PIN IT

Ladies and gentlemen, our train will be making an unscheduled stop… in the impudent little village of Port Arthur, where the locals have taken it upon themselves to seize Her Majesty’s rolling stock with an alarming amount of audacity! Refreshments will not be served, as we’ll now be spending the beverage budget paying off municipal fines.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be relocating every last ounce of this railway’s fortune, freight, and future to Fort William, where they understand the delicate art of not hijacking trains.

— William Van Horne (probably)

Okay, this isn’t a direct quote. But it damn well could be.

If you’ve ever wondered where the age-old rivalry between Port Arthur and Fort William began… I say we blame this guy.

The Scene

It’s 1884. Prince Arthur’s Landing ( Port Arthur) is a booming little village of about 1,275 people. The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) is in the process of building a terminal here, and business is rolling along.

Until it isn’t.

Armed with a red flag and a writ (a formal court order), the Village Treasurer marches out to a rock cut near the edge of town. In an act of pure bravado, he flags down an oncoming train, hops into the cab, and serves the startled engineer with the writ, officially seizing the train for unpaid taxes.

Yes. A train. Was seized. With a flag. In the name of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, no less.

The Backstory

So, what triggered this locomotive-level drama?

The CPR had conveniently “forgotten” (how does one forget this?) to pay their tax bill in Prince Arthur’s Landing, an amount totalling $14,000, which is about $788,000 in today’s funds.

After repeated attempts to collect the overdue taxes, the village treasurer stopped sending polite letters and did what any passive-aggressive town hero would do: He took matters into his own hands… and hijacked a train. *Mic drop.*

Enter: Van Horne

The seizure caught CPR officials off guard. News of the incident quickly reached CPR President William Van Horne, who was at first skeptical. Then furious. Then very dramatic.

In a display of fury, Van Horne personally travelled to the Lakehead to pay the bill. But he didn’t stop there.

He called Port Arthur an “impudent little village” and condemned the act for impugning the credit of the railway system. Which is 1880s tycoon-speak for: “How dare you make me look bad in front of Queen Victoria.”

Then He Took His Trains and Left

Van Horne, ever the grudge-holder, vowed to “see grass grow in the streets of Prince Arthur’s Landing.” And, he followed through. And just like that, Van Horne took his bat, ball, and entire railway – and went to Fort William. 

• Yes, he completed the transcontinental railway.
• Yes, he helped shape Canada.
• But make no mistake, he was also Canada’s most accomplished grudge-holder.

The Fallout

Port Arthur suffered. Fort William flourished.

Fort William’s population blossomed to over 13,000, while Port Arthur stagnated at just under 3,000. A rivalry built entirely out of ego and railway track was born, which remains today!

One has to wonder: Maybe it’s time Port Arthur renamed one of its streets?
Van Horne Street  (Reclaimed)? Grudgeholder Lane? I dunno… just thinking out loud here! 

It’s also a shame we don’t know the name of that heroic Village Treasurer. Someone get that guy a statue! 

The Real Question

Why didn’t CPR just pay the bill?
Well… they were known to delay or dodge taxes in smaller municipalities. And Van Horne’s CPR likely assumed no one in no-man’s land, Northern Ontario would ever challenge them.

But oh, how wrong they were.

This impudent little village made Canadian history, in the most dramatic and Ozzy Osbourne off-the-rails kind of way.

TL;DR: (Too Long; Didn’t Read.)

Port Arthur seized a train. Van Horne had a meltdown. Fort William won. Port Arthur? Still salty.

References:

• “When was a train seized for Taxes?”
  Telegraph-Journal Saint John, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada | Sat, Feb 4, 1961 
• “Port Arthur Seize Train for Taxes”
  Royd Beamish, MacLean’s Magazine