An Article by Ward Cameron

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Van Horne's Line

Canmore Leader--October 1993

With the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, we saw a national dream transform the landscape of Canada. Suddenly the wilderness was not so wild, and the impenetrable mountains had been breached. It's the story of thousands of men, all doing their part to accomplish an impossible task. For one man in particular, the impossible was the every day, and without his driving energy, the C.P.R. would likely still be a distant dream.

By the end of the 1881 season, the C.P.R. was in serious trouble. They were in financial ruin, a situation that continued to plague them until the last spike was finally driven, and only 208 km (130 miles) of main line had been built. That 208 km of track had also eaten up $10 million dollars—almost 25% of estimates for the building of the entire line. Without the assistance of a miracle worker, the future seemed bleak. Luckily, south of the border, there was just such a man—William Cornelius Van Horne.

When Van Horne took over the C.P.R. as General Manager in 1882, he was only 38, but had almost 25 years of railroad experience. He had become known for taking lost causes and making them pay. James J. Hill, one of the original "Associates" awarded the contract to build the C.P.R., introduced Van Horne into the fold. As he wrote George Stephen, the man in charge at the time: "I have never met anyone who is better informed in the various departments, machinery, cars, operation, train services, construction and general policy which with untiring energy and good vigorous body should give us good results. However, with this came some caveats: ""You need a man of great mental and physical power to carry this line through. Van Horne can do it. He will take all the authority he gets and more, so define how much you want him to have."

When the contract was signed, Van Horne wasted no time in breezing into Winnipeg and taking control. As David Cruise and Alison Griffiths, in their book "Lords of the Line" describe: "Van Horne...took the C.P.R. in his hands like a giant whip, cracked it once to announce his presence, cracked it again to loose the sloth and corruption and cracked it a third time simply because the first two had felt so good." From that point on, there was no doubt as to who was in charge.

He began by firing those he suspected of using inside information to gain personal profit for themselves—often at the expense of the C.P.R. He also made an impossible promise—to lay 800 km (500 miles) of track during the 1882 season. Despite the echoes of laughter, even from his own superiors, by season end he had accomplished that, and almost 72 km (45 miles) more. His indefatigable energy provided both fear and motivation for thousands that had not previously pulled their weight.

When the last spike was to be driven, he would allow no ceremony. When pressed, he stated: "the only ceremony I fancy may occur will be the damning of the foreman for not driving it sooner".

With the completion of the line, he turned his attention on ridership and with the immortal phrase: "well if we can’t export the mountains, we shall have to import the tourists", he changed the future of Banff forever. Overseeing the construction of the C.P.R.’s luxury hotels, a statue of him now stands in front of his flagship property, the Banff Springs Hotel.