<P> The railway was originally built between Eastern Canada and British Columbia between 1881 and 1885 ( connecting with Ottawa Valley and Georgian Bay area lines built earlier ) , fulfilling a promise extended to British Columbia when it entered Confederation in 1871 . It was Canada 's first transcontinental railway , but no longer reaches the Atlantic coast . Primarily a freight railway , the CPR was for decades the only practical means of long - distance passenger transport in most regions of Canada , and was instrumental in the settlement and development of Western Canada . The CPR became one of the largest and most powerful companies in Canada , a position it held as late as 1975 . Its primary passenger services were eliminated in 1986 , after being assumed by Via Rail Canada in 1978 . A beaver was chosen as the railway 's logo in honor of Sir Donald A Smith ( 1st . Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal ) who had risen from Factor to Govenor of the Hudson 's Bay Company over a lengthy career in the beaver fur trade . Smith was a principal financier of the C.P.R. staking much of his personal wealth . In 1885 he drove the last spike to complete the transcontinental line . </P>
when was the canadian pacific railway started and finished
between 1881 and 1885