Canadian Pacific Railway is completed
Alexander Ross, 1885. Library and Archives Canada, c003693
1885
On November 7, 1885, the driving of the ceremonial “Last Spike” at Craigellachie, British Columbia marked the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Despite rising costs, a political scandal that toppled Sir John A. Macdonald’s government and the death of at least 600 Chinese railway workers, the CPR — linking Eastern and Western Canada — was completed 5 years ahead of schedule.
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