“The Last Spike” driven in the Ottawa & New York Railway line between Cornwall and Ottawa that is dated for Dec. 9, 1897. The ceremony did not happen then and it is suspected that the ceremony was private occurring somewhere along the line between Cornwall and Cornwall Junction at a later date. There may have been a second Last Spike ceremony that occurred in the Ottawa area at the same time. It has been reported that the possible second Last Spike is at the Keith Boyd Museum in Russell.
The rail line that ran from Tupper Lake, New York to Ottawa, Ontario was expected to bring much prosperity to the owners, but it never materialized. Not many people know today that this route was originally conceived to be a line that would run from New York City to Ottawa and eventually expand westwards out of the Canadian capital. Initially, the line started as two separate rail companies on their respected sides of the border and teamed together to make their dreams a reality. To better understand this, the line’s history has been broken down to their respected individual companies to give a little more detail of each one’s history.