Last spike

 

The hammering of the last spike into the Canadian Pacific Railway expanded access to the nation immeasurably, physically and symbolically connecting it from coast to coast. While seen as a victory in the dominant narrative of Canada, it served as a catalyst for the mass displacement of Indigenous peoples and the exploitation and even death of labourers involved in the construction of the railway. Join us as Marcelle Cinq-Mars delves into the historic image depicting this moment, and we reflect on the real human cost that was paid in the name of progress.

Duration: 15:42

File size: 21.5 MB Download MP3

Publish Date: April 18, 2024

• Transcript of Treasures Revealed episode 16

  Théo Martin (TM): Welcome to “Discover Library and Archives Canada: Your History, Your Documentary Heritage.” I'm your host, Théo Martin. Join us as we showcase treasures from our vaults; guide you through our many services; and introduce you to the people who acquire, safeguard and make known Canada's documentary heritage.

  Welcome to Treasures Revealed!

  In this podcast series, we'll be showcasing certain items in the Library and Archives Canada collection. Each episode, we'll speak to a LAC employee and highlight an item that they consider a real “treasure” in the collection.

  They may be rare items, perhaps unusual or valuable, or items with historical significance. Perhaps they will have a compelling or interesting story to go along with them. More importantly, all of them will showcase our vast and rich collection that is the shared documentary heritage of all Canadians.

  Before we begin today's Treasures Revealed episode, we want to tell you about an exciting new series launching this Spring. Voices Revealed draws on the vast and little-known oral history collections held at Library and Archives Canada, amplifying the voices of underrepresented and marginalized communities. “Porter Talk,” the first miniseries in this production, centers audio interviews within the Stanley G. Grizzle fonds. In particular, it explores the lived experiences of Black men who laboured as sleeping car porters for Canadian railways during the twentieth century. Their voices, along with those of their wives and children, reveal the institutional, systemic, and everyday racism these citizens endured, while also highlighting the strategies that were central to navigating these obstacles and building community.

  Listen in as Raymond Lewis, a Canadian Pacific Railway porter who is featured in this new miniseries, reflects on his time on the rails.

  (Trailer begins)

  Make sure you're subscribed to Discover Library and Archives Canada to receive new episodes as they are released.

  Now, on to Episode 16 of Treasures Revealed, “Last Spike.”

  More than 30 million iron spikes were used to construct the Canadian Pacific Railway. The final one was hammered into the track by company director Donald Smith on November 7, 1885. The spikes were used to fasten steel rails to wooden railway ties, and as the last one was driven home, company officials and labourers posed for a photograph during a ceremony held at Craigellachie, near Eagle Pass in the British Columbia interior.

  Marcelle Cinq-Mars (MCM): Hi, I'm Marcelle Cinq-Mars, and I've been an archivist at Library and Archives Canada since 2007.

  TM: Here to tell us about that photo held in the collections is archivist Marcelle Cinq-Mars.

  MCM: It's a black-and-white photograph taken on November 7, 1885, near Eagle Pass, in the Canadian Rockies, in British Columbia. The photo shows about 40 men gathered near some railway tracks. Most of the men appear to be workers, based on their clothing and appearance. There are also several dignitaries, who are better dressed, even wearing top hats. And at the centre, a man is holding a sledgehammer and has just driven a spike into the rail, securing the rail to the ground.

  This photograph is generally called “The Last Spike” (“Le dernier crampon” in French). The man in the centre, driving in the last spike, is Canadian Pacific Railway director Donald Smith.

  TM: This photograph was taken by Calgary photographer Alexander Ross and is held here at LAC.

  We asked Marcelle if she could tell us a bit of history about the Canadian Pacific Railway and how the railway was finally completed.

  MCM: To understand the historical significance of this photo, we need some context about the period when the railway was completed, in 1885. But first, we have to go back a few years earlier. As we know, Canadian Confederation dates back to 1867, and when it was first established, there were only four provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.

  The rest of what is now Canada was not yet part of the Canadian Confederation. The new Canadian government wanted to extend Confederation from sea to sea. So there was a lot of work to do. Manitoba joined in 1870, but the current provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia were not yet part of it. There were talks between the Canadian government in Ottawa and its territories to the west, to convince them to join Confederation.

  In 1871, British Columbia, after several years of negotiations, told the Canadian government in Ottawa that they agreed to join Canadian Confederation on one condition: this condition was that a railway would be built linking British Columbia to Eastern Canada; from Montréal, to Ottawa, across all of Western Canada to British Columbia. So British Columbia joined Confederation, and the Canadian government, which had committed itself to building this railway, started the work.

  So railway construction began in the early 1870s, but after several years, there was malfeasance, political scandals, bribery, and work wasn't progressing. So in 1880, 10 years later, the railway still wasn't finished. And a group of businessmen took over the project and decided to complete it. Of course, there was profit to be made when the railway was complete. There was a commercial interest for this group of businessmen. So these businessmen, realizing that over 10 years the work had barely progressed, decided to hire a railway construction specialist, one Cornelius William Van Horne. Van Horne was a 38-year-old American. He came to Canada, receiving an excellent salary, and was put in charge of finishing the railway construction project—or almost doing the whole thing, because hardly anything had been done.

  It was quite the project, because it started out in Quebec, went through Ontario, and went all the way to British Columbia. British Columbia has the Rocky Mountains. And building a railway in the Prairies is easy enough; the mountains are a whole other story. But Van Horne accepted and overcame the challenge.

  TM: A rising star in the United States, William Van Horne became the general manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1882, and he oversaw the construction over the Prairies and through the mountains. By the end of 1883, the railway had reached the Rockies, just eight kilometres east of Kicking Horse Pass in Alberta. The construction seasons of 1884 and 1885 would be spent in the mountains of British Columbia.

  The difficulty in obtaining workers in British Columbia led to the controversial importation of approximately 15,000 Chinese labourers. Working under extremely harsh conditions for little pay, hundreds of immigrant workers lost their lives, through accidents, lack of medical attention and disease. They also did the most dangerous jobs, such as working with explosives to clear tunnels through rock. It is estimated that the number of Chinese workers who died is between 600 and 800.

  The Canadian Pacific Railway also cut through First Nations lands without seeking their consent. For instance, roughly 5,000 First Nations and Métis Nation peoples were expelled from the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan in the 1880s during the construction phase. Even after the tracks were put on the land, the trains continued to destroy First Nations territories all along the railway.

  For thousands of First Nations, the coming of the railway meant the end of a way of life. They had their lands stolen, and they were forcibly removed from their traditional territories, being forced onto reserves to make room for newly arriving settlers.

  Government negotiators made various promises to First Nations peoples, both orally and in written texts, including special rights to treaty lands and the distribution of cash payments, hunting and fishing tools, farming supplies, and the like. These terms of agreement are controversial and contested. To this day, there are ongoing legal and socio-economic impacts on First Nations.

  Once again, here's Marcelle.

  MCM: In this photo, we see workers and dignitaries, all men, of course, because it's a construction site. But what's notable is the absence of certain workers. We don't see any of the Chinese workers who helped to build the railway. Company management was careful to keep the Chinese workers out of the photo. So it's the absence of this group of workers that's noteworthy about this photo.

  TM: Some notable figures included in the photograph, besides Donald Smith (later Baron Strathcona), are William Van Horne, Sir Sandford Fleming, John Egan, Sam Steel of the North-West Mounted Police, and a young man, standing right in the centre behind Smith, named Edward Mallandaine. Mallandaine, who is sometimes referred to as the Craigellachie Kid, was 18 years old when the photo was taken. He had arrived there the night before and pushed his way to the front of the crowd during the ceremony, appearing at the centre of the photograph.

  We asked Marcelle why she considers this photograph of the Last Spike to be a treasure.

  MCM: In summary, this photo immortalizes a very specific moment. Yes, it's the moment when the company director drove the last spike, signifying that the construction of the railway was complete. But it's more than that. It's an iconic photo. The railway, completed in 1885, not only linked the two oceans, sea to sea—of course Newfoundland wasn't part of Confederation at the time—but also opened the way to the Canadian Prairies and British Columbia.

  It opened the way, provided a way to transport the hundreds of thousands of European immigrants disembarking from ships in Québec or Montréal who could now take the railway and reach their destinations faster. Of course, the railway in 1885 wasn't like today, but it was better than using a horse. So these immigrants could easily reach the Prairies and settle there, really put down roots and develop the Canadian Prairies and British Columbia. In addition to these immigrants, the railway also transported goods, because if you're going to settle the Prairies, you also need wood, glass, metal, all things that can be transported by train to the Canadian Prairies, to Western Canada. Another thing to mention is that, at the time, when building a railway, posts for the telegraph line would often be constructed in parallel, just a few metres from the rail. The Canadian Pacific Railway did this; as it built the railway to the West, it also built the telegraph line in parallel, which is much easier. So not only did this allow the people, the immigrants, to go and settle in the Prairies and develop this part of the country, but they also had direct access to means of communication. So, the telegraph, newspapers, communications. So 1885, when the railway was completed, is really a page out of the history books, a chapter in Canadian history that came to a close, and a new chapter that began. Like the Canadian Prairies and British Columbia, Western Canada was opened to the world, the door was open and the Canadian Pacific Railway was really the precursor.

  TM: If you are interested in viewing the photo of the Last Spike, you can go to LAC's Flickr page. There, you will find an album of images called Treasures Revealed. We will update that album with each episode, giving you a chance to view the treasures that we will be highlighting.

  Thank you for being with us. I'm Théo Martin, your host. You've been listening to “Discover Library and Archives Canada—where Canadian history, literature and culture await you.” A special thank you to our guest today, Marcelle Cinq-Mars. Special thanks also to Isabel Larocque for her contributions to this episode.

  The music in this episode was provided by Blue Dot Sessions.

  This episode was produced, engineered and edited by David Knox, with additional editing and sound design by Tom Thompson.

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  For more information on our podcasts, go to LAC's homepage and type “podcast” in the search bar in the top right corner and click on the first link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, you can find the email address for the podcast team located at the bottom of the episode page.

Host: Théo Martin, Archivist, Performing Arts Archives

Guest: Marcelle Cinq-Mars, Lead Archivist on Declassification, ATIP Branch

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Related links

• Flickr album – Treasures Revealed

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Send your feedback to: bac.balados-podcasts.lac@canada.ca