Pictured is an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada's national police force.Canada was well on its way to becoming a viable country! It took a little longer but as the railway extended westward, emigrants from Europe flocked to Canada to settle the rich farmland on the prairies. A railroad was the answer and British Columbia became a province in 1871 based on the promise that a rail link would be completed within ten years. The extreme west coast was becoming populated due to the commercial opportunities in fur trading, mineral deposits and forestry, and in order to entice that area to join the Canadian confederation, a means to connect it to the eastern provinces, in ways other than a four-month boat trip around South America, was imperative. When Canada became independent in 1867, there were only four provinces, all in the eastern half of the country, and the western half was largely uninhabited virgin territory administered by the United Kingdom. The other two Lightfoot songs noted in the question were 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' and 'Black Day in July'. For those unfamiliar with Lightfoot or this particular piece, versions are available on YouTube. I'm not sure where Lightfoot would place this work in his hierarchy of favorite compositions, but I consider it among his very best. It received a lot of airplay in Canada that year, particularly around July 1, known as Dominion Day at the time, and has now become a Canadian treasure. Gordon Lightfoot sang 'The Canadian Railroad Trilogy' over a live broadcast on January 1, 1967, to kick off the CBC's Centennial celebrations.

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