McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1972, 8^th pr.  ISBN 0-7710-1326-4.  Hard cover, 439 pages including Chronology, Notes, Bibliography, Acknowledgements, and Index.  Red brick cloth with embossed spike on front board, gold lettering on spine; bit of shelf wear, small soil spot at lower fore-edge of page block; binding sound with headbands.  Dust jacket with price intact shows edge and cover wear, rubs and chips, tears repaired on verso.  Illustrated end papers; interior clean and unmarked with lightly tanned pages; black & white maps.  ‘In 1871, a tiny nation, just four years old – its population well below the four million mark – determined that it would build the world’s longest and costliest railroad across empty country, much of it unexplored.  This decision – bold to the point of recklessness – was to change the lives of every man, woman and child in Canada and alter the future and the shape of the nation.  Its effects are still being felt a century later.’ (from front flap)