The Railway Builders: A Chronicle of Overland HighwaysSkelton, Oscar D. (Oscar Douglas)
History
The Railway Builders: A Chronicle of Overland Highways
Skelton, Oscar D. (Oscar Douglas)
Pacific railroads; Railroads -- Canada -- History
The management of the Canadian Pacific showed stability and continuity.
It trained up in its own ranks the men for its highest posts. Sir
George Stephen, later Lord Mount {222} Stephen, on resigning the
presidency in 1888, had been succeeded by Mr, afterwards Sir, William
C. Van Horne. As general manager, and then for eleven years as
president, Van Horne carried the road through its most difficult
period. In spite of failure of crops, low prices, and the slow
trickling in of settlers, he kept aglow his own faith in the West and
communicated it to others. Indomitable courage, tenacity of purpose,
breadth of vision, mastery of organization and detail marked him as one
of the great railroad builders of the century. Even when he retired
from the presidency, becoming for another twelve years chairman of the
board of directors, it was only to find new outlets for his energy in
building pulp and paper mills in Quebec and railways in Cuba; for
though, unlike many millionaires, he had not narrowed into his own
business groove, and could paint a picture as well as buy one, the call
to action never failed to stir him.
When Van Horne came to the Canadian Pacific in 1882, he brought with
him the man destined to be his successor, Thomas G. Shaughnessy, a
young Irish-American still under thirty, who had been engaged in
railway work since he was sixteen. Appointed {223} general purchasing
agent, he rose rapidly, becoming president in 1899 and chairman of the
board in 1911. Sir Thomas Shaughnessy maintained the progressive
policy and the honourable record of straightforward management which
has distinguished the Canadian Pacific--a railway singularly free from
the questionable manipulations which have brought so many great
American systems to bankruptcy. Other men left their impress on the
road: men like Sir William Whyte, for over twenty years in charge of
the western lines, David M'Nicoll, and George M. Bosworth and many
others, gave most effective service.
After the first hurried staking out of the claim was over, by 1890, the
Canadian Pacific refrained from further expansion until about 1898:
between these years only three hundred miles were added to the system.
Then reviving prosperity and the activity of rival roads led to a new
period of expansion. The additions made in this time can best be
realized by a glance at the map (opposite next page). The most
important may be noted briefly, beginning at the Pacific coast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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