McCulloch's Wonder: The Story of the Kettle Valley Railway. Rev. ed.

Tamara D. Reynish is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History at
the Memorial University of Newfoundland.

With a view to profiting from the natural resources of British
Columbia’s interior, countering the successes of eastern merchants and
the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), and in turn gaining political and
economic unity, British Columbians desired a railway that spanned from
the coast to the Kootenays. While the railway’s various stages of
existence spanned 99 years, the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) existed only
from 1911 to 1930. Winding through part of Canada’s most difficult
terrain, this railway, which some thought would lead to personal,
political, and financial disaster, was one of the most expensive and
dangerous railways in the world. The problems it faced in the course of
its history included both world wars, massive snowfalls, rockslides and
avalanches, and funding, supply, and labor shortages. Men such as Thomas
Shaughnessy, CPR’s president from 1899 to 1918, and Andrew McCulloch,
chief engineer and later general superintendent of the KVR, kept the
dream of a railway through southern British Columbia alive. This revised
25th-anniversary edition of McCulloch’s Wonder touches on
anti-American sentiment and highlights the growing pains of Canada,
British Columbia, and the CPR.

In addition to tireless detail of the design, route planning,
construction, and operation of every branch and line along the KVR, the
book presents the prominent theme of competition. The KVR was used as a
political platform by the provincial and federal governments, and though
not always successful, these political machinations contributed greatly
to the railway’s development. So too did the many railroad barons who
wanted access to the rich ore of British Columbia’s interior and the
potential profit it represented. The drive and determination of key
developers sparked off fierce, and sometimes bloody, competition, yet
the KVR eventually became one of CPR’s main lines. Costing more to
construct than it would ever earn, the KVR was never profitable; its
success lies in the vast contributions it made to the development of
British Columbia. McCulloch’s Wonder is an unabashed celebration of
this vital part of British Columbia’s railway history.