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S

te. Agathe, a sleepy farming village in the hills, became a railroad boomtown with the arrival of the train. These big, snorting steam engines captured the hearts of people and changed the social structure everywhere in the world. More than a railroad town, Ste. Agathe became a vacation destination for the builders of this new society, including the railroad men.

Four men figure prominently in Canadian railway history. We are all familiar with their names and titles: George Stephen (Lord Mount Stephen) Donald Smith (Lord Strathcona), Sir William Cornelius Van Horne and Sir Thomas George Shaughnessy. The first two, first cousins, were of Scottish ancestry and the second two were both Americans, one of Irish stock and the other, Dutch. All four of them received their titles for their good works, particularly in building the railroad line across Canada. Donald Smith (Lord Strathcona) came from Scotland on an uncle's advice and was sent west in 1869 to quell the Métis uprising. He was captured and made a prisoner by Louis Riel and was later commended for averting unnecessary bloodshed. He stayed active in the west during the creation of Manitoba and was a representative to the House of Commons for Selkirk. He partnered with his cousin George Stephen to create Canadian Pacific Railway in December 1880.

William Van Horne began his working career in 1854 at eleven years old delivering telegraph messages to support his widowed mother and siblings in Joliet, Illinois. Despite a reputation as a prankster, he climbed the corporate ladder and, in 1881, was hired as General Manager for the newly formed Canadian Pacific Railway with the particular responsibility of building the railroad line to the West Coast. He is credited with the speed with which the trans-continental railroad was completed. The last spike was driven on November 7, 1885, less than five years after the creation of CP Rail. He was named president in 1888.

One of Van Horne's best moves was to hire Thomas Shaugnessy away from the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway and give him responsibility for purchasing at CP. He took over this post in 1882 at 29 years of age. As the rail line neared completion, the company was over-extended and while Strathcona kept good ties with the government and Van Horne ran the work crews, it was Shaughnessy who placated the creditors. A fellow American, one who had worked his way up through Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway from his 16th birthday, he remained Van Horne's able assistant until 1899. That year, Van Horne became the chairman and Shaughnessy inherited the mantle of president, a position he would retain until 1918. Under his stewardship, the company grew from 11,000 km of track to 18,000 by 1913 and 70% of the Prairie lines were double-tracked. He also carried forward the ideas that he and Van Horne had begun in setting up the Angus Shops in Montreal, allowing CP to build its own rolling stock. During this time CP became a major ship-owner, through the Empress Line in the Pacific and an Atlantic steamship service. It also acquired Consolidated Mining and Smelting (Cominco).

Lord Shaughnessy acquired a property in Ste. Agathe and built his country home in 1907. A large, three-storey wood structure with a high gabled roof, precursor to the chalet, and a spectacular view over the lake, it was built for summer only. It still exists today on Chemin Lac des Sables. Around the same time, he encouraged his friend, Sir Mortimer Davis to acquire the property next door. Shaughnessy was an active philanthropist. He served as honorary president of the Canadian Branch, St. John Ambulance Association and was a governor of the Western Hospital, which amalgamated with the Montreal General Hospital on January 1, 1924, and of Laval University.

We know that Lord Strathcona and Lord Mount Stephen put up $1,800,000 in the 1890's for the creation and operation of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, and Lord Strathcona was a protector of the bison and owner of the last herd, We also know that Lord Strathcona never forgot his homeland, and encouraged interaction between Scotland and Canada. There is less information regarding Van Horne's donations, although his deeds speak loudly. He set up passes on CP trains for artists and promoted art through the company, and art historians feel that his encouragement had a significant effect on Canadian art. He also headed up the Cuba Railroad Company once he was no longer needed as president of CP. Cuba was just recovering from the Spanish-American War and Van Horne felt he could do on a minor scale in Cuba what he had done in Canada. It was also through his banking connections that the Royal Bank established itself in Cuba. It was not surprising that upon his death in 1915 he was mourned in three countries.

Shaughnessy, like Davis and others, would have come to Ste. Agathe on their private cars, pulled up the CP line by steam engines. He would have been met at the station and conveyed through Ste. Agathe and around the lake by his own employee, initially in a horse-drawn carriage, and then in a car. He would have socialised in Ste. Agathe with other residents of the Square Mile, and many decisions about the future of Canada would have been taken around Lac des Sables.

Royal Caledonian Curling Club web site
The History of Joliet, John Whiteside, Herald News
My Family History, Thomas Bebe
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Canadian Heritage Stories and Art Galleries, Kevin Patterson
Artists of the CPR: 1881-1900, Donald Allan Pringle
Greater Vancouver Book, Chuck Davis

Joseph Graham has written a book that features a select number of stories of Laurentian places and how they got their names. To learn more, click here.

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This material may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission of the author. © Joseph Graham