The admission of British Columbia as a province in 1871 meant that a transcontinental railway was needed to connect the country. The Canadian government insisted that any railway would have to cross only Canadian land, meaning that an easier route through the United States of America was out of the question. This account of the survey expedition, led by Sandford Fleming, the Engineer-in-Chief of the Canadian Pacific Railway, in 1872, describes in great detail the difficult terrain that such a railway would have to cross. The railway was completed in 1885, following numerous delays. It soon became an important artery for trade in Canada and was influential in allowing settler communities to quickly grow in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.