11 November 2010

The 125th Anniversary of the
Driving of the Last Spike

The train with guests from Revelstoke arriving at Craigellachie.

Craigellachie British Columbia - The biggest media show to hit the Revelstoke area in recent memory rolled through town and on to Craigellachie on 7 Nov 2010.
 
They were here to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the driving of the Last Spike at Craigellachie, an event no doubt familiar to all Revelstokians.
 
If you weren't amongst the 350 or so who attended the hour-long event at Craigellachie, I'll try to paint a sketch of this historical, commemorative event.
 
Dignitaries and local participants gathered at the Revelstoke Railway Museum in the morning to check in and for briefings.
 
The VIPs loaded into the back of the train through the historic Mount Stephen car, and the rest of the passengers mid-train. It then departed on the hour-long journey.
 
The train trip to Craigellachie wasn't crowded. The national media entourage was supposed to arrive at Revelstoke Airport in the morning on a charter flight, but due to the wet and cloudy weather, the flight was diverted to the Okanagan.
 
On board was Ned Harris and his wife Cornelia, who travelled from Sacramento, California. Ned brought along a pin he inherited from his great-grandfather George "Ropes" Harris, who appears just right of centre in the iconic Last Spike photo taken 7 Nov 1885.
 
The pin contained a fragment from the original Last Spike, which, depending on the version of the story, was said to have been cut to bits and made into souvenirs just like that.
 
"It's actually a very moving time for me," Harris said of his journey. He is himself a civil engineer who worked on railways in the U.S.
 
Also along for the ride was a two-person BBC camera crew from Scotland who were working on a new, historical, mini-series featuring prominent Scottish emigrants, this episode focusing on Stanford Fleming. He was the engineer responsible for planning much of the Canadian pacific railway. The documentary should be ready next year, but doesn't have a name yet.
 
Upon arrival, the large-scale preparation that went into the live media spectacle was quickly apparent.
 
Organizers had stationed a satellite truck in the parking lot, a media tent complete with live mixing board, and a large overhead camera boom ensured close-ups of all of the speakers. National and regional media outlets jockeyed for good camera positions.
 
Finer details included strips of turf imported the make the backdrop a little greener.
 
Roughly 300 people lined the grassy area overlooking the Last Spike monument, including a contingent of cadets, and two horsemen in ceremonial dress from Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians).
 
Popularly known as the Strathconas, the Edmonton-based armoured regiment was one of the last regiments created by a private individual, Donald Alexander Smith. He was a director of the Canadian Pacific Railway who was a key figure in creating the coast-to-coast rail link. Smith is the man with the white beard and top hat pictured driving the Last Spike in the famous 7 Nov 1885 image.
 
The Lord Strathcona's Horse cap badge insignia prominently features a hammer and spike.
 
Also present were the Royal Regiment of the Canadian Artillery, who fired two howitzer blasts at the end of the ceremony.
 
A rainy, cloudy, morning broke into an extremely beautiful day, the sunbeams first striking through at a low angle as the speakers took to the lectern, creating dramatic, contrasting light.
 
After Revelstoke's Sharon Shook sang the national anthem, emcee Karen Tierney (also of Revelstoke) opened the ceremonies.
 
"Imagine a promise. Over 125 years ago, a promise made by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald to the colony of British Columbia," said Tierney, the Field Unit Superintendent of Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks. "A promise to connect them to the rest of Canada by rail. And in 1885, that promise was kept, uniting a nation, coast to coast."
 
Several speakers took to the lectern. The following are brief snippets of some of their speeches.
 
K'ukpi Wayne Christian, Chief of the Splats'in First Nation, and Chairman of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council, welcomed everyone to the ceremony. "We offer special prayers for all those families that lost members of families along the rail line as it was built, especially those people that come from the east, Oriental brothers and sisters," Christian said.
 
Chief Nelson Leon of the Adams Lake First Nation acknowledged the progress that had been made in relations between aboriginal peoples and entities such as Canadian Pacific in the 125 years since the line was completed. "I think today in our invitation here and our participation acknowledges from the aboriginal leadership our willingness to move forward on our ancestral words, to be a part of what is going on," Leon said. "As the railroad was built and united Canada, it had a profound effect in the aboriginal communities that we were not included in the economics, we were not included in the employment opportunities, not included in fundamental decisions of our land. Today that there situation and circumstance is changing. There is a social conscience."
 
Fred Green, CEO of Canadian Pacific, gave several speeches. He emphasized the historical significance of the event, but also the ongoing role CP plays in uniting the country through commerce and trade.
 
"This iconic event marked an important chapter in our history, but also signalled the innovation the railway would bring to the country over the ensuing decades. We honour the hundreds of thousands of men and women who have worked so hard over the last 125 years to make CP and Canada what it is today. Our work continues to make history every day, from driving the Last Spike to driving the digital railway," said Green in a statement.
 
Green also addressed the contribution of Chinese workers to the railway. "We owe our deepest respect and gratitude to Chinese railway workers. We know that all who helped complete the railway suffered through harsh working conditions, and tragically, some workers did die," Green said, adding these experiences had guided CP into the safest railway in North America.
 
Green made several major announcements at the ceremony:
 
·  CP will contribute $500,000 to UBC to help digitize the Chung collection. The collection by Wallace B. Chung includes 25,000 items collected over 60 years that chronicle early B.C. history, immigration, and settlement, particularly of Chinese people in North America and the Canadian Pacific Railway.
 
·  A $50,000 contribution towards the "Glacier 125 Youth Legacy Leadership Program" run by the Mount Revelstoke and Glacier Parks Canada staff will be developed with local schools and community organizations to foster leadership in understanding and protecting the natural environment.
 
·  CP will give $100,000 towards two First Nations scholarship funds.
 
·  CP will donate $100,000 to the Military Families Fund, donated in the spirit of a renewed relationship with the Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians).
 
·  CP pledged $1 million to the formation of the Canadian Centre for Advanced Supply Chain Management and Logistics at the University of of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business. Green said CP will need 5,000 new employees in the coming years, and this contribution was a way of developing new leaders.
 
·  A $30,000 classroom technology grant to the new Revelstoke school project that will provide new smart boards, amongst other things.
 
·  A $250,000 donation to Simon Fraser University's faculty of environment that will support graduate level research.
 
Dean Del Mastro, MP for Peterborough, commemorated the first annual National Railway Day. "Today, as we recognize our first National Railway Day we honour the thousands of Canadians, including many new Canadian immigrants, that contributed to the railway's construction, often working under dangerous and difficult conditions," Del Mastro said.
 
Revelstoke's David Johnson, President of the Revelstoke Railway Museum, introduced the Last Spike Anniversary Legacy Project Victorian-style trunk. "It is a trunk that will be set aside to hold artifacts from this event, and from local, national, and international sources," said Johnson. "We ask you to contribute what you think is the meaning of this ceremony, and the driving of the Last Spike to you."
 
Johnson encouraged everyone to contribute to the project. The deadline is 15 Dec 2010. The trunk will be opened again in 25 years.
 
Arrow Heights Elementary students from teacher Sue Leach's grade 4/5 class grabbed the national limelight for a recital of Gordon Lightfoot's Canadian Railroad Trilogy. "We are the navvies who work upon the railway, swinging our hammers in the bright blazin' sun," the nine and ten-year-old students sang with gusto to an appreciative audience. "Livin' on stew, and drinkin' bad whiskey, bending our backs 'til the long day is done," they sang, getting some giggles.
 
Green announced over $2 million in donations and contributions from the railway at the event, but the one that got the students most worked up (and in fact a fair percentage of the general audience) was a gift of iPods to each of the singers for their efforts.
 
Next up was the ceremonial driving of the Last Spike. Green, Del Mastro, and Don Lindsay, President and CEO of Teck Resources Limited, stepped up to take swings at commemorative spikes.
 
Fittingly, the angle that many media outlets were driving towards in the scrum after the ceremonies was focused on a missing Last Spike, adding to the lore that surrounds the often-disappearing spikes. It was said to be one of many commemorative spikes handed out at the original 1885 ceremony.
 
Editor's Note:  Commemorative spikes handed out? Doubtful.
 
According to an editorial published 7 Nov 2010 by Chinese Canadian National Council president Sid Chow Chan, head-tax payer James Pon presented the spike to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2006 when parliament formally apologized for the head tax.
 
It was supposed to be in the Railway Committee Room in the Parliament Buildings, but wasn't. The story came to light just days before the ceremony. According to media reports, it was located the next day in one of the prime minister's offices.
 
Maybe it isn't the mists of time that makes tracking these spikes elusive? Only six years on and this one's AWOL. Perhaps keep a closer eye on them, nail them down, so to speak?
 
And, of course, a job well done to the many locals who made the show possible. The vast majority of CP and Parks staff doing the hands-on organization and work were from Revelstoke. From my perspective, they pulled off a virtually seamless event.
 
Aaron Orlando.