CANADA HISTORY - DOCUMENTS FEDERAL

1880 The Canadian Pacific Railway Charter

The Railway constructed under the terms hereof shall be the property of the Company: and pending the completion of the Eastern and Central sections, the Government shall transfer to the Company the possession and right to work and run the several portions of the Canadian Pacific Railway already constructed or as the same shall be completed. And upon the completion of the Eastern and Central sections, the Government shall convey to the Company, with a suitable number of station buildings and with water service (both without equipment), those portions of the Canadian Pacific Railway constructed or to be constructed by the Government which shall then be completed; and upon completion of the remainder of the portion of railway to be constructed to the Company, and the Canadian Pacific Railway shall become, and be thereafter the absolute property of the Company. And the Company shall thereafter and forever efficiently maintain, work and run the Canadian Pacific Railway.

In consideration of the premises, the Government agree to grant to the Company a subsidy in money of $25,000,000, and in land of 25,000,000 acres, for which subsidies the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway shall be completed and the same shall be equipped, maintained and operated, the said subsidies respectively to be paid and granted as the work of construction shall proceed, in manner and upon the conditions following...

In further consideration of the premises the Government shall also grant to the Company the lands required for the roadbed of the railway, and for its stations, station grounds, workshops, dock ground and water frontage at the terminis on navigable waters, buildings, yards, and other appurtenances required for the convenient and effectual construction and working of the railway, in so far as such land shall be vested in the Government. And the Government shall also permit the admission free of duty, of all steel rails, fish plates and other fastenings, spikes, bolts and nuts, wire, timber and all material for bridges, to be used in the original construction of the railway, and of a telegraph line in connection therewith, and all telegraphic apparatus required for the first equipment of such telegraph line. And will convey to the Company, at cost price, with interest, all rails and fastenings bought in or since the year 1879, and other materials for construction in the possession of or purchased by the Government at a valuation; such rails, fastenings and materials not being required by it for the construction of the said Lake Superior and Western sections.

The grant of land hereby agreed to be made to the Company, shall be so made in alternate sections of 640 acres each, extending back 24 miles deep, on each side of the railway, from Winnipeg to Jasper House, in so far as such lands shall be vested in the Government, the Company receiving the sections bearing uneven numbers. But should any of such sections consist in a material degree of land not fairly fit for settlement, the Company shall not be obliged to receive them as part of such grant, and the deficiency thereby caused and any further deficiency which may arise from the insufficient quantity of land along the said portion of railway, to complete the said 250,000,000 acres, or from the prevalence of lakes and water stretches in the sections granted (which lakes and water stretches shall not be computed in the acreage of such sections), shall be made up from other portions to be selected by the Company in the tract known as the Fertile Belt, that is to say the land lying between parallels 49 and 57 degrees of north latitude or elsewhere at the option of the Company by the grant therein of similar alternate sections extending back 24 miles deep on each side of any branch line or lines of railway to be located by the Company...

The Company shall have the right subject to the approval of the Governor in Council to lay out and locate the line of the railway hereby contracted for, as they may see fit, preserving the following terminal points, namely: from Callander station to the point of junction with the Lake Superior section; and from Selkirk to the junction with the Western section at Kamloops by way of the Yellow Head Pass. For 20 years from the date hereof, no line of railway shall be authorised by the Dominion Parliament to be constructed South of the Canadian Pacific Railway, from any point at or near the Canadian Pacific Railway, from any point at or near the Canadian Pacific Railway except such line as shall run South West, or to the Westward of South West: nor to within fifteen miles of Latitude 49. And in the establishment of any new Province in the North-West Territories, provision shall be made for continuing such prohibition after such establishment until the expiration of the said period.

The Canadian Pacific Railway, and all stations and station grounds, workshops, buildings, yards and other property, rolling stock and appurtenances required and used for the construction and working thereof, and the capital stock of the Company shall be forever free from taxation by the Dominion, or by any Province hereafter to be established or by any Municipal Corporation therein, and the lands of the Company, in the North-West Territories, until they are either sold or occupied, shall also be free from such taxation for 20 years after the grant thereof from the Crown...