half of his shares. Next, Kennedy resigned, depressing the CPR stock even further and making Stephen's increasingly frantic attempts to find capital even more difficult. In the face of this crisis, fellow Montrealer McIntyre resigned in 1884, forcing the other directors to buy his shares and in the process earning himself Stephen's lifelong enmity. Using every ounce of his experience in banking, natural flair for persuasion and business acumen, Stephen proved capable of putting together the complicated financing needed to complete the project, despite cost overruns from numerous unanticipated engineering, business and political problems. The final piece in the financial puzzle was secured when, in 1885, he travelled to London for a personal appeal that convinced Lord Revelstoke and Barings Bank to underwrite the sale of £3 million in company stock. On 7 November 1885, at Craigellachie, British Columbia, Donald Smith famously hammered home the last spike in the railroad. Stephen, Smith, and Angus were the sole members of the original syndicate to have kept their nerve. Their gamble paid off and the success of the first leg of what would soon become the "world's greatest transportation system" almost immediately made them enormously rich. Aftermath Stephen gave over $1 million to Sir John A. Macdonald's government from 1882 to 1890, knowing full well the important part it played in the successful completion of the CPR when their finances had been nothing short of precarious. But, Stephen refused to accept the argument that the CPR owed its existence to the government. He became engaged in a very public battle over several years with John Norquay concerning the unpopular monopoly clause, but had to concede to public pressure in 1888, allowing the construction of branch lines south of the CPR main line. Though a financier of undoubted reputation, Stephen did not excel in public debate. He resigned as President of the CPR in 1888 and approved the appointment of Sir William Cornelius Van Horne to succeed him. Though of course a very wealthy man, the CPR had taken a significant toll on Stephen's personal portfolio. James Hill had ended up better off than him for having held on to his railroad when Stephen had had to liquidate his share in it to ensure the completion of the CPR. He also regretted having encouraged his associates to invest in the CPR, knowing that Hill's Manitoba Railway was a better opportunity. He was not