DOMINION OF CANADA. 



215 



ficulties to be overcome in carrying the road 

 through the tremendous canons of the Cascade 

 Mountains down to the Pacific are not greater 

 iu the route which has heen adopted over the 

 Yellovvhead Pass and along the courses of the 

 Thompson and Frazer Rivers to Burrard Inlet 

 than hy either of the others. The perpen- 

 dicular cliffs or deep slopes down which ter- 

 rific avalanches descend, and the rushing and va- 

 riable mountain-torrents which sweep through 

 the deep gorges, will make this part of the 

 route a trying task for the engineers. 



After surveys made in the Peace River dis- 

 trict, in the Skeena River Valley, and the dif- 

 ferent passes leading to Port Simpson, the Gov- 

 ernment have returned to the Burrard Inlet 

 and ratified its adoption. The route from Lake 

 Superior to Port Moody, Burrard Inlet, by way 

 of Yellowhead Pass, is 1,945 miles long, 190 

 miles less than the shortest route to Port Simp- 

 son. The estimated cost for the entire comple- 

 tion and equipment of the road from Ottawa to 

 Burrard Inlet is about $84,000,000, according 

 to the latest statement of the Government. 

 The cost of the line from Thunder Bay, on 

 Lake Superior, to the Pacific terminus, is esti- 

 mated at $64,869,618, estimating the Fort Wil- 

 liam and Selkirk division at $17,000,000; the 

 1,000 miles across the prairies, from Selkirk to 

 Jasper Valley, at $13,000 per mile; the section 

 from there to Kamloops, 336 miles, at $43,660 

 per mile; the Yale-Kamloops section, 125 miles, 

 at $80,000 per mile ; and the section from Yale 

 to Fort Moody at $38,838 per mile. The cost 

 of the extension from Fort William along the 

 northern shore of Lake Superior to the termi- 

 nal point at Lake Nipissing, about 600 miles, is 

 roughly estimated at from $30,000 to $40,000 a 

 mile, which would make the capital outlay for 

 the entire road, not quite 2,600 miles in total 

 length, between $82,000,000 and $88,000,000. 

 The Pacific Junction Railway Company are en- 

 gaged in building a line of road between Gra- 

 venhurst and Southeast Bay, on Lake Nipissing, 

 a distance of 107 miles, which will connect the 

 existing system of railroads with the Pacific 

 Railway. This extension of the Canada Cen- 

 tral will connect with both the main line and 

 the Sault Sainte Marie branch of the Canada 

 Pacific when completed, and in the mean time 

 will open up a valuable country for lumbering 

 and colonization. The time set for the com- 

 pletion of the railroad, to which the Govern- 

 ment solemnly pledged itself in 1874, and 

 which was the principal condition under which 

 British Columbia entered the confederation, 

 has already nearly expired. The aggregate 

 length of the sections built at the end of 1880 

 is about 800 miles, of which 264 miles are 

 opened to traffic. 



The prices set upon the railroad lands, ex- 

 tending 110 miles on each side of the road, 

 average $2.12$ per acre for the railroad reser- 

 vation. They are graduated as follows: for 

 belt A, along the railroad, 5 miles on each side, 

 $5 per acre ; belts B, 15 miles wide each, $4 ; 



belts C, 20 miles wide, $3 ; belts D, 20 miles 

 wide, $2; belts E, 50 miles each, $1. Pre- 

 emption land is $2.50 an acre in belts A and 

 B, $2 in belts C and D, and $1 in belts E. 

 The terms for preemptions are four tenths of 

 the price at the end of three years, and the 

 rest in six annual payments, with six per cent, 

 interest from the time of taking up the allot- 

 ment added. The quantity of land which 

 the Government expected to be sold and pre- 

 empted and disposed of by free grant was cal- 

 culated to be 32,640,000 acres. According to 

 a sanguine estimate of Sir Charles Tupper, the 

 railroad could be completed by the Govern- 

 ment in eleven years at the cost stated above; 

 there would be a probable immigration of 

 500,000 people into the Northwest during that 

 period, who will be paying $1,800,000 a year 

 in customs, and who will have paid toward the 

 completion of the railroad for the lands upon 

 which they settle $38,000,000 in cnsh, with 

 $32,000,000 still due to the Government upon 

 mortgages. The following lands have been 

 disposed of within the railway belts in Mani- 

 toba and the Northwest Territory : Belt A, 

 34,932 acres; B, 28,213; C, 6,392; D, 12,- 

 085; E, 47,631; total sales, 129,303 acres. 

 The scrip lands amount to 451,133 acres; free 

 grants amounting to 229,721 acres have been 

 taken up; free culture grants, 36,840 acres; 

 preemptions, 590,240 acres ; and homestead 

 grants, 1,142,400 acres. The total area taken 

 up amounts to 2,578,677 acres. 



The contract for the building of the prairie 

 section, and that connecting it with the Can- 

 ada roads, signed by the Ministers, is with a 

 syndicate composed of George Stephen and 

 Duncan Maclntyre, of Montreal ; J. S. Ken- 

 nedy, of New York; R. B. Angus and J. J. 

 Hill, of St. Paul, Minnesota ; Morton, Rose & 

 Co., of London ; and Cohen, Reinach & Co., 

 of Paris. The road is divided into four sec- 

 tions ; the first extending from the western 

 terminus of the Canada Central to the east 

 end of Lake Nipissing, and called the Eastern 

 Section ; the second, from Lake Superior to 

 Selkirk, called the Lake Section ; the third, 

 from Selkirk to Kamloops, called the Central ; 

 and the fourth, called the Western Section, 

 running from Kamloops to Port Moody. The 

 contractors are required to place a deposit 

 with the Government of $1,000,000, immedi- 

 ately after the organization of the company, as 

 security or caution money for the construction 

 of the road, on which the Government agrees 

 to pay to the company 4 per cent, per annum 

 interest, payable half yearly. Work must be 

 commenced before the 1st of July, 1881, on 

 the Eastern Section, and before the 1st of May 

 on the Central Section. These two sections 

 must be completed and in operation before 

 May 1, 1891. The section in British Colum- 

 bia now under contract must be finished by 

 June 30, 1885. The other part of the British 

 Columbian division, extending from Yale to 

 the Pacific terminus, must be finished before 



