Van Horne's Road: The Building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Gordon Turner is the author of Empress of Britain: Canadian Pacific’s
Greatest Ship and the editor of SeaFare, a quarterly newsletter on sea
travel.

Thirty-five years have passed since the publication of the first edition of Van Horne’s Road, and now the second edition has appeared. At first glance it may be taken for a coffee-table book, noted mostly for its illustrations. But it is much more than a collection of black and white photographs, excellent though they are. The author knows his subject matter thoroughly, and he writes with authority. He is not the only writer to tell this fascinating story. The first volume of Pierre Berton’s The National Dream preceded the first edition of Van Horne’s Road by four years. But while Berton wrote at length of politics and personalities, Lavallée tells mostly of operations and engineering. Their books are complementary rather than competitive.

The building of the railway was a huge undertaking, particularly for a large but lightly populated country. However, the Conservative government of Sir John A. Macdonald regarded its completion as essential. His Liberal successor, Alexander Mackenzie, was less committed and progress during his regime was sporadic. As the author describes, track laying was fraught with difficulties: inaccurate surveys, work stoppages by discontented labourers, inclement weather, apparently bottomless muskeg in some regions, and seemingly impenetrable mountains in other areas all added to the cost and extended the time needed to build the railway from Montreal to the Pacific. Progress was very slow in the early years, but it picked up momentum when William C. Van Horne, an American, was appointed general manager. His expertise, his dynamism, and his choice of senior subordinates led to great improvements in the speed of construction, and finally, in November 1885, the last spike was driven. Lavallée has carried out extensive research, and he sets down the story in plain but serviceable prose, with some lengthy quotations from senior officials and early passengers. His selection of illustrations is admirable. The reproduction of photographs, maps, charts, and ephemera all add to the appeal of this handsome book.