EXPEDITIONS TO PACIFIC. 139 



private car, the " Saskatchewau," was attached with the dcsij^u of proceeding to Port 

 Moody, at that date the terminus — the uew city, Vaucotiver, having no existence. This 

 car, contained seven persons : five came the whole way from Montreal, one of them joined 

 at Ottawa, and one ou their way to Port Arthur. A delay of two days took place at 

 Winnipeg ; finally the party left "Winnipeg on Monday, November 2nd, 1885. The train 

 beyond Calgary became " special ; " it reached the western crossing of the Columbia in 

 fifty-six hours after leaving Winnipeg. The gap, however, was not closed ; the work 

 having been retarded by incessant rains, so the train could not proceed further. Early 

 on the morning of the 7th the junction was verging to completion, and at 9 o'clock the 

 last rail was laid in its place. All that remained to finish the work was to drive home 

 one spike. 



By common consent, -the duty of performing the task was assigned to one of the four 

 directors present — the senior in years and influence, whose high character placed him in 

 prominence — Sir Donald Alexander Smith. No one could on such an occasion more 

 worthily represent the company or more appropriately give the finishing blows which, 

 in a material sense, were to complete the gigantic undertaking.' 



Sir Donald ^Smith braced himself to the task, and he wielded the by no means light 

 spike hammer with as good a will as the professional track-layer. The work was carried 

 on. in silence. Nothing was heard but the reverberations of the blows struck by him. It 

 was uo ordinary occasion ; the scene was in every respect noteworthy, from the groups 

 which composed it and the circumstances which had brought together so many human 

 beings in this spot in the heart of the mountains, until recently an uutracked solitude. 

 Most of the engineers with hundreds of workmen of all nationalities who had been 

 engaged in the mountains were present. Every one appeared to be deeply impressed 

 by what was taking place. The central figure in the group was something more than 

 the representative of the railway company which had achieved the triumph he was 

 consummating. His presence recalled memories of the Mackenzies and McTavishs, the 

 Stuarts and MacGrillivrays, the Erasers, Finlaysons, McLeods, McLoughlins, and their 

 contemporaries who first penetrated the surrounding territory. From his youth he had 

 been connected with the company, which for so long had carried on its operations 

 successfully from Labrador to the Pacific, and from California to Alaska. To-day he 

 was the chief representative of that vast organization which, before the close of the last 

 century, had sent out pioneers to map out and occupy the unknown wilderness, and 

 which as a trading association is in the third century of its existence. 



All present were more or less affected by a formality which was the crowning effort 

 of years of labour, intermingled with doubts and fears, and of oft-renewed energy to 

 overcome what at times appeared unsurmouutable obstacles. Moreover, was it not the 

 triumphal termination of numberless failures, the successful solution of the frequently 

 repeated attempts of the British people, ever since America has been discovered, to find 

 a new route to Asia V To what extent the thoughts of those present were turned 

 to the past must with that undemonstrative group remain a secret with each 

 individual person. This much may be said : to all, the scene was deeply impressive, 

 and especially to the many hundreds of workmen who, from an early hour up to the 



' The other directors present were Messrs. Van Home, Harris and the writer. 



