Description
He began as a teenage telegraph operator — and ended up building a nation. In From Telegrapher to Titan, Valerie Knowles tells the story of William C. Van Horne, the driven railwayman who took command of the Canadian Pacific Railway and pushed its steel rails across the continent.
Appointed general manager in 1882, Van Horne raced the clock through brutal terrain and punishing winters, completing Canada’s transcontinental railway in 1885 — a feat that bound a young country together and made him a legend. Knowles follows him from the telegraph key to the boardroom, revealing a leader of legendary energy: blunt, demanding, and utterly convinced that great projects demand great will.
This biography captures both the man and the monumental age he helped create. For readers of Canadian history, business biography, and the romance of the railways, From Telegrapher to Titan is the definitive portrait of one of North America’s great builders — a titan who quite literally put a country on the map.
He began as a teenage telegraph operator — and ended up building a nation. In From Telegrapher to Titan, Valerie Knowles tells the story of William C. Van Horne, the driven railwayman who took command of the Canadian Pacific Railway and pushed its steel rails across the continent.
Appointed general manager in 1882, Van Horne raced the clock through brutal terrain and punishing winters, completing Canada’s transcontinental railway in 1885 — a feat that bound a young country together and made him a legend. Knowles follows him from the telegraph key to the boardroom, revealing a leader of legendary energy: blunt, demanding, and utterly convinced that great projects demand great will.
This biography captures both the man and the monumental age he helped create. For readers of Canadian history, business biography, and the romance of the railways, From Telegrapher to Titan is the definitive portrait of one of North America’s great builders — a titan who quite literally put a country on the map.
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