The National Dream: Building the Impossible Railway

Season

1974

Canada

8.6

A dramatized documentary about the political and engineering struggle to build Canada's first trans-continental railway.

Episode List

S1 • E1

The Great Lone Land

The government of Sir John A. Macdonald announces its intentions to build a railway to the Pacific, bring British Columbia into Confederation and preserve Canadian sovereignty from sea to sea.

S1 • E2

The Pacific Scandal

The Prime Minister delivers an impassioned defense in the House, but independent MP Donald Smith breaks a Commons deadlock and Sir John resigns.

S1 • E3

The Horrid B.C. Business

Canada reels in the throes of a depression as Prime Minister Mackenzie vainly tries to cope with inherited Pacific Railway frustrations. Mackenzie's health wanes as surveyors squabble, contractors milk the public purse and B.C. clamours for the promised railway. If the railway is to be salvaged, Sir John A. Macdonald must rise from the political ashes.

S1 • E4

The Great Debate

Sir John A. Macdonald, now back in power, reluctantly agrees to name Donald Smith, Jim Hall and George Stephen as heads of the syndicate that will build the railway. Though capable, resourceful capitalists, they are tainted by U.S. railway connections. After an exhausting marathon debate, the House passes the government's railway bill.

S1 • E5

The Railway General

Intrigued by the project's immense challenge, American railway giant, Cornelius Van Horne, signs on to oversee the railway's construction.

S1 • E6

The Sea of Mountains

Construction in B.C. is painstakingly slower than on the Prairies. Suave contractor Andrew Onderdonk lures thousands of workers from China to help hack and tunnel through the Rockies. As the CPR creeps over the continental spine, trouble looms on the horizon.

S1 • E7

The Desperate Days

Slow, arduous construction in the mountains and north of Superior sends costs soaring as the CPR faces financial calamity. Sir John A. Macdonald is distracted by mounting troubles in the West as farmers, Indians and Métis cry for redress. In a desperate gamble, Van Horne offers to transport 9,000 troops from the East to quell the rebellion.

S1 • E8

The Last Spike

Eastern militiamen begin the cruellest journey in Canadian military history and the national crisis is averted. The CPR faces riots, strikes and bankruptcy before an 11th-hour government loan saves the day. In November 1885, Donald Smith drives the last spike in the CPR to link Canada from sea to sea.