. . . especially Ex-PH2 and API. The tune is self-explanatory – once you know a bit of baclground.<\/p>\n
The bit of background: like the US, Canada also made major efforts to build a transcontinental railroad. (The term “navvy” is British slang – adopted in Canadian English – for a railway laborer.) Their projects began in earnest with the establishment of Canada as a Confederation in 1867, and accelerated greatly with the entry of British Columbia into Canada in 1871. <\/p>\n
Indeed, one of the conditions of British Columbia’s entry into Canada in 1871 was completion of a transcontinental railroad within a decade. While they didn’t make that deadline, they came reasonably close. <\/p>\n
The Canadian transcontinental railroad was completed with the driving of the Last Spike at Cragellatchie, BC, on 7 November 1885. It’s approximately 1,600 km longer than the US transcontinental railroad.<\/p>\n
Lightfoot’s tune commemorates the building of this railroad, and the men who built it. It was commissioned for Canada’s Centennial in 1967 by the Canadian Broadcast Corporation; it aired in a special broadcast on 1 January 1967.<\/p>\n