On the Construction of the CPR During the Season of 1884

On the Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (Rocky Mountain Division) During the Season of 1884

by Granville Carlyle Cuningham, M. Inst. C.E.

WHEN the work of constructing the western division of the Canadian Pacific Railway was suspended for the winter in December 1883, the rails had reached a point about 4 miles short of the summit of the Rocky Mountains. This point is 960 miles west of Winnipeg, and 120 miles west of Calgary, the last station on the plains, where the line enters the mountains by the Bow Pass. From here two possible routes are available for further progress westwards: one following the Bow Pass to its summit, and thence descending by the Howse Pass into the Columbia Valley; the other diverging from the Bow Pass, reaching the summit of the Rocky Mountains at the commencement of the Kicking Horse Pass, and following this, entering the Columbia Valley at a point about 12 miles to the south of the mouth of the Howse Pass. The first route presented comparatively easy grades and curvature, but crossed the summit at 1,000 feet greater altitude, thus bringing the line into much deeper snow in winter; and it was 30 miles longer than the second. The second route, though of a lower altitude and shorter distance, would entail very heavey work at the head of the Kicking Horse Pass, in order to maintain equally good gradients. After considering the problem, the Directorate decided to adopt the shorter route by the Kicking Horse Pass, and to use a steep gradient at its commencement, in order to temporarily avoid the heavy work that will be required on the permanent line, and thus to effect the connection with the railway on the Pacific coast by the autumn of 1885.