Conflicts, Ambition, And Iron

A reminder to members of City Daily Photo that the theme for February is Street Corners.

During the 1870s and 80s, the Canadian government established control over the west, through a military and police presence. Among their objectives was the building of a transcontinental railroad, an ambitious project that would become epic before it was all said and done. 

Like in the United States, settlement of the West became a driving force in the period- regardless of who was already out there. Surveyors went ahead of everyone else, charting out where future towns would be situated.

This display case features a ceremonial spike from the transcontinental railroad, and a watch given to Prime Minister Macdonald.

One of the iconic photos in Canadian history- the driving of the last spike.

It was a momentous endeavour, with challenging terrain, death, and hardship along the way.

One of its legacies was a distinctly Canadian solution to an old dilemma. Traditionally, towns had set clocks to local conditions. But this became problematic when you had things like trains going at a faster rate than had been possible before. Sanford Fleming, an engineer and surveyor for railroads, proposed and promoted the concept of twenty four time zones for the world as a whole to alleviate the problem of time variances between towns, and to create a fairly coherent understanding of time across the globe. The concept of worldwide standard time is still used today, and Fleming was knighted for his idea.

Tensions between the government and the Metis boiled over into armed conflict in 1885.

Some of the weapons of the period are seen here.

In the end, the Metis uprising was put down. Its leaders were tried, and some were hung. This included Louis Riel, who was executed. History has exonerated him, and today he is considered a Father of Confederation.