Opening verification
28 September 2026. Review draft; not cleared for publication. The proposed prose is preserved except for the three factual corrections below.
Corrections
Winnipeg's 1886 population was 20,238, so “twenty thousand” remains. MHS, Gateway City.
Fort William: changed eight hundred miles to roughly four hundred and twenty. The railway commissioners' 1923 report gives 419 miles; this is a route benchmark, not proof of the mayor's specific 1914 itinerary. Annual report, printed page 60.
Funeral roles
- McMillan: former lieutenant-governor, 1900–1911. MHS.
- Nanton: corrected to a financier whose firm sold CPR land-grant bonds; “brought the CPR's land business to the city” is not established. DCB.
- Aikins: lawyer and lieutenant-governor from August 1916. Changed “within two years” to “in 1916.” MHS.
- Cameron: sitting lieutenant-governor, 1911–1916. MHS.
- Roblin: premier, 1900–1915. MHS.
- Macdonald: former premier and son of John A. Macdonald. MHS.
- Bury: contemporary reporting supports succession to Whyte in 1911 and western responsibility. No matching MHS/DCB profile was located. Victoria Daily Times, 7 July 1913.
- Donaldson: Grand Trunk Pacific vice-president, 1912–1918. MHS.
- Rees: Canadian territorial commander, January 1911–May 1914. No matching MHS/DCB profile was located; the institutional archive supports the role. Salvation Army archive.
Unresolved before publication
“Gibbons 1957” has not been located or supplied. The 3:15 p.m. time and “never stopped for anyone before—not for a president” therefore remain unverified. The existing 23 April 1914 funeral report is retained; it is not substituted for the missing source.
No contemporary 1915 source for Van Horne's system-wide stoppage has been located. Later accounts conflict on duration: Canadian Rail in February 1964 reports five minutes; Canadian Rail 360 (1982) reports fifteen. Neither satisfies the requested contemporary citation, and “the same way” must not be read as confirmation of three minutes.
The single-vote presidency story remains an open question, as described in the existing site. The new opening states it categorically; publication should wait for supporting evidence or approved attribution.
Additional wording not independently established in this pass: fourteen hundred main-line miles; “nothing else” on arrival; every listed early job and roof-riding detail; the exact locations of stopped trains; handwriting rather than authorship of the conservation essay; the same individual private car at Indian Head and Fort Whyte; Shaughnessy's journey from Montreal and the precise procession order. Attendance does not itself establish that order. Namesake claims retain the existing site's sources and limitations.
No live deployment has been made. Palette, typography, original images, funeral photograph and existing source links are retained.