Canadian Pacific Railway History

Since the beginning of recorded history, mankind has been caught in the middle of being

By the 1860’s railways were being hailed as an answer to economic problems. Those people in the Maritimes who supported Confederation argued that a transcontinental railway would improve among the colonies and would also help to unify the country. Goods could be moved much

The Transcontinental railroad purpose of being built was to cause positive things to happen in the US and positive things did result from the railroad. For example, westward expansion increased because of the railroad. One reason why western expansion increased because of the railroad was that travelers finally found a use for the Great Plains like how they found “millions of acres of fertile soil, land for cattle, and a land of opportunity even larger than the Lone Star State”(Doc 1). Because people found these uses of The Great Plains, people started to move rapidly west to take ahold of these opportunities. This was a positive for the US because now more people are moving west increasing westward expansion, starting businesses, and are farming in the Great Plains which helped boost the US economy. Another reason why westward expansion increased because of the railroad is there was land in the west and after the railroad was built it was for sale for very cheap prices (Doc 5). This was a positive because with more land for cheap price people started moving west but it also is creating more space for people to live and during this time many immigrants from many countries are coming to the United States looking for opportunities and the more people that came to the United States the more space they needed because they needed somewhere to live. So now that they have more land more people are able to settle in the United States in the west for cheap low prices.

The railways became an important system that guided settlement and delivered economic opportunity for much of the United States. Railroads allowed access to places that people had no means of getting to and provided an opportunity to develop cities and towns

Established in 1842, the US House & Senate Committees have looked back at the railroad and used it to advance the ways and means of transporting goods, supplies, mail, and people. Look at what it has done; it has served as an artery, moving what is needed throughout the entire nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific. From giving jobs to those minority groups and once former slaves after the Civil War, throwing the stock market and economy left and right, assisting Abraham Lincoln in winning elections and also winning the Civil War, helping rebuild the South and the nation’s economy from the bottom up during the reconstruction era, taming the Wild West (which has a major direct influence on the American Government System), serving as one of the best ways of getting mail to citizens across the US, and expanding intercontinental trade to have its own manifest destiny. This railroad had a significant affect in the growth of this nation and its government. It’s relationship and way it impacts the government is a result from multiple chain reactions that originated from the 1860s, 70s, 80s, etc. and I strongly believe, after all of my research, that our nations governmental system would be many decades behind if it wasn’t for the transcontinental

Inventions like the iPhone have paved the road for social, economical, and political improvements. It allowed many opportunities for people to capitalize on whether it be economically like amazon, or socially like youtube as did the railroad that connected the states together. The transcontinental railroad most impacted America economically through encouraging imports and exports amongst the states, making transportation cheaper, and opening up cities along the railroad itself.

The Canadian Pacific Railway required a great amount of effort to construct. As a solution to this, the Canadian government brought Chinese men to work for them in British Columbia

First and foremost, the idea of having a railway built throughout Canada was already in existence long before 1881. However, it was not until Confederation was passed on July 1, 1867 when “[The railway’s] realization was found to be a political necessity” (Leary, 5). In other words, Confederation did not just mark the date in history where the federal Dominion of Canada was born, but, it had also opened the doors necessary to make the project a reality. Clearly, there was much more to Confederation than met the eye, and “as part of the deal, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were promised a railway to link them with the two Central Canadian provinces – Quebec and Ontario” (Canadian Pacific). By 1871, Manitoba and British Columbia had also joined the Confederation. At this point,

Between 1860 and 1870, besides mining, Chinese pioneers also worked on many other projects in British Columbia and Vancouver Island. Some of the jobs included the erection of telegraph poles, the construction of the 607-kilometers Caribou Wagon Road and the digging of canals and reclaiming of wastelands. The Chinese were major contributors to the development of Canadian society, but were never recognized as such.

We also needed this railroad because we also needed to bring in goods to help the people that live in British Columbia, to live safe, healthy and good lives. The railroad would also help bring in more people. This would help us fill more jobs and more of our goods could be traded out to other provinces for some of our needs such as money. British Columbia is also on the very west of Canada so we need this railroad to even be relevant to Canada and to help Canada be a great place.

The Transcontinental railroad was the most prolific tool for United States western expansion and acted as jet fuel to the fire of the United States economy. The railroad revolutionized transportation of goods and the freedom that Americans now had to travel from coast-to-coast.

To start, I will explain the purpose of the Transcontinental railroad. In Source #1”Full Steam Ahead The Transcontinental Railroad”, it says “People had been asking for coast-to-coast rail travel for decades. Since the invention of the locomotive in 1825, companies had built many rail lines. These railroads connected eastern cities and seaports,splashing travel times and helping these areas grow. Crossing the country, however was much more difficult. People and trade goods traveled by horse, stagecoach, or wagon train. The trip took months. Not many made the journey.” So the government during the time thought that building a railroad, would help businesses “ sprout up like corn.” According to Source #1 it also says “ Two companies immediately got to work. Railroads already existed that stretched from the East of Omaha, Nebraska. Now, the Union Pacific Railroad began extending the tracks from Omaha out to the West. The Central Pacific Railroad began in Sacramento,California and laid tracks out East. Eventually, the two companies would meet in Promontory, Utah. So, basically the purpose of the railroad was to get people and goods from coast-to-coast.

The transcontinental railroad was the most influential innovation of the United States, that brought a revolution of how people traveled. One year after the Civil War ended the people of the United States were looking for a way to unite their country back together. This helped mold the United States as to what it has become today. It helped people cross the country and improved how goods were transported. The man that was forming the transcontinental railroad was a merchant named Asa Whitney. He had asked the government for funding to construct one of the greatest innovation of the United States. “Two railroads, the Central Pacific starting in San Francisco and a new railroad, the Union Pacific, starting in Omaha, Nebraska, would build the rail-line.” (ushistory.org). One fear of building the railroad was the danger of the “Great American Desert” because of the lack of resources. The Central Pacific was primarily made by Chinese immigrants. The Union Pacific was primarily made up of Irish immigrants. By spring of 1866 the Central Pacific had only build 68 miles of track from Sacramento, while the Union Pacific going west from Omaha built 200 miles of track in less than a year. Therefore the Union Pacific made millions more. The next three years the railroads would continue to try and make history.

The construction of the CPR also provided many benefits for consumers in Canada at the time of being built, as well as after for many years to come. Receiving goods was made much easier through the use of the CPR to deliver products to the eastern part of Canada. This was mostly just a convenience for consumers rather than really benefitting them financially. As a result of easier transportation to the eastern Canada, the price of food and goods was far less coming from the west because of the low shipment costs issued by the CPR, which was a financial benefit for the consumers of Canada. The standard of living in turn was increased by the lower costs of items needed for the standard every-day life of citizens living in Canada. This was mostly apparent in the lower to middle class division in that time, where obvious gains were apparent, so the new immigrants and poor began to lift out of poverty at a substantial rate. Another benefit that consumers had was that they were not required to pay tariffs on the CPR; only the clients of the railway were required to pay fares to the financiers, which was another convenience for consumers. To put it simply, Canada’s consumers weren’t drastically affected by the construction of the

The first measure restricting immigration enacted by Congress was a law in 1862 forbidding American vessels to transport Chinese immigrants to Canada; 20 years later Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act excluding Chinese immigrants. In 1875, 1882, and 1892, acts passed by Congress provided for the examination of immigrants and for the exclusion from Canada of convicts, polygamists, prostitutes, persons suffering from loathsome or contagious diseases, and persons liable to become public charges. The Alien Contract Labor Laws of 1885, 1887, 1888, and 1891 prohibited the immigration to Canada of persons entering the country to work under contracts made before their arrival; professional actors, artists, singers, lecturers, educators, ministers, and personal and domestic servants were exempt from this provision. Alien skilled laborers, under these laws, were permitted to enter Canada to work in new industries. A diplomatic agreement made in 1907 by Canada and Japan provided that the Japanese government would not issue passports to Japanese laborers intending to enter Canada; under the terms of this agreement, Canada government refrained until 1924 from enacting laws excluding Japanese immigrants.