Introduction: Railroad and Rebellion

The railroad reaches Medicine Hat.

The west was changing, and we were part of it. With the whisky traders gone, the Indigenous people on reserves and people already setting up businesses near our forts, homesteaders started looking westward.

After all, the Governor General had made a favourable report after his western visit in the fall of 1881. The railroad was under construction and anyone with spare coins jingling in his pocket wanted to be the first to buy land cheap and sell it later for a profit.

As the end of the railroad slowly moved westward, so did the camps of workers. I was put in command of the detachments along the Canadian Pacific Railway line.

As I look back now, I can see that the building of the railway and the influx of settlers fueled the unhappiness that erupted into the North-West Rebellion. I'll tell you more about that later. First, join me as we visit some of the railway camps along the line.