[12][15] The expansion of H. & J. Ryan from Canada into the United States allowed the firm to monopolise contracts due to the shortage of domestic railway contractors caused by the American Civil War.

[18] The Red River pile bridge was completed on 28 July 1880 and formally opened by driving the state-of-the-art locomotive the "Countess of Dufferin" with Ryan, his wife Margaret, and C.P.R Superintendent T. J. Linskey amongst the VIPs.

[20][21][22][23][24] The tender was the single largest ever secured by the firm at $750,000 (the equivalent of $24.3 million in 2024),[25] requiring 6,000 tons of steel rails; and including the building of several bridges.

[26][27][28] During construction, Ryan brought legal proceedings against the government of Manitoba for delinquent payments —Ryan's lawsuit would be successful and would award him $50,000 (the equivalent of $1.6 million in 2024).

[21][29][30] The following list is in chronological order: In 1865 Ryan joined James Foster and Brockville contractor Alphonse Brooks as subcontractors on the Pictou branch of the Nova Scotia Railway.

[31] Ryan would partner with Brooks shortly after, this time building a sizeable portion of the western extension of the European and North American Railway, in New Brunswick and Maine.

[43] The firm completed the railway in 1883, receiving bipartisan support for the principals from Prime Minister John A Macdonald, as well as the Conservative (Tory) and Liberal governments of the time (provincial and federal).

[52]While Mr. Ryan could justly feel gratified at his wonderful success as a railway contractor, his supreme effort was on the construction of the Canadian Sault Canal, requiring six years of time.

[54] In his official capacity, Ryan drove the last spike of the Ontario & Quebec Railway approximately 8 kilometers (5 miles) east of Agincourt on 5 May 1884.

[66] Ryan lobbied for the company to be listed on the Montreal Stock Exchange in 1884 and was subsequently elected as a director in 1885 alongside Senator Matthew Henry Cochrane.

The only condition Ryan made part of the deed was that the hospital be kept open night and day to receive anyone in need of its services, without consideration for creed, colour or nationality.

The public wards faced Bond Street and boasted an adjoining convalescent room on each of the three floors, filled with easy chairs, a bookcase, and writing table.

But it was for the private and semi-private rooms that Mrs. Ryan must have really given her imagination (and her pocket book) free rein —brass bedsteads, oak bedroom sets, engravings on the walls, a service of china and silver, and soft rugs on the hardwood floors.

[3] In 1895, Ryan was approached once again by his longtime friend, Archbishop John Walsh of Toronto, and the Premier of Ontario, Edward Blake, to support the idea of an Irish Race Convention in Dublin the following year.

[105][106] Ryan's wife Margaret died on 23 February 1904 while vacationing in Cairo, Egypt with their daughters, and was interned in the family mausoleum at the Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery, Toronto.

"[31] The funeral was held two days later on 15 February 1899 at St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica, Toronto, with the requiem mass celebrated by Archbishop John Walsh.

[120][124]Hugh Ryan was one of the best-known men in Canada, and he left an imperishable monument of behind him in the hundreds of miles of railway he constructed, opening up a new empire to the world.

In all of his enterprises, involving the expenditure of millions of dollars, he never entered an action at law against any man —a fact which alone speaks volumes for his business tact.