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Archives research collection Canadian Pacific Railway Company
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Across Canada

The item is a video copy of a travelogue film from around 1946. It shows a scenic tour across Canada featuring tourist attractions, provincial capitals, and CP hotel facilities. BC scenes: across the Great Divide to Lake O'Hara; Field; Takakkaw Falls; Emerald Lake; Kicking Horse River; Vancouver (skyline, streets, Lion's Gate Bridge, English Bay, harbour, CP Princess ship departing), and Victoria (aerial view, ship arriving, harbour view).

Colonial Office "secret" supplementary correspondence

This series contains extracts from volumes in C.O. 537 series [supplementary correspondence]. The records consist mainly of despatches to and from the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Governor-General of Canada and senior British military officers. The majority of the records were originally classified as "Secret" or "Confidential." Records pertain to all parts of Canada, but include substantial British Columbia-related material. San Juan Island dispute, B.C.'s entry into Confederation, trans-Pacific steamship services, coastal defence, and the Bering Sea sealing negotiations are but some of the issues documented in this series.

Great Britain. Colonial Office

Great Northern Railway Co.

Correspondence, 1905, Robert (Robin) W. Dunsmuir to James J. Hill soliciting financial aid to purchase the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway from James Dunsmuir thereby preventing the purchase of the railway by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

Photocopy presented by David Wilkie, Victoria, 1976. Original in the possession of the Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Great Northern Railway Company

Mount Stephen

Actuality. "The camera was mounted ahead of a locomotive travelling over a single track winding in and around points in the Canadian Rockies. The camera photographed the side areas of the track, showing trees, telegraph poles, and some running water by the roadbed." (LOC catalogue description, quoted in Colin Browne)

Panoramic view, Albert Canyon

Actuality. "'This piece of scenery was taken in the Albert Canyon on the line of the Canadian Pacific [Railway], and is considered to be one of the finest views in the Rocky Mountains. The chief big features of these pictures are the towering cliffs which rise straight up thousands of feet on either side, and between which runs a river, adding materially to the interest of the view, and passing through a tunnel hewn out of solid rock which can be seen from a distance of nearly a mile during the time of approach of the train, forms a very interesting climax to this picture.' Mountain peaks, stands of timber and [telegraph] poles alongside the tracks are all visible from the camera mounted on the front of the train." (Colin Browne)

Panoramic view, Lower Kicking Horse Canyon

Actuality. "'In this picture we show the ending of this canyon, taken from the front of a locomotive on the Canadian Pacific [Railway], running through this marvellous piece of scenery at a high rate of speed. The train seems to be running into the mountains of rock as each curve is reached and rounded, making the scene exciting from start to finish." (quoted by Colin Browne)

Panoramic view, Lower Kicking Horse Valley

Actuality. "'This charming piece of scenery commences at Mt. Hector on the Canadian Pacific [Railway] and runs through the Valley of the Kicking Horse, showing the huge mountains covered with snow. It is among the most interesting of our Rocky Mountain panoramic series. As the train runs along the Kicking Horse River, we see in the distance Mt. Field and Mt. Stephen, both 10,000 feet above the level, and passing through a tunnel cut through a mountain of solid rock we finally enter the town of Field, which is in the heart of the Ottertail group. As a panoramic mountain picture this is the most thrilling, as the audience imagines while they are being carried along with the picture, the train will be toppled over thousands of feet into the valley below.' Sometimes streams can be seen, and telegraph poles. A group of Chinese workmen is scattered by the train. The camera mounted on the cowcatcher records the slow entrance into Field and passes a railroad siding with several boxcars, a water tower and a few one-story buildings, the film ends before a good view of the town is possible." (Colin Browne)

Panoramic view, Upper Kicking Horse Canyon

Actuality. "'This charming piece of scenery was taken at Glenochole and Golden which is the commencing point of the picturesque part of the Ottertail Group of mountains on the Canadian Pacific Railroad. In the distance we see the huge mountains towering thousands of feet above the railroad tracks, the peaks of the mountains being covered with snow. The picture being taken from the front of an engine while the train is running a distance of several miles gives an excellent view of this beautiful section of the country.' The train also crosses bridges. (Colin Browne)

Royal Hudson mainline special : Vancouver to Calgary on CP Rail

The item is an audio recording of railroad sounds recorded along the CPR main line on the B.C. section of the cross-Canada bicentennial trip of the B.C. Museum display train, between Vancouver and Calgary. The recording begins on March 30, 1978 with the departure of the Museum Train from Vancouver's CP Rail station, pulled by the Royal Hudson 2860 steam locomotive. About 1/3 of the way through this track, the train approaches Mission City and passes through. The last sequence is the approach to North Bend in the Fraser Canyon. The second track begins with the train leaving Golden and labouring through Kicking Horse Canyon. Sound of 2860 and train departing from Banff. Near Cochrane, Alberta, a westbound CP Rail freight passes, and 2860 continues towards Calgary.