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D 32X 1 2 3 t ^ :-■ ".2 ,. 3 4 5 6 REPLY TO LETTER OF "OLD SETTLER," PUBLISHED IX THE "TIMES" NEWSPAPER, ON THE SELECTION OF A TERMINUS ON THE PACIFIC COAST FOR THE PROPOSED CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY. Br A BRITISH NORTH AMERICAN". G3 LONDON: BENJAMIN SULMAN, IiIevropolitan Works, & 64, MILTON STREET, FOEE SIHEET, CITY. I INTRODUCTOKY NOTE. The following letter has been written in reply to a communi- cation signed " Old Settler," which appeared in the columns of the Times on the subject of the choice of the terminus on the Pacific coast for the proposed Canadian Pacific liailvvay. The writer, a resident of Victoria, Vancouver Island, possesses great local information, and naturally desired that the disparaging remarks of " Old Settler," located on the mainland, should be refuted in the same journal that gave tliem currency. With the pressure on the space of the daily press it seemed hopeless to ask the insertion of so long a reply in the Times, or to seek the insertion in any other paper, whilst it also appeared desirable tliat the letter should take a less ephemeral form, and pass in a convenient shape into the hands of persons taking a special interest in the subject-matter. From a spirit of fairness, and to facilitate a clear under- standing of the question discussed, the letter commented upon is printed in an appendix. It has a^so been considered that the formation of a correct judgment on the matter at issue would be aided if in the appendi.x: works of authority were instanced, from which valuable information is obtainable, and if extracts were given from some of those least accessible. Upon reference to the appendix attached to jVIr. Fleming's report on the surveys and preliminary operations for the Canadian Pacific Kailway {vide p. 282) it will be observed that lie was desirous of eliciting the experience of the officers of H.AI. Navy who had serve The disadvantages of access by the Haro Strait from a military point of view, owing to the position of the American island of St. Juan, have been forcibly put by the Eev. G. M. Grant, Secretary to the Expedition of the Engineer-in-Chief of the Canadian Pacific Eailway, in his well-known book " Ocean to Ocean." Writinj^ of San Juan, Mr. Grant states at page 338, "It commands the entrance to British waters, British shores, a British river, and a ]*>ritish province. There is a hill on San Juan about a thousand feet high, a battery on which would command the whole strait/' From the same point of view it is important to consider the opinion of General Tatten, Chief Engineer of the United States Army, of the disadvantages under which British settlements and commerce might be placed. This opinion is quoted at some length in the ai)pendix. In order to appreciate the commercial value of Esquimalt Harbour, the works cited in the appendix should be carefully studied i and its importance as a station for refitting the ships of H.M. Navy, and recruiting the health of men impaired by service in Chinese waters, should not be over- looked. VANCOUVER ISLAND AND THE MAINLAND OF BIIITISII COLUMBIA. In the Tiincs newspaper there was published in January, 1877, a letter signed "Old Settler," dated from New West- minster, British Columbia, 4th December, 1876, contain inj.5 intemperate and unj:jenerous remarks on his island neighbours of Victoria, the British Columbia capital. To controvert some of his other assertions the ibllowing counter-statements are respectfully submitted, that the subject of the proposed terminus of the Canadian Pacific liailway may be considered by the British public from another point of view. As might be expected, mainlanders iidiabiting the southern and in extent the third part of continental British Columbia are not in accord with Vancouver Islanders on the Railway Terminus question, althouglv ])erfectly aware that it v/ill be determined on its merits by the statesmen of the Dominion and mother country, when possessed of the fullest attamable information. It is doubtless the duty of mainlander as well as of islander to furnish each his quota of information, and it is for the impartial to judge how far supposed self-interest may have unwittingly warped the statements presented by either. I differ from " Old Settler " as to the extent of the harbour of Burrard Inlet, and as to his estimate of its value to the Dominion and tlie empire, as the site of the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Eailway. In his epistle to the Times he has the following :—'' A good route has been found, passing through or close to the settled parts of the province, and terminating at the magnificent harbour of Burrard Inlet — a harbour capable of containing all 8 tlie navies in the world, with plenty of room to spare ; a liarbour which Victorians in their blind rajjie sti«'matise as ditliciilt and dangerous of access, but into which sailing ships have been brought under sail and without a pilot." With regard to the last assertion I have to admit tliat authentic evidence does exist ; that about ten years ago two merchantmen, each of, at the most, from 300 to 400 tons burthen, sailed into the inlet without a pilot ; but they were piloted out, and their masters never repeated the venture. Like instances may very rarely have occurred. It is well known as an almost unvarying custom that sailing ships are towed to and fro between Eoyal Eoads, Esquimalt, and the inlet. So far is Buriard Inlet from being in respect of safe harbourage comparable with JNIilford Haven or Cromarty Bay in the old land, that it has of good anchorage at Gran- ville or Coal Harbour only about one square marine mile in extent, and at Moodyville on the north shore only half a square marine mile or less. The remainder of the inlet, 36 fathoms deep in mid- channel, is, owing to strong tidal currents and eddies, unsafe for anchorage. Outward bound ships with their tugs do anchor at its edge» in about 20 fathoms, awaiting turn of tide, but meanwhile a man has to be at the helm so to steer as to obviate the risk of having the cable snapped. " Old Settler " avoids mention of the dangerous Narrows leading from the Georgian Gulf into the inlet. Through these, but 300 yards wide in one place, the tide rushes strongly up and down, and the eddies are rapid. For two hours spring tides are said by experienced men to average ten knots through the Narrows. So much for " Old Settler " on these matters of fact. He is not the only mainlander who has publicly vaunted of the harbour of Burrard Inlet and its approaches. In the Ottawa House of Commons, 6th April, 1876, a B.C. mainland member said, in his place, that " the navi- gation from the southern extremity of Vancouver Island to Burrard Inlet is excellent." This does not agree with what 9 is stated in the " Vancouver Island Pilot," paj^'es 1, 30 — !U, and 102, or with \vh iL is shown in the Adniiridty Chart of" Vun- les wo ten ion ^ho [its 76, Ivi- to Lat Tnland and ndj Mainland," both th rk of couver Captain (now Admiral) liichards, U.M., and of his ollicnrs. Neither does it correspond with the well-uonsidered represen- tations of commanders of coasting steamers, and of pilots, who •"Gr years have been passing up and down in all weathers when ])racticable. They say the Haro Channel abounds in shoals and reefs, narrowing it at one point to less than two miles, between Turnpoint on Stuart's Island, U.S.A., and Coo])er lleef, IIN.A, Its depth of water varies from GO to 180 fathoms. The spring tides run at least at the rate of 6 knots an hour, while off the points are strong eddies and dangerous tide rips. In and adjoining this channel are several anchorages suitable for vessels of about 1,000 tons if towed, but none where ocean steamers or sailing ships of the largest size should ever be found in foggy or stormy weather. Staff Commander Pender, E.N., in evidence, by request of the Admiralty, recently given to the Colonial Otlico lor general information respecting the harbours of the mainland, after avowing preference for Biiivard's Inlet as the site for the railway terminus over other mainland inlets, as far as yet surveyed, further states, however, that " the risks attending navigation, with large steamships against time, amongst the islands lying between Juan de Fuca Strait and the Strait of Georgia are very great." The foregoing is the concluding sentence of Captain Pender's evidence, as copied in the Victoria British CWo?MS^,9thMay, 1877,from the latest Progress Eeport of Mr. Sandford Fleming, Engineer-in-CL ? of the Canadian Pacific Railway Survey. In that report is also given the evidence of Admiral Richards, and of Admirals Farquhar and Cochrane. With Admiral (then Captain) Richards, Mr. Pender was for several years engaged in the survey of this coast, and latterly, when himself in command, he continued the w^ork for some years 10 1 1 longer. His opinions on tiie matter in qnnstion are therefore entitled to the greatest consideration. jNIr. Fleming, in his late comprehensive lleport, states, as one of the deductions derivable from the naval testimony furnished, taken in con- junction with the Admiralty charts, that the approach to Burrard Inleu by the south of Vancouver Island is through passages more or less intricate, between or at no great distance from, islands known as the San Juan group. The strategic or military objections to the Fraser Valley and Burrard Inlet route have, in the Dominion Parliament, been adverted to by Premier Mackenzie, and in his latest report (1877) by Mr. Fleming. However great the desire of the British for amity with surrounding nations, the contin- gencies of war are points that our statesmen are not accus- tomed to ignore, or dismiss the consideration of as of small moment. Friendly as the future relations of England and America may be, there is yet no sign of abatement in their existing intense cmmercial rivalry. It is hence of primary necessity, and clearly of the higliest import to Imperial and Dominion interests, that advantage should be taken of the best commercial standpoint still remaining to Great Britain on the Pacific slope. The Americans possess on the Fucan Strait, opposite to, and seventeen miles from Esquimalt, " Port Angeles," jocularly called "Cherbourg," and in the-' U.S. Pilot," p. 188, termed "an excellent and extensive harbour." At page 190 of the same authority is the statement that " coal of fair quality is reported to have been found within three miles of the harbour." Furt Angeles could, by a railway from ] 50 to 175 miles in length to Tenino, a short distance S...^. if Olympia, the capital of Washington Territory, be connected with the line between Tacoma, W.T., and Poseburg, Southern Oregon, ultimately, it is said, to be joined in Calilornia with tliG ( entraj Pacific Trans-continental line. A few years ago, when some American capitalists projected the North l*aoific liailway line, and were liaving the Puget 11 Sound (W.T.) country examined for a pass through the Cascade Mountains, and for a good terminal harbou^' on the eastern shore of th? territory, Holmes Harbour, sixty miles south of Port Angeles, was so much talked of as the terminus that land there and in the neighbourhood greatly rose in value. It was at Ais time proposed to carry the line from Snoqualim Pass by a long circuit north to opposite Fidalgo Island (see map of W. Territory), thither by bridge, thence south, and by bridge across Deception Pass to Whidbey Island, and on to Holmes Harbour, which opening on the east shore of that island would have had to be connected by a ship canal of a few miles in length with Admiralty Inlet, the straight f«nd safe southern furcation of De Fuca. Although, north of Holmes Harbour, on the east coast of "Washington Territory, there are other harbours, and amongst these Bellingham Bay, whence coal is exported in sailing vessels, the above-mentioned capitalists held distinctly in view the adopting a terminus of comparatively easy access from the ocean, aud considering the expensive operations proposed, it is a fair inference that they regarded this as a point of primary importance. The sending a branch railway line into British territory was then and has been since talked of. A hope is evidently entertained that with such a branch, and after the occurrence of vexatious delays and marine disasters on the passage to a terminus at Burrard's Inlet, the Canadian P.RE. would become secondary and subsidiary to the American Bailway lines hereafter to terminate on Admi- ralty Inlet and the Fucan Straits. What is plainly a hope for Americans is a great dread to Victorians, and for most other British Columbians who give attention to these matters. Fogs occasionally prevail on this coast every peason from Au