Recreating the Start of the CPR in 1875

“Tuesday the first of June, 1875, will be a day long remembered in the annals of the District of Thunder Bay, as well as throughout the whole Dominion of Canada, as the day upon which the first sod was cut upon the Canadian Pacific Railway.”

Thus began the report of Toronto’s The Globe on June 10, 1875, nine days after the historic event. In 1875, Thunder Bay had no newspapers, no photographers, no roads to speak of, and no railways. Still, a railway company proposed to build a branch through the roadless wilderness all the way to Winnipeg in order to tap the harvests of golden wheat which were searching for markets. The CPR would build the first local grain elevators.

Stefan Huzan, a planner with the City of Thunder Bay, was inspired to organize a re-enactment of the event on June 1, 2025, to commemorate the 150th Anniversary. A dozen or so actors were arrayed in period costumes. Three speakers, in the roles of historical characters, delivered their lines, derived from the historical report of The Globe in 1875.

Promptly at 2:00 p.m., June 1, the ceremony began at Senator Paterson Sailors’ Memorial Park. The park is a large expanse of grass at the James Street Swing Bridge framed by a billboard-size sign, facing James Street, and an historic plaque farther north. Bryan Wyatt, broadcaster with Dougall Media, signaled to someone to play a recording of Gordon Lightfoot’s Railway Trilogy. 

Wyatt then read a speech by historical personage Judge Van Norman. Here is an 1875 extract: “Why, what is the astounding fact? That with a population of not quite four millions of people, Canada has through its representatives determined to span this continent with a railway, . . . passing over a space as vast as the great ocean that divides and separates the old world from the new.”

Halfway through his speech, Wyatt invited about 10 re-enactors to each say a few words, reading from scripts.

The other speakers were historical personage Adam Oliver, Member of Provincial Parliament (real name Matt Jolineau), and Thomas Towers of the 1870 Wolseley Expedition (Stefah Huzan).

Huzan, as Thomas Towers, read excerpts of the The Globe account of the event. “I have been requested as one of the oldest settlers of the District of Algoma, to address you on this great  national event, that is the turning of the sod of the Canadian Pacific Railway . . . By its [the railway’s] means we are going to connect the widespread portions of our Empire, and open to the overcrowded population not only of our parent continent but to the whole continent of Europe an extent of agricultural and mineral land unequalled on the continent of America.”

Huzan also alluded to Canada as “one of the best grain producing regions of the world”.

Jolineau, as Adam Oliver, delivered a dozen or so lines from the 1875 report in The Globe. “Allow me to refer for your observation to yonder pile of 500 wheelbarrows, a little further you can see 1,000 shovels ready for use. (Cheers) Looking still further up the line you can see hundreds of men grubbing and clearing the way while the magnificent wharf along the side of the river is rapidly approaching completion. The place on which you are now standing is destined at no distant day to form one of the most important cities of our Dominion.”

In one swift motion, Jolineau sank his shovel into the turf. The deed was done. The historical record elaborates the event. Adam Oliver, MPP, filled an entire wheelbarrow with the soil. “The barrow being duly filled, Mr. Oliver wheeled it along the track and upset it in the most approved style, when a scramble ensured among the ladies and gentlemen present as to who would possess a piece of the first cut.” People kept souvenirs, some to be sent to friends, and the remainder was conveyed to Prince Arthur’s Landing (later called Port Arthur) to be kept as a memorial.

The Globe reported the ceremony occurred “where were assembled upward of 500 ladies and gentlemen to witness the event”. The 2025 event attracted about 40 people besides the re-enactors. Thunder Bay Historical Museum had a booth at ringside.

I and my sister, Susanne, found our way to the east end of Kingston Street where I knew there was a flag marking the historic location. Several other attendees found their way independently of us. There were new piles of gravel blocking access, and many walkers climbed over the piles. We and a few others found a path around the piles. Someone years ago had planted a flag marker in an empty field, full of grass and weeds. The field sloped southward down to the river, where earlier I had discovered the remnants of wooden structures, which I now identify as the ruins of a wharf. On June 1, 1875, two steamers (steamships) carrying dignitaries and on-lookers docked at this wharf in advance of the ceremony.

To the east, beyond a gated property, stood a towering grain elevator which could be easily mistaken for a derelict structure. It was originally named Fort William Elevator, and began its operation in 1913. To the north the steel pedestrian bridge spanned the active railway yard. To the west was Kingston Street.

I accosted one of the re-enactors at the flag marker and got permission to photograph him. He gave his name as Benoit Poirier, playing the role of Cosford Chalmers Fournier or Forneri. He shared a scrap of paper on which were throw-away lines he was scheduled to deliver at the ceremony. At the last moment, he said, stage fright prevented his delivery.

The flag does not, however, mark the point where the first sod was turned. The piles of gravel suggest the field is private property about to be graded. A photograph dated 1887 identifies the historic site between lines of CPR track.

Someday, someone will wake up and start a campaign to construct a proper monument to mark this historic spot. A stone and mortar monument with a bronze plaque. Probably next to the railway yard, at the south end of Brown Street.

Someplace where no one has to climb over plies of gravel.