Conventional history has long attributed the success of Canada's first national railway to the genius of chief engineer Sandford Fleming, when in fact he was assisted by a veritable army of engineers, several of whom were equally qualified to hold his post. This book, the first to fully describe the careers of these men, reveals a corps of geniuses - and some charlatans-who all played a role in the completion of the Intercolonial Railway, the line that bound a new country together with a ribbon of steel. Railway historian Jay Underwood has drawn from myriad sources to compile a work that will appeal to those who appreciate the rich diversity of Canada's railway history, family genealogy, and the history of civil engineering in this country. There has never before been such a comprehensive catalogue of the work of the engineers who built railways, canals, docks, and waterworks to improve the quality of life in a young nation. Many of these men have gone virtually unnoticed in the bright spotlight that has been shone on Sandford Fleming; several saw their careers end in failure, and as many as seven died in the service of Canada while building the great railway. Fleming had coveted a military career, which was used in his era to define a "gentleman," and while he never achieved that position, the men who worked for him during the twelve years that it took to build the railway were truly Part of an extraordinary army. A great many of these men came from England to assist in the project. Many had Scottish and Irish ancestry, but the majority could all call themselves "Canadians," and were fully aware of the importance of the work.

A number of them even had distinguished military careers on their resumes. This work seeks to show what life was like working for the man they called "The Chief," on the project of a scale previously unknown in British North America and which set the stage for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway a decade later. Book jacket.