From Telegrapher to Titan

The life and times of a Canadian railroad giant

William C. Van Horne, a true titan of North American business, started his railroad career at the age of 12 working various jobs for the Michigan Central, and crowned it by becoming the president of the Canadian Pacific. He is credited with opening Cuba’s interior by means of railway, greatly expanding Canada’s interests by launching the sea transport division of the Canadian Pacific—with regular luxury liner service between Vancouver and Hong Kong—and completing Canada’s first transcontinental railway. Van Horne was knighted by Queen Victoria for his contributions to Canadian Unity and, more recently, was named Laureate of the Century by the Canadian Business Hall of Fame. A man of many talents, Van Horne was also Canada's premier art collector and one of its leading financiers. In From Telegrapher to Titan, Valerie Knowles delivers a gripping account of this larger-than-life figure.