"LAST SPIKE AT FEIST LAKE"
Posted by: 
PeterNoG
N 49° 50.810 W 093° 51.480
15U E 438314 N 5521954
This Ontario Provincial Plaque is on the Trans Canada Highway 17 at a roadside stop beside Little Joe Lake about 23.5 miles west of Vermilion Bay and about 38 miles east of Kenora.
Waymark Code: WMFK1H
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date Posted: 10/28/2012
Views: 13
~ text from Provincial Plaque ~
Last Spike at Feist Lake
In the 1870s, Canada needed a reliable all-Canadian transportation route between Lake Superior and the western prairie territories it acquired in 1869. After promising a rail connection to British Columbia, the federal government started to build a railway between Thunder Bay and Red River in 1875. It took seven years to complete the 600 kilometre (375 mile) line. Thousands of workers battled mosquitoes and blackflies as they cut trees, blasted granite, bridged chasms and filled in muskeg. On June 19, 1882, the last spike was driven just south of here near Feist lake. The line was transferred to the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway, which delivered the first shipment of western grain to Thunder Bay in the fall of 1883.
~ text from a second plaque ~
The Fowler Family
and the Last Spike at Feist Lake
John Fowler (1812-1900) was a railway contractor from Yorkshire who emigrated to southern Ontario where he built the Grafton-Cobourg section of the Grand Trunk railway, leased the Port Hope, Lindsay & Beaverton Railway, acquired the charter for the Ontario & Quebec Railway. In 1882, his son Robert (1857-1928) was assistant engineer in charge of of constructing the last section of t5he railway being built by the Canadian government between Lake Superior and the prairies. His sister Jennie (1854-1938) journeyed to visit him in the northwestern Ontario wilderness. Jennie Fowler later recalled that it was she, at Robert's invitation, who drove the last on the line near Feist Lake on June 19, 1882.
Erected by the John & Jane (Prud'homme) Fowler Trust Foundation
with the assistance of the Ontario Heritage Foundation
Address or location of plaque: Hwy 17 Roadside pullout at Little Joe Lake
Physical location of plaque: Other location
"Ontario Plaques" Website for this "Plaque": [Web Link]
Description of any physical remains at site of "Historical Plaque": Nothing at the plaque; the railway is 1.1 km south
This 'Plaque' describes: An 'Event'
Condition of sign: Excellent
Is this a bilingual sign?: No !
What is the second/third language?: n/a
A web-site for more details.: Not listed
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