The Saga Of Alex MacFarlane

The first person to truly drive across Canada

During the first few decades of the 20th century, the automobile grew in popularity as more people bought a vehicle of their own.

With more vehicles, that meant more roads were needed for them. From the 1910s to the 1940s, roads were upgraded to highways to accommodate the increasing amount of automobiles.

Yet despite this, it took decades before someone truly drove across the country. To encourage people to drive across the country, the Todd Medal was created by Albert Todd in the early 1900s. It was to be awarded to the first person to drive across the country completely.

In 1912, Thomas Wilby and Jack Haney spent 51 days driving from Halifax to Victoria and technically became the first individuals to drive across Canada.

But…there was a problem. They had to drive on the railroad tracks for sections of the journey. Their vehicle was also put on a barge and transported across Lake Superior for a stretch.

So, they technically didn’t drive across the country.

It wasn’t until war veteran Alex MacFarlane got into a car and drove across the country in 1946 that someone truly accomplished this amazing feat.