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First Spike

The Township of Canton-Bonfield celebrated a historical milestone for the area today during a re-enactment of the first Canadian Pacific Railway line spike being driven into the ground which began the first Transcontential Railway.
Kate Adams























The Township of Canton-Bonfield celebrated a historical milestone for the area today during a re-enactment of the first Canadian Pacific Railway line spike being driven into the ground which began the first Transcontential Railway.

Further details are included in the following news release sent out today by the CANTON – BONFIELD – TOWNSHIP
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BONFIELD CELEBRATES Its FIRST SPIKE DAY

At mileage 97.8 on the Canadian Pacific Railway line, in the Township of Bonfield, the re-enactment of the first spike being driven to start construction of the Transcontential Railway occurred in front of a crowd of 160 people including 75 children from the Lorrain Elementary School. Employees from the Ottawa Valley Railway participated in the hammering of the first spike.
Mayor Narry McCarthy and Councillor Robert Boisvert welcomed everyone to this historic site and important day for the Township of Bonfield and Canada.
In addition to the spike ceremony, a permanent sign was unwrapped by Mayor McCarthy and Councillor Boisvert that signaled the beginning of the First Spike Project.
Mayor McCarty read a letter from Jonathon Hanna, promising to work with David Thompson, Economic Development Officer for the Mattawa-Bonfield EDC to acquire a CPR caboose as a centerpiece to a permanent site. “CPR will beat the bushes and work with you diligently to attempt to have one here at the October 8, 2005, First Spike Day ceremony,” McCarthy quoted Hanna.
Dave Johnson, Chairperson of the First Spike Committee revisited the historical importance of the railway, especially to the children and how it “united Canada from sea to sea. And it started here in Bonfield.”
Also in attendance were Council Representatives from East Ferris, Chisholm, Powassan, Calvin, Mattawan, Papineau-Cameron and the Town of Mattawa. Also in attendance was a representative for Anthony Rota, M.P. and from the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, NECO, FEDNOR and the Mattawa and Area Forestry Committee.


Photos by David Thompson