The Last Spike: The Great Railway, 1881-1885 Paperback - 2001

First line

The bitterest and longest parliamentary wrangle in the history of the young Canadian nation ended on February 15, 1881, when the contract to build the Canadian Pacific Railway finally received royal assent.

From the jacket flap

In the four years between 1881 and 1885, Canada was forged into one nation by the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. "The Last Spike reconstructs the incredible story of how some 2,000 miles of steel crossed the continent in just five years -- exactly half the time stipulated in the contract. Pierre Berton recreates the adventures that were part of this vast undertaking: the railway on the brink of bankruptcy, with one hour between it and ruin; the extraordinary land boom of Winnipeg in 1881-1882; and the epic tale of how William Van Horne rushed 3,000 soldiers over a half-finished railway to quell the Riel Rebellion.
Dominating the whole saga are the men who made it all possible -- a host of astonishing characters: Van Horne, the powerhouse behind the vision of a transcontinental railroad; Rogers, the eccentric surveyor; Onderdonk, the cool New Yorker; Stephen, the most emotional of businessmen; Father Lacombe, the black-robed voyageur; Sam Steele, of the North West Mounted Police; Gabriel Dumont, the Prince of the Prairies; more than 7,000 Chinese workers, toiling and dying in the canyons of the Fraser Valley; and many more -- land sharks, construction geniuses, politicians, and entrepreneurs -- all of whom played a role in the founding of the new Canada west of Ontario.

Media reviews

"No novel could surpass The Last Spike for plot; no western for wildness... This is a great book."
—Vancouver Sun

"Lively, human and utterly absorbing."
—The Financial Post