Sir William Cornelius Van Horne was the great builder of the Canadian Pacific Railway.  He was in large part responsible for bypassing the Crowsnest Pass route as the mainline for the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880's but used his influence as president of the CPR in the 1890's to bring the railway through.

Van Horne speaking to the value of the Crowsnest line stated: “I firmly believe that, by the necessary efforts on the part of the Government, a greater addition can be made to the wealth of the Dominion in the next ten years ….than has been made all told in the past 30 years.”