Last Spike (Grand Trunk Pacific Railway)

The Last Spike of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was driven one mile east of Fort Fraser, British Columbia, Canada on April 7, 1914.

History

The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway commenced construction in British Columbia in 1908. This was one of the most difficult sections of track ever to be laid in North America and would cost approximately $112,000 per mile. [cite book |last=Leonard |first=Frank|title=A Thousand Blunders: The History of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Northern British Columbia|year=1996|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=0-7748-0552-8|pages= page 52] There were two ends of construction, one being built from Prince Rupert east and one from Winnipeg, Manitoba west. In British Columbia, the railway had to cope with incredibly difficult terrain, extreme weather conditions and a shortage of workers. For example, the 186 mile section of track from Prince Rupert to Hazelton took four years to complete (1908-1912), in part because the construction of the 80 mile section from Prince Rupert to the Kitselas Canyon required 12 million pounds of explosives that were used in the creation of three tunnels that had to be blasted through solid rock. [cite book |last=Downs |first=Art |title=Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1|year=1971|publisher=Foremost Publishing|isbn=0888260334|pages= page 72]

The costs of building the railway through the Northern Interior of British Columbia were much higher than the company had projected and disputes with rival town-site holders, especially at Hazelton and Fort George cut even deeper into the company's profits. [cite book |last=Leonard |first=Frank|title=A Thousand Blunders: The History of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Northern British Columbia|year=1996|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=0-7748-0552-8|pages= pages 188-243]

Then, in 1912, the Grand Trunk Pacific was dealt another blow when its brilliant general manager Charles Melville Hays was lost in the sinking of the "Titanic". Despite these obstacles and tragedies, the railway was completed and the vision of Charles Hays was finally realized.

Ceremony

The president of the Grand Trunk Pacific, Edson J Chamberlain and AW Smithers, chairman of the board of directors, and other officers of the company all arrived by train from Winnipeg and Montreal, while from Prince Rupert, more dignitaries came for the ceremony, among these, General Superintendent WCC Mehan, Superintendent GA McNichol, Division Engineer CC Vanarsdol and Assistant Engineer WH Tobey.

The ceremony began with a race between the track-layers and crews from the eastern and western ends of construction. The last mile had been left unfinished and each crew was timed to see who could complete their last half mile the fastest. The eastern crew won by a margin of only a few minutes and then the western crew placed the last rail.

Edson Chamberlain drove the last spike, (not a golden one but a standard black iron one), and once he completed that task, he gave gold watches to the men in charge of each crew. Painted on the last tie was "Point of Completion April 7th, 1914". After the ceremony, that last tie was dug out and sliced into sections and then polished and engraved. The pieces were given to railway officials as paper-weights. One of these is in the possession of the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum.

References

* "A Thousand Blunders: The History of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Northern British Columbia" Frank Leonard ISBN 0-7748-0552-8
* "Paddlewheels on the Frontier" Volume One Art Downs ISBN 0888260334
* "A History of Prince George" Rev FE Runnals

Notes

ee also

* Last Spike (Canadian Pacific Railway)

External links

* [http://www.pgrfm.bc.ca/livinglandscapes/harlow.html Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum: Pioneer letter describing ceremony]