Canada's Grand Railway Hotels & Web3

Bessborough Hotel has a dramatic, castle-like structure that looks as if it's straight out of a fairytale. It's located in Saskatoon, Canada, whose muted skyline amplifies the pomp of the hotel. We spent a night there a couple of days ago.

^ Pic by yours truly

You find these late 19th to early 20th century hotels in most of Canada's major cities. Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway built a majority of them - which is why, collectively, they're called "Grand Railway Hotels." There's an interesting story behind their grandeur.

^ Grand Railway Hotel in Quebec City - Wikipedia

^ Grand Railway Hotel in Toronto - Wikipedia

At the turn of the last century, Canadian railway companies laid out new railway lines to connect major cities across the Canadian wilderness. Anticipating an inflow of new immigrants, tourists and business travellers, those same companies also built majestic hotels. Their investment paid off; the establishment of the railway line became an inflection point for the city's population growth. Here's why:

Ease of transportation brought prosperity to those cities. Prosperity meant that they could now support a larger population. It's the story that has repeated itself ever since the formation of the silk road - and the pattern continues in the digital age.

When Shopify built infrastructure to help vendors transport their goods directly to the end consumer - eCommerce blossomed. Likewise, when Stripe introduced payment infrastructure to speed up the flow of money between companies and customers - the SaaS ecosystem thrived. So it looks like the success of these infrastructure companies is a good indicator of which industry or sector is about to blow up.

Now, for Web3, is there a company building infrastructure to help transport our physical self to the digital world? There's a clear demand for it. Today's teenagers (tomorrow's movers and shakers) are already spending a significant portion of their waking hours playing video games. So will it be one of those video companies that'll lead the way for Web3? Or maybe Meta? In any case, keep your eyes peeled; Web3's Canadian railway moment might be right around the corner.