KOAliS AND I.'AII.WAYS. ;> ( 



inance of tliest- c'UgageUR'iit- the i;(ncriiiiiciit ;il;icci1 "to giant in 

 fee-simple to the coutractcr live thdusand acre- 'A' laud Ini- cacli 

 one mile of main line or luaiuli rail\\a\- tliiiiiiglKnit tlie entire 

 length of tile line^ tn lir ojn-rated." SlmuM the line, therefore, he 

 five hundred miles in length, the land grant \\'ould he i, 500,000 

 acres. "The said fee-sinijile grants shall hi- made hy the gowru- 

 iiient to the said contractor a- follows : — i!.JO,000 acres upon the 

 completion of the northern lim- to Exploits ; 250,000 acies ujion 

 the com])letion of the we-lcin line to St. GeorgeV Bay ; 250,000 

 acres upon the comphtion of the line to Poit-aux-Basques ; and 

 the balance at the end of five years friMu the ilate of this ron- 

 tract, or as soon thereafter as praelicahle. ''The land shall l)e 

 located on each side of the railway in alternate sections of one 

 or tAVO miles in length with tlie railway, at the option of the 

 contractor, on meridian or lia^e lines, as the case may he, and 

 eight miles in dejith, the go\'i-innient retaining the alternate 

 sections, anil until the eonti'actor has made his seleetion under 

 this section, the government shall ni.it dispo.-e of ariv Crown 

 lands, timber, or mineral rights within eight miles on either 

 side of the line of railway."' "AVhere such sections from any 

 cause are not oljtainable along the line, the .said contractor may 

 select Crown lands elsewhere to make np deficiencies, tin; br-t- 

 mentioned selections to be made in sections or blocks of not less 

 than one mile square and not moi-e than ten miles stjuaie." 



The contract contains stringent ])rovisions for the due execu- 

 tion of the various agreements, so as to secure the construction 

 of a first-class line of railway. One section stipulates that the 

 ■wages of daily labourers shall not be less than one dollar per 

 day, payalile monthly. 



THE WORK COM^IEXCED A'lGOKOlISLY. 



Under the contract the work commenced in October, 1890, and 

 ■was prosecuted with so much energy that at the clo.se of 1891 

 sixty-five miles ■were completed and operated. Tlie work of con- 

 struction continued to advance vigorously, and early in the fall 

 of 1893 two hundred miles were completeil and trains were run- 



