The first railway rolling stock to appear on the Canadian prairies arrived in Winnipeg on October 9, 1877 after being barged 226 miles down the Red River from Fargo, North Dakota. Purchased from the Northern Pacific Railroad by Joseph Whitehead, the government contractor responsible for building the Canadian Pacific Railway line between Emerson and St. Boniface, the shipment included "CPR" locomotive No.1, soon to be christened the "Countess of Dufferin", after the wife of the Canadian Governor-General, the Earl of Dufferin, who was visiting Winnipeg at the time.
Foote & James, Winnipeg
October 1877

Image number: NS.17756