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Steam-powered locomotives brought rapid industrialisation to Great Britain. In the 1850s, wealthy Scots businessmen in Canada decided to bring steam trains and the railway across the ocean.
They began by building smaller rail routes between major towns in eastern Canada. Their ultimate goal was to build a railway across the whole country.
Although the Northwest Passage had been discovered and mapped, it was still a dangerous route. Ships were always vulnerable to hidden icebergs and could fall victim to sudden freezes.
An overland rail link between the Atlantic and Pacific shores would open up the frontier to settlement and trade, and create a reliable link between the Atlantic and Pacific shipping ports and trade routes.
When British Columbia joined the Canadian confederation, the federal government had to commit to building a railway through the Rockies, effectively linking British Columbia to the rest of Canada.
Establishing a rail route to Vancouver would mean that products shipped from the Orient could travel by rail across Canada. Goods could be sold in the cities or shipped across the Atlantic to Europe. The rail route would offer a profitable alternative to the dangerous routes around the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa and the tip of South America.
The railway also allowed businessmen to take advantage of the vast natural resources discovered in the Canadian interior. Coal, lumber, precious and non-precious metals, diamonds, grain and other crops could all be transported from coast to coast.
New settlers would no longer need to trek across country for months to reach interior and western settlements. They could reach their destinations by rail in a matter of days. Law enforcement would be more effective, with faster response times.
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The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) carved a path across Canada.
The railway was completed in November of 1885. A Scot, Donald Smith, hammered in the 'last spike' at Craigellachie in Eagle Pass, British Columbia. Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, born in Forres, Moray, was a businessman, railroad financier and politician.
Not long after the rail route was opened it was used to establish telegraph lines, improving communication and trade across Canada.
The images used above are licensed under Creative Commons on Flickr by the following photographers: Manitoba Historical Maps and Train Chartering & Private Rail Cars.
Other images are licensed through Wikimedia Commons.
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