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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est film6 d partir de I'angle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 •t ">■. ^ *..^ .X X m M^^ ;.-* -«-i'T^ VS *m ■'*'. O CO C t) rt o ^ u o y W 2 § Pi OUR RAILWAY TO THE PACIFIC BY THE MARQUIS OF LORNE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY H.R.H. PRINCESS LOUISE REPRINTED FROM ''GOOD WORDS LONDON ISBISTER AND COMPANY LIMITED 56 LUDGATE HILL 1886 OUR RAILWAY TO THE PACIFIC. By the marquis OF LORNH. BEFORE we speak of the new railway, let us look at the views engraved here from sketches taken in that island to which the " Canadian Pacific" leads, namely, Vancouver Island, that earthly paradise lying off the western mainland coast, and shielding it from the storms of the outer ocean. Along its southern shore the island is also protected, for the long range of the mountains of Washington Territory defend it from the south-westerly gales. Our Frontispiece shows this " Olympian Range " as seen from the house of the governor of the island. The hills are sixteen miles away, across the straits of San Juan de Fuca. Another sketch, on page 7, shows the lonely and gorgeous Mount Baker, veiled in mist, but lifting its double cone over ten thousand feet above the still waters of the archipelago. The low island blending with the mainland shore from this point of view, is San Juan, about which there was so much contention between the British and American governments. The King of Prussia, who was called in as arbitrator, decided that according to the wording of the treaty in dispute, it must be reckoned American territory. The drawings give a very accurate idea of the beauty of the landscape. There is no fairer land in the world than the country about Victoria, the capital of Vancouver. The climate of much of the Island is like that of Devonshire or Jersey. A more rigorous winter is to be met with at its northern end, and the high mountains which stud most of it afford opportunities of seeking an occasional snow-field in winter. But about Victoria the snow never lies long, and its inhabitants are far more ignorant of the art of skating than are their English cousins. The great coal mines of Nanamo, near one of the best harbours on the island, are seventy-five miles distant, and their produce is brought by rail (, OCR JiAlI.WAy TO rilK PACIFIC, and .stoamt-r to " tlu; city." A quaint and rliarniiiii,^ town it is, with very pU'Usant society, many Knj,di.sli and Canadians having recently settled there. There is g-ood land to hi- bought at moderate prices. Hut the chief attrac- ;ion is the sport, the climate, and tht» beautiful scenery. Other min(>rals besides coal are known to exist. Great woods of I)t)Uglas fir cover the whoK- region, with a lovely undergrowth of arbutus, sallal, an evergreen slirul), and small mapl. s, while underneath all grows a luxuriant vi^getation of f'Tii and oth.r plants, giving proof of the mildness and moisture charac- teristic of tlio coast. Many Chinese and some thousands of Indians live in this part of liritish Columljia. The Chinese make excellent servants, but the Celestials are not popular, and it is probable that tluir numbers will be much diminished in a few \-ears. The Indians are wholly unlike their brethren of the plains of the interior. They are almost wholly fish-eaters. On the islands to the north they build houses of carved woodwork, reminding the traveller much of the Sandwich Islanders' habitations. They are not inclined to warfare, and arc easily employed in the steamers on the rivers, and in the industries con- nected with the catching and preserving of the salmon which swarm in every creek and stream from March to October. The results we see in the provision shops in liritain, where the potted fish are sold in enormous quan- tities. In the shops and banks are to be observed the nuggets and gold dust parci'ls brought from the neighbouring mainland. These have been won from the soli and gravel of the workings in the Fraser and streams farther north, and the nuggets are often worth from ^60 to ^100 apiece. The crushing of the gold-laden quartz rocks will now become a prominent industry in the mountains, for the necessary machinery can by rail be easily imported. Vast mines of silver and copper will also be worked. Although the amount of agricultural land cannot be compared with that to be offered to emigrants in Alberta or Saskatschewan, there is a good deal still to be had, and the delta of the Fraser only wants good dykes to make it a closely peopled country. On account of its beauty and the many charms afforded by its society, sport, and natural advantages, Victoria is sure to become the favourite residence ot men wishing to possess a home in one of the most attractive spots on the American continent. " Ottawa, Novi'mbcr 6t!i, 1885. 1 am dc.-,iiL'd by His Excellency the Governor-General, to acijuaint you thai lie lias received her Majesty's commands to convey to the people of Canada lier congratulations on the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Her Majesty lias watched its proL,n-ess with much interest, and hopes for the future success of a work of sutli value and importance to the Empire." So wrote Lord Melgund, in giving the message sent by the Queen to Sir \ ■; 1 Sir OUR RAILWAY TO THE PACIFIC. ■m. George Stephen, the President of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. The message conveyed a wish in which all her IMajesty's subjects will heartily have joined, and not they alone, but all the dwellers in North America, who have now three lines traversing the continent. Not long ago there was but one. The southernmost should perhaps also be included, although it cannot be called direct, passing as it does the INIexican frontier, and then turning northwartl through Southern California. The three direct lines give the inhabitants of the "Western Slope" a wholesome choice of route, and will greatly lessen the charges which they have hitherto been obliged to pay. No one expected that the liriti^h road would be completed so soon. 1 remember that in 1882 I told the ijeoplo of Victoria, on Vancouver Island, that they might expect to see the rails laid to the harbour of Port ]\Ioody, on their mainland coast, by the year 1887, and then the statement was scarcely believed. The news seemed to be too good to be true. And now the great task has already been accomplished. One of the men who were lirst connected with the enterprise, namely, the distinguished engineer and man of science, Mr. Sandfcrd Fleming, was lately enabled to telegraph " First through train from jNIontreal arrived at Vancouver, most successful journey ; average speed, including stoppages, twenty-four miles per hour. Before long possible to travel from Liverpool to Pacific by Canadian National Line in ton days. Physical difficulties have been overcome by gigantic works skilfully executed, with marvellous rapidity." Then came the official announcement, " This completes the Company's main system, covering a distance of 3,053 miles." Tew would have believed, ten years ago, that such an announcement would bo made during the present century. The work stands as the unrivalled national effort of a people only four and a half millions in nume- rical strength. That these should not only have deemed it possible, but should have persuaded others to think so also, is a success altogether unknown in history. There is nothing to equal the undertaking so gallantly conceiv'd and executed. When we remember the enormous difficulties, political and physical, which had to be faced and overcome, we may con- gratulate the Canadians that above all nations they have shown a political stability and absence of fickleness in the trust reposed in Governments, which alone stamps them as a community capable of great things. If another race had won the chief power in the northern zone of this continent, we should have seen Government after Government overthrown in attempts to carry out the vast project. Although in political strife the groundless aspersions on private character and public worth among Americans and Canadians give Englishmen an evil example, which, to judge by many cases during the recent elections, they are only too ready to follow, yet the Cana- OCR Awr/jv.u' TO ■/'///■: paciftc dian has the advanlago of the P^n^-lisliman in the failli which gives the power to the national Rulers to " put a thing through." P^-idcnt as it was to the ministers of successive Cabinets, that the north-western prairie lands must be settled and mapped out with roads and railways and provincial boundaries, men ftMred to undt^rtake the (mormons outlay. " Times wore bad," and emigration brought comparatively few to tli(> liritish American shores. Twenty or thirty thousand was considered a fair number for tho country to have attracted during one year. There was no regular communi- cation with the prairie, beyond the Great Lakes, unless the Hudson's Jiay freighters could be considered as making those distant regions accessible. Courteous as were the officers of the Company, and hospitalile to any traveller going for sport or curiosity to visit their fur-trading posts, not one of them could be found who would not deprecate the idea of " opening the country for settlement." They could not foresee that a favourable bargain for the Company would be made in reference to their lands, and they only looked upon an immigrant invasion as the expulsion of the fur-bearing animals, which alone afforded a good trade. Had they been able to pro- phesy they w'ould have welcomed the tide of the white races, whose advent would enhance a thousandfold the value of the as yet useless grass ocean around them, while the influx of settlement could never penetrate into the northern forests, where for an apparently endless vista of years, tho musk- rat, beaver, skunk, fox, and wolverine will yield their annual tribute for the European and American market. But the Hudson's Bay people had had enough trouble in years long past with their competitors of tho old North-west Company, and having passed these troubles and procured a monopoly, they did not desire neighbours who might become interlopers and usurpers. So it was said that grain would not grow, that even roots were difilicult to "raise," and that an arctio winter made life unbearable in winter, even for the buffalo. It was known that these spirited members of the ox tribe liked tho country in summer; but whoever heard of their staying during the winter, and why should pt^ople in the comfortable groves of Ontario desire the comparatively bleak grassy levels of the Red River? ^Manifestly it was best to leave the buffalo to speculate in II. B.'s, and to develop) the backwoods, and do all tho clearing in old Canada before men thought of the lazy process of beginning agricul- tural work by the Royal Road of putting a plough "straightaway" into virgin soil. Who knew if the virgin soil was worth the plough r Such was the language industriously employed. But there were suspicions that the country should not be left to the musk-rats and buffaloes. Lord Selkirk had persuaded some of the Highlanders, who at the beginning of the century thronged so eagerly to the emigrant vessels, to sail into Hudson's Bay, and 10 OUR RATLWAV TO THE PACIFIC. to ascend the Nelson Rivor, and to settle to the south ot Lake Winnipeg. They formed a most flourishin,q- colony, and the French voyageurs, who had taken unto themselves Indian wives, also throve and multiplied. Then again the Americans, higher up the Red River, which cast its dirty waters into the lake, had found the valley most f(^rtilo, with a soil marvellously black and rich. It became evident that vast wheat- fields, affording far more space and scope than any heretofore occupied, had been hidden away in that dim green northland. The old provinces of Canada, magnificent as they are in area, had their best tracts already used for agriculture, and that craving for novelty, and for yet better land and for new soil, which is the wholesome 'characteristic of the Transatlantic farmers, was strong among Ontarians and the I'runswickers and Nova Scotians. Had not the Americans derived new ]if(^ and hopes from the time that civilisation was carried inwards from the coast, and the mere fringe of the New England colonies, with the Carolinas and N(nv York, had blossomed and bourgeoned into a nation controlling the ATississippi, and master of all the regions which pour their wealth through the great market-place on the shores of Michigan, the city of Chicago r Why should not Canada also have its Chicago r To be sure there was the rocky desert to the north of Lake vSuperior, and a further stretch of country which, like the north shore, was fit only for wood and minerals ; but liad not the United States also their desert beyond the flats of Nebraska r Was this rocky tract, which would very likely prove rich (as a part of it had already proved) in silver and copper, so bad an impediment as that horrible plain, so many hundred square miles in extent, filled with alkali dust and ugly sage scrub, called " the American Desert r" Did not that brown Sahara extend almost to the Rocky ]\fountains on Uncle Sam's territory, and had the Canadians anything so disagreeable and useless? No; on the contrary, it was known that once past the marshes and rocks and woods of Keewaytin, tlioro was in Canadian territory one uninterrupted stretch of grass for eight hundred miles right up to the Western Mountains. And as to the quality of the soil, the veil had been lifted. Even Richardson, the traveller and naturalist, famous in boyhood's memory as the man who had once, on an arctic expedition, shot one of his companions, an Indian, because morally rortain that the said Indian had begun, in his hunger, to kill and cat Kicliardson's white comrades— even Richardson long ago, when accom- panying Sir John Franklin, had declared the Saskatchewan country to be good. Then in our own time. Colonel Butler had written a charming book, describing with ecstasy the riches of a region which, in spite of the ice and snow covering which enveloped it curing the season of his journey, he had found to possess an excellent climate and promising soil. So the world began to believe in the north-west ; and Canada saw that she must have it OCR RAILWAV TO THE PACIFIC. 1 1 oat om- be ook, and had orld e it soon under control, or the acivc American might go in and possess it, and she decided to build a railway. She was so keen about doing this that, in order to get an indispensable member of her future sisterho' 1 of provinces under the national government, she promised British Columbia that the line should be made so as to reach the Pacific in so short a time, that the Government must have anticipated a direct interposition of Providence in their behalf, wSir George Stephen not having at that date appeared above the political horizon. It was Sir George Stephen's assent to form a company to undertake the work that virtually i^roduced the results we now witness. This may seem a remarkable stat gets confused in the effort to look through the intervals and to the next resting-place for the foot. Perhaps the shortest-sighted are the least inclined to giddiness in mak- ing such an effort. Many of course laugh at the idea of such weaknesres, but the strongest in body often prov(3 the weakest in head. The engraving of Canmore, on page 15, gives a good idea of one of the line hill views. The llrst surveys of these ravines and hills looked like one (,)f the old physical geography charts of our boyhootl, where all the acutest and tallest peaks of the globe were gathered together at the top of the map to show tlieir reln.tive i8 orK RA/rw.w TO the PAciric. lu'i.q-lits. Surh a formidable row of uneven sharks' teeth was never seen. It seeiufd iiiiii(.ssil)l(! to run a straight line anywhere amonj,' them. And for a long time it was Ixlicved tliat none could be found. Man afier man who had e.\p1or.d the ranges had como back with the taU; that as far as he could sec through the dciisi; lon'st unbroken range succeeded unbroken range. 'ihc ciitranco to the l-'raser canon is not diftleult. The engraving on page 17 gives the outlook from near the foot of its great ravines. I'A'erv "ni! knew the Fraser gorge could bo penetrated, costly ns it would be, for a waggon mad had already been made to cling to the precipice walls above; the foaming iloods, and this had carried the gold miners up to regions where in old days the Indians could hardly get a mule along the craggy looti)ath scarcely (It for a goat. Then there was the Thompson J<.iver, giving access by more easy jiaths to Kamloop's Lake, and beyond again, by streams overshadowed by woods, to Lake Shuswaji, a beautiful sheet of water, wind- ing with many arms among the forest slopes. Then again, yet farther, there was the Eagle Pass to th(^ Columbia River, which was a little difficult, but was certainly jiossible. Ah 1 then came the puzzle ! We might follow the Columbia round its great bend of seventy-five miles and so reach the foot ot an awful " col " or neck, which might be reached by climbing three thou- sand feet, and so down over the "Kicking llorso Pass" to the eastern side of " the Rockies." r)Ut could the Columbia bend be avoided r All accounts said, " No, it is impossible ; wc see no chance of it." Pjut Major Rogers, an American engineer, thought he would make another attcm]")t. Through perils innumerable from the difficulty of getting food, and with dreadful fatigue, he accomplished his object. Following a stream called the Illecillowat, he took observations with the result that he came down from the entangled forests declaring that the thing could be done, lie had found a practicable pass. Few believed him, but he was "not to be denied," and taking with him ]\Ir. Sandford Fleming and Principal Grant, two men who, like himself, believed that nothing was impossible, he went over the route again, and light broke in on the darkest problem of this stupendous enterprise. The sea range in the Cascade jNIountains had been traversed, " the Rockies," the most eastern, would give trouble, but a bit could be placed in their rugged jaws, and now the central or "Selkirk" range had also been conquered, for where the surveyor says the navvy can go, the iron horse can follow. The task is done, and done in less time than many governments would take to talk of it. The Canadian Pacific Railway spans the continent. Nowhere can finer scenery be enjoyed from the window of a car than upon this line. Tlierc is no doubt that the favourite Transatlantic excursion will no longer be to New York, Niagara, IMontreal and Quebec only, but that all who have a month's time to spend will go to the Pacific by the Northern I \ i 'I -^' -i.rH^ American line, or come back tliat way, making' the Caiiailian Pacific Railway their ol)ject on tlic outward or return journey. By the "Union and Cen- tral," strilciny as is some of the scenery on the Western sl()[)e, there is very littk' worthy of note until the woods are reached, for one is borne to the top of the his^li ranges withtnit knowinc,^ it, so gradual and so tame is the ascent. JUit on the two northern roads the approach to the mountains is jyjt/"' Mount Stephen. 20 (UK KAU.w'Ay lit iiii: rACiric, most rcnuirk.ihlc, and lli«' vimv iVoin lliu C'anailian "Susa," naiiu'ly Calgary, is vi-iy graiul. Clear InMii lin' Ion, 14- swells of ,L;ivt>ns\varil sprinj,^ tho rock walls and serrated rid^is ol the Western W^^. Jt is anK^nj^" these rock masses that it has In en loiiiid in (»ne plari- necessary to make a loni^' tunnel und( r Mount Stephen, a rwriiiiiKihii' barrir. It may be dcsrribrd as open i'ur.'st with >>niall praii-jcs scattered throuL;h it. North of the wati'r>h''d tlnre is n(j pine, and v>ry litlhj larcl), but ])()U,nlas fir is .scattfn'd oV'T the i;ra/in^'s. '\\v\ l)iin(h j^rass i^ives way to pine j^^rass about ei-^hty miles north of ih'* waltr>hi'(l. (rood agfricultural land is V(M'y much s(\att('r<'d in patch's varyint,^ from three hundred to fifty acres, luM-e and ih'Tc, l)uL tlie former cjuantity in one piece is rare. The soil is «^*'enerally a sandy loam, with a ^n'avdly sul)soil, and it bears sphmdid crops of potatoes, oats, barle}', peas, and wheat, but where the sand predf)minates o\rr the day irrij^alion is necessary. There arc many streams llowins^^ into the main river, which afford means for irrig"ation. Fatlier l''ouquet, tlie Roman Catholic priest, who has lived in the valley for fifteen years, declares that irrigation is not necessary, but I should be loath to farm scmie of the lands without tlie power of irri.s^'ation on an emergency. "There are parts which must originally have; been lakes, where the soil is deep and exceedingly rich, forminyf a dark vegetable loam, and I am fortunately located on such a spot. This year I had over ten tons of potatoes from one acre, and without manure or irrii^'ation. An acre of oats, which averaged five f(!et three inches in height — and some stalks were six feet six inches — turnips, carrots, and beet do admirably, but it is too cold for Indian corn to flourish. Currants, raspberries, gooseberries, and strawberries, together with numerous other b(M'rii's, grow wild in gre-at profusion. There is also a wild vetch, a wild pea, and a wild onion. "As to climate, I have found it perfectly delightful. There is generally a heavy fall of snow at this season, or early in November, which disappears in a few days. Just before Christmas the second snowfall occurs, and the snow lies until iVIarch, when it commences to thaw, and is generally gone by the ist of April. The average depth of the snow is about fifteen inches. Horses do admirably on the Avild grazings without any other food in the winter, and come out in the spring in admirable condition ; but unless a man is fond of gambling he should feed his cattle for three months in wdnter, otherwise ho might lose a largo proportion of them in a very severe year. Horses, or rather large ponies, may l)c ])ought at 27 dollars per head, taking a number of various ages; cattle at 30 dollars ia the same I 22 OUR RAILWAY TO THE PACIFIC. 1 1 i wa}-. Wagos and food are very hig-h at present: labour 45 dollars and food per month in summer, and 30 dollars and food per nionth in winter. Beef sells at 13 cents, pork at 20 cents, ilour at 10 cents, potatoes at 3 cents per pound. Tiut the local market is limited at those prices. Herds of cattle can be readily sold at Fort jMcLcod, distant two hundred miles from here, at 40 dollars per head. The future of the valley is dependent on its mining", imber, and cattle-ranching resources. There is an almost certain prospect of a V(n"y largo mining population growing up in the valley, as gold is f tund in all the creeks, and one 'wild horse' has given out over thr>n> million dollars within the last twenty years. The country is yet in its infancy as far as mineral prospecting is concerned, but valuable dis- coveries are constantly being made. A clever mining engineer who has hiU'ly visited us, considers this to be one of the richest mining districts on the American continent. There is no doubt that the lumber trade will also develop, as tlu^ timber lies conveniently for supplying the north-west provinces. Cattle-ranching, with ordinary care, must prove very profitable, and there is yet a field open for settlement in that direction. There is no doubt that when communication is easy the valley will become one ot the great tourist routes, as the lake, river, and mountain scenery could not be surpassed. The district is admirably suited for English gentlemen immigrants provided they have capital. A steady man, with a good common-sense head and with not less than /^3,ooo, would be sure to succeed, and with patience and hard work he might in twenty years have an income of as many thousands a year as he had capital to start with. ]^)iil the man without capital should not come here; ho will find the cost of food and wages so great that it will crush him before he can get returns from his farm, and he cannot count upon any returns worth mentioning under three years. As to sport, there is plenty of game ; but it is difficult to get at, on account of the immense extent of forest on the mountains. There are grisly, brown, and black bears ; here and there elk and cariboo, besides numbers of black and white-tailed deer, mountain sheep and goats, several kinds of grouse, wild swans, geese, and ducks ; but a large bag cannot bi> made. There are quantities of splendid trout in all the rivers, and they take the fly readily. Hitherto we have been very much out of the AN'orld; but with steamers on the Columbia and Kootenay rivers wc shall be within fourteen days of England. "1 ought to have mentioned that although in the winter months there are one or two cold waves of three days' duration, during which the m.rcury has gone down to indicate the; low temperature recorded, the remainder of the time has given us most enjoyable weather. February, March, and Apri' were most lovely months. The altitude of the valley i* I i I OUR RAILWAY TO THE PACIFIC. 23 to lavc ■ith. ;t of irns nng iins. )00, ats, bag- ors, t of \vc loro the the lley \ .>,.. ■-;^^-^-... has never l)ecn accurately measured, but I make it about 3,000 above the Brandon, sea. I would not advise any (gentle- man emigrant to l)ring out a wif(> at first ; he should conic himself for a year, and gX't things settled u]i, and then bring out his wife. " Yesterday an old man, over seventy years of ago, came to me. Where had he come from? lie had Ijoen born and bred in (n)lspi(\ I gav(^ him some of the whisky of the country, and told him tliat when next hi> came I might be able to give him a glass of Clyncleish whisky from lirora. I was amused at his remark of thanks, for the curse of this rrgion may be put down as whisky-drinking in excess. Such scruples had evidently not troubled my friend, for when I announced my expectation of tlie arrival of mountain dew from Sutherland he said, '^Vee], now, sir, ye'll just be the making of this country ! ' " Tt may be mentioned in passing that the cattle droves have thri\-en marvellously of late on this side of the mountains, among which IIk^ writer of the foregoing letter is settled; and that whisky is not a commodity aUowed to be sold in .Vlberta, so that the f)ld Sutherland emigrant had better remain where the country has the best chance of such "making." If the reader has not goni' to sleep already Ik^ may do S(^ now, as the train passes on. He will miss tlie junction of the line to the coal-mine^ and the crossing of the Bow River, with the swift and clear water of the South Saskatchewan, whose waters are already made muddy by the alluvial deposits of the flat country, lie will miss Regina, the official centre of the H OfR RAIf.WAV JO THE PACItlC new provinces, but ho may console himself if ho awakes when the morning's light shines upon cultivated fields, grain elevators, substantial stations, near busy little towns, like that of J'randon, a three-year-old city. Those are springing up like the no\v(>rs in spring-time all over the prairie country. They arc not yet, as a ruli', froo of tlicir aboriginal structures of plank, but with church towers and pul)lic buildings. Winnipeg iisclf deserves a more liian jvissing look, for the site gives promise of great wealth. Tht^ Assiniboine joins its waters to those ot kindred hue in the Red River's stream, k'ine building'^, wood-paved streets, gas, and handsome shops show the vigorous growth of the young capital of the West. It is strange to think that only fifLecn years ago Ricl, tlie header of two revolts, who has just expiated his second crime by death, loelieved himself secure here when he raised the ilag of a mongrel separate state, and bade defiance to thc^ British l{mpire. His last crime was the worst, for he attempted to raise the red against the wiiite man ; but peace to these recollections, which may be deemed the last trouble of the newest country in the New "World. Henceforward let us pray that an uninterrupted time of ever-progressing prosperity lies before the great grain-provinces of Canada. What they may do in the future has been shown this last year, when, in spite of insurrection and disturbance, more than eight million bushels of wheat was ready for export. With careful sowing the early frosts of autumn can be made harm- less, and, to judge by the looks and words of the people, there are health and comfort to be found in the wide north land now open to all who love independence, and toil remunerative in the two great requisites of health and contentment. Xo one wlio has knowledge of the present condition ot affairs dreads an}' Indian trouble, any more than death at a London crossing. The chiefs knew too well what was their sole chance ot getting food, and did not join Kiel. The exceptions were men living far to the north of the rail- way, and in contact with the half-breeds. The grievances of Kiel's deluded followers, the so-called Metis, have been fully investigated and remedied. No redskin would have dreamed of resistance to the law had it not been for the instigation of his evil-minded cousins. The exceeding promptness with which the Canadian troops were sent westwards, their swift tracking of the insurgent bands, the smnmary end put to the armed rebellion on the far- away Saskatchewan, and the just and certain doom dealt out to the mur- derers, have produced the d(,'sire(l lesson. The land along the railway may still be obtained at pric(\s which arc ridiculously cheap, lirai.ch lines are being pushed in various directions. The whole of the eiqlit hundred miles to the A\est of W innipeg pays tribute to her advancing prosperity. The cattle ranches have proved as successful (1 did rail- uded ?dicd. m for witli )f the far- mur- 1 are tions. •ibutc 3ssful i f! i 3 (H7^ RAJLWAl' TO THE PACJTJC. 25 ( t ■ as was expected in Alberta, and whore cattle cannot be i-asily grazed cdl the year round, a lar-e amount of horse-breeding will probably be carried on, for horses appear U) thrive well all over the plains, and especially in the north during the winter cold. The coal mines opened by Sir Alexander (rait have already reduced the price of cual at Winnipeg to 8 dollars per ton. 'J'here is an appanMitly endless amount of good fuel, so that as other mines are developed, and a d(juble track laid, the best provision can be made against winter's severity. J he last news given to the J)irectors of the Hudson's Bay Company is good. "There is," sa\s their Land Commissioner, " a decided improvement in mercantile affairs in Manitoba. The bank deposits are largely increasing ; so much so that the rate of interest is being steadily reduced. The wholesale and 1^- Tlic Lake of the WooJs. retail business throughout the ciiy shows a marked improvement. Similar reports are received from Brandon and other points. The price of grain is much better than last year, and the quantity of first-class wheat much 26 OUR RATIAVAr TO THE PACIFIC. greater than was expected in Sei3tember. The branch lines now being constructed are of benefit, both from the expenditure incurred and the improving transportation (for grain) facilities which they are creating. The Fall has been fine and very dry. A large amount of land has been ploughed, and will be ready for early sowing next year." There is no doubt that, although in i8Si there was an undue amount of speculation, and the resultant recoil, together with the general depression in business, produced much disappointment and distress, the country is now finding its level. The national highway must reap the benefit of this solid and satisfactory advance : the dangers which menaced it have been con- quered. These consisted not so much mi the rocky wilderness of the Lake Superior shore, sufficient as they had been to make men decry the honest purpose of pushing the undertaking. Xo : the real danger lay in persistent detraction by interested rivals, and in the attempts of New York rings to cut down stocks that might compete favourably with those supported by themselves. Once this gigantic effort, made by a people of such compara- tiv^ely small numbers, should succeed, there was no doubt that the southern " combinations " would have to look to their laurels. What other company possessed, as did this new upstart, harbours on each ocean, entirely free only to themselves, relieving them from the obligation of parting with the " earnings of the most remunerative triiffic " r How could the fact be passed over that there was a saving in distance of more than four hundred miles, and that, if one looked at the saving in reaching Asia, the gain was enormous r Opposition was natural. But it must be acknowledged that the public opinion of the great people of the United States overlooks the small jealousies of competing companies, and regards only the " greatest good of the greatest number," and it hails with joy the opening of a new access to the West. No more appreciative notice has come from any quarter than that given by a Chicago writer. " A transcontinental railway parallel to, and in many respects a competitor with, those of the United States, but independent of them in respect to all agreements, is now completed. The Canadian Pacific has a continuous track from Port Moody, a distance of 2,900 miles; the longest line in the world. A few days ago its trains commenced running from ISIontreal to Winnipeg, 1,430 miles, and from the latter point they already run west 1,000 miles. The entrance of this line into the field will soon develop some new phases of railway competition. The Canadian Pacific has been built as a national highway, and to develop the region through which it passes. Travel and freight traffic between Europe and Asia is to be diverted from the long all-sea route, and from the railways now reaching the sea at Portland and San Francisco ; and the trains of the OCR RArUVAV TO Till-: PACIFIC. »7 was that the jatest new ming they will idian ways if the I I Canadian Pacific, and the fast steamers which will ply in its interest between Vancouver Island an^l Japan and China, will offer all possible inducements. There is no fear that American railroads will not hold their share of transcontinental business against this new rival, but it is not unlikely that rates may be materially reduced in the struggle. The sug- gestion that this ambitious railway may also reach down and take business right from under the eyes of American roads seems comical, and yet it appears to be apprehended. Thus the Gazcltc, published at Billing's, Montana, advocates the building of a branch from the Northern Pacific north-westerly to Fort Benton. The Canadian Pacific Railway has a great and useful work to perform in developing the vast country which has called it into being, and in this the people of the United .States will be glad to see it succeed. If it is operated on the principles of fair arid reasonable com- petition it will receive honourable treatment from the railways of the United States ; and in time the growth of the continent, which all transcontinental lines will help to develop, will give them all ample support." Of the difficulties overcome north of Superior some idea may be formed from the annexed statement : — With the exception of about sixty miles, the principal material en- countered was rock of the hardest description known to engineers and contractors, and the oldest known to geologists — sienite and trap. Over two and a half million tons of solid rock excavation of this description — a mixture, chiefly, of feldspar, hornblende and quartz — had to be removed, besides large quantities of loose rock and hardpan. The task may be judged of by the fact that for fifteen months one hundred tons of dynamite per month were used. The explosive property of dynamite is considered to be equal to twelve or thirteen times that of gunpowder; so that for every month, for fifteen months, if gunpowder had been employed, enough would have been recpired to freight one of the Company's large steel steamers running on Lake Superior. The dynamite was manufactured on the works. The operation went on without intermission, winter and summer, clay and night, controlled by an army numbering for the greater part of the time not less than twelve thousand men. There were also employed from fifteen hundred to two thousand teams of horses, supplemented in the winter by about three hundred trains of dogs. To house and accommodate this vast host, nearly three thousand buildings of various descriptions were erected on the works. There would thus be there more than double the number of buildings that the city of Stratford contains, counting five persons to each building. Of course the comparison Ciids here, for the shanties and stables were in marked contrast to our three-story stone and brick edifices. We 2S OCR RAJLWAr TO THE PACIFH'. can give no estimate of the quantities of food for men and dogs and forage for horses wliich were brought in : but in the fall of the year seven months' provision had to be made for this hungry host, with appetites so whetted by the luird out-door work and the eager nipping air, that each man consumed on an average fivr pounds of solid food per diem. To bring in these sup- plies and tlio material for the works, the company had seven steamers running, and the contractors live. For the same purjoose fifteen docks and storehouses were built by the company along the shore of the lake, requiring three million feet of lumber in construction. The shore was so rough that supply roads could not be built except at enormous expense; so the supplies and material were landed at these docks, and thence distributed by llects of small boats along the line. And nut only were there dilficulties by land, there were difficulties by water as well. Michipicoten was one of the most valuable points of distribution along the entire^ coast ; but it could not be advantageously availed of owing to the herceness of the storms. Here two docks were built, each in turn to be washed away by the violence of the sea, and here also two steamers were sunk. Consequently the supplies had to be landed four miles west of jNIichipicoten, and distributed from that point instead. The labour and expense of getting in the stuff from the coast at ?^Iichipi- coten to the railway being constructed inland on the north, may be estimated from the following : First, a road through the rocks had to be built seven miles in length ; then a kd<.e six and a half miles long was struck, to traverse which a steamboat had to be constructed. A stretch of sixteen miles of rough mountainous country, requiring large rock blastings and cuttings, had then to be encountered. That accomplished, a second lake eleven miles long was reached, where another transport steamer was built. Two and a \\i\\i miles more of road intervened between this lake and Dog Lake, where a third steamer v/as built. This boat ran from the point of taking in the supplies fourteta miles to the north-west angle and twelve miles to the north-east angle of Dog Lake, distributing her freight along the Avorks, which were now at last reached — about one hundred miles of the road east and west being in this way supplied from IMichipicoten. On these inland lakes six docks and six warehouses were built. As many as eight hundred and sixty derricks were used on the works. Between Nipigon and the Pic there are five tunnels, and not less than ten rivers had to be diverted from their natural courses and carried through rock tunnels excavated underneath the road-bed. One of these rivers measures in width one hundred and fifty feet. There are along the coast eleven miles where in the living rock a shelf has been formed for the road- bed of the railway, averaging twenty feet in width, in some places consider- \ , than rough rivers coast road- sider- OUR RAITAVAV TO THE PACIFTC. 29 Junction of the Gatincau and Ottawa. By IT.R.Tf. rKMNPFss LofiSK. ably uidcr. TIk^ rivi^rs crossed by the lino are spanned by iron bridges ; the abutments — indeed, the stonework throughout— being the best kind of masonry. There is some temporary tresth^ work which has mostly now been filled in. As a further evidence of the quality of the work, it may 1)e remarked that no grade exceeds fifty-two feet to the mile, and the curvatun^ is generally good, only two curves exceeding six degrees. There were few accidents to call tln) hospitals into re({uisition, and such was the care exercised in the dynamite factories that no casualty whatever arose in the manufacture of the tons upon tons ot explosives. There was, however, one serious result from culpable ignorance and temerity, four men having brought dynamite into one of the houses and placed it on the stove to thaw ! The experience was a severe one, but to these poor fellows it carried no benefit. The survivors were more cautious. After the works were completed, care was taken to demolish the dynamite factories so as to render them innocuous. Although last winter was very severe, with heavy falls of snow, Mr. Ross regards it as exceptional, and he does not apprehend difficulty in working the line. The v. inters of 1882-3 ^"^^ 1883-4 north of Lake Superior were, he says, delightfu', with only about two feet of snow, and no drifts. 30 OUR RAir.WAr TO THE rACIFIC, I The character of the country, he states, is very different from the dreary waste between Port Arthur and Selkirk, beinjL,^ bold and, with the lakes and rivers, exceedingly chang(,'able in its aspects, striking and picturesriue. The work would have been completed earlier even than it was but for the transport of the troops to suppress the Kiel rising, the labour of laying- track and building bridges having to bo suspended in order to take the forces round the gaps. The first troops reached the division about April ist, and were through by the 20th. Fifteen days later a train passed over without a break. The last troops went past on Viixy lotb, fully equipped with sleeping and dining cars. Once the north-csastern shores are left behind the route runs through the woody country skirting Nipissing-, and so by the Uioper Ottawa to familiar ground around the capital of the Dominion. Crossing the Gatineau River, the junction of which with the Ottawa is shown on p. 29, wo are reminded that colonisation is being actively carried on by the French Canadians in the valleys of the tributary streams, such as the Gatineau, Fievre, and others, giving a *' back country " to the Ottawa and St. Lawrence valleys. Mon- treal is reached in less than two hours from this point. Controlling interests have been secured by the Canadian Pacific Railway in Ontario over other roads to prevent hostile intrigues. In brief, the history of the greatest undertaking of this age is seen at a glance in the following table : — • CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. Incorporated ]'"cbruary i6th, 18S1, Commenced buildin.L,' weblward from \Vinnipeg, May, 1S81. Owns in November, 1885 : Miles. 2,8947 403-4 22V2 Main Line . Branch Lines, Lr.st Do. \Vest Miles. Leased Lines 698-.? 4.2i7'6 Which have conic into the Company's possession in the R)llo\ving manner : — IMil.-s. .Miles. Built by Government and handed over to Company . 7o6'5 Acquired by purchase, lease, or otherwise . . . 1,^70'^ Built by Company since May, 1 88 1 .... 2,i40'6 4'2i7-6 'i'li(? mileage operated by the Company next year (1886) will (approximately) be 4,300 Net earnings, for 12 months ending 31st December, 1885 . . .S'3,225,000 1 am sure it will be the wish of all patriotic men, be they British or OUR RAILWAr TO THE PACIFIC. 3, Canaclian, that tin. backbon. „r the D..mi„ion n.ay, year alter year draw cver.ncreasing profits. Troops and freight .nay thereby bo sent 'by a o ^ u-elve hundred nnles shorter than any .thor to China and Japan. Ma 1 sornce, If sent over by this way, will bo greatly accelerated, anc nono bu Brmsh ground, and none but J.,ritish ships, need be touched from London to llong Kong. It is a nr.ble work -lobly performed. APPENDIX. As a purely Canadian work, this Pacific Railway fulfilled its primary purpose when it connected the Atlantic with the Pacific seaboard and linked all the provinces of the Dominion together by a road lying entirely within their own territories. But its still greater importance to the Empire at large, and to Canada also, lies in the possibilities of extended trade, and of increased safety to Imperial interests all over the world, which the con- struction of this great highway has opened up. It affords a safe alternative route, without touching foreign soil, between England, Japan, China, India and Australia ; and the following table shows how the proposed Services by this route will compare with those by other lines using the Suez Canal — !• Pchvccii L())id(in aiid YdkoJia nig .• — I. By Peninsular and Oriental Company's route, via Brindisi, to Hong Kong- Detention at lion.Lr Kony .... Ilong Kong to Yukoliama . 2. By P. and O., via Gibraltar, to Hong Kong Detention at Hong Konir Hong Kong to Yukoliama .... DAYS. .11 to ,37 I to 2 6 to 8 41 to 47 4,? to 46 I to 2 6 to 8 50 to 56 t 3» OCR RAILWAV TO THE PACmC \, Wy C.inadi.in racific Railway (Siimmor rniit(<) — I-ondon \o Montii'al ......■• Montreal to \'ancoiivcr \'an('<>iivi'r to ^^lk^ll^Illa ....... .|. Ily Tntorrolonial Railway and ('anadian Pacifir Raiiwav (Winter route) — London to Halifax Halifax to Montn'al Montreal lo \'ol,oh;una (as .-ihnvc) ..... |)\VS. ^\ to .)•;• \ to .li \\ to I t 2-^\ to 2H r >•> 9 • I lo I • i; to i,^', .'S to 2S.I( 1 1 , / w7,-(vr// T.oihhui and ITunii' Kon^ij-: — 1. i!y i'l'ninsular and Oriental Company's routi> :'a/ Brindisi 2. Hy sanio, viii Gibraltar ^. I\y Canadian Pacific Railway, vi