Problems While Building The Railway
Land Issues
Siksika reserve
Many problems occurred during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Canadian Pacific Railway was planned to go through the Siksika reserve. This made the natives angry because with the railroad built, the remaining buffalo, they use for shelter, clothes, and food would be scared off and the natives life would become more difficult. In addition, treaty #7 promised land to these natives and the government ignored the treaty. To compensate the government offered other land in return for the land the railroad was using. The Northwest rebellion caused problems for the railroad. Using the land of the Metis people caused confliction between the government and Metis people. Eventually there was war between the government and the natives. The war continued until the hanging of Louis Riel and the Metis people were forced to new reservations. There were many times the railroad had disturbed and used the land of natives and some of them fought back.
Money Problems
Old Canadian 100 dollar bill (Click on image for other bills)
One problem with the railroad was that they did not predict that the cost to build the railroad would be so high in some places. It was John A. Macdonald intention to create a railroad connecting and Helping Canada. Sir John A. Macdonald found a private company called “Canadian Pacific Railway” (CPR). They predicted that the total cost of the railway would be 100’000’000 dollars. The CPR would pay for the railroad construction and then own the railroad. When they reached their budget of 100’000’000 dollars sections of the track in British Columbia and Ontario, where it was most expensive were still not completed. By this time is was very hard to find people that wanted to invest into the railroad because many people thought the railroad was not going to make money. After they tried to get investors, and did not succeed, John A. Macdonald convinced the government to pay for the final track by reminding them of the benefits of the railroad. Many of the financial problems for the railroad included people thinking the railroad would not be a success and they would loose their money.
Problems with the track
Example of what they needed to blast through
Another problem is when the workers needed to clear paths for the trains. There were numerous problems with the explosives they used to clear the path. One problem was that dynamite in some cases did not have enough joules to penetrate some rocks in the way. To penetrate some rocks the used stronger higher-grade explosives, unfortunately the explosives were easily ignited and needed to be carried by hand unlike dynamite that can be brought in by the train. Also, to lay down tracks, sometimes they needed to, dig out hills, blast through hard granite, and fill in swamps. Once, in one swampy area, the track needed to be replaced 7 times and 3 locomotives fell in and the workers were unable to retrieve them from the swamp. Finally, there were many problems encountered while the railroad was being built and all of their problems were thoroughly thought over to make sure it was the best for the railroad.