The CPR West: The Iron Road and the Making of a Nation

Description

333 pages
Contains Illustrations, Index
$24.95
ISBN 0-88894-424-1

Publisher

Year

1984

Contributor

Edited by Hugh A. Dempsey
Reviewed by J.V. Rahilly

J.V. Rahilly was an engineering librarian in Ontario.

Review

In 1883, the CPR came to Fort Calgary. To celebrate this, the Glenbow Institute ran an exhibit and sponsored a four-day conference in 1983, at which twenty leading authorities from across Canada participated. Fifteen wrote expanded versions of their papers for this book, which has been edited by Hugh Dempsey, the Chief Curator of the Glenbow Institute (and who has authored or edited many other books about Western Canada).

The topics here are many and varied, being held together only by the theme of the CPR and by a common index: construction challenges, Indian and Chinese employees, land settlement and immigration, promotion of tourism (with a look at their hotels and tourist-car operations), as well as some letters from various persons instrumental in the development of the CPR. There are historical photographs as well as extensive footnoting.

Citation

“The CPR West: The Iron Road and the Making of a Nation,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed March 28, 2024, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/37880.