Editing Canadian Pacific Railway (section)

===Building the railway, 1881–1886===
[[File:Canadian Pacific Railway Crew at lower Fraser Valley (1881).jpg|thumb|left|upright|CPR crew laying track at lower [[Fraser Valley]], 1883]]
Building the railway took over four years. The Canadian Pacific Railway began its westward expansion from [[Bonfield, Ontario]], where the first spike was driven into a sunken railway tie. That was the point where the [[Canada Central Railway]] (CCR) extension ended.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.railways.incanada.net/Articles/Article2005_2.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021153329/http://www.railways.incanada.net/Articles/Article2005_2.html|url-status=dead|title=Canada Central Railway|archive-date=21 October 2012}}</ref> The CCR started in Brockville and extended to Pembroke. It then followed a westward route along the [[Ottawa River]] and continued to Mattawa at the confluence of the Mattawa and Ottawa rivers. It then proceeded to Bonfield.<ref>Berton, Pierre. "The Last Spike: The Great Railway 1881–1885". McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto. 1971, p. 280<!-- ISBN needed --></ref>

It was presumed that the railway would travel through the rich "fertile belt" of the [[North Saskatchewan River]] Valley and cross the [[Rocky Mountains]] via the [[Yellowhead Pass]]. However, a more southerly route across the arid [[Palliser's Triangle]] in Saskatchewan and via [[Kicking Horse Pass]] and down the [[Field Hill]] to the [[Rocky Mountain Trench]] was chosen.

[[File:William Cornelius Van Horne.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[William Cornelius Van Horne]]]]

In 1881, construction progressed at a pace too slow for the railway's officials who, in 1882, hired the renowned railway executive [[William Cornelius Van Horne]] to oversee construction. Van Horne stated that he would have {{convert|800|km|mi|abbr=on}} of main line built in 1882. Floods delayed the start of the construction season, but over {{convert|672|km|mi|abbr=on}} of main line, as well as sidings and branch lines, were built that year.

The Thunder Bay branch (west from [[Fort William, Ontario|Fort William]]) was completed in June 1882 by the Department of Railways and Canals and turned over to the company in May 1883. By the end of 1883, the railway had reached the Rocky Mountains, just {{cvt|8|km|mi}} east of Kicking Horse Pass. The treacherous {{cvt|190|km}} of railway west of Fort William was completed by Purcell & Company, headed by "Canada's wealthiest and greatest railroad contractor," industrialist [[Hugh Ryan (railway magnate)|Hugh Ryan]].<ref>Stagg, Ronald J. (1994). [https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ryan_hugh_12E.html "RYAN, HUGH – Volume XII (1891-1900) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography".] ''www.biographi.ca''. The University of Toronto.</ref><ref>The Kingston Whig-Standard (13 February 1899). [https://www.newspapers.com/image/783526905/?match=1 "Death of Hugh Ryan: Canada's Wealthiest and Greatest Railway Contractor"]. ''The Kingston Whig-Standard''. Kingston, Ontario, Canada. p. 4.</ref>

[[File:Portrait of Hugh Ryan (1832-1899).png|thumb|upright|Irish-Canadian industrialist and railway magnate [[Hugh Ryan (railway magnate)|Hugh Ryan]]]]

Many thousands of [[navvy|navvies]] worked on the railway. Many were [[Europe]]an immigrants. An unknown number of [[Stoney Nakoda First Nation|Stoney Nakoda]] also assisted in track laying and construction work in the Kicking Horse Pass region.{{efn|name="archival"|John Lee Laurie, Ee-yayth-skabe-the Stonies in Alberta, unpublished manuscript, 37, John Lee Laurie fonds, F0048, Glenbow Archives.}} In British Columbia, government contractors eventually hired 17,000 workers from China, known as "[[coolies]]". After {{frac|2|1|2}} months of hard labour, they could net as little as $16 (${{inflation|CA|16|1883|fmt=adj}} in {{inflation year|CA}} adjusted for inflation) Chinese labourers in British Columbia made only between 75 cents and $1.25 a day, paid in rice mats, and not including expenses, leaving barely anything to send home. They did the most dangerous construction jobs, such as working with [[explosive material|explosives]] to clear tunnels through rock.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/settlement/kids/021013-2031.3-e.html|title=History: Building the Canadian Pacific Railway|website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca|access-date=15 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151101093616/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/settlement/kids/021013-2031.3-e.html|archive-date=1 November 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> The exact number of Chinese workers who died is unknown, but historians estimate the number is between 600 and 800.

By 1883, railway construction was progressing rapidly, but the CPR was in danger of running out of funds. In response, on January 31, 1884, the government passed the Railway Relief Bill, providing a further $22.5&nbsp;million in loans to the CPR. The bill received royal assent on March 6, 1884.<ref>{{cite book |last=Berton |first=Pierre |title=The Last Spike: The Great Railway 1881–1885 |publisher=Random House |edition=14th |date=1983 |page=267}}<!-- ISBN needed --></ref>

In March 1885, the [[North-West Rebellion]] broke out in the [[District of Saskatchewan]]. Van Horne, in [[Ottawa]] at the time, suggested to the government that the CPR could transport troops to [[Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan|Qu'Appelle]] in the [[District of Assiniboia]] in 10 days. Some sections of track were incomplete or had not been used before, but the trip to Winnipeg was made in nine days and the rebellion quickly suppressed. Controversially, the government subsequently reorganized the CPR's debt and provided a further $5&nbsp;million loan. This money was desperately needed by the CPR. Even with Van Horne's support with moving troops to Qu'Appelle, the government still delayed in giving its support to CPR, due to Macdonald pressuring George Stephen for additional benefits.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cruise|first=David|title=The men who built the CPR: Lords of the Line|year=1988|publisher=Penguin Group|location=New York|page=157}}<!-- ISBN needed --></ref>

[[File:Telegram to Prime Minister John A. Macdonald announcing the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway.jpg|thumb|Telegram to Prime Minister John A. Macdonald announcing the completion of the CPR, November 7, 1885|left]]
On November 7, 1885, the [[Last Spike (Canadian Pacific Railway)|last spike]] was driven at [[Craigellachie, British Columbia]]. Four days earlier, the last spike of the Lake Superior section was driven in just west of [[Jackfish, Ontario]]. While the railway was completed four years after the original 1881 deadline, it was completed more than five years ahead of the new date of 1891 that Macdonald gave in 1881.<ref>''Canadian Pacific Facts and Figures'' (1937), p. 15.</ref>

In Eastern Canada, the CPR had created a network of lines reaching from [[Quebec City]] to [[St. Thomas, Ontario]], by 1885{{snd}} mainly by buying the [[Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa & Occidental Railway]] from the Quebec government and by creating a new railway company, the [[Ontario and Quebec Railway]] (O&Q). It also launched a fleet of Great Lakes ships to link its terminals. Through the O&Q, the CPR had effected purchases and long-term leases of several railways, and built a line between [[Perth, Ontario]], and [[Toronto]] (completed on May 5, 1884) to connect these acquisitions. The CPR obtained a [[999-year lease]] on the O&Q on January 4, 1884. In 1895, it acquired a minority interest in the [[Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway]], giving it a link to New York and the Northeast United States.<ref>[http://www.thbrailway.ca Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo Railway Historical Society, Historical Outline]. Retrieved 27 April 2014.</ref>

[[File:LastSpike Craigellachie BC Canada.jpg|thumb|left|[[Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal|Donald Smith]], later known as [[Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal|Lord Strathcona]], drives the last spike of the CPR, at [[Craigellachie, British Columbia|Craigellachie]], November 7, 1885. Completion of the transcontinental railway was a condition of BC's entry into [[Canadian Confederation|Confederation]].]]