Sir Sandford Fleming was one of the first engineers to practice in Manitoba before Manitoba was a province of Canada. His previous experience in the growth and development of railways in colonial Canada enabled him to undertake the railway planning work for Canada’s first trans-continental railway.
Fleming was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland in 1827. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed as a surveyor and by 1845 at the age of 18 he emigrated with his older brother to colonial Canada. In 1847 he qualified as a surveyor in colonial Canada and was fully employed as a surveyor, mostly for the Grand Trunk Railway. He eventually attained the position of Chief Engineer of the Northern Railway of Canada by 1855.
Stone vs Wood
Fleming advocated for the construction of bridges of stone and iron instead of timber for safety reasons. This was controversial at the time as wood was less expensive and construction was much quicker. In time it was recognized that his ideas were both more durable and much safer.
Canadian National Railway History
The Northern Railway of Canada was a railway in the province of Ontario, Canada. It was the first steam railway to enter service in what was then known as Upper Canada. It was eventually acquired by the Grand Trunk Railway, and is therefore a predecessor to the modern Canadian National Railway (CNR). Several sections of the line are still used by CNR and GO Transit.
In 1863 Fleming was selected to conduct a survey for the route of the first link—from Quebec City to Halifax - of a proposed railway to ultimately run from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. Later, he became chief engineer for the construction of the resulting Intercolonial Railway (also part of the Canadian National Railway).
Career in Manitoba
In 1871, Fleming was appointed engineer-in-chief of the proposed Canadian Pacific Railway [CPR] which would eventually see him work in the Manitoba area.
Fleming led a series of grueling cross-country survey expeditions to identify possible routes for the trans-continental railway.
Skeleton Map shewing the great divisions of the country to be traversed by the Railway
(Insert pdf of Skeleton Map shewing the great divisions of the country to be traversed by the Railway)
The Exploration and Surveys were published in a series of progress reports submitted to the Minister of Public works by Fleming. One such example is posted below.
(Insert pdf of canadian_pacific_railway_Report on Progress exploration_&_surveys Sanford Fleming January 1874)
One of the important decisions in Manitoba was his recommendation to route the railway north of Fort Garry as Winnipeg was known at the time through present day Selkirk and cross the Red River at Selkirk. That decision was ultimately challenged by the leaders of the City of Winnipeg who advocated for the line to pass through Winnipeg (Fort Garry). See Louis Bridge link to EGM Heritage Wiki website at https://enggeomb-heritage.a2hosted.com/index.php/Louise_Bridge#:~:text=Tools-,Louise%20Bridge,-Contents
Include Map of the original route and the change made to route the line from Molson directly to the location where the Louis Bridge crossed the Red River.
Side bar 3
Queens University encyclopedia noted that “one member of his small party was the minister of his church in Halifax, George Monro Grant, who became Queen's principal six years later. It was on this expedition that Grant wrote his much celebrated book, Ocean to Ocean. This trip also opened Grant's eyes to the value of engineers and inspired his drive to establish a faculty for applied science at Queen's in Kingston.”
One of Fleming’s more recognized achievements was related to the routes he surveyed through the Kicking Horse and other passes which greatly aided the CPR in later decades.
Fleming did not oversee the building of the railway to its completion. He resigned from the CPR in 1880 when the government turned the railway over to private interests. He did, however, continue to contribute as a consultant on railway work.
Post Railway Career
Following his work on the CPR railway, Fleming devoted his boundless energy to several new projects and was a voice for modernization in many areas of society. Several biographies have been prepared on his life and are referenced on Wikipedia link below.
When Queen's University was looking for a new chancellor after the death of Rev. John Cook, there were many impressive men on the list of potentials. Sir John A. Macdonald himself, Canada's first Prime Minister, was considered for the post, but in the end Grant's influence won out and his good friend Sandford Fleming was elected in 1880”. He was re-elected for 35 - consecutive years as chancellor (1880–1915) and devoted himself to the University, various scientific projects and writing during this time.
His chancellorship ended with his death in 1915.
Notable Contributions to Engineering and Society
Fleming designed Canada’s first postage stamp, the threepenny beaver (1851).
Railway travel across great distances in Canada and the United States had rendered obsolete the old practice wherein different regions set their clocks according to local astronomical conditions. In studying solutions to this problem as part of the surveying mission across Canada for the CPR, Fleming advocated the adoption of a standard, or mean, time with hourly variations from it according to a system of time zones. His efforts were instrumental in the convening of the International Prime Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C., at which the current internationally accepted system of standard time zones was adopted. The system was adopted in 1884, and Fleming is known as the "Father of Standard Time”.
Fleming was knighted in 1897.
Fleming was also a forceful advocate of a telegraph communication system for the British Empire, the first link of which was a Pacific cable between Canada and Australia (1902).
