page_title: Grand Trunk Pacific Railway
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Grand Trunk Pacific Railway / History / Construction / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: The Last Spike of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, April 7, 1914, Fort Fraser
context_page_description: The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National Transcontinental Railway
context_section_description: During the official ceremony on September 11, 1905 at Fort William, Ontario, Prime Minister Laurier turned the first sod for the construction of the GTPR, though the actual first sod occurred the previous month about 12 miles (19.3 km) south of Carberry, Manitoba. From the former, the GTPR built a 190-mile (310 km) section of track, connecting with the NTR near Sioux Lookout. The route paralleled the CPR for 135 miles (217 km) west of Winnipeg, before veering northwest. Beginning the year that the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were established, the line proceeded west to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1907, Edmonton, Alberta in 1909, and Wolf Creek in 1910. For contractual purposes, Winnipeg to Wolf Creek (Edson, Alberta) was the Prairie Section, and Wolf Creek to the Pacific was the Mountain Section. Foley, Welch and Stewart (FW&S) was selected as the prime contractor for the latter.
  The GTPR followed the original Sandford Fleming "Canadian Pacific Survey" route from Jasper, Alberta through the Yellowhead Pass, and the track-laying machine crossed the BC/Alberta border in November 1911. In the mountain region, costs escalated to $105,000 per mile, compared with the budgeted $60,000. Following the CNoR paralleling through the Rockies, which created 108.4 miles (174.5 km) of duplication, the GTPR rail bed largely became redundant. The more northerly Pine Pass option, as specified in its charter, may have been a better choice in terms of developing traffic, and in improving the current CNR network (especially if the later Pacific Great Eastern Railway route had opted for the Monkman Pass crossing).
  To secure concessions from the BC provincial government, eastward construction from the Pacific Coast began in 1907. The track east of Prince Rupert reached 50 miles, then 102 miles by 1910, the Bulkley Valley in 1912 and Burns Lake in 1913. The line completed across the prairies, through the Rockies, and to the newly constructed seaport at Prince Rupert, the last spike ceremony occurred one mile east of Fort Fraser, British Columbia at Stuart (Finmoore) on April 7, 1914. Coming to pass, a 1910 prediction claimed if a line were built from Tête Jaune Cache to Vancouver, it would effectively kill Prince Rupert and relegate its route to branch line status.
caption: The Last Spike: Fort Fraser, BC, 1914
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