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"Happy is the nation
that has no history," is an aphorism that has lost much of its
force by the adoption of more rational and instructive historical
methods. It was strictly true in the days when popular history was a
mere record of battles and sieges, treaties made and violated, the pomp
and parade of courts and the intrigues of diplomatists. But in an age
when historical research and contemporary observation are brought to
bear upon the life of the people, upon institutions and manners and
industries, upon progress in the arts and sciences, and intellectual and
religious advancement, the eras of peaceful development offer the widest
scope and entail the most arduous labours upon the historian. The
interest of the narrative is no longer centred upon a comparatively
small group of leading figures—upon a few salient actions of
overshadowing importance. It is diffused over a wider theatre where many
diverse movements are in progress. There is no great crisis—no pivotal
point of national destiny towards which all energies are bent and all
eyes directed. But the minor events and influences which make up the sum
of national life are so scattered as to area and so involved in their
relations to each other, that the field-glass of the chronicler of the
times of storm and pressure needs to be exchanged for an instrument at
once telescopic in range and microscopic in closeness of vision. The
recent annals of North-Western progress are a record of peaceful and
rapid advancement, in which, among the active and energetic spirits who
have been the directing forces of settlement, there are many whose names
are worthy of honourable mention—few who loom up so largely as to
throw the rest into shadow. The preservation of the due historical
perspective is therefore a matter of difficulty.
Canadians have been
backward in realizing the grandeur and value of their national heritage.
Accustomed for generations to the contrast between the narrow limits of
Old Canada, and the vast expanse of half a continent to the South, the
possession of which has done so much to form the American character,
both as regards its faults and its virtues, it is not surprising that,
for some time after the annexation of the North-West territory, public
opinion failed to appreciate the new acquisition at anything like its
true value. This was, no doubt, owing fully as much to the lack of
anything like reliable information concerning the real character
of the country and its fitness for settlement, as to the Canadian habit
of self-depreciation—which, by the way, is a habit of thought rather
than of speech. The empire, upon the possession of which Canada had
entered, was literally a terra
incognita.
Great spaces yet
untravelled, great lakes whose mystic shores
The Saxon rifle never heard, nor dip of Saxon oars;
Great herds that wander all unwatched, wild steeds that none have tamed,
Strange fish in unknown streams, and birds the Saxon never named,
Deep mines, dark mountain crucibles where Nature’s chemic powers
Work out the great Designer’s will—all these ye say are ours!
It was not until the
observations of travellers and the researches of men of science,
corroborated by the actual experience of the pioneers of settlement,
established beyond a doubt the existence of large areas of fertile
arable land, that public sentiment rose in some measure to a due
estimation of the resources and possibilities of the North-West.
Prominent among those whose keen perception and graphic descriptive
powers have contributed to bring about this result is the Rev. George M.
Grant, to whose book, "Ocean to Ocean," reference has already
been made. In 1872, Mr. Sandford Fleming, chief engineer of the Canadian
Pacific Railway, determined to undertake a journey across the continent
in order to familiarize himself with the general features of the route
laid down by the preliminary surveys of the previous year. He was
accompanied by Rev. Mr. Grant in the capacity of secretary; and Dr.
Arthur Moren, of Halifax, Prof. John Macoun, of Belleville, and Mr.
Charles Horetzky, an ex-Hudson Bay Company official, were also of the
party. "Ocean to Ocean" was the outcome of this expedition.
The party left Toronto on the 16th of July, reached Prince Arthur’s
Landing by steamer from Collingwood, and travelled to Winnipeg over the
Dawson road. The writer bears frequent testimony to the prevalence of
the Scottish element in the few and far between stopping-places and
settlements along this route. The first halt after leaving Thunder Bay
was made at "fifteen mile shanty," in charge of Robert Bowie,
an Alloa man, of whom it is gratefully recorded that he gave the party
the best dinner they had enjoyed since leaving Toronto. The station at
the Matawan was in care of Mr. Aitken from Glengarry, who in two months
had converted a fire-swept desert into a comfortable and prosperous
home. A Scot who accompanied the party on one stage of their journey as
teamster from the North-West Angle, was earning $30 per month and board,
and saving four-fifths of his wages with the intention in a few months
of buying a farm on the Red River. At White Birch River they found the
keeper of the station, a Scotsman "like the rest," and a very
intelligent man, also to furnish much information about the country.
After the usual vicissitudes of canoe and waggon travel, over this
picturesque but rough and desolate region, Winnepeg was reached. The
writer notes the prosperity of the Selkirk settlement, owing to the
thrifty habits of the High-landers and their descendants. At
"Silver Heights," six miles up the Assiniboine, the residence
of Mr. Donald A. Smith, the travellers received a veritable Highland
welcome, and met, among others, Mr. Christie, a short time before chief
factor at Edmonton, Mr. Hamilton, of Norway House, and Mr. McTavish.
The party commenced the
journey across the prairies with a full equipment of Red River carts,
saddle horses and buck-boards. Shortly after leaving Winnipeg they fell
in with Rev. George McDougall, the intrepid Methodist missionary, whose
lamented death a few years later left such a gap in the ranks of
missionary enterprise. Mr. McDougall accompanied the party to Edmonton,
where he was at that time stationed. They found a little village on the
site of what is now the thriving town of Portage la Prairie, and at Rat
Creek, ten miles further west, the houses of several settlers. The names
of Grant and Mackenzie sufficiently indicate the origin of the two
prosperous farmers, recently from Ontario, at whose houses the
travellers dined. From this point onwards Mr. Grant was impressed with
the wonderful richness and fertility of the prairie land, and puts on
record his amazement that so little should have been done to open up
these vast and productive areas for settlement. Crossing the Assiniboine
at Fort Ellice, the party turned their course towards the North
Saskatchewan, by way of the Touchwood Hills, passing through a region of
rolling prairie, the beauty and luxuriance of which delighted them. From
Carlton they proceeded along the valley of the Saskatchewan, by the
trail on the north bank of the river. At Victoria they visited the
mission established by Mr. McDougall among the Crees and half-breeds. He
had been assigned to another post at Edmonton, and his successor was Mr.
Campbell. The teacher of the Sunday-school was Mr. McKenzie, and the
interpreter Mr. Tait. The observations made during this portion of the
journey as to the general character of the country, and its fitness for
settlement, are the most valuable part of the work—as a vindication of
the soil and climate of the North-West from the prejudices of
unreasoning ignorance and the malignant aspersions of American railroad
and land agents. Summing up his experiences of the route traversed as
far as Edmonton, the writer says :—
"Speaking generally
of Manitoba and our North-West, along the line we travelled, it is
impossible to doubt that it is one of the finest pasture countries in
the world, and that a great part of it is well adapted for cereals. The
climatological conditions are favourable for both stock-raising and
grain-producing. The spring is nearly as early as in Ontario, the summer
is more humid and therefore the grains, grasses, and root crops grow
better; the autumn bright and cloudless, the very weather for
harvesting; and the winter has less snow and fewer snow-storms, and
though in many parts colder, it is healthy and pleasant because of the
still dry air, the cloudless sky and the bright sun. The soil is almost
everywhere a peaty or sandy loam resting on clay, its only fault is that
it is too rich—crop after crop is raised without fallow or
manure." After considering fairly the objections raised as to the
scarcity of fuel and water in some parts, otherwise adapted to
settlement, and the summer frosts which occasionally nip the grain in
the higher latitudes—though, as he takes care to explain, the
thermometer is by no means a guide as to the effects of cold in this
region—"it is impossible" he continues "to avoid the
conclusion that we have a great and fertile North-West, a thousand miles
long and from one to four hundred miles broad, capable of containing a
population of millions."
The revelations of
yesterday are the commonplaces of today. These passages seem now but the
merest truisms—the presentation of a story which has grown stale, and
hackneyed by the reiterations of the tourist and the newspaper
correspondent, the lecturer and the politician. But they were far from
being truisms when first published, or for some time later. The
researches of Prof. Macoun, who with Mr. Horetzky; separated from Mr.
Fleming’s party at Edmonton, and proceeded to the Peace River; did
much to dispel popu1ar prejudice as to the climate. But misconceptions
of this sort die slowly. His report published in 1874, showing from the
flora of that region, that the summer climate of Peace River in 56
degree north latitude is equal to, if not better than, that of
Belleville in latitude 44°, was much criticized and his statements
ridiculed as extravagant. Even in 1877, when surveys had been pushed in
all directions, the Minister of Public Works, in asking the professor to
present a report on the country, thought it necessary to caution him not
to draw on his imagination, and the latter knowing the incredulity which
existed as to the productive capacity of the North-West, dared not
present the conclusion he arrived at, from careful estimates that the
country comprised fully 200,000,000 acres of agricultural land—
fearing that the figures would appear altogether incredible—"As a
salve to my conscience," he writes, "I kept to the large
number of 200,000,000 acres, but said that there were 79,920,000 of
arable land, and 120,400,000 acres of pasture, swamps and lakes." [Macoun’s
Manitoba and the great North-West, p. 609.]
The Fleming party
continued their expedition to British Columbia, by way of the Yellow
Head Pass, reaching Victoria on the 9th of October, after a journey of
nearly three months. Mr. Grant on his return home by way of the Union
Pacific, was struck with the contrast between the arid alkaline plateaus
of Utah, Nevada, Wyoming and Eastern Nebraska, the parched earth for
hundreds of miles barely yielding support to a scanty growth of
sage-brush, and the rich, warm soil of the Canadian prairies clothed
everywhere with a luxuriant vegetation. Yet while population had been
attracted to the great American desert and enterprise had carried
thither the railroad and the telegraph, the fertile belt remained
unpeopled and unproductive. The great essential precursor of
civilization in its westward march, the railway, was yet in the future.
The tendency of public
opinion during the early phases of the Canadian Pacific Railway
enterprise, was to regard this undertaking rather in the light of a
political necessity than a factor of prime exigency in the work of
populating the North-West. The scheme was urged as essential to the
maintenance of British institutions in regions to which a large influx
of population from the southward, was likely to be attracted; it was
accepted as a corollary of Confederation; but not generally recognised
as an undertaking likely to be materially remunerative. To the spirit of
patriotic emulation excited by the giant strides of railway development
in the United States, and to the tenacity with which the British
Columbians in framing the terms of union insisted upon this material
link as a sine qua non, more than to any general conviction of
the practical commercial utility of the enterprise was its inception
due. The engineering difficulties in the way were regarded by many as
insuperable. Capt. Palliser who in 1857 had explored the country, as the
head of an expedition sent out by the imperial government had decisively
declared communication between Canada and the Pacific slope through
British territory impracticable. "The time" he said "has
forever gone by for effecting such an object, and the unfortunate device
of an astronomical boundary line has completely isolated the central
American possessions of Great Britain from Canada, in the East, and also
almost debarred them from any eligible access from the Pacific coast on
the west." With this official condemnation of the scheme on record
it is not surprising that when the conditions of the bargain with
British Columbia were announced the opinion widely prevailed that the
stipulation for the construction of the road within ten years, was
likely to remain a dead letter. It was reserved for the consummate
scientific ability, the tireless energy, the thorough-going assiduity
and indomitable resolution of a Scot to demonstrate the falsity of Capt.
Palliser’s conclusions, as it has since been for the enterprise,
commercial sagacity and executive capacity of a company of Scotsmen to
crown the work.
When the preliminary work
of survey was undertaken in 1871 the position of chief engineer was
assigned to Mr. Sandford Fleming, a name that will always be closely
associated with the greatest public undertakings of the Dominion. Mr.
Fleming was born at Kirkcaldy in Fifeshire, Scotland, on the 7th of
January, 1827, his father being a mechanic named Andrew Greig Fleming.
The maiden name of his mother was Elizabeth Arnot. During his school
days his mind exhibited a decided bent in the direction of mathematics
and at an early age he was placed under articles with an engineer and
surveyor. Having acquired a practical knowledge of the profession he
emigrated to Canada at the age of eighteen. His progress in his adopted
country was slow at first as he was for some years unable to obtain any
position which would afford him the opportunity of gaining recognition
for his abilities. During a portion of this period of weary waiting for
professional advancement he resided in Toronto, where he was one of the
first to take an interest in the Canadian Institute. In 1852 he was
appointed one of the engineering staff on the Northern Railway, at that
time known as the Ontario, Simcoe and Huron Railway. His attainments
quickly won him promotion and in a few years he became chief engineer of
the line. During his connection with this company his services were also
sought in the promotion of other public works. He subsequently visited
the Red River Settlement to ascertain whether it would be practicable to
build a railroad connecting it with old Canada. In 1863 the inhabitants
of the settlement addressed a memorial to the Imperial government
praying for railway communication with Canada through British territory,
and Mr. Fleming was entrusted with the mission of urging the
construction of the line. He had several interviews on the subject with
the Duke of Newcastle, then Colonial Secretary, but the project did not
at that time assume any definite shape. On Mr. Fleming’s return from
England he was entrusted with the task of making a preliminary survey of
a line of railway to connect the maritime provinces with Canada. The
scheme was not pushed until the accomplishment of Confederation in 1867
rendered the construction of the Intercolonial Railway imperative upon
the Canadian Government—when the work was carried to a successful
issue under the direction of Mr. Fleming as Chief Engineer—and
formally opened on the 1st of July, 1876. The triumph thus achieved over
physical obstacles of no ordinary character placed him in the front of
his profession and singled him out as pre-eminently fitted for the yet
more important and responsible charge of opening up a highway for
commerce between the East and West over swamp and prairie, river and
muskeg, across the towering barrier of the Rockies, winding among
British Columbia’s "sea of mountains," through passes deemed
impassable, bridging chasms that yawn destruction and tunnelling
cliffs that frown defiance, onward, slowly, toilsomely but resistlessly
onward to where the Pacific portal invites the commerce of the East and
the perpetual westward surge of humanity culminates in paradox as the
pioneer confronts the Mongolian.
Mr. Fleming’s
connection with the Canadian Pacific continued until 1880 when he
resigned his position on finding himself unable to agree with the
Government as to the location of the railway. His great public services
have been fitly recognised by his receiving from Her Majesty the honour
of being created a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.
In 1880 he was elected Chancellor of Queen’s University, Kingston. He
is an able and voluminous writer on topics connected with his
profession. In addition to the valuable official reports of the various
enterprises with which he has been connected he has published a history
of the Intercolonial Railway and has furnished many instructive
contributions to the Canadian Journal and other scientific
publications. In 1855 he was united in marriage to Miss Ann Jean Hall,
daughter of the late Sheriff Hall, of the County of Peterborough.
When British Columbia
entered the union the practicability of the Pacific Railway was still an
unsolved problem. No time was lost in setting on foot the work of survey
in the summer of 1871. On July 20th, the day on which the union was
formally consummated, a party left Victoria for the mountains,
operations having been begun in the East some weeks before. The quarter
to which attention was specially directed was the Yellow Head Pass in
the Rocky Mountains which it was supposed might offer an available
route. On examination it was found that no insuperable obstacle existed
to the construction of a road through this pass to Kamloops in the
interior of the Province. The main question was settled. The Canadian
Pacific was a practicable scheme and henceforward it was merely a choice
between longer and shorter, easier or more difficult routes. The
immensity of the enterprise, which had hardly been fully considered in
the anxiety to make terms with the British Columbians, began to be more
fully realized during the toilsome and tedious years of exploratory
survey that followed. The difficulties encountered, the fatigues and
perils endured by those engaged in this work are deserving of more
recognition than they have received or are ever likely to receive at the
hands of the country in whose service these brave soldiers on the
skirmish line of the advancing forces of civilization toiled and
suffered and not unfrequently died—for if "peace hath her
victories not less renowned than war," she has also her tragedies,—her
killed whose names find place in no bulletins and to whose memories no
lofty monuments are reared, and her wounded who go unpensioned and
undecorated. The total list of lives lost in connection with the survey
up to the year 1878, by various "moving accidents of flood and
field" numbered thirty-eight. The names of Sinclair, Matheson,
Spence, Hamilton, McMillan, Scott and others which appear on the
death-roll indicate that Scotland can claim as her sons a very large
proportion of the men to whose faithful and arduous service in the face
of the dangers and hard-ships of the wilderness, Canada owes so heavy a
debt of gratitude. The vast amount of information concerning the
physical features of a region of which nothing was accurately known
excepting along the routes followed by the few travellers who had left
their observations on record, gained by the exhaustive and elaborate
system of surveys carried out under Mr. Fleming’s direction is
indicated by the statement made by him in a paper read before the
Colonial Institute on the 16th of April, 1878, that the total length of
explorations made during the preceding seven years exceeded 47,000
miles, no less than 12,000 miles having been measured by chain and
spirit-level, yard by yard. [Report of Canadian Pacific Railway, 1878,
p. 88.] The expense of these surveys amounted to about three and a half
million dollars, and the engineering force employed numbered about a
thousand men of all grades.
Meanwhile the chances and
changes of political conflict had resulted in material alterations in
the character of the scheme. As we have seen, the Conservative policy
was to secure the construction of the road by private enterprise,
stimulated by lavish subsidies of money and land. Mr. Mackenzie’s
administration undertook to build and operate it as a government work.
There is much to be said on either side of the argument as between these
two systems. It must be admitted that there is a growing public opinion
in favour of the resumption by the state of the control of the public
lines of traffic and communication, implied in the old phrase the
"king’s highway." This feeling has been intensified by the
oppressive and arbitrary conduct of the American railway magnates, whose
position has aptly been compared to that of the robber-barons of the
Rhine in feudal times. In a country where the great food-producing
districts are separated by long distances both from the mass of home
consumers and the nearest points of shipment to the foreign market, the
railway king holds industry and commerce by the throat. It is not
surprising that the unscrupulous use of this power in regulating tolls
according to the rule of "what the traffic will bear," and the
frequent contemptuous disregard of the public interest, have given rise
to a strong agitation in favour of state interference. Many consider
that the history of railroad construction and management in the United
States was well calculated to serve as a warning rather than an example
for imitation, in the matter of entrusting large corporations with
monopoly privileges. On the other hand, the danger of leaving a gigantic
enterprise like the Canadian Pacific to be owned and worked by a
government which would always be under the temptation to use it as a
political machine, was calculated to impress Canadians more forcibly
than an evil of which their own experiences had been comparatively
slight. Moreover, the success of the Mackenzie administration in the
work of construction had not been such as to influence public sentiment
in favour of government railways The progress made had been slow.
True, the painstaking and elaborate system of preliminary surveys, so
indispensable to the success of the undertaking, had been pushed forward
with creditable thoroughness and energy; but the public are apt to judge
by tangible results, visible on the surface, ponderable by scales or
steelyard, measurable by tape-line or yard-stick, computable in current
coin of the realm. The actual mileage of railway completed during the
Mackenzie regime was but 227 miles, comprising sections from
Selkirk to Rat Portage and from Fort William to English River. The rich
prairie region, to the value of which the country was now thoroughly
aroused, had not been opened up. Sir John Macdonald, on his return to
power, adopted for the time being the policy of his predecessor, with
the object of securing the settlement of the country as speedily as
possible. The work of construction was hastened. Additional contracts
were let, including that for the connecting link between English River
and Rat Portage, so as to complete the summer route to Winnipeg by way
of Lake Superior, and the Pembina branch was finished, effecting a
connection with the American railway system. The route west of Winnipeg,
which, as originally laid down, took a north-westerly direction,
crossing the narrows of Lake Manitoba, and traversing the low-lying
lands at the base of Duck Mountain, was deflected considerably to the
southward, in order to open up a country better fitted for settlement.
On the Pacific slope the road was put under contract from Yale to
Kamloops, a distance of 127 miles, the Burrard Inlet route, via the
Yellow Head pass and Tête Jaune Cache, of which Mr. Fleming was a
strong upholder, being adopted. In 1880, the number of miles under
construction was 722.
Such was the position of
matters when the Syndicate contract was entered into in pursuance of the
original policy which the Conservative administration had all along kept
steadily in view. That at length, after repeated attempts to interest
capitalists in this great work a successful issue was reached, the
completion of the line assured, the government relieved from its vast
responsibilities, and the country from the risk of continuous and
indefinite losses in the subsequent working of the road, is due to the
foresight, shrewdness and enterprise of the association of Scotsmen,
who, when others hesitated or shrunk back appalled at the magnitude of
the venture, realized the immense possibilities held out by the offer of
the government, and grasped the opportunity let slip by less energetic
or more timorous competitors. And here brief biographical notices of the
leading members of the Syndicate may be given.
Mr. George Stephen, of
Montreal, the leading spirit of the enterprise, is a native of
Ecclefechan, Dumfries-shire, noted as being also the birthplace of
Thomas Carlyle,—a locality of which he evidently entertained the same
opinion as Daniel Webster did of his native New Hampshire, that it was
"a good place to emigrate from," as at an early age he left it
for the British metropolis. There he entered the employ of the extensive
mercantile house of J. M. Pawson & Co., St. Pau1’s
Churchyard, and in this practical training school soon acquired a
thorough knowledge of commercial life. Dissatisfied with the prospect of
rising in the world afforded by the business outlook of the Old Country,
he emigrated to Canada about the year 1853, on the advice of his
relative, the late William Stephen, senior member of the firm of W.
Stephen & Co., Montreal. He entered the warehouse of the firm, and
in a few years obtained a junior partnership, having by his assiduity
and fidelity to their interests made himself indispensable. Mr. Wm.
Stephen died in 1862, and his interest was purchased by the subject of
this sketch, who, on obtaining an ascendency in the business, engaged
extensively in the cloth manufacturing industry. This new departure
proved a highly profitable one—so much so, that he soon withdrew from
the wholesale business and devoted his attention exclusively to
manufacturing. He was chosen a director of the Bank of Montreal, in
which he was a large shareholder, and when the presidency was resigned
by Mr. King, was elected to fill the position. Mr. Stephen’s first
connection with railway enterprise was his joining a syndicate for the
purchase of the interest of the Dutch holders of the bonds of the St.
Paul and Pacific Railway, which gave them control of the partially
constructed line. Realizing the importance of this road as a link in the
chain of railway communication with the North-West via the
Pembina branch of the Canadian Pacific, they carried the work of
construction rapidly forward, and soon found themselves in possession of
an exceedingly profitable line. They were in a position to control not
merely the entire traffic of the Canadian North-West, but to render
tributary a large area of Minnesota and Dakota. The income of this
monopoly they devoted to widening the sphere of their operations by
constructing connecting lines in various directions, making St. Paul the
focal point for their system. They re-named their line the St. Paul and
Manitoba Railway, as until the section of the Pacific along the north
shore of Lake Superior is completed, it will, for half the year, remain
the only outlet for the now vastly increased trade of the Canadian
North-West. Mr. Stephen is a cousin of Hon. Donald A. Smith, associated
with him in the St. Paul and Manitoba and Canadian Pacific railway
companies. His adopted daughter was united in marriage to the son of Sir
Stafford Northcote, during the sittings of the Joint High Commission
which negotiated the Washington Treaty, young Northcote serving as an attache
at the time. Mr. Stephen exercises a lavish hospitality, but is
pre-eminently a man of affairs, and more at home in the office or at a
directors’ meeting than in social festivities.
Mr. Duncan McIntyre, as
the name indicates, is of Celtic origin, and was born in the Highlands
of Scotland not far north of Aberdeen. He came to Canada in the year
1849, settling in Montreal, where he obtained employment as a clerk with
the well-known mercantile firm of Stuart & McIntyre, in whose
service he remained for many years. His duties necessitated his
travelling a good deal in the Ottawa Valley, and his observations of the
locality impressed him strongly with its great natural advantages.
During his intervals of leisure, he frequently joined hunting parties,
and in this way travelled through the wilder and less accessible
portions of the Ottawa district. He thus acquired a minute topographical
knowledge of the country, which afterwards stood him in good stead in
connection with railway matters. Mr. McIntyre had a prosperous business
career. He acquired a partnership in the firm of Stuart & McIntyre,
and as the other members retired, found the concern in his own hands.
His thoughts were, however, turned in other directions, by his interest
in the development of the Ottawa Valley. From the first he believed in
the future of the Canada Central Railroad, of which he became one of the
directors. He embarked with Mr. Foster, President of the road, in the
Canada Central Extension scheme, taking a share in the contract for
construction—and by a succession of transactions, into the details of
which it is not necessary to enter, became president and virtual owner
of the Canada Central. Mr. McIntyre’s foresight as to the important
character of this road, is amply justified by its natural position as a
link in the great inter-oceanic chain.
Mr. Robert B. Angus, like
his colleagues, is a Scot by birth as well as by blood—Bathgate, near
Edinburgh, being his native place. He was one of four brothers, all
remarkable for the early developed brilliancy of their talents. His
scholastic education was received at Edinburgh, and his business
training in a bank at Manchester, for he left his native country when
quite a youth. When he arrived in Canada in 1852, he looked for similar
employment. From the position of junior clerk in the Bank of Montreal,
he speedily rose to more responsible trusts. He was for a time in charge
of the Chicago branch, and after Mr. King had attained the position of
general manager, Mr. Angus became assistant manager. He succeeded his
chief in the managerial post, which after a time he quitted to take a
share in the St. Paul and Manitoba syndicate. Mr. Angus is regarded as a
shrewd man of business and strict in his dealings. He is, however, none
the less popular, as he has many amiable qualities, being a typical
instance of that dual nature which is not uncommon especially among
Scotsmen, combining rigid adherence to the letter of a bargain and close
calculation of expenditure in business matters with openhanded
generosity in social intercourse.
Mr. Donald Alexander
Smith was born in Scotland in the year 1821 and early in life came to
the North-West in the service of the Hudson Bay Company. Few men have
been as closely identified with the progress of civilization in the
North-West as Mr. Smith, who has held many important and responsible
positions and been connected with various enterprises for the
development of the country. He rose to the post of resident governor and
Chief commissioner of the Hudson Bay Company, and in 1870 was appointed
a member of the Executive Council for the North-West territories. He was
a special commissioner to enquire into the causes, nature, and extent of
the Riel rebellion. For three years he represented Winnipeg and St. John
in the Manitoba Legislative Assembly, resigning his seat in 1874. When
Manitoba was admitted into the Union in 1871 Mr. Smith was returned as a
member of the House of Commons for the constituency of Selkirk and was
re-elected on severa1 occasions. In politics he is a Conservative. The
estimation in which he is held by the people of Manitoba has been
testified by his election as president of the Provincial Agricultura1
Association, of the Selkirk St. Andrew’s Society, and vice-president
of the Dominion Rifle Association. He is a director of several banks and
commercial companies and a member of the Board of Management of the
Manitoba College (Presbyterian). He married Isabella, daughter of the
late Mr. Richard Hardisty, at one time, of the British army but
subsequently like himself an official of the Hudson Bay Company.
It would obviously be out
of place in a work of this character to enter into any detailed account
of the progress of the Canadian Pacific since it was handed over to the
Syndicate. It is sufficient to say that under their energetic management
the entire prairie section of the road has been completed so that to-day
Canada is in possession of a line of communication reaching from Thunder
Bay to the Rocky Mountains. The remaining sections of the road are being
vigorously pushed forward. The link to the North shore of Lake Superior
connecting Thunder Bay with Callender, the former terminus of the line
as originally laid out, is under construction and the work is being
carried on as fast as the physical obstacles in the way will permit. The
Company having acquired the Canada Central and amalgamated it with the
Pacific, Montreal will be the Eastern terminus of the line and the
outlet for the great volume of North-Western traffic. The route through
the Rocky Mountains to Kamloops is as yet undetermined. This is the piece
de resistance of the undertaking and further surveys of the region
are yet in progress to ascertain the most available line. It cannot be
doubted that the same energy, decision, and administrative capacity
which have already accomplished so much in grappling with the
difficulties of this immense enterprise, will be equal to the yet more
formidable difficulties to be encountered, and that in a very few years
the debt which Canada owes to Scottish resolution and force of character
will be still further augmented by the successful completion of the
great trans-continental railway.
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