The Last Spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was the final spike driven into the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 at Craigellachie, British Columbia

Craigellachie, British Columbia

Craigellachie is a locality in British Columbia, located several kilometres to the west of the Eagle Pass summit between Sicamous and Revelstoke...

 at 9:22 am on November 7, 1885. It was driven in by CPR railroad financier Donald Smith

Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal

Sir Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, GCMG, GCVO, PC, DL was a Scottish-born Canadian fur trader, financier, railroad baron and politician.-Early life:...

, marking the end of a saga of natural disasters, financial crises and even rebellion that plagued Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

's first transcontinental railroad

Transcontinental railroad

A transcontinental railroad is a contiguous network of railroad trackage that crosses a continental land mass with terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single railroad, or over those owned or controlled by multiple railway companies...

 from its beginning.
The Last Spike signalled the completion of the CPR (although the need for other work besides the track itself meant that the railway did not actually open until June 1886), driven through under engineer James Ross

James Ross (Canadian businessman)

James L. Ross , was a Scottish-born Canadian civil engineer and businessman, who developed his fortune in railway construction.-Early life:...

, it remains today a symbol of national unity in Canada.