The work was commenced in October, 1897, by the erection of the span on the west end, the structure being built completely around the tube of the old bridge, the latter being cleverly utilized as a roadway. Traffic never ceased except for twenty hours during the whole construction, the longest delay being two hours. The old bridge weighed 9,044 tons, the new 20,000 tons. The width of the old bridge was sixteen feet, the new one sixty-six feet eight inches. The height of the former superstructure was eighteen feet, that of the new superstructure over all is from forty to sixty feet. The new bridge ranks among the foremost constructions of present engineering progress.
On October 16, 1901, the son of Edward VII, the Duke of York, and Cornwall, now George V, visited the bridge with the Duchess, now his Queen.
Though the Grand Trunk Railway is the pioneer railroad of Canada, it was greatly assisted by English capitalists, although Montrealers played a prominent part.
THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY
The history and development of the Canadian Pacific Railway shows, however, a still closer connection with Montreal. The great line was born in this city, reared through an infancy of tremendous difficulties here, and has always, and probably will always, have its headquarters in this city. Though four of the original syndicate, J.S. Kennedy, of New York; J.J. Hill, of St. Paul; Morton Rose and Company, of New York, and Kohn Reinach, of Paris, were not citizens, yet the four others were good Montrealers, Lord Strathcona, then plain Donald A. Smith, Lord Mount Stephen, then George Stephen, Duncan McIntyre, and R.B. Angus, who, as faithful guardians, risked their very financial existence that it should become a strong, self-supporting institution, able to stand on its own legs. That their belief in the future of this splendidly virile institution was justified, everyone now realizes, but it is nevertheless a fact that the general opinion of some of the wisest of Canada’s wise men at the time of its commencement was that the C.P.R. would never be finished, or if it should crawl through its first few years of existence, it would never earn sufficient net profits to pay its bills for axle grease.
Born in the midst of political turmoil, pulled through a puling and precarious infancy only by tremendous personal sacrifice on the part of those responsible for its existence, this organization is now one of the leading corporations of the entire world, its ramifications reaching clear around the globe and its annual income counted in figures which stagger the mind of the average man.
The C.P.R. owes its tremendous success to the imagination of its sponsors, and to nothing else. When it was brought into being, the developed portion of Canada was well served by the Grand Trunk Railway and its connecting lines. There was no room for another railway among the established markets of what is now called Eastern Canada. But the men who created the C.P.R. out of their hopes and their belief in the future of the country, looked beyond the East. Between Ontario and the Pacific Coast, according to popular superstition at that time there lay nothing but trackless, ice bound wastes, of no value to man or beast, and cut off from the balmy climate of British Columbia by the impenetrable fastnesses of the Rocky Mountains. The original syndicate and their executive led by William Van Horne, the great constructive railroad genius of the nineteenth century, thought differently. For one thing they had already had experience of the possibilities of the Western United States, because of certain railroad transactions conducted by them in that territory, and they believed that the possibilities of Western Canada were every bit as great. Neither ridicule nor abuse could shake them from their determination, and they literally rammed their convictions down the throat of an only half willing Dominion Government, to what end we all know.
The project of a line connecting the railway system of Canada with the seaboard of British Columbia was one of the chief inducements held out to that province to enter into Confederation. At several periods between Confederation and the year 1880 the Dominion Government had before it very strong schemes for the construction of a transcontinental line, but none of them proved effective until what was known as the Canadian Pacific Syndicate finally entered into a definite contract in 1880 for the construction of the road. The financial arrangements were largely in the hands of the Montrealers already mentioned, George Stephen, Donald A. Smith, R.B. Angus, and Duncan McIntyre.
As the Macdonald Government allied itself with the C.P.R. proposals, the railroad was for some time classed by the public as a Tory organization, but for the last twenty years the C.P.R. has held itself aloof from all party politics. In the early days, however, it was not surprising that opponents were vehement in opposition. They condemned the scheme unsparingly, declaring that it would never pay expenses. Their predictions of ruin and disaster and the pessimistic attitude of influential parties in England, no doubt, led the Canadian Government to grant a larger aid to the enterprise in order to increase the chances of ultimate success. The company was incorporated in 1881. Its endowment consisted of 25,000,000 acres of land in western Canada and $25,000,000 in cash. It was also presented with some 700 miles of railway, which the Government had constructed at a cost of $35,000,000. The railway mileage taken over represented less than one-fourth of the amount necessary to connect Montreal and Vancouver. The cash subsidy of $25,000,000 represented considerably more than a cash subsidy of that amount would represent today, for thirty years ago a dollar in cash had a much larger purchasing power. With reference to the land grant, it can safely be said that, when the company was formed in 1881, few realized its value.
The names of two men must be connected with the successful fortunes of the company, William Van Horne, who was elected general manager, and Thomas Shaughnessy, appointed purchasing agent. Their humble offices were first in the Imperial Building, on St. James Street, opposite Place d’Armes Square. The general offices were next removed to Victoria Square, to the old Albert Building. Things did not progress in the early stages, but fine optimism marked these men.