1880
The Canadian Pacific Railway Charter
The Railway constructed under the terms hereof shall be
the property of the Company: and pending the completion of
the Eastern and Central sections, the Government shall
transfer to the Company the possession and right to work and
run the several portions of the Canadian Pacific Railway
already constructed or as the same shall be completed. And
upon the completion of the Eastern and Central sections, the
Government shall convey to the Company, with a suitable
number of station buildings and with water service (both
without equipment), those portions of the Canadian Pacific
Railway constructed or to be constructed by the Government
which shall then be completed; and upon completion of the
remainder of the portion of railway to be constructed to the
Company, and the Canadian Pacific Railway shall become, and
be thereafter the absolute property of the Company. And the
Company shall thereafter and forever efficiently maintain,
work and run the Canadian Pacific Railway.
In consideration of the premises, the Government agree to
grant to the Company a subsidy in money of $25,000,000, and
in land of 25,000,000 acres, for which subsidies the
construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway shall be
completed and the same shall be equipped, maintained and
operated, the said subsidies respectively to be paid and
granted as the work of construction shall proceed, in manner
and upon the conditions following...
In further consideration of the premises the Government
shall also grant to the Company the lands required for the
roadbed of the railway, and for its stations, station
grounds, workshops, dock ground and water frontage at the
terminis on navigable waters, buildings, yards, and other
appurtenances required for the convenient and effectual
construction and working of the railway, in so far as such
land shall be vested in the Government. And the Government
shall also permit the admission free of duty, of all steel
rails, fish plates and other fastenings, spikes, bolts and
nuts, wire, timber and all material for bridges, to be used
in the original construction of the railway, and of a
telegraph line in connection therewith, and all telegraphic
apparatus required for the first equipment of such telegraph
line. And will convey to the Company, at cost price, with
interest, all rails and fastenings bought in or since the
year 1879, and other materials for construction in the
possession of or purchased by the Government at a valuation;
such rails, fastenings and materials not being required by
it for the construction of the said Lake Superior and
Western sections.
The grant of land hereby agreed to be made to the
Company, shall be so made in alternate sections of 640 acres
each, extending back 24 miles deep, on each side of the
railway, from Winnipeg to Jasper House, in so far as such
lands shall be vested in the Government, the Company
receiving the sections bearing uneven numbers. But should
any of such sections consist in a material degree of land
not fairly fit for settlement, the Company shall not be
obliged to receive them as part of such grant, and the
deficiency thereby caused and any further deficiency which
may arise from the insufficient quantity of land along the
said portion of railway, to complete the said 250,000,000
acres, or from the prevalence of lakes and water stretches
in the sections granted (which lakes and water stretches
shall not be computed in the acreage of such sections),
shall be made up from other portions to be selected by the
Company in the tract known as the Fertile Belt, that is to
say the land lying between parallels 49 and 57 degrees of
north latitude or elsewhere at the option of the Company by
the grant therein of similar alternate sections extending
back 24 miles deep on each side of any branch line or lines
of railway to be located by the Company...
The Company shall have the right subject to the approval
of the Governor in Council to lay out and locate the line of
the railway hereby contracted for, as they may see fit,
preserving the following terminal points, namely: from
Callander station to the point of junction with the Lake
Superior section; and from Selkirk to the junction with the
Western section at Kamloops by way of the Yellow Head Pass.
For 20 years from the date hereof, no line of railway shall
be authorised by the Dominion Parliament to be constructed
South of the Canadian Pacific Railway, from any point at or
near the Canadian Pacific Railway, from any point at or near
the Canadian Pacific Railway except such line as shall run
South West, or to the Westward of South West: nor to within
fifteen miles of Latitude 49. And in the establishment of
any new Province in the North-West Territories, provision
shall be made for continuing such prohibition after such
establishment until the expiration of the said period.
The Canadian Pacific Railway, and all stations and
station grounds, workshops, buildings, yards and other
property, rolling stock and appurtenances required and used
for the construction and working thereof, and the capital
stock of the Company shall be forever free from taxation by
the Dominion, or by any Province hereafter to be established
or by any Municipal Corporation therein, and the lands of
the Company, in the North-West Territories, until they are
either sold or occupied, shall also be free from such
taxation for 20 years after the grant thereof from the
Crown...
