The pattern of building in the west was very different. The first settlements in much of the West were the forts of the Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company and the cabins of the Metis. The next important presence was that of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The railway needed to build stations every 13 km of its 4200 km route in order to rewater the steam engines. Many of these stations became a nucleus of towns. These stations were built to standardized designs, with a number of different sizes for stations of differing importance. Other important monuments throughout the prairies were the grain elevators, and the banks which competed with each other by building ever more ornate structures.