History as a Watercourse Westward By Rapid

There's no wisdom in noting that water is the nemesis of railroading.

Yet it's interesting how, even as the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) builders expended millions of dollars and untold effort avoiding lakes, muskeg, rivers and even small watercourses, they sought remote headwaters to pass over mountain ranges, named water bodies after their experiences, and always acquiesced to the power of water.

This article is about some of those western pathfinders, surveyors, workers, and travellers, in their own words.