1886 Edmonds 'First Transcontinental Railroad Map' of Canada / Canadian Pacific

The is the first official map of the Canadian Pacific Railroad issued after the railroad's completion in 1885. This map is of critical importance to the development of the Canadian Confederation, as well as the first complete map of the second North American intercontinental railroad. This enormous map was issued in 1886 by A. M. Edwards and Canadian Government Railways. Depicting the entire country in two sections, the map identifies ninety-three different railways throughout Canada - but the focus is the impressive Canadian Pacific Route, which stretches from Montreal to British Columbia. Maritime routes between North America and Europe and Asia, which connected to the Railroad and were part of the Canadian Pacific's marketing model, are also noted.

A Canadian Birth Certificate

This map marks the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, an event whose social, economic and political ramifications cannot be underestimated. One of the conditions for the western provinces, particularly the desirable and hotly contested British Columbia, to sign the 1867 'Act of Confederation' was the completion of a Transcontinental Railroad that could both unite the country and liberate it from U.S. interests. Although the railroad was initially mired in political infighting, its completion in 1885 proved a watershed moment for Canadian sovereignty and growth. By linking British Columbia and the Western Territories, including the newly formed province of Manitoba to the former British colonies of Upper and Lower Canada, including New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, the claims to Canadian sovereignty were solidified and Western expansion could proceed. Furthermore, by linking the east and west with a railway system fully within the Canadian political entity, the historically north-south trade patterns could be altered to an east-west axis, thus offering Canada economic independence from the United States. It also put Canada in a position to move both settlers and military forces across the continent quickly and efficiently, allowing them to defend their vast but largely unsettled claims.

The Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railroad was first proposed under Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald and businessman Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt. The proposed route extended westward from established Ontario and Quebec railroad networks to the Pacific. The challenges were political, economic, and logistic. A fully Canadian route would require crossing 1,600 km (990 mi) of rugged terrain across the barren Canadian Shield, the muskeg of Northern Ontario, through unfriendly Blackfoot American Indian Lands, and across the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia. The government offered huge incentives, including vast land grants in the west, to encourage emigration, development, and a demand for the railroad. Construction began in 1881. Eventually, at enormous cost and against near constant opposition, the route was completed. The last spike was driven on November 7, 1885, at Craigellachie, British Columbia. The first transcontinental passenger train departed from Montreal's Dalhousie Station, located at Berri Street and Notre Dame Street at 8 pm on June 28, 1886, and arrived at Port Moody at noon on July 4, 1886. While the railroad was thus complete, it operated mainly through undeveloped wilderness. The CPR developed revolutionary options to encourage colonists west, including over 1000 'Colonist Cars', low-budget sleeper cars designed to transport immigrant families and their possessions across the country. Ultimately, the completion and continued operation of the railroad proved a major force in the coast-to-coast development of modern Canada.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by A.M. Edmonds, compiled by E.V. Johnson of the Canadian Government Railways, lithographed by the Burland Lithographic Company of Montreal, and sold by Edward Stanford. Six examples are cataloged in OCLC and are part of the institutional collections at the University of British Columbia, the David Rumsey Map Collection at Stanford University, Harvard College, the Boston Athenaeum, the University of Toronto, and the Newberry Library.