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( / \- f ^^^■■■^^ , t ■ NO'l'ES ON 1 ' . 1 IT V* THE CANADIAN V). ■ ■ PACIFIC RAILWAY; f 1 BY GENERAL M. BUTT HEWSON, 1 Foniioly, 0>ij:;in,}t«r nnd Proiiioti-r of tiic Miiiiphts ,iiul l.otiiy.'ilh- l\''t/,r Commission fro)u tite State of Mississi/>f>i\ on titc Mcmpliis anU Charliston Kailtoiui ; C/iiff Kni^ini;r of tlio Mississip/'i Central Kailroad; Chief Eni^ineey of the Arkansas Midland Railroad ; Consulting; Kni^ineer of the Mississippi, Ouachita and A'ed Kiver Kailroad, etc., etc., etc.) ^i- ->■ ■ ■ •• - TOUO^^TU: • - Patrick Boyi-e, Pkintek and Puulishku, 16 Fkancis Street. V ' ■' 1S79. . / PREFACE. The following notes on the Canadian I*a(nti(! Railway wore made originally for publication in England. One of their ohjootH being the enlistment of English capital in the construction of the line, thoy attempt to place it to the fullest extent on the basis of Imperial interests. They seek to combine in the highest degree, the industrial uses of the enterprise with its uses as a line of defence ; and to make it in that and other ways, an essential agency of the Imperial policy which stands committed to the experiment of developing these Pro- vinces of North America into a political power based on conditions ol permanence. Because of the local character of the Government-expenditures in that Province, Manitoba is being spoken of in the East as "a favored Province.'' The outlays about to be commenced in the name of the same enterprise in British Columbia, will not serve to correct the dispn. sition of the old Provinces to regard that system of special action with jealous question. The monies granted the Canatla Central and tli'> committed to the Georgian Bay branch, supply other instances market I by localism. Even an ullimate unification of these special ai>i)lications of the general credit in a continuous line of railway beginning on Lake Nipissing, has very little in its pretence to Nationalism — a pretence nothing in its design Justifies — to reconcile to the burtlens of all those expenditures, the tax-payers of Ontario, of Quebec, of New Brunswick, of Nova Scotia. When that burden shall have commenced to press heavily on the people of these Provinces, all those grounds of dissatis- faction will come to the front in a danger to the completion of the Railway, a danger from which there is no such escape as would be found certainly in the execution of the enterprise on a broad design, one anchoring it firmly in not only local interests, but in also National aspirations. What interest has Nev) Brunswick in a railway discharging Canadian freights for Europe at Portland ? Quebec made the terminus of the Pacific Railway on the St. Lawrence, less than 290 miles of railway (7 miles shorter than the line connecting Montreal with Portland), would give the shipping interests of that Province, the opportunity of competing for the winter-freights of half a Continent, at St. John. What interest has Nova Scotia in a railway discharging Canadian freights for Europe at Portland ? Quebec made the terminus of the IV |> UK PACK. Pacifio Railway on summer-tirlowator, a chord-lino aoroHs tho bowline oi' tilt! Iiitcrcolotiial will Hj»rinj; into oxiHtrnco, roduciri/^ the distance to Halifax to filO nliI(^s ; and thus will th« o.stahlishinontof the terminuB at Ciuohc'o give, the shipping interoHtH of Nova Scotia, Hiibject to the drawback of tran.sportation over L'li( » miles of railway, tho great advantage of their geograjdiical position in competition with St. .)ohn for tho wintor-froights of the British North American Empire of the future, at ilulifax. Five or six hundred miles of railway running up tho St. Maurice and down the Moose, woidd tap Hudson Bay. That line once ready to ilischarge upon the St. liawrciuu* at Quebec the treasures awaiting to be claimed by enterprise in and around that groat sea, it would quicken the latent energies of the French Canadian population by directing a powerftd strey,mof industrial blood into its heart. The timV)er, the soil, the minerals, the (isheries — with their whales and their seals and theii salmon and their ca|)lin and their cod — thrown 02)en by that line even lo Hudson Bay, would Kx the Canu lakes; its (rminus of e of route the indus- of French Yellow TTead Vhhh shojild, it seems to nu», never have boon thought of as a point on tlif> raeilie Uailwiiy whilo a pass half the height ofl'ers at the discharge through tho Hoeky Mountains, of Peace River. In this and other points glanced at in the following pages I cannot avoid setting down tho present location of the National Railway as an error. The plea set up in apology for that mistake, that the Canadian North- West will be crossed hereafter by several lines to the Pacific, sup})lii!.s, assuredly, no reason why the ,/fr.v/ should be fixed on the route which is tlie most objectionable. Nor is the investment of twenty millions in the blunder which evidently has been made, a good reason why a hun- dred millions more should be invested in (umtinuaticm of that blunder. Indeed that commitment ought not to count for anything against tho overruling expediency of placing the Railway on an Imperial and National plane — certainly ought not to count so when it is considered that those twentv millions supply a distinct want of the day, in giving access for even six months of the year to the lines of emigrant-distri- bution centering at Winnipeg in the navigation of Rerqjected routes. The few whose relative merits camiot be determined by this reconnoisance may then be subjected to instrumentation. That experi- mental survey may be made in the case of the Canada Pacific at a special cost which ought not to exceed $1.00,000 — a cost sufficient in Yi PKEFAOE. conjunction witli tho pnrnuintMit work of the HettlomontMurveys, to (lotonninr not only a >?o()tl route, l»ut a route bawoii on hucIi u FullneHS of knowlcilgo that it nmy bu pronouncetl with contidont^e to be the btat route. * Another reason why the system of singh? Une-explorations shouhl be ahantlonetl for that of sei^tion line surveys, rests on that necessity of the l'acifi<' Railway, the utilisation of its rich lands as a convertible resource. 'Die last r»'i»ort of the i'h'wA Engineer of the railway presents strikingly the utter jioverty ol' the information which has been collected so far as to the character of those lands. Half a dozen professors of botany might spend the natiual terms of their lives in flying visits along linlian trails in the North West without supplying knowledge of the soils of that region in the way necessary for its prestMitation to investors in tlu! regular course of business. The st«ction-line survey supplies information in a very ditt'erent way. Used as they are now in t.'very lamlotlice of the United States as a basis of its sales, and used as tli«'y liave been in the land-office of the Illinois Central Railway as a l>asis of its sales and ol its credits, books of maj)s and lield-notes com. piled from section-lim' siu'veys, are very necessities for tho utilisation iif the magniticunt lands of the North West as a means of obtainhig money for the Pacitit; Railway. The mode ol construction adoptetl for the Canadian Pacific demands reconsideration. 1 do not remember to have seen any estimate of its cost on the Prairies ; but recollect that the figures for British C^olumbia are set at about ft3r),UU() a mile. Between Lake Superior and Manitoba they vary from that rate to about $83,000 a mile I Such sums as these represent for a railway through a wilderness, are open to grave question — going as they do to the practicability of constructing the line without danger to the credit of the country. If the $20,000,000 being invested in the railway between Lake Superior and Manitoba had been applied to the railway — the colonisation line at a cost of about $15,000 a mile — proi)osed in the following pages, it would have connected Quebec with Hudson Bay ; ami have carried the railway seven hundred miles farther westward — comjdetely through " the woodland region ' to the threshold of the western granary, at Norway House. There that expenditure would, in any event, have flung open the gate of the future greatness of the country ; and would have brought the project to a stage at which there is very little room for doubt, the offer of a land-grant of fifty millions of acres made in the business-like way of j)resentation under the specifications of section-line surveys, would enlist British capital in the extension of the line to the Pacific. A contrast of the results that might have been accomplished thus for the same amount of money, with the results that will have been accomplished in the case II IMtKKAOK. Vll to of th« I'xpenilitiirOB hetwotMi Lik«) Sw|n)rioi' aiul Manitoba, supplioH not only u Htriking conunontury on tliu routt> adopttxl, Ixit uIho a Htartling conipariHon of tho ooHt of tlio nuxlo of oonHtiimtion with tlio expo di»n«;ies of the cuho. I went into stndios of tho Pacific Railway to emp' ly idln hours. Tin) i'«5HiiltH ai'o given to the pulilic, in ol)e(lionc'o to ai. old Enj^^ineer's Byuipalhy with a great Engint^oiing »intoipri8o. And views of a per- tinent exporicneu preHentud independently of the political authority may, pet'hap«, prove to be of more or Ichs service to the country It may be well to add that in dealing with the (pieHtion I have not intended to reflect on «Mther individuals or govornmontH. Indeed 1 had been reHtraiiuul tor a long time in giving my viewH on the the subject to the public by the uiuivoidable seeming of (iiscourtesy to the Engineer in charge of the Railway. But the extent to which I have seen what I must suppose to be mistakes of thf management carried, has led me to reflect that that seeming is not real. Tlie points involved are seldom or never strictly professional ; and where they are strictly professional, they may be presumed to find their explanation in political pressure. In specifying acts of Governments, I have had no thought of discrimination between the Government of Sir John Mac- donald and that of the Hon. Mr. Mackenzie. Both Cabinets are respon- sible for errors in the management of this great practical enterprise ; and because of, simply, the conditions of their existence. My reference to " water-stretches" may seem invidious ; but it seems so only because the words have been made notorious. 1 am not (juite clear that, so far as the term applies to the isolated project of yiiyimj Maui ioba access to navigation on Lake Superior for six months of the year, the investment of many millions in connecting the scattered links of the railway-chain in that case, is, under all the eiicumstunces, an improvement on the policy of utilising timse " wjilerstretclies." M. BITIT IIEWSUN. P. S. — The distances stated in this pamphlet are stated as but approximations. They are taken by estimate from official majjs. Any errors that may be found to enter into them can hardly l>e so consider able as to taint the general truth of the conclusions they may be used to point. T C «1 ii o ti (;: ii y f 11 t f t c NOTES ov THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. A railway on Brilisli soil from the Atlantic to tht^ Pacific is a conception which might hav(^ liccn cxjiccted to hold the thouglitH of Canadian politicians at the level of statesmanship. But the peddling spirit in which that great undertaking has heen treated from its inc(!pti) the remainder of the winter on the Uj)per Peace thus : " On the 5th of January, in the morning, the weather was calm, clear and cold ; the wind blew from the south-west ; and in the afternoon it was thawing 1 had already observed at the Athabasca that this wind never failed to bring us clear, mild weather, whereas when it blew from the opposite quarter it produced snow. • • * To this cause may be attributed the scarcity of snow in this part of the world. At the «nd of January very little snow was on the ground ; but about this time the cold becf.me very severe ; and remained so to the 16th of March, when the weather became mild, and by the 5th of April all the snow was gone." So much for the winter. Now as to the milder season — its char- acter and duration — in the upper parts of the Mackenzie basin : In his " Wild North Land," Captain Butler writing for the 2nd of April on Peace River, says, page 195 : " April had come ; already the sun shone warmly in the mid-day hours; already the streams were beginning to fun ow the grey over- hanging hills, from whose sotithern sides the snow had vanished, save where in a ravine or hollow it lay deep-drifted by the winter wind " On page 215 of his book, liutlcr says of the banks of the Peai-e : '• It was only the second week in April, and already the earth began to soften ; the forest smelt of last year's leaves and of this year's buds. * * * During the whole of the second week in April the days were soft and warm, rain fell in occasional showers ; at daybreak my thermometer showed only 3^ or 4'-' of frost, and in the afternoon stood at 50"^ or 60'^ in the shade. • ♦ • With bud and sun and shower came (page 24(1) the first mosquito on this same !i(>th of April. • * Have looked (page 356) from the ramparts of Quebec on the second last day of April and seen the wide landscape still white with the winter snow." In his report of 1874 to the Government of Canada, Professor Macoun (a botanist) writes of the Peace Piver Valley : " While we were passing through it, the constant record was ' warm sunshine, west winds, balmy atmospheie and skies of the brightest blue.' Even as late as tlie J 5th of October, the thermometer was 48^ at daylight and 6i>' in the shade at noon. Within the foothills of the Rocky Mountains 1 picked up three species of plants in flower as late as the 26th of the same month. These facts, and many others that could be cited, show conclusively that there is an open fall, and the united testimony of the residents make it clear that the spring com- mences before the I st of May. There must likewise be a warm sununer. as the service berries {Amalanchier Canadensis) were gathered fully ripe as early as the 15th of .luly last year by the miner we engaged at Edmonton ; same berries ripening at Belleville (Ontario) about the 10th of the same month." Macoun goes on to say : " Captain Butler, in his ' Wild North Land,' speaks of the whftle hill- side of St. John's (on the Peace) being blue with anemones {Anemone Patens) SI& early as April 22nd (1H73), and Sir Alexander Mackenzie IG records in hiis jf)uiniil that uncjiiontiH word in flower on the LJdth of April (17'.>.'»). Krom tlio lliulson Bay rompuny'.s journal, 1 found that the iivenigu opening of the river in 10 yoar-s at St. ilohns, was on the 20th of April. 'rh(^ y«'ar Captain iiiitler waw there, it ojtened on the 2;]rd, and the year Sir Alexander Mackenzie was on it, on the liath. These dates show that tlie spiing is just as regular as the i'all, and that the beginning of winter and the opening of !>i)ring are unvarying. ='= ■''• • The stitting in of wintiu- and the end oi' the ploughing season is, at least, eight days later than at Winnipeg." The ciinialc id' tlu! I'cacc h'iver rc.niun havinj;' lieini glanccil at, a bi'icf Hivicw may he suhniittcd of the ([ualily oi the soil. . Sir Alexander Mackenzie says uf the Peai^u Jliver country, nn pa<,'e 121) of liis " Voyaj,'es": '' There is not the least douht hut that the soil woidd he very pro- ductive , if proj>er attejition was given to its preparation. • • The soil is black and light." In answiu' to ([Uestions r)()l,j and 5047 of the I'arliauicnlary Coni- luitli'eof 1857, l>r. King states that : " Sir .lohn Franklin, Koss Vox, and many others, speak of the rioh- !iess of that pait of counti-y. * * That tract is a rich soil. * * It was a black mould which ran through the country, evidently alluvial soil." in his " Wild North Land," Captain Butler .says ol' the Peace iJiver reiiiou (paiLiics 1U4 and 25G) : " The soil is a dark sandy loam * * the fertile natm-e of the country between Lessor Slave J^ake and the Rocky Motuitains, etc." Professor Macoun says in his re|»oi'ts ol' 187-1 and 1877 to tlie Governnicnt of Canada, on the soil «)f tlie u])iK'r [)arts of the jiasin of Mackenzie Hiv(,'r : "The whole country seen or heard oi' thi-oughout the region in portimity to examine the soil, and always found it deep and fertile. It was princi- pally clay-loam ; but hail mu(!h tlie appeanince of the intervale lands along streams in Ontario. Its average depth where sections wpre exposed was live feet; but, owing to the clay-subsoil, it was i)ractically inexhaustible. Days would elapse without seeing a stone, except in the beds of the streams, ami swamps were unknown in the level country along Peace Hiver." The climate and the soil in tiie region under consideration may be shown practi(;ally by a review of its growth. In answers 503.3 to 5GG0 Dv. King said of that country to the I'arlianientary Committee of l'&57 : " The bii'ch, the hoecli, the maple, are in abundance, and there is every sort of fruit, there is likewise barley." I I «»th of April lul that tlio on thf 20th on the li'.ird, r)th. Theso tul that tho ig. =i: =;= . uauon iu; at ;I;mc(!(l at, u Lry, on pago ho vory pro- • • Tlie •iiliiiy Coni- of the rich- kil. * * iiitly alluvial Puaco Jiivcr lattire of tho lins, etc." 1.S77 to tho ilio jiasin of gion in In- l)y Captain Ihitler — a " lone land." Kxcept at a tew |i«)sfs nf IIk! Hudson Hay ('onij)any and a few missionary ^iMtions, it is a solitude. Tliouj^h many instance's of actual jirodiu'tiou of tlie farm or garden cannot lie cited in evidence of its adaptation to cultivation, the following may serve that purpose : p'ort Morman, lat. JU*^ .'{l '. In answer LM7 to the Parliamentary Com- mittee of IS57, <'ol. J.efioy says that bai'ley may be grown at Fort Norman. Jn answer 2r»t')2 ;'>, Mr. Isbistor says that when stationed at Fort Norman he grew bark-y, oats and [)otatoes. Fort Simpson, lat. <)h' ft'. Sir John lli(;hardson says, in answer 3124, to the i'arliamentary Committee of IS')7, that at Fort Simpson they roar cattle and cultivate barley. Col. I.ofroy stat«\H, in answer 24i\, that at Fort Simpson there are regular crops of barley, regular cattle and a good garden. Barley, he adds, grows very well indeed. Dr. Uae says in answer 391, that barley is grown at this Fort ; and Pi'ofessor Macoun in his report of IS77, cites Mr. Chief Factor llardisty as his authority for saying that at Fort Simpson barley always ripens, and wheat four times out of five. Liard Kiver, lat. 61 ". In answer2r)72 to the Parliamentary Committee of 1857, Mr. Isbistor says that wheat can bo grown at Fort Liard, but cannot be depended on. In answer 2l»4*.l, ho a'■' bV. Professor Macoun states in his report for IS77, that ** l>an Williams had oats, barley and potatoes growing at St. ibthn's when 1 was tlmre. The latter he dug on the 'Jnd August, and they were large an of his •' Voyages," Sir Alexander Mackenzie writes: " When first I arrived at Athabasca, Mr. I'ond was settled on the banks of the Elk Kiver" (.\thabasca Hivei-) " wln're he remained for three years, an7, that lOacrcKwere cultivateci, yiehling barley. In his report for 1.S77 Macoun says of this Fort, that all kinds of grain are reported as rijiening successfully. Sir Alexander Mackenzie (|iage (SI; writes : " Excejit a small gartlen at Isle La Cross, which well repaid the labour bestowed upon it." Little Slave l^jvke, lat. 5;)" \h'. In his report for 1S77 Macoun .says he found barley in stack at this place on the 12th of August. Lac La Biche. lat. 54*^ 4.V. Captain Butler speaks of this place in his •' Wild iNorth Land" (page ;)')S), as " a French mission, where all crops have been most successfully cultivated for many years." Pro fessor Macoun says of this station in his report for IS77 : "The Indian.'^ and Half breeds raise an ai)undaiice of wheat and other cereals, together with enormous crops of potatoes and garden vegetables. The missionaries raise excellent crops of wheat and other cereals." Tije specjIicaLions of production at tiie twelve places named in the foregoing suinuiary iii»j)ly at gi-cat distanc(;s apart. They inclmle an area emltraoiug ten degrees of latitude, and tliirteen degress of longi- tude. The region to wliicli these and tlie other facts of pi'oduclioii and climate a[»p]y is described by Sinip.son (note wviii. of McLcod's "Peace Hiver"). as: *• Extending from Clearwater or Methy Liike to the Leather Pass (Fassa de la Cache de la Tete Jaime), and the Kocky Mountain Portage, or Columbia Pass, or Boat encampment. =<= =i' In extent it is about live hundretl miles from east to west, and two hundred from north to south, say eighty thousand square miles ; and is the very Eden of our North.' 20 111 iiiiHwcr r*l I In Milt I'iirliiimcntiiry ('oriiiiiitU'f u| 1857 I>r. Kin^; iluH-rilirH Mills Ml)' litiiiU i)i tlic trgioii «:(>V(>n'il l>)' liin uiiHWurH tun to itn Hcil mill |)i' Moiilli hy ('itiiili«>iliiii(l Moiisi* on tlio StiHkat<^hA- wun ; it is an onormoiis tnut ol' (•••iintiy. '*' * 'I'lion it i»4 tioinulod liy the AtluilMiHcu l.uk«> on llio iiottli. 'I'liiH Itir^'r portion which I (IttHcrihe UH within this ui'oii, 1 lookcil upon as tho inoMt i'urtilu portion which I saw." Mr. ll(Mc'l/sky, who is I'liiployiMl us n\\ exploring,' rii^^iiiri'r by thu (;aiiu(liaii ( ioviTiiiiii'iil, s:iys in his hook, '' ( 'uii;iilii on the I'aritii;." (paj^TM 2'2!l and 2ML'): " Un proc(M« to tho north atui on piinin;; tht* watershccl of tho l'oac'c> IfiviT, a *i,i^ north latitude tiiorc lies the future (jarden of the West, now lying lallow, hut yot gorgooiis with many of tho choicost prairio Hctwors, and roploto with tho finost wild fruits pootiliar to }»oth wood and plain. Bonoatii its sc^rono sky tho lovoly hills and dalos, with many crystal mountain f'od riviih-ts h<^twoon, afford the choicest noil on the continent, from whirh tho hushandnian will, ovontually, oxtruot witli oaao abundant harvosts." Tlio limits sot upon th»! ri(;li laiuls dcscriljod by triivollorH in tlm (Canadian North West, ;iro soon frt)ii tlioso oxtraots to lio lo(»so and difforont. A map roocntly publishod by tho Siirvoyor-doiioral has attouiptod to giv(! tlicm lixity, but has douo so, it may bo supposod, without claiiuH to awniraoy. 1 )(!4i»'riptions already citod of tho valloy t)f tlio Clearwater show thiit that map is wrong in oxoluding almost all that luxuriant tract from its " fortilo bc^lt." Mr. MoLciod says with Homo truth, in his •' Simpson's Voyago to l*oac«! Kivor," that th(* allogod limit of tho " fortilo bolt" doos not go far enough north and wost. It roatainly docs not go far oiiough oast, ('ajjtaiu Hack says (i)ago (14 of his narrativo) : " in tho Hiver Saskatohowan I was not more pleased than surprised to behold on the right bank a largo farm house, with barns, and fenoo- enclosure, amid which were grazing eight or ton Hno cows, and three or four horses. It belongeil to a frooman of the name of Turner." This proof of good soil a[>plios to a part of tho Saskatchewan forty or lifty miles to tho oast of tho Survoyor-( Jonoral's limit of the " Fertile liolt." ('Umbcu'laiid JIouso is about tho same distance east and north of that limit. It luus been jjlaood outside it in the face of the following evidence of the i[uality of the soil around tho house : — In his narrativo of a journey to tho shores of the Arctic- iSea Dr. King says on pages 24 and 5(> : " Tho ground about the Mouse ((jumborb'wid) is not only excellent, but lit for immediate cultivation and exhibited a lew years ago a very productive farm • * Uf fruits, strawberries, ras]>borrics, cranberries, and a variety of gooseberries and currants are found in vast quantities," ai l>r. Kin^,' WiTM ilH to SiiHkatiihe- H hoiiiKiod II which I ilu portion MT by th«i rariti.;." WlltfM'Kh«'«| , not only VfoiintuiiiH, f/ardcH uf le choicest III' to lioth (liUoH, with chI soil on X tract with ciK in tht) lous(! and cncral has I Hupjioscd, the valloy ing almost Lcud says :iver," that ugh north [itain liack 1 surpriseil and fence- id tlireo or )r." ewan forty nit of the stance east the face of 5 house : — ;ic iSea Dr. excellent, ago a very ran berries, [uaii titles." McLean's " Hudson Iliy" (piun- 'J'-M, v<.!. I) says : ** Hero" (Onnihcrland Ibmse) '• I .vas cheered by the Hi^Ii t of oxtcn «ive (uirnflelds, liorned ciitM«>, pigs and poultry, which gave the place more the app(>arance of a lai'tn in a civilised conntry than of a trading pOMt in the far North- West." On page .Ml) 2 of the lie|>ort of the Piiriianientary Committee of IHi'tT NIr. (}1>) " my en<|uries at Cnmlu'rland Hotixe^ \\i Norway House, and at Athabasca, were : To what extent does ////V (the, fertile soil) "gol" The boumlary (d' the Suiveynr Oeneral's "ferlil(! belt" nniy be set «lown on the faith of the three cases |ioint(M| out, to be too far to the wes't. Iloii' far no evitjence at hand serves t.» shl(^s f(»r their own us((." He sjtcaks (jf the " deep(;ning shadows of the lofty pines at Norway lb»use." And Gladman says on page '.\\)'l of tht^ rep((rt of the Parliamentary (!om- nutte of 18.^)7, that wheat may bt; raisi-d at Nvi. The Y(!llow Head Pass, which has haen made the common point of most of the test-lines a|)pUt^d to the location of the Pacific Ivailway through British (yolnmhia, is about 3,800 feet above the sea. North of it about two and a-half degrees is a pass not half that height, th(! pass whi(di discharges through the Kocky Mountains the water of Peace Itiver. On [»age 356 of the " Wild North Land," Captain P>uiler writ<'s : " The Peace lliver affords a passage to the Western Ocean vastly superior to any of the known passes lying south of it. * * It is level throughout its entire course ; it has a wide, deep and navigable river Howing through it. ; its highest elevation in the main range of the Rocky Mountains is about \,H(M) feet. The average depth of its winter fall of snow is but three feet. • * From the western end of the pass to the I'oast-range of mountains, a distance of 3()0 miles across British (Columbia, there does not exist one single formidable impediment to a railroad." A //'////ag(! must govern the location in reference to the Atlantic ( )cean of tlie great arterial lini; of this nursling Empire. Halifax, or St. John, or both, othu'ing an escape from holding the trans-continental commerce of (Canada subject to the good j>leasure of the United States, th(! summer port of the Canadian I'acific, sh(»uld be selected in ref(!rence to these harbours as its winter ports. At or near Quebec is the lowest point at which the St. Lawrence can be regarded bridgealde. About 40 miles farther than Montreal, on a straight line, from Peace lliver Pass, it is now nearer by railway than Montreal to Halifax by from 150 to 170 miles. f Saving ulthnately a railway transportation of over 90 miles to St. John, and over 330 miles to Halifax, the true point for discharge of the Pacific Railway upon summer-tide-water would seem, on these grounds, to be Quebec. If Quebec be accepted as a fixed point in the East, and the Peace Kiver Pass as a lixed point in the West, a question arises as to the * The stibject of industrial resource is touched on in this paper in reference to but the immediate uses of settlement. The vast wealth of this north- western region in minerals l)eing remote in its application to the question in hand, is disregarded. t This rests on a comparisfm of direct-lines lines certain m the future if the Pacific Railway be made to discharge upon Quebec, 11 ^ 1( 1 \ e ( t }, s t I ■t 1 1 28 ilie year to scessity of i^oes far to Kailway. * itish terri- to 1,800 common Wi Paciti(5 above the half that ntains tlie th Land," sean vastly It is level ^'able river " the Rocky iter fall of pass to the )ss British iment to a " this con- he extraor- eace Eiver r the (jana- of Canada, iiped at all, lie Atlantic lifax, or St. continental he United be selected gar Quebec e regarded raight line, lontreal to a railwaj' miles to iway upon lebec. the Peace as to the in reference this north - question in le future if intermediate route. To follow the line now contemplated by way of Montreal, Nipissin,Lt, Selkirk, etc., woulil involve an unnecessary length of track, which would aggregate a total excess between tide- water and tide-watcir of ]irol)ably not less than 240 miles. With (H'cn six trains unvh way [)er day, the working-expenses over that distance would cost a million of dollars per annum. It is needless to add to that reason, if Quebtjc be. acctipted as the \sunnner-j)ort, otln^r proof of the conclusion that the route which has been surveyed should not have beeji considered until a thorough investigation had been made of the direct route. The straight line between Quebec and Hudson's Hope cannot bo followed otherwise than generally. Special considerations demand modihcations in th.it basis of experimental examinations. What these are can be deternuned hut by those who are in possession of access to otficial reports and maps of the (iountry to be traversed. A few may be suggested here, at a venture by way of illustration. The broken country back of (^)uel)(!c demands, probably, that the route be thrown as soon as niiiy beintotlu' valley of the St. Maurice. Passing out of that into the rainsluid of Hudson iiay — at a maximum elevaticm of, perha]ts, 1,400 feet — it should be directed upon the Abbittibi and the Moose with a view to connection without any con- siderable increase in hMigth of track, with navigation by ships or steamers from Hudson Bay. Proceeding, tapping (ju its way the Albany Kivcr, the Weemisk Kiv(;r, the Wastickwa Kiver, etc., it would tap the navigation of Lak(^ Winnip(!g from the south and of, Nelson Kiver from tlie north, at .lack liiver, cn>ssing the latter at say where it is said to be but 200 yards wide; >iorway House. Continuing westwardly from Norway House, the deviations from the straight line suggested by great si)ecial considerations wouhl take the railway to, say, Big Bend, so as to tap the navigation of the Saskatchewan above the Grand IJapid. Proceeding into the valley of the Kiver Zrt'^ /earin<,' on this, is that Mr. Bur^'ess of the Hudson Bay Comi)any's post on the lake furnished me on the 7th of Auj^'ust with fair Nj'zed new potatoes, the only crop at present culti- vateil there." Section 4. — This section licis within the basin of Hudson Bay, down the valley of the Harricanaw. On or near the summit lietween Hudson Bay and the St. Lawrence, Mr. McOuat of tiie Geological Service reports (page 111) of report for 1872-73) to the Canadian Government that he found sevend pine trees which measured in cir- cumference eight or innefeet. He adds that several acres of land are cidtivated at the Hudson Bay Company's post on i^ake Abbittibe — about 1.^)0 miles from this section of the proposed route — and the lake being surrfmndtul by clay flats, a French Canadian who has nisided at the jtost for many years, asserts that although the only crop grown there now is potatoes, all the cereals can be cultivated on Lake Abbittil)be just as widl as on the St. Lawrence. Section ^. — No fact has been come on winch bears on this section otherwise tiian reniotely. Section 6. — The review of things at Moose Fort applies to this section. Mattagami Lake and Missinibi Lake lie south of this part of the route about 150 miles, on the slopes of the basin of Hudson Bay. Mr. Bell says of these in the (Geological Report for 1875-76 (page 311) : " Fanning and gardening have been successfully carried on by officers of the Hudson Bay Company at their posts on Lake Mattagami and Missinibi ; at the latte.r, Mr. John Mclntyre, now of Fort VVilliam, has informed me that he found spring wheat to ripen well." Of New Brunswick House, a Hudson Bay Company's post 100 miles south of this section, Mr. Criadman, in his statement on page 390 of the Report of the Parlianumtary Committee of 1857, says : " The soil very good ; raised excelhuit potatoes and every description of vtigetables ; oats rijxMied very well ; had barley als(». Has since heard wheat has been tried with success. Horned cattlf kept tiiere, housed (hiring winter. Know nothing to prevent a good settlement there." Section 7. — Henly House is an old Hudson Bay (Company's post which was situated not far from the route of this section. To the Parliamentary Committee of 1749 Mr. Hayter said : " The climate is much warmer at Henly House than at Albany" (on the shore of Hudson Bay). " ^= ■= The couidry about Henly House is very high, but much warmer than the coast. * * He has seen large tracts of land that would, in his opinion, bcnir corn if cultivated, the climate being much warmer within land." Section 8. — Long Lake is abcmt 100 miles south of the proposed route, but within the slo|)es of the basin of Hudson Bay— over 1,000 feet above sea-level. Mr. Bell says on page 351 of the Geological Report for 1870-71 : " Oata and barley have heeii aucceasfully culti- vated at Long Lake House, whiles liay, potatoes and all the ordinary vegetables thrive remarkably well." Martin's Falls, on the River Albany, is on this section. Of the Hudson Bay Company's post situated at that place Mr. Bell says, in tlics Ocological Report (Canadian Sessional Papers of 1872): " Hay, turnips and potatoes have been sui-cessively cultivated for a long time at this post, and the cattle kept there thrive well." ^ectiofis g, fO, ii. — No testinumy as to the adaptability of the country along these sections for cultivation has b(«n obtained. Section 12. — Oxford Hous«^ is a post of the Hudson Bay Company, situated on Hill River abtnit a hundred miles north of this section. Lieut. Chappell says in his " Voyage to Hudson Bay," that at Oxford House excellent vegetables are produced, owing t(» the richness of the soil and the geniality of the cliuiate. Mr. Gladman states (page 392 of Report of the Parliamentary Committee of 1857), that he expe- rienc(!d no difficulty in raising ut Oxfurd House vegetables and potatoes to spare for York Factory and the Indians. Hill River Hows to the north of this Section 12. Of that stream Simpson's diary, McLeod'saildendum, (" Peace River") says : " Arrived at the Rock at half- past three in the afternoon. Had a peep at the Rock, an old establishment, and its ^<^/v/^//J•." Ballantyne says of Hill River, on page 190 of his book : " The banks of the river were covered from top to bottom with the most luxuriant foliage, while dark clumps (d' spruce and fir varied and improved the landscape * '' numbers of little islets covered to the very edge of tlu; rippling waters with luxuriant vegetation * * beautiful banks covered with foliage of every shade, from the dark and sombre pine to the light drooping willow." Section ij. — This includes Jack's Lake and Norway House. The water-way from Lake Winnipeg to York Factory through Nelson River and Hayes River crosses this section. Robson f.ays in his "Six Years' Residence in Hudson liay," (page 43): " Upon Hayes River, 15 miles from the Fort (York) ' '' afttu- paling in some ground" (four degrees of latitude north of this section) "for a coney- warren and for oxen, sheep and goats, etc., 1 should expect by no more labor than woidd be proper for my health, to })r(jcure a desirable livelihood, not at all doubting of my being able to raise peas and beans, barley, and probably other kinds of grain." Of F'ort York itself — on Hudson l^ay, 300 miles east of north from Norway House — he says (page 48) : " The soil about York Fort, which is in 57'' 10', is much better than at Churchill River. Most kinds of garden-stutf grow here to perfection, particularly ptuis and beans. '-'' ■'' Ooose- berries and red and black currants are found in the woods, growing upon such bushes as in England." The route suggested here has been presented, so far, in facts of speciticatiou. The limits proper to this article make that mode of y oulti- rdinary B River yr's post Report potatoes iiiul the of the jinpany, section. Oxford iii of tlie .age 392 he expe- jlea and i^er flows 3 diary, Rock at an old fiver, on red from lumps of numbers Bra witli Viliage of drooping w. The I Nelson s in his n Hayes in some a coney- set by n(j desirable peas and irt Ytjrk ly House 57^' 10', 'n along what are the usual, if not the very best, " fronts" of settlement. '' Mr. Rell, in his (leological Report of 1872, says of the River Albany which Hows into James IJay : " I ascertained that the river lietween this point" (Martin's Falls) '' and .lames Hay is open, on an average, six months of the year." This is good for the conclusion that the Rupert, the Notaway, the Ilarricanaw the Abbitibbee, the two branches of the Moose, tl.e Albany itself, and the smaller rivers flowing into James Ray, are open to navigation for a period but twenty-six days 1(!sh than the period of navigation of Lake Superior as limited by the canal at Sault St. Marie. Taking the Nelson River as the guage of tlu; period of navigation in the case of the water-ways west of James Bay, they — the Weemisk, the Deer, the Severn, the Hays, etc. — may be set down as closed by ice for fully seven months of the year at //ici/- mouths : but, on their upper sections, free from ice, like Nelson River itself, for six months. The route proi»os(Hl luire would connect by ship, or steamboat, navigation on, say Moose River, with that unknown sea, Hudson Bay. Robson jM.inted out a hundred years ago the importance of directing the efforts of British statesmanship to the utilization of that North American " White Sea." On pages 81-82 of his " Six Years' Residence," he says : " The countries surrounding Hudson Bay and Straits, have a sea-^oast * That certainly very great advantivgc is not without a serious drawback in the case of the rivers west of Norway House. Those flow at great depths below the general level of the country Peace River at Dunvegan, being, for instance, JKK) feet below the plains it traverses— and, therefore, constitute at their crossings by the railway, serious drawbacks in length of track, if not in also bad lines and heavy works. 80 of li.dOO miles extent • • great part of which is in the hame latitude as Great Britain. V])OU the sea-foust are many hroatl and deei) rivers the soiirces of whieli are several hundred miles distanee, south, soutli- east and south-west of the Hay. * * the soil is fei-tih*, and the '•liniate temi)erate for the produce of all kinds of ^rrain, atid for raising stocks of tame cattle ; and the coasts abound with hhu^k and white whales, seals, sea-horses, and various kinds ot small Ush." in lli«^ (Icdicuiioii uf his hook to Lord llalifax, he adds: " '{'he opening a new channel for trade to a vast cotintry abounding with inhabitants" (Indians) "and with many bencHcial articles of com- merce, is a work that highly meiits the atttuition of our wisest and greatest statesmen. • • • Whales anortages tlie join-ney may be made in four days, thus biinging Lake Winnipeg within four days of the sea. * * It is not at all improbable that more easy means of communication with the sea board exists than those which are now pursued. * * It is more tban probable that whenever the necessity arises, the communication between Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay, and thence to the Atlantic by aid of steamers, will be matle easy and s])eedy for at least three months of the year. * * The outlet V)y whit^h the waters of the Saskatchewan and Lake Winnipeg reach the sea is Nelson River. * * The head of tide-water in Nelson Hiver* may yet become the seat of the Archangel of Central British America, and the great and ancient Russian Northern port — at one time the sole outlet of that vast empire — find its parallell in Hudson Bay.'' * The French Admiral Perouse entered the Nelson with three vessels of war, one of them a line-of-battle ship. KUis in liis story of a voyage to Hudson Bay says the estuary of the Nelson is six miles across and hasachaiuiel of a mile wide which varies in depth from live to twenty fathoms (see Professor Hind's evidence). ai Pr(»feH.sor Hind has supplied a mass of lii^ddy valuably facts and sugf^'estions as to Huilsoii Bay in his replies to a (.'oinniittee uf the Cana/ns .spvf'iiil days' trmisportfition Ity tint lakes to tiilfwiitwr, the- sliipnioiit nf ;,'raiti to Kurupc l»y HikIhoii I'my \v<»uM r((|irt's(',iil, a savin",' (»ii that to Kiimpo by tin- St. LavvniiKie, of from 15 coiits to 'Jft ct'iits pur bushel. Fort William enjoys (•ommmiicatioii with tide-water for six months and two-thirds. Port Nelson at I'rof(!Hsor Hinds' estimate, would enjoy intercourse witli tho ( )i'.ean for hut lour months. For two and two-thirds months the above economy td' the line by Norway H )us(! wo\dd cease, to »pi>ly. But the IxMH'Mts of the outlet by Fort William would remain durin}f the navi^ijation t>\' Ijake Winnipeg' — nearly the. wh«tle of that peri(»d. That alternative would invtdve, it is true, two '• Itreaks of ])tdk ;" but it would eom|it(nsale fur these by the economy of substitutinj; for !.'">() miles uf additional tiaiisportatioii by rail, a eheajn'r tho\i;,di lon;,'er stretch of trans|>orlation by 1-ake Winnipeg'. And. for the winter — say live and one half months — the all-rail nuite by Norway House compared with the all mil route, by Fort William, would give an (jutlet from the Far-West to lialifax 240 miles shorter. All this pro(;eeds on the supposition that Peace l\iver Pass can be connected by railway with the Pacific. The divisimi from (^Mudu'c to Norway House bavin},' l)een touched on abovt;, and that too lioiu Norway House to Huds(»n's Hope, at tin; mouth of th(> Pass, what now of the division from Hudson's Ho|)e W(!stward l A fore},'one conclusifui has disalt Avith the (niesti(»n of thc! dischar<,'e- "' point of the. Pacific llailway on the western coast, under test-lines radiatiuL,' from Yellow H(*ad Pass. The results bavin<.^ been favorable, necessarily, to the ports situated best in refeniiice to tluit Pass, they supply no just ))asis of comparison in referen(;o to ot ht*r jtasses. The adopti(m of Peace Piver Pa.ss involves, unless under the, pn^ssure of over-rulinj.,' considerations of topoj^'raphy, the r«\jection «»f Bute lidet and all the harbors farther south. In this it dispos»\s of the hij^hly obji^ctionable, if not absolutely inatlmi.ssable, t expedient of a ferry to a harbor on the west coast of Vancouver, and the (!(|ually objection- able alternative of carryin.nthe Pacific (commerce of ('anada uiuler the guns (if San .Juan. It ilisnsj^ards the local interests of t(!U or fifteen thousand peoj)le ; and, proceedinj,' on Imperial and Nati(»nal interests, addresses itself ex(!lusively to th«' .s«dection of a mainland port from those that offer free intercourse with the oc(!an. This n^view will touch on the ([Uestion of the Pacitii-, |)ort in relation to but the railway ai>proaches. It may state, however, that objections can be raised by mariners to afty port. As some; ol' tho.se urged against the northerly harbors of British ('olumbia .seem of no great imi)ortance practically, it ni; y be well to say that to guard against * Inadniissablu so far as it may be field a wanton exj)osure of the tratlic to hostile disturbance by ships on the line of ferriage, an«l so far as it increases the cost of transportation between the two oceans by a wanton and very con- siderable increase of the length of railway. 88 jliHcriminationH not Imsod un thn working of thinj^s, all tluit is iwitually^ essential in a harbor ia room.dcptli and land margin. With a million of bnshclH of wheat ihfpositcd on a hank having at its haso twenty fcot of water (Uijoying froo ap[)roiuh from Ww opi-n sea, all tcchniral objections are worth little consideration except so far as they may ho made intelligible to " land-lubbers" in terms of theeostof towage and insurance. The water-shed of tl»(! Peace soenis to bo y Hudson Bay and l'eai!(^ Kiver I'ass, demand that the extension of the liailway be made through British ('olunibia to a northern port. As nothing should remain undone to maintain that harmony of the project, tlie region between Pa>^'es .'U)0 and 804) : " Tho tomj»oralure during my two winters was lun-er lower than H" below the freezing point, and during my two summers never higher than SO^ in the shade. * • Snow fell rarely and always in small quantities, soon disappearing. * * "Vancouver Island has plenty of good aral)lo land ; hut I saw nothing there, either in «iuality or quantity, to etpml what is to bo soon on every side along the shores of (iueon Charlotte's Islands. 'I'ho soil fit for farming j)urj)oses is not only extensive beyond all i)re8«'nt calculation, but is rich beyond description." This paper does not speak as a partisan of its own ideas. It con- tents itself with suhmittin;^' evidence in the way of memoranda designed simply to set men thinking on the sul)j(!ct. It omits, thcre- for«s to sum up the reasons on wJiich it has suggested that the surveyed route of the Canadian Pacilic by Lakcss Huron, Superior and Winnipeg ought !iot to he adopted until surveys shall have first decided against the louto from t^uehec hy ^'orvvay House and Peace River Pass.* The mode of construction and the mode of ex})l(»ration adopted in the ca.se of tlii; Canadian Paciiic Railway se»!m to he unsuiti I to the circuiiistances of the case. Some remarks on both of these ..Ejects may lunv he offered for what they are Avorth, beginning with the construction. Tlic cost of ])rovisions in the j)reliniinary service of the Pacific Railway has been extraordimirily high by reason of the cost of transpoi'tation. The convey aiuie of very considerable quantities of food for men and horses for great distances over a roadless ■wilderness ought to be made unneiicssary in a Lmd teeming with agricultural richness. That economy should certainly be etfected immediately, if * IMiysical difticiilties being t'oiuul to involvts a great excess in length of track to the Ocean by way of Peace River I'.oss, ttiat excess may perhaps be reduced with working economy V)y passing the Rockies, as Mr. Slarcus Smith Eroposes, by way of Pine River Pass. But every summit, be it recollected, as its equivalent in distance. Mr. Fleming's ol)jection to Pine River does not seem good in fact or in principle. In the first place, wlien iissuming that a summit as high as Yellow Head must be crossed beyond Pine River Pass, there is reason to suppose him mistaken. In the next jilace, the level of Yellow Head not being maintainable across the plateau leading to the Pacific slopes — ffl route to a northern port — the avoidance of that pass in favor of the lower one, that of Pine River, would, it is submitted, be still a mechanical saving. 35 a liundicd rnni, uf t,li«^ Alaska, an i«'. Aliuut <'i Viiliinhln itish powei" i^^y luuitain I'r. 'J'hoir Poolo, (in inns tlicrn, iiri.l 804) : vor than K" 'vor hi^'ljor ys in Hnmll law notliing jn on every Hoil fit for 'aloulation, >*. Tt con- iioinoranda II its, tliens- (l that llio II, Superior 1 have first and Peaco ad()[)tt'(l in t«. I to the St) .o)je('ts ; witli tho the Pacific he cost of antities of wilderness gricultural L'diately, if i> length of lJerhai)8 be arcuH Smith recollected, k'er does not ining that a I'ass, there 1 of Yellow icific slopes if the lower al saving. hut to ttDticipate the great demand for TimkI incident to the Witrk of lonwtruction. I'.ut the correiaion of Diat niistakt^ iH not only an i!Xi)Hdien(7 of the .(.nstruction of tho railway ; for it is also a necutj- sity of the nettleineni of the n.untry. Ordinary Hetthsrs on the route must receive their Miip|.lii..s from local production, and at rates posaiUo to but production on th(^ spot. ^\ th<»usand dollars would phint and feed for twelve months four settlers, inlmildings common to the four, at, say, ev(!ry tcMith mill* <.f tlie railway track ; and thus would an advance of |L'()0,0()0. t(. he paid hack in provisions, place 800 men at the prctduction of a^'ricultural surj)lusesat 'JOOdillercnt points along the line. These initiatives heing (^stal•Iished promptly, they would receive additions s|»ontane(»usly ; and would expand sUuulily to a breadth of production which, in two or three years, would be amplo for the uses of both tho railway ' hands" and the " culonizera." (Jenerally iiat, the country from the dividing ridge north of the 8t. Maurice to Pine Iviver Pass will admit, proiialdy, of a special mode of railway-construction. I'lacing the road-bed on an ombank- nuuit is practicable for very likely three fourths of that inb^val ; and tlu) enjbankment made s\illiciently high, will not only save tndible from snow, but also add in the line of "borrowed" earth at its edges, an outfall for drainage highly valuable to the first settlers, within at all events the basin of liiidson l>ay. |'J,r)()0 or ;$H,000 a mile would be exi)endeil uniler this system on work that may hv. exttcuted by manual labor. The cost of clearing, grubbing, cross-tieing, «!tc., etc., added to this, each mile would rcipresent a wagt'-fund of, say, $4,000, and would tlu^refore pay eight men for two years at the rate of !^250 a year. The pioncior-settlers paying lor 'iovernnient advances in pro- visi(ms, these eight men could sustain eight others working under a system of partnersliip-settlement, tho latter j)reparing laud on joint account for cultivation ; and the foiiuer sustaining them while doing HO from their railway-earnings. | At the end of two years thy sixteen starling with a sui)[)ly ol' provisions fur tlu! third year, could go on ^ with the work of farming, a railway at their doors being ready by that time to bring their surpluses to markt.'t. lly only some such proceeding can the real dilliculty of this iJritish Tacilic Railway be * Kvery able-bodied laborer settled on the line of thi? iV'-'ific ll;iilway, ought to be wortii to the owner of that long line of railway trau.sportjition, at least fifty dollars a year as a producer of freigiits. An annual surplus (»f lUH) busiicls of grain might be produced by one nuui <»n the rich soils of I'eace lliver; the shipment of that product alone to (Quebec would contril.nd the boundless wheat-region drained by the Mackenzie ; and })lant).ig British power in a positifin on the shores of the Pacific from which it can overshadow rivalry in the surrounding waters, the Canadian i^acific Railway stands in relation to Imperial policy in the creation of this Dominion, as an essential base of its development, the very spiiuil column of another North American Empire ! The vaxxiii suggested above places that great enterprise fairly within the objects of British statesmanship ; and raising it out of the Colonial into the Imperial, makes it a legitimate subject for Imperial support. 37 iS ; it as it lar more pt down to begin country of works )n)y con- -drained ballast, as the isary. A ening up grades, of single- ents, etc., ons of one st for the iver Pass, addition 3ment of made in charge of system of ial in the h interest. liailway. lebec — on p commu- Bay, and sportation le defense rn Pacific, h of land spiug the L of them ; between ackenzie ; he Pacific i^aters, the icy in the elopment, ire ! The athin the 3 Colonial I support. The country east of Norway House is not suited to settlement by Europeans. Their inexperience in woodcraft, their awkwardness in the use of even the axe, their want of adaptation to the work of ploughing, planting, or harvesting between the stumps and tangled roots of a " clearing" in a dense forest, make it inexpedient to trust the work of civilising tlie wild lands of Hudson Bay to emigrants from an old country. The civilisation of that region must rest with the forest-bred Canadian. His experience in settlement under these conditions, his familiarity with the production of timber, and the " rafting" of it to the sea— to be worked up in the present case at the mouth of the Moose, of the Albany, etc., into ships — will enable him to cut out his homestead in the woods of Hudson Bay with success. West of Norway House the land is suited exceptionally well t( settlement by men fresh from Europe. If not actually up to the doo' of that House, certainly four or five days' march beyond it tin soil is extraordinarily fertUe. The rivers being several hundred feet below the general surface, that surface is well drained. Rolling gently it throws off its rainfall into those deep outflows, and presents, therefore, very few cases of swamp. Its forests alternating with prairies, it supplies abundance of wood for building, fencing, firing ; and offers, in conjunction with that necessity of settlement, adjoining tracts of treeless soils ready this moment for the plough. A country so rich, so admirably suited to English emigration, is not available elsewhere on the globe. That it h perfectly accessible to that emigra- tion by way of Hudson Bay has been fully established by the fact that in 1846, Port Nelson (Fort York), on the river discharging into Hmlson Bay from Norway House, was reached in a sliip from Cork by Col. Crofton on his way to Eed River, with heavy guns, heavy stores, a battalion of infantry, a detachment of Royal Engineers, a detachment of artillery — in all 383 persons, including 36 women and children. Transportation to Australia being costly, and wild lands in the United States being now obtainable at but vast distances from the seaboard, English interests, Irish interests, Scotch interests, have reason at a time when commercial stagnation makes the population of the three kingdoms dangerously redundant, to regard the opening of the rich wheat-territory extending froniNorway House to Peace River Pass, a result worth realization at the cost of their common taxes. The Canadian authorities assuming the construction of th< Pacific Railway from Quebec to the point at which the special interests of England, Ireland and Scotland begin — Norway House — the British Government is certainly interested sufficiently in the enterprise to carry it out to the Pacific in consideration of, say, fifty millions of acres of the fertile lands lying along the route ready to reward millions of British workers twelve months after their arrival, with the bread of independence. 38' m The propbsitioti to enlist tlie Tttiperial autliorities iri the Pacific Bail way demands spedial work to give it practical sliap6. This IfeadS to the second head of these closihg remarks, that as to the modfe of exploration. The general considerations which suggest the route by Norway House bring in question the antecedent proceedings. That four niillloris of dollars — nearly f 2,000 per mile of railway— have been expended oh surveys which have steadily ignored what seems on prima facie evidence to be the true line until the contrary shall have been established, is a fact so grave as to set men thinking radically. But, is the mode of exploration pursued the best — the most econo- mical, the broadest? Colonel Dennis, the Canadian Surveyor- General, may be supposed to have answered that question in his adoption of the survey-system under which the Government of the United States makes thii work of exploration subserve the uses of settlement. His proposed hero tLit that system shair be extended' to the region traversed by the route suggested above for the Pacific Railway, so that the monies spent on the latter service in future shall accomplish a permatient result by establishing in the field, in the note-book, and on the map, a fixed guide for the sale and the settle- ment of the Crown Lands. If the four millions of dollars expended up to this time on Pacific Railway surveys where facts may — in all likelihood will — prove these expenditures to be mere waste of money, had been expended on section-line surveys after the American system* adopted by Colonel Dennis in Manitoba, Canada would bo in pOvSses- sion to-day of an immense breadth of accurate knowledge of the to- pograplucal and agricultural facts of her ^reat North- West. Atid these surveys embodied in such a map as the SuiTeyor-General's niap of Manitoba, the determination of the best route for the Pacific Bailway could be made by running across the continent five or six thousand miles of experimental lines at a cost not exceeding a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It is proposed here that ''explorations," whether topographical or botanical, on special routes for the Canada Pacific, shall be stopped. Instrumentation whether on trial (u- on location, involves when made in advance of general knowledge of the country, a still more costly waste. '* Section" line-surveys — at intervals of a mile apart — are hardly necessary for guiding the determination of the proper route of the Pacific Itailway ; f6r " Township"-line-.surveys— at intervals of six miles aj)art — will probably be found sulliciiiut. It is suggested, therefore, that these' latter be run out, '• blazed," noted, and mapped, along the proposed route from Quel)ec by way of Norway House and * The syatun carried out by Col. DenuiB seems to diil'er from the Amerioan system in elaboration ; and therefore in cost. If the hnpi-cfttiion be correct that the work dbne by th^ United States involves but one-half tl\e expense of that done by the Dominion, the en([uiry arises whether there is a.iy practical result accomphshed by superior accuracy in the latter case, when the former is found to answer all useful purposes, whether of exploration or of settlement. ie Pacific his l^ad^ modfe of' Norway liat four ivo been aems on lall have adically. it econo- urveyor- i in his it of the I uses of ixtended 3 Pacific ure shall in the 16 settle- xpended — in all f money, system* I pOvSses- the to- Ahd al's niap Pacific B or six hundred >hical or stopped. 3n made e costly art — are route of srvals of ggested, mapped, luse and fVinerioan e correct xpenae of practical le former ttlemeut. 80 Peace River Pass, to the Pacific. Tlie breadth of the survey at the eastern end may be narrow, the east and west lines, or *' baso"-line8, being " offsetted" on meridians wherever necessary to conform to the general direction of the proposed route. Beycmd the Rocky Moun- tains these surveys — in the region marked on the map as '* unex- plored" — would take a wide range, so as to embrace the lacustrine plateau between the Rockies and the Cascades for, say, three degrees of latitude. The " Township" lines having supplied the facts, agri- cultural and physical, somewhat generally, it might be found neces- sary subsequently, to fill the intervals at some places with " section"- lines so as to obtain these facts in specification. But, be the detail in which the work may bo carried out whatover experience shall demand, evory dollar spent on it would be spent en a result of perma- nence, on a very necessity which must be met sooner or later, as a basis of agricultural settlement. About 400 miles of the belt proposed above for settlement-survey lie within Quebec. The cost of that part of the whole would be chargeable in fairness to the Crown Lands Department of the Govern- ment of that Province. Ontario would, doubtless, meet the obligation of paying for the survey of her lands lying within the proposed belt, for a length of about 300 miles. The 600 miles remaining east of Norway House applying to lands of the Dominion, would constitute a legitimate charge upon the Dominion. If the Imperial Government accept the fact of its deep interest in this great British Railway, it will not hesitate to make the proposed surveys from Norway House to the Pacific, itself. A company of the Royal Engineers set at that work, its completion would place before the English people the offer of fifty millions of acres in a prcciseness of knowledge as to the character of the land and as to the cons' ruction of the railway — in substitution for mere general statements as to the soil and to the topography — which is absolutely necessary to supply satisfactory grounds of consideration for an acceptance involving so gi-ave a com- mitment.