Building The (CPR) Canadian Pacific Railroad  

In the 1870's and 1880's immigrants from China, mostly peasants, came to Canada to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway section that runs through the Rockie Mountains in British Columbia. Up until 1885, 15,000 Chinese laborers completed the British Columbia section of the CPR. Their meager pay of $1 a day was half the wage of white laborers, saving the CPR an  estimated $3-5 million in construction costs. 

The loss to Chinese Canadians over those years, however, was immeasurable. Landslides and careless dynamite blasts killed many Chinese laborers who were designated for the most dangerous work. It's said that one Chinese worker died for every mile of the railway. In fact, no records were kept at the time so it's difficult to estimate the exact number of deaths. Recent research puts the number closer to three Chinese workers for every mile of track that was built through the Rockies. 

After the railway was completed the Chinese population in Canada was shunned and left to fend for themselves. Despite this, with the Trans-Canada Railway they helped build now up and running, Chinese communities managed to develop across the entire country.

Since 1885, Canadian Pacific Railway has been moving the people and goods that have helped build and shape a nation. 


CPR was founded in 1881 to build a railway linking Canada's eastern population centers with the vast, unpopulated West. This huge engineering feat was completed on Nov.7, 1885 - six years ahead of schedule  when the last spike was driven into the rail line at Craigellachie, B.C.


"The Last Spike" Craigellachie, B.C.
Craigellachie, B.C. is 45 miles West of Revelstoke, B.C.

Revelstoke, B.C. is known worldwide for it's winter recreation
 
Tourists travel from Europe, Asia, the United States, and various other countries, just to go helicopter and cat-powder skiing, or snow-mobiling because of the mass amounts of powder snow that falls every winter there.

           
Mount Boulder, Revelstoke, B.C. Canada

                 
With eleven areas (Adamants, Bobbie Burns, Bugaboos, Cariboos, Galena, Gothics, Kootenay, McBride, Monashees, Revelstoke, Valemount) located in the remote and un-inhabited mountains of British Columbia, the total ski terrain encompasses 20,000 square kilometers. All of these mountain ranges are within 150 miles of Revelstoke, it truly is the "HEART OF SNOW COUNTRY."

Selkirk Mountain Range, Revelstoke, B.C. Canada

Revelstoke is also known for it's professional 18 hole golf course

Revelstoke Golf Course, Revelstoke, B.C. Canada

So for great scenery, plenty of recreation, and lots of FUN Revelstoke has it all
From a CPR Railroad Museum, to a Historical Museum, or Hydro Electric Dam tours, to Golfing, Fishing, Hiking, and of course Skiing or Snow-Mobiling you'll never be without anything to do while on vacation here. There are campgrounds and hotels for everyone.

If you've never seen Canada, make British Columbia a definite stop on your travel plans, because I've seen almost all of Canada, and B.C. truly is the most Beautiful Province of them all, it even says so on our license plates LOL so it's official.

I've added another page of photos of the area surrounding Revelstoke, if the ones you've seen here didn't already impress you enough. In case you're wondering why I ever left such a beautiful city, the answer is simple, I don't ski, and I got tired of shovelling 20 feet of annual snowfall every winter. I moved to a milder winter climate in B.C. and I do still visit Revelstoke occasionally but I only go there in the summertime.