136 SANDFORP FLEMING ON 



members of this expedition are fully giveu iu the Pacific Railway Engineer Report 

 for 1880.' 



Up to 1880 the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway was directly carried on 

 by the Government ; at that period the comi^letiou of eight hundred miles, embracing 

 some of the heaviest and most difficult sections of the line, had been assured. In that 

 year it became the policy of Parliament to transfer the whole work to private euteriirise, 

 and thus the Canadian Pacific Railway Company came into being. The Company has 

 since, with extraordinary energy, carried the work to completion. 



The railway, as constructed through a portion of the mountain region, follows a 

 different route to that previously adopted by the Government. As the directors of the 

 company considered it wise to change the line to a more southern direction, it became 

 indispensable to seek for another pass. For this purpose Major A. B. Rogers with much 

 labour and determination explored the Selkirk Range, and found the pass through which 

 the railway has been constructed.^ 



(14) Journey of Mr. W. C. Van Home, 1884. 



In the year 1884, Mr. W. C. Van Home, at that time general manager and vice- 

 president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, accompanied by Mr. S. B. Reed, CE., reached 

 British Columbia by way of San Francisco, with the object of inspecting the line of the 

 raihvay and examining the works iu progress in the mountains. On August 9th they 

 left Victoria for New Westminster and Burrard Inlet ; they proceeded up the valley 

 of the Fraser to Kamloops ; on the 11th they took their departure for Shuswap Lake and 

 the mountains. On the 15th they entered the Eagle pass and reached the Columbia; 

 having crossed that river they passed over the Selkirks by the valleys of the lUe-celle- 

 waet and Beaver. Again reaching the Columbia at its eastern crossing they ascended 

 that river to Kicking Horse Ri^er, the valley of which they followed to the summit. 

 Between the Eagle iiass and the source of Kicking Horse River, the journey was made 

 partly on horseback and on foot ; much of it was exceedingly tedious and fatiguing. On 

 the 21st, they reached the end of track, which had then been laid to the summit in the 

 Rocky Mountains and by train they travelled to Winnipeg. The railway journey was 

 continued by St. Paul to Montreal, and the travellers arrived at that city on August 29th, 

 twenty days after leaving Victoria. 



(15) Journey of Mr. Collingivood Schreiber, 1884. 



As Mr. Van Home's party emerged from the mountains, Mr. Collingwood Schreiber, 

 Chief Engineer of the Canadian Government Railways, started on the overland journey. 

 He was accompanied by Mr. Pottiuger, General Superintendent, and Mr. Archibald, 

 Engineer of the Intercolonial Railway. They pioceeded by railway to Oregon, and thence 



' See also Mountain and Prairie ; a Journey from Viitovia to Winnipeg, via Peace River Pass, by tlio Rev. 

 Daniel M. Gordon, B.D., Ottawa, 1880. 



-Tlie circumstances «liicli led to tlie discovery of tlie pa?s tlirougli vvliicli the railway is established are 

 alluded to in the work of tho writer, England and Canada, pp. 267 and 409. 



