It's amazing what can be done to old film, even with a retail video editor. Recently I had old 16mm home videos converted to DVD and after hours of enhancing the footage using an Adobe Elements program, the results were incredibly improved. Even better with old slides and using Photoshop.
The famous photographs of the Last Spike ceremony depict such historic figures as CPR director Donald Smith (driving the spike), CPR general manager William Van Horne (behind Smiths right shoulder) and Sandford Fleming (with white beard and wearing a top hat). Standing directly behind Smith is a young man named Edward Mallandaine, who is sometimes referred to as the Craigellachie Kid. Mallandaine was 18 years old when the photo was taken. He had just arrived at Craigellachie the night before and pushed his way to the front of the crowd during the ceremony, appearing at the centre of the iconic photographs.
Before the Last Spike ceremony, Mallandaine had quit school in Victoria, BC, to join Canadian forces fighting to put down the North-West Rebellion. Arriving too late to join the conflict, he headed back west, where he started his own business in the summer of 1885, delivering newspapers and supplies by pony between Eagle Pass and Farwell, BC.
A few years after the Last Spike was driven, Mallandaine helped establish the town of Creston, BC, on Kootenay Lake.
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