Puffing out West: A Profile of the CPR and its Relevance in the Canadian West

The Last Spike

           “A prairie farmer arrives home to discover his crops flattened by hail, his barn on fire, and his wife running away with the hired hand.  He looks up to Heaven, and shouts; ‘Goddamn the CPR!’”[1]  This anecdote demonstrates the relevance of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to the Canadian West.  A connection goes back to the time of the National Policy from the 1878 Conservative government under Sir John A. Macdonald.  The railway was able to overcome obstacles in establishing the line in British Columbia, such as discontent landowners in Port Moody.  The Canadian Pacific even helped to improve the economy of the west in places such as the city of Winnipeg and Winnipeg beach.  The Canadian Pacific Railway played a significant role in the assertion of Canada’s sovereignty in the western provinces through the National Policy, developing its line in British Columbia and providing improvements to the western economy.

A Matter of Policy

Sir John A. Macdonald,
PM: 1867-73; 1878-91

            The Canadian Pacific was a major part within the National Policy of the conservative government of Sir John A. Macdonald.  At the time of the policy’s creation, Canada was in political and economic distress.  Populations were decreasing as people traveled to the newly opened west of the United States and weak economic conditions due to a mix of government debt from infrastructure projects and a weakening connection with the British market.[2]  Additionally, Canada was also facing an “expansionist American government [that] threatened to absorb the entire western half of the continent.”[3]

            In the election of 1878, Sir John A. Macdonald argued that the only cure for these issues would be his Conservative Party’s new National Policy;[4]  a policy that contained the use of higher tariffs to protect Canada’s manufacturing industries from any possible competition from the United States and to insure funds for the Canadian government’s expansion projects.[5]  These tariffs also served to encourage the movement of agricultural goods to the central Canadian markets.[6]

Alexander Mackenzie
PM: 1873-78

            The policy also mentioned the installation of a rail line to the west, allowing for what was considered “a convenient and rapid transportation system” for the time.[7]  The rail line would also ensure trade across the country for the sake of both economic and political benefits by encouraging growth in the Canadian manufacturing industry.[8]  Construction of the Pacific Railway had been going on before the 1878 election but without proper funds, construction moved slowly as money trickled in from the 17.5 per cent tariff rates put in place by the Liberal government under Alexander Mackenzie.[9]  The lack of further funds meant that the line could not be completed and Canada risked losing British Columbia,[10] a serious issue because Macdonald had promised a railway to connect the British colony with the rest of Canada when it joined the Confederation, despite the colony only asking for a wagon road.[11]

            On September 17, 1878, the Conservative Party, led by Macdonald, won the election and were able implement the National Policy.[12]  Leonard Tilley, the appointed finance minister, took on the responsibility of implementing the new tariffs.[13]  In the first budget, he replaced the former Liberal tariff structure with new duties ranging from twenty to forty per cent and wide-ranging fees on imports from the United States.[14]  With the new tariffs in place the construction of the railway could continue.

The Moody Problem with Coal Bay

 

Map of Rupert's Land, granted to the Canadian government
 from the Hudson's Bay Company.

           On February 15 1881, the contract between the Canadian government and the Canadian Pacific Railway was given royal assent.[15]  The territory of Rupert’s Land acquired from the Hudson’s Bay Company –through political pressure and dealing from behind the scenes – would be granted to anyone wanting to invest in western development and railways.[16]  On August 4, 1883, William Van Horne, the general manager of the Canadian Pacific, arrived in British Columbia to inspect the site of the new terminus at Port Moody.[17]  Port Moody was a little village located on a narrow bank at the head of Burrard Inlet.[18]  Pierre Berton describes Port Moody at the time of Van Horne’s arrival to be “basking in the glow of optimism brought on by the unquenchable belief that it was to become the greatest metropolis on the Pacific coast.”[19]

William Van Horne

            Upon inspecting the Burrard Inlet, Van Horne found that the site would not be appropriate, as there was not enough room for a city in the area.[20]  The rail line would require “four hundred acres of level ground”,[21] which did was not available unless they reclaimed it from the tidal flats, which would cost approximately between two and four million dollars.[22]  Despite this hiccup, Van Horn found a solution to this issue when he travelled out by boat to the mouth of the inlet; he realized that there was more space in the area of Coal Harbour and English Bay.[23]  Van Horne would only need to persuade the provincial government to subsidize the continuation of the line and build the terminus at Coal Harbour.[24]

            As an agreement between the Canadian Pacific and the British Columbian government for six thousand two hundred seventy-five acres was being formed, Van Horne appointed Montague William Tyrwhitt-Drake to serve as the company’s local operative as he was considered reliable in his profession but also for his political connections.[25]   With Drake at the helm in British Columbia, Van Horne intended to shield the Canadian Pacific from any opposition in the provincial government.[26]  Despite the preparation, Van Horne was unable to protect the company from the harshest threat to railway construction, the angered property owners of Port Moody.

            These property owners sent petitions to the dominion government warning that seven hundred inhabitants and investors would be “utterly ruined” if the terminus was placed in Coal Harbour.[27]  Drake failed to alter a clause that stated that the extension would be part of the original portion of the Canadian Pacific.[28]  The original charter of 1881, known as the Canadian Pacific Railway Act, only recognized the planned construction of the Port Moody terminus and did not follow the general railway statute, the Consolidated Railway Act of 1879, which proclaimed that no railway can have the right to extend its line beyond the terminus mentioned in its special act.[29]  Rather than amending the Canadian Pacific Railway Act to allow the extension, Drake decided to defend the extension by claiming that it was a branch.[30]

            In August, the opponents to the railway applied for an interlocutory injunction, an order only amended through further court proceedings.[31]  In the trial of Edmonds et al. versus the Canadian Pacific Railway, the judge, Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie, ruled that the company did not have the right to purchase land or build any of its desired works.[32]  Drake tried to get an appeal from the Divisional Courts, but found himself unsuccessful in being granted an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.[33]

J. J. C. Abbot

            While the judicial proceedings were occurring, Van Horne searched for an alternative to the issue.  Rather than negotiating with the landowners, Van Horne had plans develop a bypass to cross the waterfront, a distance of six kilometers.^[34]  He planned to have a series of wooden trestle bridges built along the inlet to reach the terminus.[35]  In order to work around Begbie ruling that the Canadian Pacific had no power to “expropriate land for the extension”,[36] J. J. C. Abbot, the railway’s General Counsel planned to make an application to the Dominion Government “in the name of some individual asking for a lease”.[37]  This strategy was nearly successful but failed due to two issues.  Van Horne undermined the whole endeavor by hinting to newspapers that the plans had been sent to the Department of Railways.  Additionally, the trestles would collapse as soon as the teredos (shipworms) ate away at the wooden piers that they were to rest on.[38]

            Over the course of the legal battle that occurred during the summer and fall of 1886, Drake was steadfast to his argument of ignoring the extension stated in the British Columbian agreement.[39]  Drake claimed that the extension was only a branch line, which the Canadian Pacific was allowed to lay.[40]  He only acknowledged that Port Moody was mentioned in the Canadian Pacific Railway Act, but argued that it was “not formally designed”.[41]  Drake’s opponents argued that “Section 17 of the [Canadian Pacific Railway] Act required the application of the [Consolidated] Railway Act, including its restriction on extension from the terminus”.[42]  To ensure that the company could get an appeal, Abbot arranged to have Charles Major, a landowner who supported the Canadian Pacific, file a suit against the company.[43]  The judge ruled, like in the previous trials, that the railway had violated the Consolidated Railway Act of 1879.[44]  With this result the Canadian Pacific was able to appeal the matter to the Supreme Court in Ottawa.[45]

            In Ottawa, Abbot appointed Christopher Robinson to act as senior council of the case.  Robinson argued Drake’s construction of the acts while Senator Thomas R. McInnes, a supporter of the Port Moody terminus, argued that the Canadian Pacific was ignoring the decision of the British Columbian courts by making their appeal.[46]  The court ruled in favour of the Canadian Pacific, and in a vote of five to one overturned the decisions of the British Columbia courts.[47]  To avoid being taken to the Judicial Court of the Privy Council in Britain, the railway secured an act from the dominion (federal) government that gave them “explicit legislative authority for the extension”.[48]

This land is my land, resold a double the price

Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1880 (approx.)

            The Canadian Pacific Railway provided economic improvements to the west.  During the time of the railway’s construction in the west, the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba experienced an economic boom, the principal cause of which being speculation.  Van Horne had sent an advertisement to Winnipeg newspapers, warning the public against “buying lots at prospective station along the line until he had officially announced their locations”.[49]  This was over shadowed by advertisements from the papers, promoting real-estate near the unofficial sites.

            In June of 1881, the boom began with an opening sale in Brandon, Manitoba, with the value of its lots had tripling by January 1882.[50]  Soon Winnipeg was hit with the excitement of the boom.  Winnipeg had only a population of sixteen thousand people and only three hundred real-estate dealers, within a year its population doubled and its assessment tripled.[51]

            The use of buying on margin gave individuals the ability to purchase large lots of land with limited amounts of money, The Hudson’s Bay Company for example, required only a fifth of the total cost as down payment.[52]  As these properties changed hands, the down payment began to increase in price and soon those wanting to buy property had to turn to less valuable land, thus causing the surge of buying on margin to begin again in another part of Winnipeg.

            Newcomers were astonished by how people would buy the lots at auction one day and sell the land the following day at an increase of ten per cent.[53]  An increase in population from people from outside the city to buy land led to a “floating population” during the winter of 1881 and 1882,[54] which resulted in new hotels being opened on a daily basis.  However, by early summer of 1882, the real-estate boom collapsed,[55]  leaving a total value of the buildings being 1,710,850 dollars and the population of Winnipeg around twenty-five thousand.[56]

Canadian Pacific Railway
travel poster

            By the turn of the century, the railway had taken an interest in the tourist trade and had opened such markets in Banff, Victoria and Quebec City for both North American and European travellers.[57]  The use of local railway development opened opportunities to create regional excursion points that would be accessible to “middle-class patrons”.[58]  A motivation for this project was the drive to beat out the Canadian Pacific’s rival the Canadian Northern, which had partially completed its line to Delta Beach on the southern shore of Lake Manitoba.[59]  Since 1899, the Canadian Pacific had had interests in the southern shore of Lake Winnipeg and had found success in sending excursionists to the beach through the use of its Selkirk branch line and the City of Selkirk steamer.[60]

            In 1901, the Canadian Pacific Railway announced their plans to build a line connecting Winnipeg city with Winnipeg Beach.[61]  The Canadian Pacific had intended the resort to be aimed at upper and middle class residents of Winnipeg.[62]  The railway expected to run only one train daily with eventually adding excursion and picnic trains in addition to building cottages, a dance pavilion and a hotel.[63]  The railway’s chance to add a hotel came in 1908, when Edward Windebank was developing a hotel for the beach known as the Empress Hotel.[64]  Windebank had fallen short on funds during the hotels construction and offered to mortgage the hotel to the railway if they advanced the money to him so he could complete the project.[65]  The railway’s plan for only one train per day and dancing on weekends were greatly changed to regular evening excursions and by 1906, thirteen trains a day on busy holiday weekends.[66]  In 1920, up to fifteen thousand people traveled by train to Winnipeg Beach for the July first weekend with nightly dances held in the pavilion.[67]

Conclusion

            In conclusion, the Canadian Pacific was significant in the development of Canada establishing itself in the west.  The need for a railway in MacDonald’s National Policy led to the development of a market between the west and central Canada.  The Canadian Pacific had to overcome discontent from landowners in Port Moody and the difficulty of the courts in British Columbia, who ruled against the railway in its plan to build its terminus in Coal Harbour.  The railway was able to stimulate economic growth in the city of Winnipeg and through tourism at Winnipeg Beach.  Therefore, the Canadian Pacific was able to assist Canada’s journey in establishing its sovereignty in the west.

Bibliography

Argyle, Ray. Turning Points: The Campaigns that Changed Canada 2004 and Before. Toronto: White Knight Publications. 2004.

Barbour, Dale. "Winnipeg Beach by Moonlight." Manitoba History no. 63 (Spring2010 2010): 2-13. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed February 27, 2012).

Bell, Charles N. "The Great Winnipeg Boom." Manitoba History no. 53 (October 2006): 32-37. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed February 27, 2012).

Berton, Pierre. The Last Spike: The Great Railway, 1881-1885. Toronto: Anchor Canada. 1971.

Leonard, Frank. "'Diplomatic forces of the new railroad': Transcontinental terminus entry at Vancouver and Seattle." Journal Of Transport History 28, no. 1 (March 2007): 21-58. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed February 29, 2012).

---. "So Much Bumph" CPR Terminus Travails at Vancouver, 1884-89." BC Studies no. 166 (Summer2010 2010): 7-38.Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed February 29, 2012).

Lotz, Jim. Canadian Pacific. London: Bison Books Limited. 1985.

Rollings-Magnusson, Sandra. “Necessary for Survival: Woman and Children’s Labour on Prairie Homesteads, 1871-1911”. In Nation and Society: Readings in Post-Confederation Canadian History, 2nd ed., edited by Margret Conrad and Alvin Finke, 114-130. Toronto: Pearson Canada Inc. 2004.

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[1] Jim Lotz, Canadian Pacific, (London: Bison Books Limited, 1985). 6

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ray Argyle. Turning Points: The Campaigns that Changed Canada 2004 and Before (Toronto: White Knight Publications, 2004), 73

[5] Ibid.

[6] Rollings-Magnusson, 115

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Argyle, 79

[10] Ibid.

[11] Lotz, 6

[12] Argyle, 89

[13] Ibid.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Pierre Berton, The Last Spike: The Great Railway, 1881-1885 (Toronto: Anchor Canada, 1971), 6

[16] Rollings-Magnusson, 115

[17] Berton, 302

[18] Ibid.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Berton, 304

[21] Ibid.

[22] Ibid.

[23] Ibid.

[24] Ibid.

[25] Frank Leonard, "'Diplomatic forces of the new railroad': Transcontinental terminus entry at Vancouver and Seattle", Journal Of Transport History 28, no. 1 (March 2007): 21-58, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed February 29, 2012), 25

[26] Ibid.

[27] Leonard, “Diplomatic forced of the new railroad, 26

[28] Ibid.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Ibid., 30

[32] Ibid.

[33] Ibid.

[34] Ibid.

[35] Ibid.

[36] Leonard, “Diplomatic forces of the new railroad”, 30

[37] Ibid.

[38] Ibid.

[39] Frank Leonard, “‘So Much Bumph’ CPR Terminus Travails at Vancouver, 1884-89”, BC Studies no. 166 (Summer2010 2010): 7-38, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed February 29, 2012), 32

[40] Ibid.

[41] Ibid.

[42] Ibid.

[43] Leonard, “So Much Bumph”, 36

[44] Ibid.

[45] Ibid.

[46] Ibid.

[47] Ibid.

[48] Leonard, “Diplomatic Forces of the new railroad”, 31

[49] Berton, 52

[50] Ibid.

[51] Ibid.

[52] Charles N Bell, “The Great Winnipeg Boom”, Manitoba History no. 53 (October 2006): 32-37, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed February 27, 2012), 33

[53] Ibid., 34

[54] Ibid., 35

[55] Ibid., 37

[56] Ibid

[57] Dale Barbour, “Winnipeg Beach by Moonlight”, Manitoba History no. 63 (Spring2010 2010): 2-13, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed February 27, 2012), 3

[58] Ibid.

[59] Ibid.

[60] Ibid.

[61] Ibid., 4

[62] Ibid.

[63] Barbour, 4

[64] Ibid.

[65] Ibid.

[66] Ibid.

[67] Ibid.