The controversial Crowsnest Pass Agreement effectively locked the eastbound rate on grain products and westbound rates on certain settlers' effects at the 1897 level. Although temporarily suspended during the First World War, it was not until 1983 that the Crow Rate was permanently replaced by the Western Grain Transportation Act which allowed for the gradual increase of grain shipping prices. The Crowsnest Pass line opened on 18 June 1898, and followed a complicated route through the maze of valleys and passes in southern British Columbia, rejoining the original mainline at Hope after crossing the Cascade Mountains via Coquihalla Pass.