History

 

Just a few years after Confederation in 1867, Canada truly became a country from coast to coast. But keeping Canada together was going to be a challenge. Many in the west saw a better future for themselves aligned with the US. The answer was to build a railroad that would unite the country, improve the movement of goods and expand immigration into the Prairies and Western Canada.

 

By 1886 the Canadian Pacific Railroad had been completed. However, the rail route around Lake Superior was still inferior to the faster and higher capacity CPR steamships that plied the Great Lakes at the time.

 

For this reason, immigrants from Europe were given CPR steamship passage to Montreal where they were transferred by train to Toronto, then another train to Owen Sound, later Port McNicoll, to board fast and luxurious steamships such as the SS Keewatin for Port Arthur and Fort William (now Thunder Bay). From here, the final leg of their journey would take them by CPR train to Winnipeg and points west.