Eagle Pass

Eagle Pass, elevation about 550 m, provides a corridor through the Gold Range in the MONASHEE MTS between Shuswap Lake and the Columbia River, 12 km southwest of Revelstoke, British Columbia. In 1865 Walter MOBERLY, BC's assistant surveyor general, set out to explore the interior for possible railway passes through the mountain barrier east of Shuswap Lake, and discovered and named the pass after he had shot up a nest of eagles that flew away through it. Eagle Pass was chosen as the CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY route through the Monashees; there the western railway portion from Port Moody met the eastern rail crews, and on 7 November 1885 the last spike was driven at CRAIGELLACHIE, west of the pass. The Trans-Canada Highway also traverses the pass.
Last Spike
Last Spike
The symbolic last spike in the building of the CPR was driven by Donald Smith on Nov 7, 1885 (photo by Ross Best & Co, courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-3693).

Author GLEN BOLES

0
0
Absolutely free, with over 40,000 articles in French and English, The Canadian Encyclopedia is the ultimate online resource for all things Canadian, from history, sports, arts, science, technology, and much, much more. Get started at www.TheCanadianEncyclopedia.com
Feature Articles
Maisonneuve and the Founding of Montreal

The story of the founding of Montreal is perhaps unique in history....

INSIDE TCE

Gallery
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Interactive Resources
Illustrations, lively text, animations, sounds and games help make learning about Canadian history, art, geography, architecture and other topics entertaining as well as informative.
Canucklehead
The ultimate test of your knowledge of Canada, trivial and otherwise. You can choose from more than 60 dynamic quizzes with visual or text clues. Your scores depend on the speed with which you answer and the number of clues you need. Results are sent to you by email and high scores are posted on the site.
Timeline
This unique resource includes more than 6000 events from Canadian and world history. It can be searched by era, subject, keyword or date. To find out what happened on your birthday, select the month and day of your birth.
100 Greatest Events
This selection of the 100 "greatest" events in Canadian history was made by editor in chief James H. Marsh to draw attention to events that have left an indelible memory in the minds of later generations.