Charles Melville Hays, sometimes spelled "Hayes", (May 16, 1856 – April 15, 1912) was a railway official most famous for his role as president of the Grand Trunk Railway System. May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). ... 1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ... 1912 is a leap year starting on Monday. ... Grand Trunk Railway logo or herald The Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) was a historic railway system headquartered in Montreal, Quebec which operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. ...

History

Born at Rock Island, Illinois, Hays began working for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in St. Louis, Missouri at the age of 17 in 1873. In 1878 Hays became secretary to the general manager of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and took a similar position in 1884 with the Wabash, St Louis and Pacific Railroad. In 1887 Hays became general manager of the Wabash Western Railroad and of the entire Wabash Railroad in 1889. Rock Island is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois. ... State nickname: Land of Lincoln, The Prairie State Other U.S. States Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Governor Rod Blagojevich Official languages English Area 149,998 km² (25th)  - Land 143,968 km²  - Water 6,030 km² (4. ... The Gateway Arch, shown here behind the Old Courthouse, is the most recognizable part of the St. ... Missouri, named after the Missouri Siouan Indian tribe meaning canoe, is a Midwestern state of the United States with Jefferson City as its capital. ... 1873 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1878 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Missouri Pacific (MoPac; AAR reporting mark MP) was the first American railroad west of the Mississippi River. ... 1884 is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar). ... 1887 is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar). ... Categories: Rail stubs | Defunct railroad companies of the United States | Illinois railroads | Indiana railroads | Ohio railroads ... 1889 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

In an 1895 reorganization of the Grand Trunk, Hays was appointed general manager effective January 1, 1896. Except for an interruption in 1901, Hays was general manager of the Grand Trunk from 1896 to 1909. In 1904 Hays was also appointed president of Grand Trunk subsidiary Grand Trunk Pacific, then under construction from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Hays became president of the entire Grand Trunk system in 1909, a position he held until his death. 1895 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1896 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1901 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1896 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1909 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1904 is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Grand Trunk Pacific Railway logo or herald The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTPR) was a historical Canadian railway. ... {{Canadian City/Disable Field={{{Disable Motto Link}}}}} Motto: Unum Cum Virtute Multorum (One With the Strength of Many) City of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Location. ... Motto: Gloriosus et Liber (Glorious and free) Other Canadian provinces and territories Capital Winnipeg Largest city Winnipeg Lieutenant Governor John Harvard Premier Gary Doer (NDP) Area 647,797 km² (8th)  - Land 553,556 km²  - Water 64,241 km² (14. ... Prince Rupert is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. ... Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Splendour without diminishment) Other Canadian provinces and territories Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Lieutenant Governor Iona Campagnolo Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Area 944,735 km² (5th)  - Land 925,186 km²  - Water 19,549 km² (2. ...

Arriving in Canada during a time of economic recession, Hays sought to restructure the management and operations of the Grand Trunk system and implemented a more agressive, American railroading approach which is credited in part for a period of unprecedented growth during the first decade of the 20th century. A recession is usually defined in macroeconomics as a fall of a countrys Gross National Product in two successive quarters. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...

Hays sought to have the Grand Trunk compete with the Canadian Pacifc (CPR) on the prairies where an immigration boom was recording record traffic. In 1899, William MacKenzie and Donald Mann had amalgamated a number of systems into the Canadian Northern (CNoR) and spurned federal government offers of assistance in coordinating the construction of a second transcontinental railway, preferring instead to go it alone. The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR; AAR reporting marks CP, CPAA, CPI), known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a Canadian Class I railway operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited. ... 1899 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Sir William Mackenzie Sir William Mackenzie (October 17, 1849 – December 5, 1923) was a Canadian railway contractor and entrepreneur. ... Sir Donald Mann (March 23, 1853 - November 10, 1934) was a Canadian railway contractor and entrepreneur. ... Canadian Northern Railway logo or herald The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) is a historic Canadian railway. ... A transcontinental railroad is a railway across a significant portion of a continent. ...

Hays forced the Grand Trunk to reconsider federal offers to assist in building a transcontinental system, something which the company had rejected in the 1870s which had forced the federal government to go with the CPR. Having realized the error in not expanding west, Hays accepted the offer of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's government to build a system from Prince Rupert to Moncton, New Brunswick, to be called the Grand Trunk Pacific. Events and Trends Technology The invention of the telephone (1876) by Alexander Graham Bell. ... Laurier re-directs here. ... Moncton (46°6′ N 64°46′ W, AST, 2001 population 61,046, metropolitan population 117,727) is one of the eight cities in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. ... Motto: Spem reduxit (Hope was restored) Other Canadian provinces and territories Capital Fredericton Largest city Saint John Lieutenant Governor Herménégilde Chiasson Premier Bernard Lord (PC) Area 72,908 km² (8th)  - Land 71,450 km²  - Water 1,458 km² (2. ...

In October 1903 the National Transcontinental Railway Act was passed by parliament and Hays became heavily involved in supervising construction of the line west of Winnipeg (the Grand Trunk Pacific). While the Grand Trunk agreed to build the line west of Winnipeg, the federal government assumed responsibility for constructing the line from Winnipeg to Moncton, including the infamous and costly Quebec Bridge crossing of the St. Lawrence River, with the Grand Trunk initally agreeing to operate the entire line as a single system. October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasnt had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. ... Quebec and Laporte Bridges by André Audet / and structurae The Quebec Bridge is a Canadian bridge. ... The Saint Lawrence River (French fleuve Saint-Laurent) is a large west-to-east flowing river in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. ...

The GTP proved to be controversial for Hays as many of his decisions, such as choosing Prince Rupert as the Pacific terminus, underestimating MacKenzie and Mann's competing CNoR system, and committing the entire Grand Trunk company to the GTP project. Hays' zeal to pursue construction of a well-engineered mainline in lieu of developing a network of branchlines for feeding local traffic proved to be a considerable hurdle as well.

As president of the Grand Trunk, Hays committed to competing with the CPR in a number of other areas, namely shipping and hotels. In fact Hays was returning to Canada from a visit to England where he was scheduled to attend the April 26, 1912 grand opening of the Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa, Ontario. Hays had chosen to return from England on the maiden voyage of the ocean liner RMS Titanic, which struck an iceberg south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland the night of April 14 and sank. Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (117th in leap years). ... 1912 is a leap year starting on Monday. ... teau Laurier seen from Wellington Street The Ch teau Laurier is a noted hotel in downtown Ottawa, Canada. ... This article is about the capital city of Canada. ... Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Loyal it began, loyal it remains) Other Canadian provinces and territories Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Area 1,076,395 km² (4th)  - Land 917,741 km²  - Water 158,654 km² (14. ... The New York Herald reports the disaster. ... An iceberg (berg is the German word for mountain) is a large piece of ice that has broken off from a glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. ... The Grand Banks are a group of underwater plateaus southeast of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf. ... April 14 is the 104th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (105th in leap years). ...

Hays was one of the 1,517 victims of the disaster and his body was subsequently recovered from the waters of the North Atlantic for burial in Montreal. On April 25, 1912 the entire Grand Trunk system came to a halt for a five minute tribute to the company's past president. Hays never lived to see the Chateau Laurier open, which it did without ceremony on June 12, 1915, presided over by its namesake, Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Hays perished before the completion of the GTP project on April 7, 1914 For other uses, see Atlantic (disambiguation) The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one-fifth of its surface. ... April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (116th in leap years). ... 1912 is a leap year starting on Monday. ... June 12 is the 163rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (164th in leap years), with 202 days remaining. ... 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Not long after Hays death, the Grand Trunk reneged on its agreement to operate the federally-owned National Transcontinental system east of Winnipeg, and the Grand Trunk soon faced financial ruin over its decision to build and operate the GTP west of Winnipeg, particularly after the First World War caused traffic on the prairies to decline precipitously.-1... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

Local Ottawa folklore suggests that Hays's ghost is rumoured to haunt the hotel that he was scheduled to open. Reputed ghost of a monk. ...

Charles Hays Secondary School, located in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, was named after Hays. Charles Hays Secondary School is a public secondary school located in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. ... Prince Rupert is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. ... Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Splendour without diminishment) Other Canadian provinces and territories Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Lieutenant Governor Iona Campagnolo Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Area 944,735 km² (5th)  - Land 925,186 km²  - Water 19,549 km² (2. ...

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online