; 
 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES^BAILLAIRGE ^ 
 
 
 /// 
 
 City Engin£er, to the City Council 
 
 (rd 
 
 
 ) 
 
 ON THE 
 OF THE 
 
 OOEBEC & LAKE ST. JOIN EAILWAY 
 
 NORTHWARD FROM 
 
 ST. RAYMOND 
 
 QiiJbec Sept 24th IS85. 
 
 QUEBEC : 
 Georges Vincent, Gity Printek 
 
 1885. 
 
 ^'^'^^0^3:^^ 
 
^ 
 
e,e:po:rt 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES BAILLAIRGE 
 
 City Engineer, to the City Council 
 ON THE 
 
 3:eiid sEOTionsr 
 
 OF THE 
 
 QUEBEC & LAKE ST. JOHN RAILWAY 
 
 NORTHWARD FROM 
 
 ST. RAYMOND 
 
 Qv/Ibee Sept. ^U'l ^S85. 
 
 QUEBEC : 
 Georges Vincent, City Printer 
 
 1885. 
 
Quebec, Sept. 24 1885. 
 
 e,e:poe,t 
 
 BY 
 
 M. BAILLAIRGE 
 
 Citv Enmneer,to the City Couneil.on the 3rd Section,under the new 
 ' contract with M. Beemer, of the Quebec and Lake St. John 
 Railway, North w^ord from St "Raymond. 
 
 St Raymond lies 36 miles from Quebec ; St. Cunon or lake 
 Cimon, ten miles northward thereof ; the second section reported 
 on by me last vear, ten miles in advance of St. Cimon; and sec- 
 tion three noV reported on, still 10 miles northward of the last: 
 commencing and ending at 56 and 66 miles respectively from Quebec. 
 
 Mr Ridout on part of the Fed. Govt., Mr. Light as representing 
 the Local, and myself on part of the Municipal, left town by spe'^ial 
 train at 11 A. M. of Sept. 3rd. by the North Shore Railway, m com- 
 nanv with Mr. Hoare, Mr. Beemer's managing engineer, a brother 
 of the contractor and Mr. McDonald on his part ; and Mr. bcott 
 Secretary-Treasurer on part of the Company. At 12i p. m. we reached 
 Sfc Raymond; in another half hour we were at Lake Cimon and 
 at 1| P. M. we had reached the point where our operations were 
 to begin. 
 
 To facilitate observation and with plans, sections, specifieatona 
 and contract in hand, we transferred ourselves and assistants to an 
 open plat-form car where the three judges sat side by sideonwool- 
 .sacks though without the powdered wigs emblematic of the duty 
 to be performed. 
 
Not acting in concert, we of course took, each his own notes. 
 
 In riding over the prcviour, sections we noticed that the defi- 
 ciencies of last year and the year before had heen made good with the 
 exception of a few hundred feet over an apparently bottomless 
 swamp, like the Chat moss on the line of Liverpool and Manchester 
 railway, which when added to from above, as pertinently kept sink- 
 ing from below,and only remained permanent after ten successive ad- 
 ditions tc its surface and 20 feet in depth of fascines, with a series 
 of perforated kegs on either side of it, to drain otl* the water ; I say, 
 that like the Chat bog, this one must be drained and fascined, and 
 built up in successive layers until such a foundation is reached as 
 will allow of its retaining its proper level, and t^ 's is being done as 
 fast and conveniently as allowable. 
 
 The superstructure of Black llivor bridge, unfinished at the 
 time of our inspection of section 2, has since been completed, the 
 trestles filled in, the dump widened out and the ballasting of the sec- 
 tion made good after rectifying levels and alinements. 
 
 The present section is an almost uninterru])tcd series of cuts and 
 fills : all heavy work, with much solid rock. The stone is gneiss or 
 metamorphic rock, with its usual striated and apparently stratified 
 appearence, thoun-h much of it, as we advance, is found to be of a very 
 fine texture, similar and equal in quality to the best granite. It has 
 been utilized, I am glad to say, in the bridge piers and in culvei-ts, 
 where it can be seen in heavy blocks of coursed cut ashlar with rock 
 face fin! li, thus dispensing with the necessity as heretofore of ob- 
 taining the material from Deschaml)ault, Terrebonne and elsewhere. 
 
 The stone culverts of from 5 to Gft. section are under deep and 
 therefore broad embankments ; they are built in Portland cement 
 and are oftentimes of as much as 60 to 80ft. in length. -.> . 
 
 Riviere a Pierre which though reached and seen at about one mile 
 from the begining of the section, is not crossed until nearly a mile 
 and a half further, or at Station 2810, is spanned by a steel and iron 
 structure, which is an improvement on other bridges of the kind. 
 It is a credit to all concerned and does honor to its builders the 
 " Dominion Bridge Co." of Lachine. The ?pan is 150 feet and the 
 piers, as may have been already inferred when speaking of the stone 
 of which they are built, are of cut masonry in 18 to 24 inch courses 
 in Portland cement and of the most enduring and permanent charac- 
 
5 
 
 The road now follows along the western side of the k Pierre 
 River f _r a little more than another mile, when it leaves it to follow 
 out its North-wostern hnmch to within a mile or so of the end of 
 the section. The road crosses and rocrossns this northern branch at 
 stations 25)02 uud 29So at apposite ends of Chu'o lake, on the usual 
 iaoorini^ of 8x12 incli pine beams at 20 inch centres supported from 
 heavy iron an<l stejl girders of .'J:} feet span on solid stone piers of 
 the s.iun character as tliose of the bridge just alluded to. It maybe 
 said lure to the credit of Sir. Becmer that while he has put in iron 
 girders as just mentioned, tlie contract only required wooden struc- 
 tures. 
 
 River a Pierre Station bids fair to become a thriving place, se- 
 veral houses having already been erected and amongst otliers a dou- 
 ble mansard roof buildinor of some CO feet frontajxe answcrinsr the 
 purposes of a hotel : one Labrecque is the proprietor. 
 
 The line after following: close alonjc side the North branch of 
 Rivera Pierre for about 5^ miles, with easy grades and picturesque 
 surroundiiifrs, terminates its 10 miles length of section at station No. 
 3215 at.'iO miles from St. Raymond as already mentioned. 
 
 A halt was made here and the environs examined. It being con- 
 sidered important, partly with the view of making up for dificiencies 
 in the section just gone ever, to see what work was done on the next 
 section and too late in the eveninsr to reach the Batiscan on foot after 
 driving over the 5 miles of rails laid on section 4, the party increa- 
 sed by Mr. Cressman, Bsemer's manager and Cadman the Company's 
 Chief Engineer, put up for the night at what is called the "Windsor" 
 a log house of large dimensions with flat roof in the Italian style 
 erected by Mr. Beemer, but where all the dainties of the season were 
 to bo had under the fostering: crrc of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the lessees 
 of the establishment, including corned and roast beef, ham, eggs, the 
 best of potatoes, tomatoes, preserves, pudding and pies quite equal 
 to those of the bigger establishment of the same name, tea, cotfee, 
 cigars ad libitum and all for a merely nominal price ; not forgetting 
 before going to bed, the usual night cap with, in lieu of a stick, a te- 
 legraph pole in it, as Mrs. O'Brien would say. The undersigned con- 
 siders it to be not out of place to mention these facts as it is impor- 
 tant that tourists from Canada, the United-States and elsewhere 
 should be aware that while on a fishing or shooting excursion in this 
 mountainous district, they can not only fill their baskets with the 
 best of speckled trout from the numerous lakes along the line and at 
 only a few minutes walk therefrom ; they can not only during the 
 
6 
 
 proper season, liunt and run down the moose and cariboo ; they can 
 not only feast their eyes on the bold and gorgeous sceneryalong the 
 line of railway and its vicinity ; but can also feast themselves to' 
 their heart's content under the"^hosi)i table roof of the Smith's which 
 lies in a well wooded valley of hard wood trees, nicelysheltered from 
 all surroundinij winds. 
 
 After a first rate breakfast, the party proceeded on its inspec- 
 tion at 7h A. AI. of the following day ; We rode on a freight train 
 of platform ears loaded with railroad iron, steel ties, wooden sleep- 
 ers and the like -.to when^ track laying was at that time being vigo- 
 roiT-ly prosecuttMl : that is, to not less a distance than some 5 miles 
 or more, beyond section Jj and into section 4. At station 3380, or 
 about 3 miles beyond section 3 and at 33 miles from St. llaymond.we 
 came upon and got our first glimpse of the Batiscan. It is hemmed 
 in by mountains from GOO to" 900 ft. in height, presenting like the 
 St. Maurice at the Grand Piles, much of the wild and vivid scenery 
 of the Saguenay, though not on so grand a scale, the river being 
 less deep and only some -'^00 to 400 feet in width. 
 
 The road now follows along the left or East bank of the river 
 to where the track is laid at 35 miles from St. Raymond and 71 
 from Quebec ; and as it ascends continuously with the river, which 
 is not at all rapid, except very slightly so at certain points, a very 
 easy grade is now being continued from here towards the Me. Quick 
 and lake Edouard. 
 
 We vacated or were, so to say, dumped from our jaunting car 
 at the end of the track and thence proceeded on foot for nearly 2| 
 miles further,or to near station 3600 over the graded road bed at for- 
 mation level, being 7^ miles on section 4, with information from 
 Cadman, Hoare and others that the grading is done to nearly one 
 mile beyond section 4, with some 500 men working ahead at cuttings 
 clearing, grubbing etc. on section No 5 beyond where the McQuck 
 empties itself into the Batiscan ; and 300 more men coming from 
 New- York to replace those of our Canadians who,at this season,have 
 to leave work on the road to attend to their farms and harvesting. 
 
 Cadman and I had proceeded for some distance ahead of the 
 , remainder of the party, when to my regret, and at only 9^ A. M,, we 
 
 were recalled by the shrill cry of the steam whistle and had to re- 
 . trace our steps southward, as on account of the unavoidable delaya 
 
 at sidings on the route, to make way for freight trains, ballast cars> 
 . steam shovels, track laying, etc., we could not, unless we then retum- 
 -.ed, get back to Lake Cimon in time to catch the train for Quebec 
 
where MM. Light, Ridout hikI Hoare had tt) l)e thatevoniui;- to attend 
 to other engagements on the niorrovr. 
 
 As for myself I could have gone on for miles, amidst the wild 
 and lovely scenery of the river-girdled glades and hills, and though 
 not an over ardent admirer of the beautiful ; though not given, that 
 I am aware, to an over dose of sentiment, I sincerely pitied those 
 who had not as yet been witness to the scene. We arc all, more or 
 less, seeking after novelty and the unknown. The situation was 
 too vast : I could not take it all in and felt as if I would you were 
 all there, Mr. Mayor and gentlemen with your kin and friends and 
 the ladies to feast j'our eyes and hearts on the glories of a lovely 
 day amidst our Canadian forests. 
 
 We had soon returned on foot to a beautiful spring of clear and 
 cold water to the northward of beaver meadows when, after tasting 
 of the limpid stream and canting a partint; glance at the twin moun- 
 tains of Sion from whose bosom there appeared to distill, as of old, 
 milk and honey, Cadman and I in company with the remainder of the 
 party whom we had left behind us at frog (alias grog) inlet and 
 frying pan creek, mounted our jaunting car once more and proceeded 
 on our journey homeward, when after bidding adieu to Russell and 
 Shaw of camp comfort, assistant Engineers on the road and who had 
 done all in their power to make our stay agreeable, we reached town 
 at about^ 7 P. M. in what may be considered very good condition for 
 that which appeared to us under the bracing influence of mountain 
 air and traved to be a long delayed supper, though we had had a 
 hearty lunch at the Windsor at noon, but so long ago that we had 
 well nigh overreached its beneficial effects. 
 
 It is necessary that one and all should see for themselves this 
 really first class road amoung the mountains. Gentlemen of the 
 Local and Federal, let me impress upon you the advisability of vi- 
 siting the country that you may judge of its floral and mineral 
 wealth. I was astounded at the piles of fire wood cut from the right 
 of way alone, which I estimated at as much as 52 cords on 200 ft. 
 of the road clearing by only 100 in w^idth, some 20,000 sup. feet or 
 less than half an acre, while 50 cords to the whole acre is not consi- 
 dered at all out of the way and fully f of this is black and red birch 
 with a goodly proportion of oth er hardwood. 
 
 Three parties : Voyer, Atkinson and another are about to erect 
 mills it is said, on the A. Pierre and Batiscan rivers; and when I say 
 that last year Sewell alone furnished 1213 car loads of fire wood and 
 lumber of all kinds towards the traffic of the road,some idea may be 
 
formed of the vastness of the lumbering business in store for the en- 
 terprise when carried to completion. 
 
 I have already alluded to the stone as seen at the several cuts 
 along the line, and would say that it divides up easily into square 
 blocks, as witness its employment in the coursed masonary of the 
 bridges alluded to ; it is easily worked and of fine appearence : much 
 of it like that of which is now being erected Ihe portico of our new 
 Court House in St. Lewis Street. 
 
 Bowlders ther e are in immense quantities and in successive 
 layers — I counted 7 such separate layers or strata of them in one cut 
 some 30 ft. in depth at station 3444 or near the 35th mile from St. 
 Raymond — piled one above the other during the glacial stage of the 
 quaternary epoch. Yes, these millions of bowlders of all sizes from 
 that of a marble to others weighing a hundred, nay a thousand tons or 
 more, here they are — it would do a geologist's heart good to see them 
 — fragments of rocks ground down on all sides and rounded oflfby the 
 hand of time in their irresistable march southward from the Lauren- 
 tides and mountainous districts further North, rolling over and over 
 throughout distances of may-be hundreds of miles, carried along as 
 they were, or are supposed to have been, by the .sea of ice which like 
 the Alpine and other glaciers of the present day, produce a like ef- 
 fect though on a smaller scale. 
 
 I have already given it as my opinion that the only paving 
 material for steep acclivities like gallows hill, is bowlders — and there 
 are enough here to pave a hundred cities — for while on such inclines 
 macadam can not be made to stand, cut pavini; is unfit for hills any 
 steeper than Mountain hill, as it offers no catch or hold for the horses 
 hoof or toe, while small boulders ot the size of a pine apple and of 
 that proportionate length, like those so much used for hilly ground 
 in Boston and for water courses, will just fit tlie hoof and secure a 
 proper footing. 
 
 I must not be misunderstood : bowlder paving is unfit for level 
 streets as in Sault au Matelot street where in addition to their being 
 of far too large a size, they allow of the dirt collecting in their 
 interstices and can not be kept clean ; whereas in situations like the 
 old upper-town market place. Church St. hill and other accliviti es 
 where they have been in use for some 20 years or more, elsewhere 
 for 50 and 80 years, they are washed clean by every successive ra in 
 and always present a neat and unobjectionable appearence. There is 
 another material here which it behoves me to mention, as among th e 
 economic features of the enterprise : I allude to the live standing 
 
tamarack to be had along the line,and precisely the sizes required are 
 those which are too small for railroad ties or any other pui-poses 
 but scaffolding poles. A few years ago there existed almost a rage 
 for the so called Nicholson pavement, which like other epidemics 
 has died out in the Canadas and United States and is now raging 
 like 'cholera and small pox in Europe and other lands. Nations like 
 individuals will not learn nor profit by other's experience ; they must 
 try the thing for themselves. I have been now 19 years in the civic 
 service and so certain was I that the Nicholson would come to grief 
 that never would I allow one inch of it to be laid in Quebec, while 
 Montreal was all the rage for it and as is well remembered, it rotted 
 out as I had predicted in from 3 to 5 years and had to be replaced 
 in Jacques-Cartier square, great St. James St. and elsewhere and 
 generally throughout America wherever introduced. 
 
 Some 40 years ago, a few of our streets were paved during 
 my predecessor Hamel's time.and I believe at his suggestion and that 
 of my late father , with round blocks of tamarack. Whether they 
 were or not the generators of the system, I can not say, as, likely, 
 such a mode of pavement should and must have suggested itself 
 years ago to engineers and road makers in localities where saw mills 
 were deficient and the surface of streets and highways bad and 
 unimproved. Shortly after this paving was laid in Quebec, it was 
 torn up for the introduction of our water works and drainage; it there 
 remained forgotten, remnants of it persisting along the sides of 
 streets filled in between with macadam, until I had occasion a few 
 years ago to take some of it up which I found to be perfectly sound 
 to the very core,and not worm down by more than an inch or two out 
 of 6 or 7 after 35 years usage. I have some of these blocks which 
 any one can see in my oflfice at the City Hall and wrote a letter of 
 congratulation to the mayor of Toronto when I heard of that City 
 resorting again to the round block pavement as now laid in Yonge 
 and other streets of the Queen City of the West. This paving 
 however is of cedar, not of tamarack, and I am still inclmed to think 
 that to the one essential element of its success: the unhewn block, 
 should be added that of quality of timber ; .the first as conducive to 
 longevity, by reducing the surface of contact of the adjoining blocks 
 to a minimum and thus preventing them from rotting as they do in 
 the close jointed Nicholson ; the second, the harder and more endu- 
 ring nature of the material under the heavy traflic of our narrow 
 and crowded streets. 
 
 The sizes best suited for paving may vary from 4^ to 8 or 9 
 inches in diameter and I may be permitted at this juncture to call 
 the attention of the City Council to the advi.-ability of getting out 
 
10 
 
 enough of this material in the spring to pave the Grande A\\4e or 
 St. Louis Road from end to end and such other promenade thorough- 
 fares, at a far cheaper rate than stone and much more durable, as 
 the pores of the wood presenting themselves upright to the traffic, 
 fill with grit, when the surface of the wooden block becomes harder, 
 so to say, than stone, or at any rate more durable and is not to be 
 worn away as stone is by the combined action of friction under 
 wet or moisture. 
 
 Again 1 say. Gentlemen of the City Council, [Ministers of the 
 Federal and Local, the peoples representatives, in general : visit the 
 locality and judge for yourselves. We should do so, we do not knov/ 
 our geography of Canada. No more did the French, when beaten 
 in 1870 by the Germans who had studied french itineraries much 
 more diligently than the French themselves. We do not know 
 our geography and hence we are beaten on our own territ- :y by 
 out-siders on sneh questions as the "Short Line" between Montrea 
 and the Maritine Provinces. There are other things we do not 
 know and should know, for we read not or pass our time at clubs 
 while others are arming themselves with weapons to defeat us. 
 Had our representatives in Parliament known,when on the question 
 of the bridge at Cap rouge, that the bridge of similar construction 
 now in course of erection over the Firth of Forth in Scottland, is 
 being done under a written contract for not over £1,600,000 sterling, 
 equal to less than 8 millions of dollars, while Light and Braunlees 
 correctly estimated the Quebec structure of only one third the extent 
 (a single span of only liOO ft. and lesser with, against a double 
 span or two spans of 1700 ft. and greater breadth and height) 
 to cost S3,000,000 ; I say, had that been known, no one would 
 have dared on the floor of the House, deny the correctness of the 
 lesser estimate,nor have had the barefaced audacity to put the figure 
 down as was done at $7,000,000 as a potent, an omnipotent argu- 
 ment against granting Quebec her due. 
 
 Let us hope Sir Charles will put his opinion in the scale in re- 
 lation to the utility of the bridge at Quebec, of which it has been 
 argued that it would injure the city as it was also argued at the timt of 
 building the Victoria, that it would ruin Montreal. Is such the case 
 or is it not the contrary. Through trains of passenger and 
 freight traffic destined for points beyond Quebec, must undoub- 
 tedly go straight through the Bridge and not stop at Quebec 
 where they are not wanted and where the freight would only be an 
 embarrassing nuisance on our lines and sidings ; but on the other 
 hand, the bridge would allow of all passenger and freight traffic des- 
 tined for Quebec to come straight into the City from the Maritime 
 
m 
 
 Provinces by way of the Intercolonial ; from Ontario, the far West, 
 and the United States, by way of the Grand Trunk, tlie Kennebec 
 and the Canada Central ; while the same bridge would subserve the 
 pnr;)(<;i5 of Lavis or South Quebec (the other half of our City) by 
 allowing so much of the traffic of the North Shore and LakcSt.John 
 railways as might be booked to Levis and south ward.to reach itsdes- 
 tination<lirect through the Quebec bridge,without,as is at present the 
 case, having to vviiit for days in »vinter, hours in su.nmer, to cross 
 the St. Lawrence until a favorable opportunity may occur for so 
 doing. 
 
 And we appeal" destined not even to have the advantage of ferry 
 boats for the purpos «. of taking tr lins across the river, because for- 
 sooth no one can or has yet conceived the idea of doing away with 
 the ice anvi frost difficulty as can so easily be done in my opinion 
 by building a water tight, roofed in, wooden slip-way of suitable 
 length for a i i.iclined plane to let down a train of cars or portion, 
 thereof at lo ,v water,as at any other stage of the tide, and so enclose 
 the outer entl of the slipway by a hinged vertically sliding shield or 
 gate to keep out the water, moving up and down in water tight 
 grooves ; built boUow (both slides and guides) and of steel or iron 
 to admit steam or hot water and thus effectually prevent any free- 
 zing of the gate in its jambs. 
 
 To return now to the more imm(>diate subject at hand, it will 
 be seen that not merely is the section under consideration so to say 
 complete, but that to make up for any deficiencies.more than a hun- 
 dred times the amount of all such is compensated for by the 4th 
 section being more than half finished and in fact equal to finished 
 if the work already done 01 th i 5b'i s i3bio:i be put in the balance. 
 
 I would therefore recommend that the CityCouncil do now 
 declare the allowance of $2,500 per mile to be due and payable and 
 I would have it done with a good grace, for really it has bo m a 
 terrible battle for the company to fight and like their indomitable 
 engineer Cadman who was never yet once detened by a mountain 
 staring him straight in the face and where engineers of old would 
 have proposed to tunnel thro, Cadman conjured thedifficulty by getting 
 round it, and in the same way th(^ indefatiguable secretary treasurer 
 of the company J. S. Scott, esq. has had to engineer the company 
 through its pecuniary difficulties : It has been a hard struggle I say 
 and had it not been for such a man as James G. Ross who came to 
 the rescue when all others failed to do so, while other wealthy Que- 
 beccrs preferred the unpatriotic mode of going to England and 
 elsewhere to spend the money earned in Quebec and therefore due to i^ 
 
12 
 
 and .should have been spent here ; had Ross I say not come to the 
 rescue as he did, the undertaking would ere now have been more 
 than once abandoned from sheer want of funds to carry it through. 
 
 Moreover there are now also on hand enough rails to lay 15 miles 
 more of track or to the end of the 5th section at 86 miles from Que- 
 bec and some idea may be had of the number of hands now on the 
 works, when ii is stated that 1500 Gibs, loaves are baked weekly on 
 the premises to keep the men supplied with this one article of diet. 
 
 It is really in our own interest that we should do something to 
 facilitate and ihasten the completion of this road right through to 
 lake St. John, such for instance as taking upon ourselves at an earlier 
 date the interest on the bonds and not keeping the company waiting 
 for this till the road is finished. 
 
 Let us do all we can to hasten the completion of the road as 
 Cure Lizotte has told us that some 35 parishes will spring up bet- 
 ween the Lake and Isle Edouard anil I need not dwell upon the ab- 
 solute necessity of Quebec having a back country of its own as 
 other cities have to their jxreat and manifest advantage. 
 
 I am glad to learn that the Federal Govt, will continue its 
 subscription to the road and it would certainly be in the general in- 
 terest tliat this aid be increased both by the Federal and Local Govts. 
 
 With increased facilities and the good will of all, there can be 
 no doubt as to the possibility and almost certainty of the road being 
 completed to lake St. John early in 1888. - > 
 
 In former reports I have alluded to the style of engine called 
 the " Consolidation " distributing its weight, 50 to 60 tons exclusive 
 of tender, over the road tlirough four pair of driving wheels and 
 therefore not heavier on the rail in proportion than other engines, 
 not more destructive of the road and capable of working round 
 curves of 350 feet radius. These enfjines are well filted for a road 
 like this with 20^0 grades and will move a train of 20 to 30 loaded 
 platform or other cars with as much facility as an ordinary engine 
 will take in tow only one half the number. These engines in fact 
 have been designed especially to meet the requirements of heavy 
 grades as those on the pacific railway where they are in uso.as well, 
 in the Sierras, in South America on the Santa Fe, in the hilly dis- 
 tricts of the Ui ted States, in Russia and elsewhere, and not only 
 can one of these fiery steeds do twice the duty of their tamer kin 
 but they are also of far greater economy since it requires but one 
 
18 
 
 engine driver, one conductor, one set of hands to work the double 
 train, while twice the number would be required on two separate 
 trains of half the size. 
 
 In former days we had to get through the world ; now we get 
 around and over it. In railroad times of yore, Stephenson would have 
 never dared to try his hand at any thing but a straight and level 
 road, with costly tunnels and embankments. There was good reason 
 for so doing : engines were then so light of weight, their wheels 
 must have slid upon the rails instead of rolling over them. These 
 European railways did not cost less than £50,000 a mile, a quarter 
 of a million of dollars on an averagre. 
 
 "O" 
 
 American Engineers tutored into boldness of conception by the 
 very vastness of the country, its mountains an<l acclivities, have mas- 
 tered th<5 situation and introduced slopes formerly though to be im- 
 possible ; but, " diamond cut diamond " like, and as, for every hea- 
 vier shot or projectile an increased armor plating can be found to 
 protect our fleet at sea, and each addition to the plating find a hea- 
 vier gun, a greater charge of powder, a more ponderous missile to 
 overcome its resistance : so has it been with railroads, and the limit 
 has not yet been reachel at which an increased incline will not find 
 an engine of heavier or more powerful calibre suited to the augment- 
 ed gravity. 
 
 Look at our roads as compared with those of old : they cost a 
 quarter of a, million to the mile, ours one fifth of the umount : the 
 average price of American railroads ; while this of the lake St. John 
 district bids fair to be done and equipped for lij;rd]y more than half 
 the latter sum, may -be $->0,000 to tlu^ mile, which will f^eein incredi- 
 ble to all who may look intothevastnessof the ei.tiMprise ihror^h such 
 a wild and hilly country ; but the indomitable Cadman, the compa- 
 ny's engineer- in chief is not to be deterred by such a trifle as a 
 mountain a thousand ft. in height : he sees it at a distance, prepares 
 for it and though you would imagine you are going to but slap up 
 against it, you are agi'ceably mistaken by finding yourself skirting 
 around its base in the most fascinating curve imaginable. 
 
 Keep at it Cadman : the Company's consulting engineer Light 
 will not fail you, Ridout will help you through. Do not lose courage 
 Scott — keep up your spirits Directors of the arduous undertaking. 
 Push forward Beemer and Hoare. Better times must be in store 
 for you all. The work must be seen to be appreciated and when 
 seen the Corporation of Quebec can not fail, neither can the Govt, 
 thii Federal, the Local, to stretch out a helping hand to you. 
 
14 
 
 Let us have Sir John again, Sir Charles, Sir Hector, Sir Adol- 
 phe the Minister of Railways, M. Pope, the Quebec Minibters to boot, 
 to see the country for themselves, its floral and its mineral wealth, 
 its adaptability for settlement between Lake Edouaid and Chicour 
 timi. Let them see this but once and they can not fail to hold out 
 the land of fellowship to the hai-dy pioneers on their way to Mis- 
 tassini. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 CHS. baillairg:^, a. m. 
 
 City Engineer 
 - F. R. S.C. etc., etc.