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Awakening Continent, The Life of Lord Mount Stephen Vol 1 1829-91 by H Gilbert
Awakening Continent, The Life of Lord Mount Stephen Vol 1 by Heather Gilbert
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
314 pages
Copyright 1976
Contents
I GEORGE STEPHEN : THE FORMATIVE YEARS I
The Stephen family (I). The School at the Kirkton (2). Aberdeen - Glasgow - London - Montreal (4). Dry-goods merchant (7). The giants of Montreal (8). An early steamship line (12). Incentives to industrial development (13).The Free Trade controversy (r6). Confederation : a disconnected Dominion (18). Red River: a north-south trade route (21). Opening up the Laurentians (24). `The bad times' and the Bank of Montreal (26). Financial stagnation and a risk that paid (3o).
II RAILROADING IN THE MIDDLE WEST 34
New settlers and a bankrupt railroad (34). Smith and Hill see the possibilities (38). Stephen convinced but financial mission fails (41). Control of St. Paul and Pacific (42). Minority shareholder bought out (45). Plans threatened by rival Northern Pacific (47). St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad (49). Receiver alleges breach of understanding (52). Manitoba connected with Eastern Canada (55). The Pembina Branch (57). St. Paul company refused running rights (6r).
III CANADIAN PACIFIC: THE TRANSCONTINENTAL VISION 63
The Confederation line (63). Macdonald turns to Stephen (69). The contract; clause 15 (73). Stephen underestimates anti-C.P.R. forces (75). Settling the West: Stephen's plan (78). C.P.R. financial and land policy (8o). Northern Pacific seeks northward connections (85). North of Lake Superior (87). Hill and the Canadian Pacific (89). Recapitulation (90).
IV CANADIAN PACIFIC: TOWARDS A WORKABLE REALITY 92
The vulnerable main line (92). Trying to interest Britain (95). Financial demands multiply (97). Political considerations intervene (98). Delay in allocating land grant (103). `Fairly fit for settlement' (108). Credit Valley Bonds as security for construction (110). New associates and fresh expedients (112). Hostile Press (116). Indiscreet High Commissioner (118). Credit Valley Bill; Grand Trunk attack (120). Stephen-Tyler peace pact repudiated (123).
V AN UPHILL STRUGGLE126
Emigration and the Irish question (126). Stephen's scheme falls through (131). Provincial railway demands (I35). Market slump: Stephen devises dividend guarantee (138). Press attacks on Government and C.P.R. (139). Company's position worsens (144). Stephen seeks Government aid (146). Manitoba's grievances (149). Rough passage for railway relief Bill (151).
VI CRISIS AND COMPLETION156
Globe anticipates further trouble (156). Stephen's anxieties (158). London agents waver: approach to Barings (16o). North Shore Railway: a political pawn (162). Macdonald proposes Pacific steamship service (164). C.P.R.'s Ontario and Quebec Railway issue fails (165). `The edge of a precipice' (166). Stephen again seeks Government aid (168). `Old Tomorrow' (170). The Second Riel Rebellion (173). Government refuses aid to C.P.R. (175). Friendly intervention: revised proposals accepted (176). Barings make crucial Bond issue (179). The last spike (181). Debt to Government repaid (181).
VII SPANNING THE WORLD185
Old friends and familiar places (185). Weak links in the chain (188). Pacific steamship service: tenders invited (191). Stephen's proposals before British Government (193). Stephen presses for fast Atlantic service (197). Support for Stephen's Pacific scheme (199). Pacific subsidy hinges on better Atlantic service (20I). Colonial Conference: Pacific plans aired (202). Lords debate favours Canadian Pacific steamship service (204). Line started with old Cunarders (206). Canada's iron duties jeopardize subsidy (207). Manitoba South-Western built but agitation continues (209).
VIII STOPPING THE CRACKS213
Manitoba at the crossroads (213). The Battle of Fort Whyte (217). Hungarian settlers for North West (220). Britain cautious about state-aided emigration (223). More obstacles to Pacific steamship subsidy (227). Atlantic service still delaying factor (230). Subsidy granted dependent on Halifax connection (234). Atlantic plans: conflicting Maritime demands (235). The Short Line difficulty (238). Political railroading (241).
IX LORD MOUNT STEPHEN244
The Onderdonk Section (244). Control of the Soo Line (250). `Shall a nation be born at once?' (251). Stephen withdraws from
Canadian Pacific (252). The Barings crash (254). Stephen and `the independence heresy' (256). Kind hearts and coronets (259).
APPENDIX
I The C.P.R. Contract.
II George Stephen to the Editor of The Globe, 12 September 1883.
III George Stephen to the Shareholders of the Grand Trunk Railroad, 5 April 1883.
IV Confidential Memorandum by Mr. George Stephen, President of the C.P.R., explaining a scheme for the Settlement of Irish Families in the Canadian North West, March 1883.
V Sir George Stephen to the Shareholders of the C.P.R. Company, 1 September 1887.
VI Sir George Stephen to the Shareholders of the C.P.R. Company, on his resignation from the Presidency, 7 August 1888.
INDEX 289
Illustrations
MAP OF RED RIVER COUNTRY ABOUT 1878: front endpaper
SIR GEORGE STEPHEN: frontispiece
WILLIAM STEPHEN: facing page 8
MRS. WILLIAM STEPHEN: facing page 80
GEORGE STEPHEN: facing page 144
MRS. GEORGE STEPHEN: facing page I60
MOUNT STEPHEN'S HOUSE: on page 173
SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD: facing page 208
SOME PROMINENT DUFFTOWN MEN: facing page 256
MAP OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEMS OF EASTERN CANADA ABOUT 1888: back endpaper
ON THE DUST JACKET:
The life of George Stephen, the Scots-Canadian through whose financial genius the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway was achieved, coincides with one of the liveliest periods in the development of the North American continent. This volume covers the first sixty years (he lived to be 92) from his birth in a remote Scottish valley and the hard-won fulfilment of early promise in a mercantile and banking career in Montreal, to his railroading ventures in the American middle west and in Canada, and the beginnings of the Canadian Pacific shipping fleet.
Through it all runs the theme of the evolution of the Canadian nation; the binding together of the old provinces of the East, with their emergent industries, to the unrealised potential of the West. Of this union the transcontinental railroad was the visible symbol, but Canada was as yet ill-prepared for nationhood. The broad picture is seen through the eyes of the man of action, impatient of political obstacles, of the fervent nationalist, irked by provincial demands, of the transparently honest businessman, dismayed by the shortsighted intriguing of those who would have destroyed the confederation line.
Nor is it a picture of Canada in isolation. The book leaves the new nation, still thought of by British statesmen as a `colony', set not only in its imperial context, but in perspective as the central point in a communications system which `spanned the world'.
See The End of the Road for Volume 2
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