Of the Great Western Railway I hear nothing but that English capitalists are unwilling to embark in it, not knowing how soon Canada may be a repudiating State.
The latter statement refers to the bitterness caused by the repeal of the Corn Laws, culminating in a movement by some Canadian elements in support of annexation to the U.S.
Nor were Canadian railways alone in the doldrums. John M. Forbes, in response to MacNab’s request for funds, wrote “At this moment it is impossible to get subscriptions to any Rail Road, however promising.”
In 1846 the charter of the Great Western Rail Road Company was amended to afford “a just and proper protection to the English shareholders of the company in respect of their shares.” A corresponding committee of up to eleven English members was to be created in England to serve as a protector of English shareholder rights. However, it actually also became de facto the group that made all important managerial decisions for the railway while the board of directors in Canada had to have virtually everything it did approved by the corresponding committee. Financial accounts for the company were to be maintained in England. with copies being sent to the directors in Canada. In truth, this document made Canadian shareholders and Canadian directors subordinate to English shareholders and the corresponding committee, respectively (Province of Canada Statutes, 9 Victoria, chapter 81, assent date June 9, 1846).
Despite the fact that financing the Great Western remained a problem, there were advances on other fronts. Charles B. Stuart, chief engineer of the Great Western, produced a report on September 1, 1847, which dealt with the final location of the main line and final specifications for everything from roadbed to bridges and buildings. He indicated that of the entire distance between the Suspension Bridge and Windsor of 228 miles, over 217 miles was perfectly straight. He was pleased to state that he knew of “no other case in this country or elsewhere comparable with this, and it is doubtful whether another location of the same extent can be found on the Continent, so well adapted to the attainment of high velocity, and great economy of transportation.”
Stuart felt that there was no doubt that, although it would cost £1,218,520 ($5.93 million U.S.) to build, the Great Western would prove a profitable investment for its promoters. Everywhere along the line, roadbed property was being provided free of charge while municipalities had promised sites for depots and freight sheds. However, municipalities were providing next to nothing in terms of financial support. For example, in 1845 Hamilton’s municipal council voted to provide £25 ($122 U.S.) in funds upon receiving the company’s request for aid. Using Stuart’s estimate of £4,332 ($21,100 U.S.) per mile, this £25 would finance the construction of thirty feet of track!
On October 23, 1847, the time had arrived for turning of the first sod in London, Ontario. In the words of the Globe (October 27, 1847):
Daylight broke on the eventful morning in all the splendor of an October day in Canada…. From a very early hour the streets of London gave evidence of a holiday. The shops were decked out in their best style … and innumerable wagons filled with the hardy lords of the soil, and their merry families, poured into the town.
Per Talman in 1948:
On that day, something less than ninety-nine years ago, Colonel Talbot turned the first sod which represented the beginning of construction of the Great Western. The fact that the survey was changed and that the railway did not go over the place he marked does not detract from the importance of the occasion. Talbot turned sod in a vacant lot on Richmond Street where the Hyman tannery stands today and, of course, the Great Western came through on the present line of the C.N.R. When he turned the sod, Talbot is reported to have said “I slept on this spot fifty-five years ago when my best friend was a porcupine. What a change has occurred since! Now I see different beings around me, no porcupines with bristles but in their place a company of half-civilized gentlemen.” Talbot possibly was slightly under the influence of alcohol at the time for his speech. No reporter recorded what the half-civilized bystanders thought of Talbot’s remarks.
— J.J. Talman, Western Ontario Historical Notes 6(1) (March 1948), 3
A public dinner followed, at which sixteen toasts were made.
As 1848 came to an end, there must have been many who doubted whether the dream first conceived in 1833 would ever be fulfilled. Fortunately, the fortunes of the Great Western (and several other railways in Ontario) would improve markedly in 1849. In April 1849 Francis Hincks, inspector general, introduced the Guarantee Act into the Legislature of the Province of Canada. This measure clearly stated that there was a need for government assistance to allow the construction of railways in rural areas where capital was scarce. The assistance took the form of a guarantee of interest at 6 percent on not more than 50 percent of the bonded debt of railways over seventy-five miles long, after the completion of at least one half of their mileage. Obviously, Sir Allan MacNab temporarily abandoned his role as leader of the opposition to help shepherd the bill to pass unanimously (Province of Canada Statutes, 12 Victoria, chapter 29, assent date May 30, 1849). Although the Guarantee Act could not benefit a railway until it had completed at least half of its mileage and could not benefit lines less than seventy-five miles long, it was an all-important first step in the long story of government guarantees and subsidies for Canadian railways. Its usefulness was further restricted in 1851 by Hincks’s decision to restrict the act to lines forming part of the province’s trunk system, in an attempt to help his Grand Trunk Railway (Province of Canada Statutes, 14 & 15 Victoria, chapter 73, assent date August 30, 1851). Luckily, the Great Western was considered to be the western extension of the trunk line in 1851, and thus it continued to receive aid under this act (Province of Canada Statutes, 14 & 15 Victoria, chapter 74, assent date August 30, 1851).
In 1849 an act was passed that repealed the act of 1846 and placed Canadian and British Great Western Railway shareholders on an equal footing (Province of Canada Statutes, 12 Victoria, chapter 156, assent date May 30, 1849).
Of more immediate value to the Great Western was a bill introduced in 1850, which allowed municipalities to subscribe to the stock of railway companies (Province of Canada Statutes, 13 & 14 Victoria, chapter 129, assent date July 23, 1850). Earlier apathy gave way to exuberant largesse on the part of municipalities. The counties of Oxford and Middlesex and municipalities of Galt and London each purchased £25,000 ($121,750 U.S.) stock subscriptions, while Hamilton purchased £50,000 ($243,500 U.S.) in stock.
Railway fever seems to have infected the entire province. Commercial distress had disappeared and new confidence and initiative were rising to the fore. The struggle for responsible government had been fought and won, constitutional strife no longer dominated the country, and Canada was on the fast track to becoming an independent nation. In the 1850s, in the words of Sir Allan MacNab, railways became the politics of Canadians. By the end of the 1850s Canada was far different from what it had been in 1850. By 1860 Canada had shed its pioneer status and had become a full-fledged member of the great world of commerce and finance.
Contemporary newspapers revealed this radical new enthusiasm for railways:
Railroads! Railroads! The Canadian world is at last thoroughly alive on the subject of Railroads. Every newspaper teems with the proceedings of public meetings, with discussions as to the best routes, urgent appeals to capitalists to lend their aid … and confident predictions as to the advantages to be reaped from them. Opposition seems to have died away, and there seems to be an unanimous desire to build the roads, some way or other; the prospect that something effectual will at last be done seems really good.
— Globe, November 26, 1850
Referring specifically to the Great Western, the Canada Directory gushed that it would
pass through the finest portion of the Province, and when completed must necessarily be the great highway for the travel, and