in December 1883, in which surface rights of existing "squatters" were acknowledged and protected. Construction The last spike was gold and the hammer was silver. On 13 August 1886, the last spike was driven at Cliffside, about north of Victoria. Construction of the island railway took three and a half years. Prime Minister Macdonald drove the last spike, during his only visit to British Columbia. The railway was extended to Dunsmuir's mine at Wellington in 1887, and into Victoria in 1888. It was extended west to Port Alberni in 1911, west to Lake Cowichan in 1912, and north to Courtenay in 1914. The E&N Railway was to have been built all the way to Campbell River, but that plan fell through due to the outbreak of World War I. The present-day bridge north of Victoria, over Niagara Creek Canyon (), formerly crossed the Fraser River at Cisco, BC, and was moved here ca.1910. The cantilever suspension bridge was pre-fabricated in England in 1883 and shipped to Canada. It replaced the original wooden trestle bridge, which was damaged in a washout on 12 November 1886. CPR years In 1905, Robert Dunsmuir’s son James Dunsmuir (former Premier and soon-to-be Lieutenant Governor) sold the E&N Railway to the Canadian Pacific Railway. The CPR built the railroad to Lake Cowichan, Port Alberni, Parksville, Qualicum Beach, and Courtenay. At its peak, the railroad had 45 stations on the main line, 36 stations on the Cowichan line, and 8 stations on the Port Alberni line. Between 1905 and 1999, the E&N Railway was owned and operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Via Rail took over operation of CPR's passenger train service, called The Malahat, in 1978, while CPR demarketed its freight operation, claiming that freight traffic was declining. In 1996, CPR reorganized the E&N as an "internal short line" named E&N Railfreight while the railbarge operations were sold to Seaspan Intermodal. In early 1999, shortline operator RailAmerica purchased the route from Nanaimo to Port Alberni, and leased the balance of the line. At that time, approximately 8,500 carloads of forest and paper products, minerals, and chemicals were transported by the Southern Vancouver Island Railway each year. RailAmerica In 1998, CPR sold the middle part of the corridor to RailAmerica. Despite the purchase by RailAmerica, freight traffic continued to decline and the future of the E&N was still in doubt. RailAmerica sought a sale for its acquisition