IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 S» IIM III 2.5 
 
 u m 
 
 IIIU IIIII22 
 2.0 
 
 :I4S 
 
 1.8 
 
 
 1.25 
 
 1.4 
 
 1.6 
 
 
 .4 6" — 
 
 
 ► 
 
 y). 
 
 % 
 
 O 
 
 c^. 0% 
 
 ^B. 
 
 # 
 
 <^^: 
 
 '^f 
 
 ^l 
 
 "^•y 
 
 '/ 
 
 /A 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 t 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 % 
 
 ^<b 
 
 V 
 
 >v 
 
 
 
 c> 
 
 -fi' 
 
 % 
 
 n? 
 
 '^^^ 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
 ^ 
 
£?, 
 
 fn ''//, 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 Collection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 
 
 ^ 
 
Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to obtain the best 
 original copy available for filming. Features of this 
 copy which may be bibliographically unique, 
 which may alter any of the images in the 
 reproduction, or which may significantly change 
 the usual method of filming, are checked below. 
 
 V 
 
 ' Coloured covers/ 
 Couverture de couleur 
 
 I I Covers damaged/ 
 
 D 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 Couverture endommagee 
 
 Covprs restored and/or laminated/ 
 Couverture restaurie et/ou pellicul6e 
 
 I I Cover title missing/ 
 
 Le titre de couverture manque 
 
 I I Coloured maps/ 
 
 Cartes g^ographiques en couleur 
 
 □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ 
 Encre de cotileur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) 
 
 I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ 
 
 □ 
 
 Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur 
 
 Bound with other material/ 
 Relie avec d'autres documents 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 along interior margin/ 
 
 La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la 
 distortion le long de la marge intdrieure 
 
 Blank leaves added during restoration may 
 appear within the text. Whenever possible, these 
 have been omitted from filming/ 
 II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajoutdes 
 lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, 
 mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont 
 pas 6t6 film^es. 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Commentaires suppl^mentaires; 
 
 L'Institut a microfilmd le meilleur exemplaire 
 qu'il lui a 6td possible de se procurer. Les details 
 da cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du 
 point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier 
 une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une 
 modification dans la m^thode norma*' de filmage 
 sont indiqu6s ci-dessous. 
 
 I I Coloured pages/ 
 
 Pages de couleur 
 
 Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommagdes 
 
 Pages restored and/oi 
 
 Pages restaurdes et/ou pelliculees 
 
 I I Pages damaged/ 
 
 I I Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 
 y 
 
 D 
 
 Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 Pages d6color6es, tachet^es ou piqu^es 
 
 I I Pages detached/ 
 
 Pages d^tach^es 
 
 Showthrough/ 
 Transparence 
 
 Quality of prir 
 
 Quality inegale de I'impression 
 
 Includes supplementary materii 
 Comprend du materiel supplementaire 
 
 Only edition available/ 
 Seule Edition disponible 
 
 r~~] Showthrough/ 
 
 I I Quality of print varies/ 
 
 I I Includes supplementary material/ 
 
 I I Only edition available/ 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata 
 slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Les pages totalement ou partiellement 
 obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, 
 etc., ont 6t6 filmdes h nouveau de facon ci 
 obtenir la meilleure image possible. 
 
 This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ 
 
 Ce document est film^ au taux de reduction indiqud ci-dessous. 
 
 10X 14X 18X 22X 
 
 26X 
 
 30X 
 
 T 
 
 J 
 
 12X 
 
 16X 
 
 20X 
 
 24X 
 
 28X 
 
 32X 
 
The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks 
 to the generosity of: 
 
 Library of the Public 
 Archives of Canada 
 
 L'exenr>plaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la 
 gdnirositd de: 
 
 ^ La bibliothdque des Archives 
 
 publiques du Canada 
 
 The images appearing here are the best quality 
 possible considering the condition and legibility 
 of the original copy and in keeping with the 
 filming contract specifications. 
 
 Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed 
 beginning with the front cover and ending on 
 the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, or the bark cover when appropriate. All 
 other original copies are filmed beginning on the 
 first page with a printed or illustrated impres- 
 sion, and ending on the last page with a printed 
 or illustrated impression. 
 
 The last recorded frame on each microfiche 
 shall contain the symbol — ^ (meaning "CON- 
 TINUED "), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), 
 whichever applies. 
 
 Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le 
 plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et 
 de la nettet6 de I'exemplaire filmd, et en 
 conformity avec les conditions du contrat de 
 filmage. 
 
 Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en 
 papier est imprimde sont filmis en commenpant 
 par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la 
 dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second 
 plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires 
 originaux sont film^s en commenpant par la 
 premidre page qui comporte une empreinte 
 d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par 
 la dernidre page qui comporte une telle 
 empreinte. 
 
 Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la 
 dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le 
 cas: le symbole -^^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le 
 symbole V signifie "FIN". 
 
 Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at 
 different reduction ratios. Those too large to be 
 entirely included in one exposure are filmed 
 beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to 
 right and top to bottom, as many frames as 
 required. The following diagrams illustrate the 
 method: 
 
 Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre 
 film^s d des taux de reduction diff6rents. 
 Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre 
 reproduit en un seul cliche, il est film6 d partir 
 de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, 
 et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre 
 d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants 
 illustrent la m^thode. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 2 3 
 
 4 5 6 
 
V i 
 
 \ 
 
INLAND 
 
 NAVIGATION, 
 
 WITH 
 
 Suggestions as to the sujfficieney of a depth of fourteen- feet 
 in the St. Lawrence Canals, and the practicability of 
 extending the navigation westward from Lake 
 Superior, through the NoHh-West Ter- 
 ritories, to the head of the 
 Saskatchewan. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN ROSS, 
 
 CONTRACTOR, 
 NIAGARA FALLS, ONT. 
 
 Felmuiry, 189S, 
 
Our Inland Wdter^Wcix^s. 
 
 't.A '.'\. 
 
 With ihf opeiiint; of the can.il on the Canadian side ai Saiiit Ste. Maiic, 
 a vast extent of inland navii;ali()n will i)e thrown open to vessels drawing as much 
 as 20 feel of water. From I'oil Colhorne and lUilTalo to Duhith, a distance westward, 
 liy water, of a thousand miles, and from C"hica<;o to Tort Arthur, a distance of six 
 humired miles from south to north, there will he nothing to prevent such vessels from 
 cominj; into use. 
 
 The traffic of the (ireat Lakes has already reached large proportions, and, as is 
 well known, the freight tonnage passing Sault Sto. Marie, annually, has for years 
 exceeded the tonnage of the Suez Canal, although of course very unei|ual to it in 
 value. 
 
 The convention on water-ways held last summer at Toronto, advocated a depth 
 of from twenty or twenty-One feet from Lake Erie to tide water, hut the improve- 
 ments now in progreds along the Si. Lawrence will give a depth of (ourleen feet, and 
 that should for a long time to come sutlice to meet the re(|uirementsof the country. 
 
 Vessels carrying three thousand tons, or as much as 100,000 hushels of wheat, on 
 a draughtof tourteen feet, are now running on Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior, and 
 to render the St. Lawrence Canals availahle (or them when deepened to fourteen feet, 
 as they soon will '.'?, it would only he necessary to enlarge the locks. 
 
 The locks on the Welland and elsewhere eastward thereof are entirely too short 
 for such vessels, hut they can, when the necessity arises, he lengthened at no appall- 
 ing cost. The Engineers who planned the locks on the Welland are not to he 
 hlamed for their lOo diminutive capacity, for at the tim,' they were i)rojected, no one 
 coultl have foreseen that such leviathans were so sojn to he alloat on oar inland 
 waters. 
 
 Besides, in considering the question of enlarging the St. Lawrence Canals, the 
 route hy way of the French River, Lake Nipissing and the Ottawa, as well as the 
 long since projected canal from the Georgian Bay hy way of the Trent to the Bay of 
 Quinte, on Lake Ontario, has to he taken into account, for in hoth of these cases, 
 a depth of far less than fourteen feet would command a large share of the traffiic. 
 But these projects, like the twenty feet depth on the St. Lawrence, are questions 
 for the future, rather than the present. All of these great schemes may and 
 likely will he carried out in course of time, when the population of this Dominion 
 shall have hecome sufficiently great and prosperous to bear the cost. But the all- 
 jmportant step and the one which should the most deeply engage the attention of the 
 country at the present time, is the extension of the navigation from Lake Superior 
 westward through the heart of the continent, so as to\levelopthe agriciltural lands of the 
 Northwest territories, in a manner commensurate with their extent and importance ; and 
 in this way, bring their traffic to the St. Lawrence and our ocean ports. When the 
 
population of these territories comes to be counle'l by millions and tens of millions as 
 in course of time it will l)c, all the railroads likely to be luiilt would not sutliice to 
 carry their surplus productions to the ocean, at least, at such rates as would be satis- 
 factory to agricultural communities, but througii these wide regions nature has \no- 
 vided a highway, for cheap transportation, which can, at an outlay which the country 
 might well bear, be rendered available. 
 
 The old route of the Fur Traders carried, in its day, the traffic of the Northern 
 half of the continent. By it the manufactures of Europe, although not in very large 
 quantity, reached the Rocky Mountains and the shores of the Arctic Seas. Nor did 
 the old fur trailers stop there but pushed their way over the Rocky Mountains and 
 established trading p -sts on the Thompson and the Kraser. They placed ships, too, 
 on the I'acilic Ocean wdiich served to carry their rich peltries to the populous shores 
 of Asia, where tliey found a ready market arid whence there came, in return, stores of 
 silks and linery which enchanted the dusky maidens of plain and forest and led to a 
 wonderful increase in the traffic. In the development of recent times history has 
 repeated itself. On the Great Lakes, the fleets of commerce have replaced the 
 birchen skiffs of the old voyageurs and Indians. Railways sweep over the valleys of 
 the Siskatchewan and through the mountains of British Colund)ia, where the killed 
 Highlanders of the old Northwest Company s-o long held sway, and the little vessels 
 which these same Highlanders placed on the Pacific Ocean, have in their stead, the 
 magnificent steamers of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. » 
 
 All over the continent as well as im the ocean, the routes by which the fur 
 traders first travelled are becoming the highways of commerce, and it could not be 
 otherwise, for they were (piick to discern and prompt to avail themselves of every 
 natural advantage that land or sea presented. 
 
 Their main highway from Lake Superior to the prairies was by way of the 
 K.aministic|uia and the waters of Rainy River, along the line of communication, 
 further opened soon after the acquisition of the Hudson's Bay Company's rights by 
 Canada and mjw known as the " Dawson route." It was over this route that the 
 military expedition of a (piarter of a century ago was carried and this route, of old so 
 useful, presents the means of forming an available water-way from Lake Superior to 
 Lake Winnipeg into which latter flows the Saskatchewan, a great river already in 
 large part navigable and susceptible of being made so throughout its entire course 
 from Lake Winnipeg to the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 Here, then, is a water-way which, before entertaining the idea of '•xpending the 
 resources of the country in deepening the St. Lawrence canals to an extent greater than 
 that at present being provided for or needed, should, to say the least, be very fully con- 
 sidered, for it would, for one thing, be the best feeder to the St. Lawrence canals 
 which, even on a draught of fourteen feet, will have the capacity to carry the traffic 
 of a continent. 
 
 It is not wise in the present era of progress to look on such schemes as being 
 chimerical. Our neighbours across the lines have projected a water-way from Lake 
 
% 
 
 lillions as 
 
 f 
 
 sutViice to 
 
 1 
 
 I he satis- 
 
 
 has pro- 
 
 
 le country 
 
 
 Northern 
 
 
 very larjje 
 
 
 Nor (Ud 
 
 
 itains and 
 
 
 hhijis, too, 
 
 
 ous shores 
 
 
 n, stores of 
 
 
 kI led to a 
 
 
 history has 
 
 
 placed the 
 
 
 3 valleys of 
 
 
 the kilted 
 
 
 ittle vessels 
 
 
 stead, the 
 
 
 ich the fur 
 
 ': 
 
 •uld not be 
 
 
 es of every 
 
 ■ 
 
 way of the 
 
 ■ 
 
 luinication, 
 
 
 s rijjhts by 
 
 
 le that the 
 
 1 
 
 e. of old so 
 
 1 
 
 Superior to 
 
 'U 
 
 already in 
 
 <y 
 
 itire course 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 )ending the 
 
 
 Treater than 
 
 |ry fully con- 
 
 ;nce canals 
 
 the traffic 
 
 |;s as being 
 from Lake 
 
 Michigan to the Mississippi, which when carried out, as it no doubt will ivcniually 
 be, for it is even now in process of construction, will have a very market' eflect on 
 the traffic of the St. Lawrence and yet, but a few years ago, that project was looked 
 upon as Utopian. 
 
 The''greater part of the route now under consideration has been so often reported 
 on by Engineers and is generally so svell known that a very cursory description ef it 
 will serve to convey some idea of the difficulties to be met with and overc(Mnc in mak- 
 ing it an available highway for navigation. 
 
 The first question to be considered in all such enterjirisees is as to the supply of 
 water where a summit between two great river systems has lo be crossed, and in this 
 case it may be at once stated that, at the height of land separating the waters running 
 to the St. Lawrence from the streams flowing to Rainy River, on the Dawson route, 
 there is, according to the reports of the engineers, water in sufficient abundance for 
 the supply of a canal of the largest capacity l)oth ways. 
 
 Shebandowan Lake, a large sheet of water on the eastern side, ditTers but little 
 in level from Lac des Milles Lacs, a still more extensive body of witcr on the western 
 slope, and Kashaboiwe,a smaller lake intervening between the two, is only eight feet 
 higher than Lac des Milles Lacs. There is an extensive plateau of comj)aratively 
 level country at the water shed. And it is stated in the old rejiorts of the engineeVs, 
 who first explored the district, that a dam l6 feet in height at the outlet of Sheban- 
 dowan Lake and low dams at the outlets of Lac des Milles Lacs, with a dam ol 
 suitable height in the narrow gorge at the head of French Porlagc would give an 
 unbroken stretch of navigation, without locks, of 67 miles in length, clear across the 
 height ol land. And this stretch, if so made navigable, would as shown by the reports 
 referred to, be supplied by the drainage uf 700 s<|uare miles of densely wooded 
 country interspersed with deep lakes in a cliniate, too, of exceptional humidity, so 
 that no apprehension need ever be entertained of the supply of water (ailing, and this 
 is a favorable circumstance, not often met with at the summit of a water shed separ- 
 ating two great river systems. 
 
 This stretch of navigable water would be within forty or forty-five miksof Lake 
 .Superior, at its eastern extremity, but whether a canal should be made over this 
 .short distance or some other way of cheap freight transportation devised, is a question 
 which may await future consideration. The difference in level is about 850 feet, that 
 is, lietween Lake Superior and Lac des Mille Lacs. 
 
 From Lac des Mille Lacs, westward, the descent is much more gradual, 
 the first considerable drop being at French Portage where there is a fall of 90 feet, 
 followed by about 15 miles of quiet water. Then Deux Rivieres Portage, where there is 
 a fall of 120 feet to Sturgeon Lake, but in the next 75 miles to Rainy Lake, the 
 fall is only eighty feet or thereabouts. From the head of Kainy Lake to Rat Portage, 
 at ihe outlet of the Lake of the Woods, the navigation is unbroken save for the fall 
 at Fort Frances where a lock is in part constructed. Steamers are already in use 
 on Rainy Lake, Rainy River and the Lake of the Woods. 
 
4* 
 
 In the wholf distanct.' fnjni Lac <k's Milk- Lncs to the Lake of the WVxkIs, there 
 would be no great length of canal at any one place. The navigation would he 
 through deep lakes with short rapids or falls, where locks would be required, 
 ' between them, exce|)t on Rainy River, a stretch of 80 miles, where there is, in some 
 places, a strong current and at one place (the Long Sault) a rapid which requires 
 improvement. Rainy River is a large stream fed l)y the dramage of 30,000 
 square milt s of territory where the rainfall is such as to have given the river the very 
 appropriate name it bears. 
 
 The lake of the Woods is, in round numliers, at an elevation of some 320 feet 
 above Lake Winnipeg, and the distance between the two is, by the Winnipeg River, 
 about 147 miles, but wliether it would be belter to follow this great River, or strike 
 across from the Lake of the W^oods to the Red River, is a question re(iuiring con- 
 sideration. 
 
 The Winni] eg River presents, in its general character, a series of lake expansions, 
 saparated by falls and rapids, but in one section, known as the White River or 
 Seven Portages, it is very rough, and at high water is impracticable even to the 
 voyageurs. The waters of the English River and the Winnipeg are here combined, and 
 their united volume, gathered from sixry thousand square miles of territory, pours 
 over the declevities of the Seven Portages in a tumbling sea of foam, hemmed in by 
 rocks. 
 
 No engimer would tackle such a place without the resources of a nation at his 
 back. But, fortunately, nature has at this, the worst and wildest part of the Winni- 
 peg, provided a by-route with stretches of river smooth as mill ponds, separated by 
 short rapids, where the construction of locks would be practicable. This by-route is 
 called the Pinawa. It breaks otT from the main channel at Otter Falls, some distance 
 above the seven portages, and rejoins it twenty miles lower down at Lac du Bonnet. 
 From Bornet Portage to the mouth of the Winnipeg at Fort Alexander, there are 
 several falls, and an occasional angry looking rapid, but the diflticulties are not 
 insurmountable and, once at Lake Winnipeg, there is smooth sailing for three 
 hundred miles to the mouth of the Saskatchewan, and the Saskatchewan, 
 with occasional intervals of shallow water, where deepening and, perhaps, 
 in some cases, locks might be required, is navigable to vessels of moderate 
 draught to the precincts of the Rocky Mountains. With its numerous 
 navigable branches extending for hundreds of miles through a fine agricul- 
 tural country, underlaid, as it is reported and proved to be, by inexhaustible coal 
 fields, the improvement of the navigation of this great River of the v\'est, is a matter 
 of the first importance. 
 
 But to return to tho Lake of the Woods, whether it would be better to go by the 
 Winnipeg River or strike across for a distance of some eighty miles to the Red River 
 at some point at or near the city of Winnipeg, is the question to be considered. The 
 Lake of the Woods, on its west side, at Buffalo Bay, seems to be, as it were, brim- 
 ming over ; the land rises but little above its level and so flat and low is the country 
 
s 
 
 ^ds, there 
 would be 
 required, 
 i, in sonic 
 1 recjuires 
 of 30,cxx) 
 r the very 
 
 ; 320 feet 
 peg River, 
 , or strike 
 irinj; con- 
 
 xpansions, 
 : River or 
 /en to the 
 ibined, and 
 tory, pours 
 nmed in by 
 
 ition at his 
 the Winni- 
 parated by 
 by -route is 
 me distance 
 du Bonnet, 
 there are 
 es are not 
 for three 
 atchewan, 
 perhaps, 
 moderate 
 numerous 
 e agricul- 
 stible coal 
 is a matter 
 
 lo go by the 
 
 Red River 
 
 tred. The 
 
 vere, brim- 
 
 Ihe country 
 
 westward that it is said the Indians go across in spring through reedy marsiios to the 
 waters of the Roseau which flow to Red River, without once tal<ing their canoes out. 
 Re this as it may, there can be no (jusstion, because it is an estab- 
 lished fact, that, for about thirty miles to the west of the Lake of the Woods and south of 
 Lac I'lal, the country is almost a dead level, with occasional rocky or sandy islands 
 of greater or less extent, rising at intervals, but with low and level ground all round 
 them. The construction of a canal through such a country would'be simply a matter 
 of digging and embankment. Rut, west of the section indicated, there is a very 
 gradual and almost imperceptible slope for a distance of about 35 miles, to the valley 
 of the Red River, across which latter fjr fifteen miles or so to the Red River, there 
 is no greater difference in the level than a foot or so to the mile. The Lake of the 
 Woody would be the summit level'and source of supply antl from thence westward, 
 by avoiding the sandy and rocky islands referred to, there would, (irst, be a practi- 
 cally dead level country of thirty miles or something near it, then thirty-five miles, or 
 less, of country sloping to the westward with an average descent of not more than six 
 feet to the mile, and lastly a practically level stretch of 15 or 20 miles tt) the Red 
 River, with but a very slight slope to the west. There are streams on the 
 route which could be used as feeders, but in no case would there be risk from floods, 
 as the surface of the canal would, where necessary, be above the drainage of the 
 adjacent country. At the Lake of the Woods the quantity of water permitted to enter 
 the canal could be easily regulated. .So far as known, there would be no rock exca- 
 vation. Still, it is possible that the horizontal limestones which are supposed to 
 underlie the whole district, may occur near the surface at the divide, a little to the 
 west of the Lake of the Woods, but of this there is no evidence. The rocks which 
 appear in the form of islands in the great flat are of Laurentian Gneiss, but they 
 are isolated with flat ground all about them. It is not claimed for the distances 
 and levels given in the foregoing that they are more than approximately correct. 
 They are sufficiently close, however, to admit of a fair idea being formed as to the 
 practicability of rendering this great waterway available as a channel of transporta- 
 tion. 
 
 P>om the Lake of the Woods to Lake Winnipeg, the choice would l)e as above 
 set forth, between a great and turbulent river and a cut across to some |X)int 
 on the Red River, at or near the city of Winnipeg. Both routes, from all that has so 
 far been learned, are practicable, but, in all that could lead a country to undertake 
 the great cost of a canal, the preference from a local, as well as a general point of view, 
 must be accorded to the route by the way 01 the Red River and the city of Winnipeg, 
 even if it should be the most costly, ])ecaur,e among other advantages, such as settling 
 up the country and developing its resources, it would be the best. It 
 would, morever. in this particular section, be a paying investment from the outset. 
 It is needless to point this out further than to say that it would have at the 
 one end the forests of the Rainy River district and at the other the city of Winnipeg 
 with the treeless prairies beyond it, and to anyone familiar with the growing wants 
 

 of these prairies in liiiiil)er, the ma(;nitii(ie of the traHic wliich such circiiin-stances 
 alone would occasion must be apparent. 
 
 From the city of Winnipejj, by way ol the Reel Kivei, Lake Winnipeg and the 
 Saskatchewan, to Kdmonton, the water-way, a> is well knr)wn, is sus- 
 ceplil)le of beinj^ made available to steamers of light draufjhl, perhaps stern wheelers, 
 such as are used on the Mississijipi. 
 
 Kul, from the city of Winnipeg to Lac Hourljon on the Saskatchewan, the route 
 by way of the Assiniboine and the Manitoba and Winnipofroosis Lakes, has its advo- 
 cates and they claim that it would open a finer country and be more sheltered than 
 the route by Lake VVinnipeg. Which of the two would be the less rostiv is a cpiestion 
 for consideration. In the one case the Red River, itself, between the city of Winnipeg 
 and the .Stone Fort, would rc(|uire a yotxl deal of improvement and the grand rapids 
 at the mouth of the Saskatchewan would have to be dealt with, while, 
 in the other, a good deal of canal work would be necessary between the 
 Assiniboine and Lake Manitoba, as wellas btJtween the Manitoba and Winnipcgoosis 
 Lakes where there is a difference of i8 feel in the level, .and, again, lietwecn the last 
 named Lake and Lac Bourbon, where, although there is no girat ditlerence in the 
 level, the excavation would be consi(lerai)Ie. 
 
 We have thus, west of the Height of Land at Lake Superior, fifteen hundred 
 miles of direct water-way, without reckoning the manyl)ranch water-ways which could 
 be made subsidiary to it at no extraordinary cost. 
 
 But when all this has been taken into account, there remains lo be considered 
 the short section of forty miles between Lake Superior and the waters of the summit 
 plateau. In this section there is enough of water for a canal of any dimensions, and 
 no formidable obstacle in the way of its construction. But the difference in level 
 i)etween Lake .Superior and the summit referred to is 850 feet, or thereabout, and 
 such an amount of lockage as would be involved in a distance so short must, for the 
 present, preclude the idea of a canal. 
 
 Perhaps a double track railway would afford the most efficient and economical 
 mode of transportation over this short distance, and this break in such a stretch of 
 navigation wf)uld be of the less consequence seeing that, in any case, there would 
 have to be trans-shipment at Lake .Superior, as the vessels best adapted for the well 
 sheltered inland rivers and lakes would not be .suitable for the navi^tion ot such 
 seas as Lakes Superior and Huron. ' . 
 
 In drawing attention to the practicability of rendering these inland water-ways 
 available to navigation, I have so far offered no opinion as to the scale that should be 
 adopted in the event of the work being ever undertaken. It is a point requiring 
 much consideration, but, in this regard, I may at once say that canals and locks on 
 such a costly scale as those of the St. Lawrence need not be thought of, inasmuch as 
 they would not be required. From Lake Superior to the head of the Saskatchewan 
 a minimum depth of six feet is probably all that could be obtained, and, certainly, 
 
cumstances 
 
 wg and ihe 
 n, is sus- 
 n wheelers, 
 
 p, the route 
 »as its advo- 
 [•Itercd than 
 is a cjiiestion 
 (if Winnipeg 
 [Tranil rapids 
 vith, while, 
 between the 
 'innipcRuosis 
 iveeii the last 
 rencc in the 
 
 een hundred 
 s which could 
 
 )e considered 
 )f the Runimit 
 lensions, and 
 nee in level 
 cabout, and 
 mist, for the 
 
 economical 
 a stretch of 
 
 there would 
 for the well 
 
 lion ot such 
 
 more than all that could lie neede<l, Vessels drawin^,' far less than •lix feet are, now- 
 a-days, constructed of a carrying capacity ecjual to that of large ocean-going vessels, 
 that is, of course, in well shelter -d wafers, and perhaps a canal system similar to that 
 which has hcen attended with such wonderlul <levelopmcnt on the irihularies of the 
 Ohio, and on oiIkt rivers of the United States, might he found to be well adapted 
 to the great rivers of the central section of this Dominion. At all events it is deserv- 
 * ing of consideration. 
 
 The system rel-ricd to is in part as follow.^ ; Width ot channel at surface, 
 I JO feet ; depth, 6 feet ; locks about 55 feet wide, and of length enough to admit of 
 two Nleamers l)eing passed at a lockage. In the locks there is stone masonry sufVi- 
 cieiil to hold 'he gates securely in place, the space or basin intermediate between the 
 gates being walled iu with carefully constructed embankment which answer.s the pur- 
 pose as well as masonry. The vessels in use are sttii, .\heel steamers of cheap con- 
 struction, some of them over 300 feet in length, wit li as i.mch as 50 feet beam. 
 Their freight carrying power is enormous, and that, too, on a di'vight of onb si,\ 
 feet or less. 
 
 To reach some of the coal mines in the Uiountain r -e.vses on the tributaries of 
 the ) ii , great ditl'erences of leve'' had to be overcotoe. Some of the locks built in 
 the early years of the century were of iiniDer, anil tlky lasted with but little repair 
 through many years of constant use. 
 
 Thunder Hay, into which flows thi- ivaminist.itpiia, is practically, and .mist con- 
 tinue to be, the ocean port of the North- West Territories )f the Dominion. Let the 
 water-ways from thence we.stward be opened up for navit^ation, as the circumstances 
 of the country will permit of their being so. It is along navigable water courses, all 
 the world over, that population has first taken root. Fertile lands and fuel, within 
 easy reach, ensure its permanence, and these conditions obtain in a marked degiee 
 along the greiit line of water-way which I have endeavoured to sketch out. 
 
 John Ross, 
 Niagara Falls, Ont. Contractor. 
 
 February, 1S95. 
 
 water-ways 
 lat should be 
 int requiring 
 and locks on 
 inasmuch as 
 askatchewan 
 Ld, certainly,