Gilberto Fernandes

My first article to come out of my research project Laborem Ex Machina: The History of Operating Engineers and Heavy Machinery in Canada’s Construction Industry” was published in the December issue of Journal of History. Find it here: “Reshaping the Ways of Commerce and Civilization: Modern Construction Machines and the Building of Canada’s Mobility Infrastructure, 1860s–1920s,” Journal of History 58: 2–3 (December 2023): 117-151.

Keywords: canals, construction, continentalism, corporations, engineers, machines, manufacturing, mobility, railways, roads, technology, trade

Abstract: The importance of mobility in Canada’s history can hardly be overstated. The built waterways, railways, and roadways that allowed for the movement of peoples, goods, and ideas within the country have long been considered cultural icons conveying collective ideas of Canadian identity. Yet, little has been written on the history of the modern construction machines that made this mobility infrastructure possible after Confederation, along with their designers, manufacturers, and operators. This article helps fill that gap by examining the technological development, manufacturing, and commercialization of earthmoving equipment in Canada (especially Ontario) in the 1860s–1920s, a period of great construction activity, including two of the world’s largest civil engineering and earthmoving projects and one of the fastest-expanding road networks in North America. It discusses the role of the federal, provincial, and municipal governments in developing, adopting, and disseminating this technology, and their ultimate reliance on American manufacturers despite the National Policy’s protectionism. This article supports the argument that technological development in Canada during the Second Industrial Revolution was continentally integrated in ways that involved technological dialogue with American companies, associations, and publications. While this manufacturing sector became dominated by American corporations by the First World War, the extent to and manner by which that happened varied depending on the type of machinery and the construction sectors in which they were used. The technological transition from steam-powered machines to electric, gasoline, and diesel motors and how it impacted Canadian manufacturers are also discussed.