There is a considerable body of material available (some in paperback form) on developments in Canadian transportation during the mid-nineteenth century. Contemporary material such as T.C. Keefer's Philosophy of Railways (originally published in 1850 and recently re-issued by the University of Toronto Press in paperback), and his The Canals of Canada (1894), which is one of the best studies of this topic, offer interesting sources for study. Some insight into the lives of early canal workers is provided in Three Years in Canada (London: Henry Colburn, 1829) by John MacTaggart who observed the Rideau Canal under construction.
Important secondary sources include H.A. Innis's immensely important articles on transportation in his Essays in Canadian Economic History, ed. Mary Q. Innis (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962) and H.G.J. Aitken's article "Defensive Expansionism: The State and Economic Growth in Canada" in Approaches to Canadian Economic History edited by M. Watkins and W. Easterbrook (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1967). G.P. de Glazebrook's A History of Transportation in Canada (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1964) is a comprehensive account which, though dated, is very useful. W. Easterbrook and H. Aitken's Canadian Economic History rev.-ed. (Toronto: Macmillan, 1965) is a general survey but, as it incorporates new research and approaches, it is highly recommended. The most thorough study of a Canadian canal is Professor Aitken's The Welland Canal Company: A Study in Canadian Enterprise (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1954).
A number of good histories of various railways are now available. The most thorough scholarly studies of specific companies are A.W. Currie's Grand Trunk (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1957) and H.A. Innis C.P.R. (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1923 and 1971). Neither book excels Pierre Berton's two volume work on the C.P.R., The National Dream and The Last Spike, for literary style and vivid description of political background as well as the process of the actual building of the line, and though these books cover late nineteenth-century Canadian railway history, they should be read by any student wishing to learn more about the connections between railwaymen and politicians. The Last Spike and The National Dream have been recently abridged by the author in one paperback volume published by McClelland and Stewart, 1974. G.R. Stevens' two volume Canadian National Railways (Toronto: Clarke Irwin, 1962) covers the history of many nineteenth century lines which were incorporated into the C.N.R. in 1919. O.D. Skelton's The Railway Builders (Toronto: Glasgow Brooks, 1916) is still a good brief general survey of railway development, and Gustavus Myers' History of Canadian Wealth (originally published in 1914 and recently republished by James, Lewis and Samuel of Toronto in paperback) is a must for anyone who wishes to read a famous muckraker's bare knuckles account of venality and corruption during this era of railway mania.
