Today’s Greatitude

Do you know that 139 years ago, on the morning of 7 November 1885. in a small siding known as Craigellachie (or Craigella-chi) depending on how you say it, The Last Spike was the final and ceremonial railway spike driven into the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) track by company director Donald Smith.

The ceremony marked the completion of the transcontinental CPR and was a muted affair at which a group of company officials and labourers gathered at Craigellachie near Eagle Pass in the interior of British Columbia.

One of about 30 million iron spikes used in the construction of the line, the Last Spike came to symbolize more than the completion of a railway.

Contemporaries and historians have viewed the Last Spike — as well as the iconic photographs of the event — as a moment when national unity was realized.