324 Canadian Record of Science 



George Simpson, who had so summarily dismissed him 

 when he made his unauthorized visit to Montreal for 

 medical treatment. Shortly after this, Donald Smith be- 

 came a member of the Natural History Society. 



His later career is so well known that there is no 

 need to dwell on it here. His mental activity found new 

 directions for its exercise as a railway magnate, as a 

 friend of education, and as a statesman, in all of which 

 he achieved great distinction. 



Now that the Canadian Pacific Railway is a great 

 running concern, the very foremost of all railway com- 

 panies, one who cannot recall the early history of the 

 enterprise has no idea of the formidable obstacles that 

 had to be surmounted in the way of its construction. 

 They were strong men who ventured upon the tremen- 

 dous task, and Donald A. Smith was in many respects 

 the strongest of them all. It was a great stroke of 

 finance when he, N. W. Kittson, J. J. Hill, and George 

 Stephen acquired the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad 

 Company. Its possession made the building of the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway possible ; and it was because 

 the spell of the great northwest was upon him, because 

 he loved it on account of old associations, and had un- 

 limited faith in its future, that Donald Smith set his 

 heart upon seeing the enterprise of building the iron 

 road over the mountains carried through, and inspired 

 bis associates with some of his own enthusiasm so as to 

 keep their faces towards the stupendous task. Lord 

 Lansdowne well characterized the work, when it was 

 finished, when he said: "The construction of the Cana- 

 dian Pacific Railway stands alone in the history of great 

 achievements in railway building." And how large a 

 share Donald A. Smith had in the bold undertaking, we 

 learn from the lips of J. J. Hill, his rival, and at one 

 time associate, in railroad building: "The one person to 

 whose efforts and whose confidence in the growt^i of our 

 country and success in early railway development is 

 due is Sir Donald Smith." It was fitting, therefore, 



