In 1927, to mark the 60th anniversary of Confederation, images of Robert Harris's classic 1884 painting depicting the Fathers of Confederation were everywhere. The painting itself no longer existed; it had been consumed in the great fire at Parliament in 1916. Reproductions were presumably based on a photograph of the work in the National Archives. Besides being reproduced widely in the press, the painting was featured on the Post Office's new 2-cent stamp, on Canadian National Railways menus, and on the label of H. E. Cooke's Confederation cigar.

The Honourable J. S. D. Thompson was Prime Minister for only two years, 1892–1894. He died in office at age 51 after a brilliant judicial and political career.

In this contemporary cigar box photo composite of Thompson's cabinet, note the prominence given to J. F. Wood, Controller of Inland Revenue—the man in charge of tobacco taxation. The cabinet members are:

1. J. F. Wood
   Controller of Inland Revenue
2. T. M. Daly
   Minister of the Interior
3. Mackenzie Bowell
   Minister of Trade and Commerce
4. W. B. Ives
   President of the Privy Council
5. A. R. Angers
   Minister of Agriculture
6. Sir A. P. Caron
   Postmaster General
7. C. H. Tupper
   Minister of Marine and Fisheries
8. J. A. Ouimet
   Minister of Public Works
9. Frank Smith
   Minister without Portfolio
10. N.C. Wallace
    Controller of Customs
11. J. J. Curran
    Solicitor General of Canada
12. G. E. Foster
    Minister of Finance and Receiver General
13. John Costigan
    Secretary of State of Canada
14. John Carling
    Minister without Portfolio
15. J. G. Haggart
    Minister of Railways and Canals
16. J. C. Patterson
    Minister of Militia and Defence

Virtually a Canadian political cartoon on a cigar box. It is based on the "Noisy Boys" or "Recess" label by New York lithographer Heffron & Phelps (ca. 1880–1890). Montreal cigar maker J. M. Fortier, who in fact made a "Noisy Boys" cigar, seems to have had the label customized for a second "Noisy Boys" line featuring cartoon likenesses of politicians of the day, both Conservative and Liberal. From left to right (omitting the "teacher"), they appear to be:

• Louis-François-Georges Baby
• Sir Edgar Dewdney
• John Henry Pope
• Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau
• Edward Blake
• Sir Mackenzie Bowell
• Sir John A. Macdonald
• Sir Hector-Louis Langevin
• Sir Alexander Mackenzie

Before the Canadian National, the Canadian Pacific, even before the Grand Trunk, there was the Intercolonial Railway. It was begun in the 1850s to link the Maritimes to the Province of Canada (present-day Ontario and Quebec). Its completion was made a condition of Confederation. Sanford Fleming was in charge of surveying and engineering. By 1876, the Intercolonial ran 1,100 kilometres from Halifax to the St. Lawrence and eventually connected to the rest of the country via the Grand Trunk Railway. The Intercolonial was vital to the development of Atlantic Canada, and Canada itself would not have existed without its being built. Never a commercial success, it was made part of the Canadian National Railway in 1919.

Minnesota railroad man Jim Hill (1838–1916) was one of the original directors of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1882, he brought in fellow American, Cornelius Van Horne, as General Manager to oversee construction. Van Horne turned out to be the right choice—he got the job done—but Hill resigned his own position within a year, protesting the expensive, all-Canadian route north of Lake Superior insisted upon by Prime Minister Macdonald.

The portrait of Canada's pioneer builder of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, William Cornelius Van Horne (1843–1915), is crowned by a locomotive, garlanded in maple leaves, and flanked by two scenes representing Canada's motto, "From Sea to Sea". (Note that Newfoundland, represented by the Cabot Tower and view of St. John's Harbour, left, hadn't yet entered Confederation when this label was printed.)

Van Horne was a famous cigar smoker (he developed the taste while building the Cuban railroad in 1900). In hospital towards the end of his life, he was forbidden by his doctor to smoke more than three cigars a day. The next day, a package arrived for Van Horne of custom made cigars, each 2 feet (60 centimetres) long and requiring four hours to smoke.

The energetic graphics reflect the heady vision of a second railroad crossing Canada coast-to-coast. The Grand Trunk Railway created the Grand Trunk Pacific to extend its central Canadian track east from Montreal to St. John, New Brunswick, and west from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, B.C., so it could compete with the Canadian Pacific Railway. Construction of the GTP began in 1906. By 1914, the cost of laying thousands of kilometres of track and building tunnels, bridges and hotels overwhelmed the young company. Its parent took it over, only to succumb itself to bankruptcy five years later. The Grand Trunk Railway—at Confederation, the largest railway system in the world—was taken over by the Canadian government and finally merged with the Canadian National Railway in 1923.

The story of the Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.) is one of national vision, private greed, public scandal, individual heroism, group sacrifice, personal ambition, and an endless supply of innovation, pluck, and energy—in short, it is a story of early Canada. In 1871, British Columbia was enticed to join Canada’s eastern provinces on the promise that it would be linked to them by rail within 10 years. It took fourteen. On Nov. 7, 1885, Donald A. Smith drove the last spike that joined east and west, an event recorded in what may be the nation’s first iconic photograph.

The C.P.R.’s name and famous logo (in its 1898-1917 version, showing the beaver’s tail draped over the top corner of the shield) was used by cigar manufacturer H.E. Cooke of Owen Sound. That Ontario town’s rail line to Toronto, built by Grey and Bruce, had been part of the Canadian Pacific since 1883, but it is not known if the cigars were officially offered to riders of the railway.

This label pictures the railroad working man (clockwise from upper right: conductors, trainmen, firemen, engineers) rather than his bosses. Is there a reason? Might the cigar have been custom ordered by members of the railroad unions? Unlikely. Did cigar manufacturer William Atkins target railroad workers as a good niche market? Possibly. Was the theme simply one Mr. Atkins thought would appeal to the general public? Why not? It's a very attractive, eye-catching label.