458 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the Dominion rests in the hands of a strong administration, led by a 

 statesman of commanding ability and exceptional breadth of view. 

 Courage and wisdom to build not merely for the present were never 

 more vitally necessary to the well-being of Canada. The government 

 in its transportation policy is showing the same broad faith in the 

 destiny of the country revealed by its predecessors in connection with 

 the building of the Canadian Pacific. 



The rapid development of the west, and the increasing difficulty 

 experienced in handling the grain crops of Manitoba and the territories, 

 made it apparent two or three years ago that provision must be made 

 — and made at the earliest possible moment — for additional transporta- 

 tion facilities between eastern and western Canada. The situation 

 was partially relieved by the construction, through the enterprise of a 

 couple of energetic Canadians, of the Canadian Northern Eailway, which 

 provides an additional outlet from the western wheat-fields to the head 

 of navigation at Fort William, where connection is made with the 

 steamers running to Owen Sound, Collingwood and other ports on 

 Lake Huron. Even this rapidly growing system has, however, only 

 partially met the situation. The real solution of the problem is being- 

 found in the great project for building another transcontinental road 

 across Canada from ocean to ocean. 



The Grand Trunk Pacific is the fruit of the brains of two very 

 remarkable men, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Mr. Charles M. Hays, gen- 

 eral manager of the Grand Trunk railway. One saw the project from 

 the point of view of national statesmanship; the other developed it as 

 a practical business proposition. Briefly, the agreement between the 

 Canadian government and the Grand Trunk Pacific is this: The new 

 transcontinental is divided into two sections. The eastern section, from 

 Moncton, New Brunswick, to Winnipeg, via Quebec, is being built by 

 the government at the public expense, and upon completion will be 

 leased to the Grand Trunk Pacific for fifty years, with the privilege of 

 renewing the lease for a further period of fifty years. The western 

 section, from Winnipeg, via Edmonton and the Peace Eiver Pass to 

 Port Simpson on the Pacific, is being constructed directly by the 

 Grand Trunk Pacific Eailway Company, the Dominion government 

 guaranteeing the bonds of the company to an amount equal to seventy- 

 five per cent, of the cost of construction. When the entire road is 

 completed, from Moncton, N. B., to Port Simpson, it will be operated 

 by the Grand Trunk Pacific from ocean to ocean, and the railway will 

 be supplemented, as in the case of the Canadian Pacific,* by lines of 



* It may be noted here that the Canadian Pacific has arranged for the con- 

 struction of several new vessels for their Atlantic service which are to have 

 a guaranteed speed of twenty knots an hour and are expected to reduce the 

 time from Moville to Rimouski to five days and four hours. 



