in the spring this crossing was either abandoned or very dangerous in the break up of the ice.

THE VICTORIA BRIDGES

As early as 1847 the Hon. John Young had desired to erect a bridge. In 1851 he used the opinion and report of Mr. Thomas C. Keefer, a Canadian, on the practicability of building a bridge over the St. Lawrence in the position eventually chosen and based on the findings of his report.[1]

In 1852 Mr. A.M. Ross, C.E., the engineer of the Victoria Bridge, came to Canada on behalf of English capitalists. He was met at Quebec by Sir John Young who took him to Montreal to inspect the locality for a bridge. Mr. Ross suggested an iron tubular bridge, took soundings and plans of the bridge as designed by him and returned in the fall.

Mr. Robert Stephenson, the consulting engineer, and a son of George Stephenson, the great railway pioneer, came to Montreal in 1853 and at a complimentary dinner, he said:

“I cannot sit down without referring to the all-important subject of a bridge over your magnificent river. Abundance of information was brought over to me in England by my esteemed friend, Ross, during the last visit he paid to that country so that I was able to get a good notion of what the bridge was to be before I came out here.

“I had been here twenty-five years before and the St. Lawrence seemed to be like the sea, and I certainly never thought of bridging it.” On the same occasion he said: “I assure you I appreciate your kindness most amply and one of the proudest days of my life will be that when I am called upon to confer with the engineers of the Grand Trunk Railway on bridging the St. Lawrence.”

The stone for the first pier of the Victoria Bridge was laid on July 22, 1854, by Sir. C.P. Roney, the first secretary of the Grand Trunk, along with Vice President Benjamin Holmes, Mr. James Hodge, the builder, Mr. A.M. Ross, C.E., the engineer, and other gentlemen who were also joined by Lady Roney, Mrs. Hodge and Mrs. Maitland, each taking the trowel and assisting in preparing the mortar board for the first stone in the first pier in the great construction. Of the enormous difficulties in building it and the danger by accidents, a dozen at least having been killed, we say nothing beyond that the contractors had to contend with a rapid stream two miles broad and with enormous shoves of ice.

One of those employed on the construction says: “There were hundreds of men employed--many of them being Indians. The latter manned the rafts that brought the timber down from Nun’s Island, although, of course, it came from the west, at the first go-off. We got our timber from the west and our stone from Pointe Claire.

“The first year’s work was entirely swept away. We had made good progress with the under work and the crib work.

“Hundreds of men had worked all spring, summer and fall. The work was well advanced and the contractors were congratulating themselves that they would be able to fulfill their contract on time; but the ice came down in the winter with a rush and carried everything before it--crib work, material, coffer dams--everything that had been done or set up. The loss was great, but the loss of time was the most important.

“That necessitated another year in the duration of the contract. The latter called for completion in five years. It was now seen that six would be required. But nobody could be blamed, and the contractors set to work with a will, and did the work over again.”

The first crossing was made on November 24, 1859, when the first to cross were Vice President Holmes, Hon. George Etienne Cartier, James Hodges, A. M. Ross, Walter Shanly, Messrs. Gzowski, Macpherson, Forsyth, Captain Rhodes and others. The last stone was laid and the last rivet driven on August 25, 1860, by the young Prince of Wales, afterward King Edward VII. On the occasion a grand banquet was held near the bridge, at which addresses were given by the Prince, the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. A.M. Ross, Mr. Hodges and others. To commemorate the event Mr. Blackwell had a medal prepared by the chief engineer of Her Majesty’s seals, a gold one of which was presented to the Prince and a bronze one to each of the officers of the Grand Trunk Railway.

It bears a fine impression in relief of the Prince as he then was, and the words, “Welcome Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. Visited Canada and inaugurated the Victoria Bridge, 1860.”

The first train with passengers traversed the bridge December 17, 1859.

This structure was 9,184 feet long, of twenty-three spans of 242 feet and one in the center of 330 feet.

Sir George Etienne Cartier, before being knighted, was asked by Queen Victoria at Windsor, “Mr. Cartier, I hear that the Bridge at Montreal is a very fine structure. How many feet is it from shore to shore?”

The reply was pleasing to Her Majesty. “When we Canadians build a bridge and dedicate it to Your Majesty we measure it, not in feet, but in miles!”

The difficulties connected with the building of the bridge were greater than they would be today. The facilities and the machinery necessary were comparatively crude and inadequate. The bridge itself was in the nature of an experiment; nor was it designed in the original plan, for a tubular bridge. The plans were altered several times during the progress of the work. It needed the genius of George Stephenson, which had to be invoked, to make the plan realizable.

But when the bridge was completed, it was almost instantly seen what a boon it was to the whole country. Trade began to pick up. Population increased. The Grand Trunk was extended. Towns began to grow, and this great enterprise, brought to a successful conclusion, encouraged other enterprises to follow.

It may be said that the building of the bridge brought out the first of the British immigrants. Here and there, there might have been a few, but the bridge opened up such possibilities of expansion as encouraged people to come out, and especially skilled men, who began to settle in the neighborhood of Point St. Charles, forming the nucleus of that population which, today, preserves the sturdy characteristics of the men who founded what was then a distinct colony. The building of the bridge meant the extension of the Grand Trunk shops, the giving of increased employment, and the setting up of a big town on the other side of the canal.

Before many years the growth of traffic called for the replacement of this dark tubular bridge by the present openwork steel bridge, with double tracks, carriage ways and foot walks which now stand on the piers which held the old bridge. The Royal Victoria Jubilee Bridge was opened for traffic on December 13, 1908.

The chief engineer of this bridge was Mr. Joseph Hobson, now consulting engineer of the Grand Trunk Railway System. The contractors were the Detroit Bridge and Iron Company for the whole of the superstructure and for the construction of nineteen spans of it, including the center one. The remaining six spans were constructed by the Dominion Bridge Company of Montreal.

The masonry required for the enlargement of the abutments and piers was built by Mr. William Gibson.

The work was commenced in October, 1897, by the erection of the span on the west end, the structure being built completely around the tube of the old bridge, the latter being cleverly utilized as a roadway. Traffic never ceased except for twenty hours during the whole construction, the longest delay being two hours. The old bridge weighed 9,044 tons, the new 20,000 tons. The width of the old bridge was sixteen feet, the new one sixty-six feet eight inches. The height of the former superstructure was eighteen feet, that of the new superstructure over all is from forty to sixty feet. The new bridge ranks among the foremost constructions of present engineering progress.

On October 16, 1901, the son of Edward VII, the Duke of York, and Cornwall, now George V, visited the bridge with the Duchess, now his Queen.

Though the Grand Trunk Railway is the pioneer railroad of Canada, it was greatly assisted by English capitalists, although Montrealers played a prominent part.

THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

The history and development of the Canadian Pacific Railway shows, however, a still closer connection with Montreal. The great line was born in this city, reared through an infancy of tremendous difficulties here, and has always, and probably will always, have its headquarters in this city. Though four of the original syndicate, J.S. Kennedy, of New York; J.J. Hill, of St. Paul; Morton Rose and Company, of New York, and Kohn Reinach, of Paris, were not citizens, yet the four others were good Montrealers, Lord Strathcona, then plain Donald A. Smith, Lord Mount Stephen, then George Stephen, Duncan McIntyre, and R.B. Angus, who, as faithful guardians, risked their very financial existence that it should become a strong, self-supporting institution, able to stand on its own legs. That their belief in the future of this splendidly virile institution was justified, everyone now realizes, but it is nevertheless a fact that the general opinion of some of the wisest of Canada’s wise men at the time of its commencement was that the C.P.R. would never be finished, or if it should crawl through its first few years of existence, it would never earn sufficient net profits to pay its bills for axle grease.

Born in the midst of political turmoil, pulled through a puling and precarious infancy only by tremendous personal sacrifice on the part of those responsible for its existence, this organization is now one of the leading corporations of the entire world, its ramifications reaching clear around the globe and its annual income counted in figures which stagger the mind of the average man.

The C.P.R. owes its tremendous success to the imagination of its sponsors, and to nothing else. When it was brought into being, the developed portion of Canada was well served by the Grand Trunk Railway and its connecting lines. There was no room for another railway among the established markets of what is now called Eastern Canada. But the men who created the C.P.R. out of their hopes and their belief in the future of the country, looked beyond the East. Between Ontario and the Pacific Coast, according to popular superstition at that time there lay nothing but trackless, ice bound wastes, of no value to man or beast, and cut off from the balmy climate of British Columbia by the impenetrable fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains. The original syndicate and their executive led by William Van Horne, the great constructive railroad genius of the nineteenth century, thought differently. For one thing they had already had experience of the possibilities of the Western United States, because of certain railroad transactions conducted by them in that territory, and they believed that the possibilities of Western Canada were every bit as great. Neither ridicule nor abuse could shake them from their determination, and they literally rammed their convictions down the throat of an only half willing Dominion Government, to what end we all know.

The project of a line connecting the railway system of Canada with the seaboard of British Columbia was one of the chief inducements held out to that province to enter into Confederation. At several periods between Confederation and the year 1880 the Dominion Government had before it very strong schemes for the construction of a transcontinental line, but none of them proved effective until what was known as the Canadian Pacific Syndicate finally entered into a definite contract in 1880 for the construction of the road. The financial arrangements were largely in the hands of the Montrealers already mentioned, George Stephen, Donald A. Smith, R.B. Angus, and Duncan McIntyre.

As the Macdonald Government allied itself with the C.P.R. proposals, the railroad was for some time classed by the public as a Tory organization, but for the last twenty years the C.P.R. has held itself aloof from all party politics. In the early days, however, it was not surprising that opponents were vehement in opposition. They condemned the scheme unsparingly, declaring that it would never pay expenses. Their predictions of ruin and disaster and the pessimistic attitude of influential parties in England, no doubt, led the Canadian Government to grant a larger aid to the enterprise in order to increase the chances of ultimate success. The company was incorporated in 1881. Its endowment consisted of 25,000,000 acres of land in western Canada and $25,000,000 in cash. It was also presented with some 700 miles of railway, which the Government had constructed at a cost of $35,000,000. The railway mileage taken over represented less than one-fourth of the amount necessary to connect Montreal and Vancouver. The cash subsidy of $25,000,000 represented considerably more than a cash subsidy of that amount would represent today, for thirty years ago a dollar in cash had a much larger purchasing power. With reference to the land grant, it can safely be said that, when the company was formed in 1881, few realized its value.

The names of two men must be connected with the successful fortunes of the company, William Van Horne, who was elected general manager, and Thomas Shaughnessy, appointed purchasing agent. Their humble offices were first in the Imperial Building, on St. James Street, opposite Place d’Armes Square. The general offices were next removed to Victoria Square, to the old Albert Building. Things did not progress in the early stages, but fine optimism marked these men.

At one of the early annual meetings there was great consternation. The small stockholders were alarmed and Mr. Donald McMaster spoke out indignantly for them. Then up rose Sir Donald Smith and said:

“Gentlemen: I would be a richer man today if I had never touched or seen the C P.R.; but I am not going to go back on it now. On the contrary, my faith, which has never wavered, is stronger than ever. I fully and unwaveringly believe in the C.P.R. I believe in its future. I believe that in a very short time, it will be the greatest earner in the Dominion of Canada. Mark my words. Retain your holdings. Do not give way to depression. The moment is unpropitious, owing to the general depression; but the clouds will lift; and you will be thankful, in the course of a year or so, that you held on to your stock.”

The bad times passed, the corporation turned the corner, the earnings increased. Lord Mount Stephen retired, Sir William Van Horne became president, Sir Thomas Shaughnessy became first assistant, then general manager, and finally president. David McNicoll moved up from assistant passenger agent to general passenger agent until he became manager and vice president.

One remarkable feature of the history of the C.P.R. is that no one of the men who financed the road in the beginning, has made anything like a big fortune out of it, in spite of the tremendous success which has crowned the undertaking. Lord Mount Stephen sold the three or four thousand shares he held in the company when he retired in 1885, at fifty-three. Lord Strathcona, of course, retained his connection with the line, and drew his dividends on the five thousand shares he held, but he did not make what might be even considered a reasonable return for the staking of his financial existence, and the same thing applies to other men who have directed the affairs of the company from time to time.

At the time of the incorporation of the road in 1881 the capital was $5,000,000. Today it is $200,000,000 and every cent of it needed to provide for the development of the corporation. In 1882 two stock issues totalling $60,000,000 worth of stock were made, to complete the road. Three years later, on November 7, 1885, Lord Strathcona drove the last spike and the road was officially opened, and its splendid history began.

In 1886 the gross earnings of the road were $8,368,493. In 1911 the gross earnings were $104,167,808, crossing the hundred million mark for the first time in the road’s history. This growth has continued in corresponding ratio, though partially effected by the international war of 1914.

In 1886 the mileage controlled by the C.P. R, was 4,315 miles. Its rolling stock in its principal divisions in 1886, was totalled as follows:

Locomotives, 336; freight cars, 7,835; no steamships.

In 1914, the line owned rolling stock as follows:

Locomotives, 2,248; freight cars, 88,000; first and second class passenger cars, baggage cars and colonist sleeping cars, 2,174; sleepers, dining and cafe cars, 502; conductors’ vans, 1,427; work cars, shovels, etc., 5,850.

The total mileage owned and controlled by the line, up to June 30, 1914, was 18,050 miles, and the passenger cars could move simultaneously 165,000 people.

In the course of its development, the C.P.R. has been extremely fortunate in being able to secure for its directorate men of broad vision. Thus it is that this railroad which is more than a railroad, and this corporation which is in operation an Empire Builder of the truest type, has found occasion in the course of its existence to put its energy to work in directions which the average railroad never dreams of. The scope of a great transcontinental railroad is wide enough in ordinary circumstances, but the policy of the C.P.R. has been to extend its activities in every direction where it appeared that the interests of the Dominion, which are indissolubly united with the interests of the road, might be advanced. In pursuance of this plan we get its immigration and land development policy, which is unique on the Continent.

One of the first notable efforts of the road in this direction was its aid to the cattle ranching industry in Alberta. By means of low rates and the special facilities offered by the line to cattle ranchers the great beef industry which founded the prosperity of Alberta was nurtured and developed until it grew to be a feature of Canada in the minds of uninitiated Old Country people, and to the regular impression of snow and Indians which prevailed in the average Englishman’s mind in the ’80s, was added the romantic idea of cowboys. After cattle, came wheat and here again the railroad aided the farmers in all possible directions, realizing that in the prosperity of the inhabitants of the territory which it served, lay its own future greatness.

In a thousand and one ways the great railroad has advanced the various interests of the West. Its splendid immigration organization has seconded the efforts of the Dominion Bureau in London. Each year at harvest time it transports tens of thousands of labourers from Eastern Canada to the West to help harvest its crops, and as an instance of the lengths to which the road is prepared to go in order to advance the interests of the great community from which it draws the greater part of its wealth, there may be taken the case of the Winnipeg water scheme.

Some years ago the City of Winnipeg desired to install an expensive plant to improve its water supply. The undertaking was a huge one, planned to meet the needs of the rapidly growing city for many years to come and the cost was heavy. The C.P.R. donated $200,000 to help defray the expenses, and Winnipeg was duly provided with a water supply which cannot be bettered on the Continent.

The Company’s various interests, outside of its straight railroad work, would make by themselves a huge undertaking for any ordinary commercial organization. It owns coal, copper, lead, and gold mines, big smelting plants in British Columbia and enough timber limits to make any lumber company in the Dominion envious. The hotel section of the Company’s operations, originally planned to provide accommodation for passengers where such accommodation did not exist, have extended until they are a material factor in the Company’s wealth.

The Company’s tremendous land holdings in the West are regarded by many financial experts as its most powerful asset. When these grants were made, or at least such of them as were made to the Company in return for its services in opening up what was then regarded as a barren and trackless waste, it is not likely that anyone, not even excepting the directors themselves, realized the value of the grants. Since the original grants were made other valuable and extensive land areas have been acquired through the purchase of other railways which owned land grants. Altogether the Company now owns over seven million acres of land in Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan and nearly four and a half million acres in British Columbia. These lands have steadily increased in value as the railroad itself developed the country. In 1905 the sales were 509,386 acres at an average of $4.80 per acre. In 1909 the sales of these same lands were 306,083 acres at an average of $10.96. In 1910 the inrush of settlers from the United States and Great Britain served to increase the demand for the C.P.R. lands and 829,609 acres of the unimproved lands sold at $12.78 per acre along with 145,421 acres of irrigated lands at $26.59 per acre. And in 1911, the sales of unimproved land were 631,777 acres at the average of $14.11; and of irrigated lands 19,097 acres were sold at the very satisfactory average of $33.63 per acre. This progressive rise in value is most impressive. Every year without exception shows an increase, and in some years the increase is considerable. It is to be remembered, too, that when the company sells a parcel of land to a good farmer-settler it is just beginning its profitable relations with him. For he will in all probability be a heavy shipper of grain outward over its lines in future years, and he will occasion the shipment of much merchandise inward as well.

The latest and perhaps the greatest work which the C.P.R. has undertaken in connection with its land holdings, is its irrigation scheme, which has transformed nearly one and a half million acres of barren land into fertile farm country, at an outlay of over $15,000,000. The rounding out of the irrigation scheme involves the bringing of the best class of farmers from the United Kingdom or the United States and planting them in the Canadian West, on farms which are “ready made” for them. Demonstration farms are provided to show the best methods of working the land, and everything possible is done to ensure the success of the newcomers’ enterprise. In this manner and by the sale of similar farms to residents of the United States desirous of settling in Canada, the C.P.R. in its latest undertaking is perhaps doing more than ever before to provide Canada with her most pressing need, sturdy self-reliant citizens, and so furthering the cause of Imperial unity which has been the guiding spirit of this splendid enterprise ever since those four Montrealers dreamed their dream of a new Empire plucked from the barren expanse of the Last Great West.

Of the C.P.R. steamship line we speak in its proper place. For the C.P.R. railroad and its attendant enterprises on land, there appears to be an almost limitless future. A rough estimate of the value of its railroad, shipping and hotel systems would not be far wrong if placed at $885,000,000. What the C.P.R. will be doing this time ten years from now, who shall say? With the inspiration of so glorious a past behind them, who can set a limit on the possibilities which will open up for the new rulers of the road’s destinies? The All Red Line so greatly discussed some years ago as a government project already exists in the C.P.R. It is possible to board a C.P.R. train at Windsor Street and to circle the globe, never leaving the sphere of influence of this tremendous organization. A splendid result surely to be attained by the little quartette of dreamers whose idea of a railroad line of Atlantic to Pacific met with so scornful a reception when it was first mooted a bare forty years ago.

THE INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY

The Intercolonial Railway, which runs from Montreal to Halifax, and the two Sydneys, claims the distinction of being a successful government-owned railroad.

It was originally the North American and European Railroad, which was taken over by the government over half a century ago. There were at that time only about fifty miles of railway. This has been added to from time to time, until the road is now a very considerable one in size and importance. It travels through some of the finest scenery in Canada, and does a heavy tourist business, the sporting country it touches being famous the world over. It is connected with all the big Atlantic seaports, and has grain elevators at St. John, N.B.

The actual trackage owned by the Intercolonial extends westward only as far as St. Rosalie Junction. From there to Montreal the trains have running rights over the Grand Trunk tracks.

The Intercolonial is of importance to Montreal in supplying the means of communication to Halifax during the season of closed navigation.

THE CANADIAN NORTHERN RAILWAY

The Canadian Northern first reached Montreal under the name of the Great Northern Railway of Canada. Its history of the few years preceding is full of interest. Its success has been due to the financial and business ability of two Canadians, Sir William Mackenzie and Sir Donald Mann.

What is now the Canadian Northern Railway had its inception in December, 1906, when the Lake Manitoba Railway and Canal Company built one hundred miles of track between Gladstone and Dauphin, Manitoba, and ran trains over it. The line was a success from its inception, and next year Mackenzie and Mann, famous partners, built under the name of the Manitoba and South Eastern Railway, a line out of Winnipeg running in the direction of Lake Superior. The purchase of the Port Arthur, Duluth & Western line completed the entrance into Port Arthur. The lines of the Northern Pacific Railway in Manitoba were taken over by the Manitoba Government and leased to the Canadian Northern for a period of 999 years, which gave them terminal facilities in Winnipeg and connections to the International Boundary. In 1901, the company which started with one hundred miles of track and a payroll of $650 a month found itself owning and operating 1,200 miles of line and carrying 12,000,000 bushels of grain to the head of navigation at Port Arthur. Extensions to Edmonton and through the valley of the Saskatchewan were planned and the whole huge enterprise bloomed forth one fine morning as the Canadian Northern Railway.

The rapid expansion of this comparatively insignificant railway into a force to be reckoned with when discussing the growth of Western Canada in the short space of five years made even the optimistic Westerners sit up and take notice, but the activities of the two Scotch Ontarians did not stop here. By 1905 the new line had reached Edmonton, having built four bridges across the Saskatchewan River to get there, while in the same year Prince Albert was reached by way of the Swan River and Carrot River valleys. On the way across, the C.N.R. made a city out of Edmonton. When the line was first projected the town had something like 3,000 people. Today it has 45,000 and is still growing.

Saskatoon, Regina and Calgary quickly linked into the chain until the Canadian Northern line west of the Great Lakes had a total mileage of 5,000 miles. Construction joining Vancouver with Edmonton is now being pushed rapidly to completion through the Yellowhead Pass, and the Thompson and Fraser River valleys and will be open for traffic in 1915. Construction is also going on in Ontario which will link Montreal and Ottawa together in a direct line with Port Arthur and the West, the line between Toronto and Ottawa having been opened in January, 1914, making a total mileage of 7,800 for the system at the end of 1914.

The history of the Canadian Northern’s activities in Montreal, still fresh in the minds of our readers, gives a fair index of the spirit in which this line is conducted and managed. The C.N.R. desired an entrance to Montreal for its main line. It was vital that the terminal should be central. Accordingly, the property on Lagauchetiere Street was purchased and a freight terminal at the Haymarket.

So when it was pointed out that Mount Royal stood serene between the C.N. R. line and the C.N.R. terminal, the answer came back: “Run a tunnel through it.” And accordingly, the Montreal Tunnel is now being bored.

Typical also of the whole enterprise is the creation of the new model city of Mount Royal. Obviously a lot of open farm land at the northern entrance to the tunnel promised no profit for the C.N.R. So they bought the land and sold it again in building lots, and just as soon as the first electrical locomotive pulls the first C.N.R. passenger train through the Mount Royal tunnel there will be a new suburb--residences, and shops, and postoffice--all complete ready to feed business into this train and into the thousands which will follow. Of the Canadian Northern steamships mention is made elsewhere.

The other railways mentioned as coming into Montreal, do so on running rights with one or other of the above mentioned railroads.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Mr. Keefer’s name has not been sufficiently connected with those of Ross and Stephenson.