Talk:Canadian Pacific Survey

Getting started
Hi Al, I wonder how long it took you to notice that I finally started. Work on Louis Riel is winding up as I write this - after wrapping up Red River Rebellion and North-West Rebellion my attention will shift fully to this. I look forward to working with you on this, I know you have great source material and know the subject area well. As a starter, I would like to keep track here of a master list of personalities and locations involved in the survey to give us a better idea of what remains to be done:

People
B - Pierre Bostonais - William Francis Butler C - Henry Cambie D - George Mercer Dawson - Edgar Dewdney F - Sandford Fleming G - George Monro Grant H - Charles Horetzky - Cornelius Van Horne J - Edward W. Jarvis - William Tyndale Jennings L - Albert Lacombe M - John A. Macdonald - Alexander Mackenzie - John Macoun - Roderick McLennan - Walter Moberly O - Andrew Onderdonk P - John Palliser R - John Rae - Albert Bowman Rogers S - Alfred Selwyn - Donald A. Smith - Marcus Smith - George Stephen - Stanley Smith - Frank Smith T - Hermann Otto Tiedemann - John Trutch - Joseph Trutch - Charles Tupper


 * Henry Jelley - see SS Pacific - just a surveyor, but notable because being the sole survivor of the SS Pacific disaster, 1875

Mountain passes
A - Athabaska Pass C - Cheakamus Pass E - Eagle Pass H - Howse Pass K - Kicking Horse Pass P - Pine Pass - Pemberton Pass R - Rogers Pass - Railway Pass - Ring Pass S - Smoky River Pass T - Toba Pass Y - Yellowhead Pass

Rivers
B - Bow River - Birkenhead River - Bishop River C - Columbia River - Cheakamus River - Coquihalla River F - Fraser River G - Green River I - Illecillewaet River H - Homathko River-Bute Inlet-Seymour Narrows-to Victoria K - Kicking Horse River - Kootenay River - Elk River L - Lillooet River P - Peace River - Pine River S - Skeena River - Southgate River - Similkameen River - Shuswap River T - Thompson River

The Kitlope River is nowhere near the Kicking Horse, so moved that down here; it was an alternate (and not a very workable one) to the Skeena. Other routes are notably absent - the Lillooet-Pemberton route (now PGE/CNR), the Harrison-Lillooet River-Bridge River route, Ring Pass via the Lillooet and Bishop Rivers (article on Stanley Smith expedition, which disappeared in the Lillooet Icecap), Bentinck Arm (Bella Coola) and more were all explored; also what became the southern mainline later on - Similkameen-Coquihalla/Sumallo. Amended "Pine River Pass" above to "Pine Pass", which I'm surprised there's not an article on yet (it's used by BC Hwy 97/the Hart Highway)Skookum1 20:17, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Not sure, but I think the Klinaklini River was also surveyed, with an eye to using Knight Inlet to get to Vancouver Island; same idea as Homathko-Bute Inlet. Both of these routings would have used the Yellowhead and split west from the North Thompson around Clearwater, bridging the Fraser near Williams Lake; likewise the Dean Channel terminus, which presumably would have ended at Kimsquit, rather than be extended down Dean Channel to Queen Charlotte Sound, although a port where Bella Bella is was possible I suppose (lots of bridges....Bute or Knight Inlets would have only needed two or three).Skookum1 20:26, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Proposed western termini

 * D - Dean Channel
 * G - Gardner Canal (Kitimat/Terrace)
 * K - Kitimat, British Columbia
 * N - New Westminster, British Columbia
 * P - Port Simpson, British Columbia (see Lax Kw'alaams - Port Moody, British Columbia
 * V - Victoria, British Columbia

Song of the Canadian Pacific Survey
Far away from those we love dearest,  Who long and wish for home,  The thought of whom each lone heart cheereth,  As 'mid these North-west wilds we roam,  Yet still each one performs his duty,  And gaily sings:  Tra, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la,  ''Hurra! The jolly C.P.S.!  They're home upon Superior's shore, '' ''Hurra! we'll drink to them success, '' And a safe return once more.