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Batoche | Gulf
of Georgia Cannery |
Signal Hill |
Craigellachie | Fur
Trade Lachine |
National
Battlefields Park | Vimy
Ridge | Dieppe The Last Spike. John A
Macdonald's National Dream became reality when Donald
Smith drove the last spike of the transcontinental
railway into the tie at an obscure site in the British
Columbia Mountains called Craigellachie. Craigellachie was a
Scottish site where the Scot's made a last stand in the
highlands against the English Army and was used by John
A Macdonald as a statement of support during the
difficult days of building the railway when he told
Donald Smith, "Stand fast Craigellachie". It was fitting
then that the name of the site where the eastward
railhead met the westward growing railhead tand the
great continental railway was tied together.
The site today is a roadside stop along
the trans Canada highway just east of Salmon Arm. An old
steam train and a memorial mark the site but the real
last spike is long gone and the railroad you look at is
still the main railroad link from east to west in
Canada.
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