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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
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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 11-foot (3.4 m)
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section of rail was removed 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.
56:, 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 (299 km) section of track from Prince Rupert to
108:, while from Prince Rupert, more dignitaries came for the ceremony, among these, General Superintendent W.C.C. Mehan, Superintendent G.A. McNichol, Division Engineer C.C. Vanarsdol and Assistant Engineer W.H. Tobey.
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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
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On April 7, 1914, the Grand Trunk
Pacific Last Spike ceremony was held 1.5 kilometres east of Fort Fraser, BC, approximately 135 kilometres west of what is now Prince George.
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required 12 million pounds (5,400 t) of explosives that were used in the creation of three tunnels that had to be blasted through solid rock.
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took four years to complete (1908–1912), in part because the construction of the 80-mile (130 km) section from Prince Rupert to the
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commenced construction in
British Columbia in 1908. This was one of the most difficult sections of track ever to be laid in
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and would cost approximately $ 112,000 per mile. There were two ends of construction, one being built from
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A Thousand
Blunders: The History of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Northern British Columbia
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A Thousand
Blunders: The History of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Northern British Columbia
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A Thousand
Blunders: The History of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in Northern British Columbia
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Then, in 1912, the Grand Trunk
Pacific was dealt another blow when its general manager
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26:Last Spike of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
120:then the western crew placed the last rail.
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96:The president of the Grand Trunk Pacific,
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227:Paddlewheels on the Frontier Volume 1
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134:Last Spike (Canadian Pacific Railway)
20:The Last Spike: Fort Fraser, BC, 1914
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307:Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
302:History of British Columbia
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79:died in the sinking of the
42:Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
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172:A History of Prince George
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250:Leonard, Frank (1996).
192:Leonard, Frank (1996).
102:Alfred Waldron Smithers
312:1914 in rail transport
258:. UBC Press. pp.
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200:. UBC Press. p.
161:Volume One Art Downs
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77:Charles Melville Hays
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128:See also
106:Montreal
89:Ceremony
58:Hazelton
260:188–243
82:Titanic
36:History
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264:ISBN
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