Royal Commonwealth Society : Wright and Leamys' R.R. Camp, Eagle Pass

Macmunn, Charles (1840?-1903)

Royal Commonwealth Society

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This photograph is part of an album which documents the completion of the most challenging final section of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the rugged Fraser Canyon to Eagle Pass segment. Work began in 1880 and entailed blasting tunnels through sheer granite canyon walls and building trestle bridges to connect the tunnels. The line, however, was completed to Savona on Kamloops Lake on 29 June 1885. The final spike in Canada’s first intercontinental railway, linking the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, was driven in at Craigellachie on 7 November.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>This print records a construction workers' camp with men standing beside loaded waggons and tents pitched on the cleared land in front of the forest. The photograph was taken by Charles Macmunn, a native of Manchester, England, who worked out of Victoria, British Columbia. In 1883 he advertised views of the Canadian Pacific Railway.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>See Janus record <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0115%2FY3069B%2F3'>here</a></p>