DOMINION OF CANADA. 



Charles Tapper in England, the Government 

 taking advantage uf tin- low range of prices 

 ami |.a\iiiu' for them $1,212,000, or $1,518,000 

 less than Mr. Marki-n/iu had puid for an equal 

 quantity in 1874. The Canada Pacific Tele- 

 ^raph line had been constructed at the time of 

 tli.- report of the Minister <>t Public Works, in 

 :arv, ls?'., from Selkirk to the longitude 

 <>f Edmonton, 1,197 miles, and was in operation 

 to Battleford, 907 miles. The line between 

 Selkirk and Fort William, 410 miles, was in 

 and the line in British Columbia from 

 Cache Creek eastward to Kamloops, 50 miles, 

 was completed and equipped. There were 642 

 mill's of telegraph in operation in British Co- 

 lumbia. 



The North Shore Railway, built under the 

 auspices of the Quebec Government, was com- 

 pleted on the 9th of February, 1879, bringing 

 Quebec and the country north of the St. Law- 

 rence into communication with Montreal. 



The junction of the Pembina branch of the 

 Canada Pacific Railway with the St. Paul and 

 Pacific at St. Vincent connects the Canadian 

 road with the system of the Northwestern 

 States. The route was changed under the new 

 political administration from the northern or 

 Narrows course to one running south of Lake 

 Manitoba. Lands lying within twenty miles 

 of the track on both sides have been reserved 

 for the Government, and their sale is expected 

 to pay for the gradual extension of the road. 

 Thus 100,000,000 acres have been set aside for 

 purposes of construction, and invested in a 

 commission, upon which the Imperial Govern- 

 ment is represented. The cost of the Pacific 

 Railway for the portions completed or under 

 contract up to 1879 has been $25,396,000, em- 

 bracing the subsidy of $1,500,000 to the Cana- 

 da Central, $18,000,000 for the road between 

 Kauiinistiquia and the Red River, $1,900,000 

 for the road from Georgian Bay to the mouth 

 of French River, $1,750,000 for the Pembina 

 branch, $1,100,000 for the Pacific Telegraph 

 under contract, 1,300 miles, and $3,861,000 

 expended on surveys. 



A plan of certain American capitalists to 

 increase the international communications by 

 building a bridge over the St. Lawrence at 

 Coteau du Lac, and a line of railroad from Ot- 

 tawa connecting with the New York and New 

 England system of railroads, awakened the 

 keenest opposition in Canada. It was thought 

 that such a line would divert the traffic of the 

 North Shore and the Intercolonial Railways, 

 and greatly injure the commercial prospects of 

 Montreal, Quebec, St. John, and Halifax. An 

 outcrop of the excitement attending the inau- 

 guration of the national policy was the expec- 

 tation that Halifax might become, or easily be 

 made, the winter port of Canada. 



The enlargement of the Lachine Canal gives 

 it a width of 270 feet between gate-quoins and 

 45 feet at bottom. There are two locks be- 

 tween the harbor of Montreal and Wellington 

 bridge, having a depth of 18 feet on the sills. 

 VOL. xix. 21 A 



The canal between these points will have a 

 depth of 19 feet. The three locks at St. Ga- 

 briel, Cote St. Paul, and Lachine will have a 

 depth of 14 feet on the silN. All permanent 

 structures have been so built that the* prism of 

 the canal may be eventually deepened to 15 

 feet without disturbing them. The Iwo lower 

 locks are connected by a basin 540 feet long, 

 with an average width of 260 feet. No. 2 

 basin has been enlarged at its southwest end. 

 Wellington basin is 1,210 feet long and 225 

 feet wide. A second basin is projected, of the 

 same length and depth and 250 feet wide, par- 

 allel to it. From below Wellington bridge to 

 Cote St. Paul lock the canal wUl have an av- 

 erage width of 200 feet, and from the look to 

 Laohine 150 feet. The new locks are located 

 adjoining the old locks as independent struc- 

 tures, and hereafter the canal will be naviga- 

 ble through the double range of locks, with 

 double entrance at Montreal and Lachine. 



Government has entered into an examina- 

 tion of a new route for the grain of Manitoba 

 and the fertile but yet uncultivated regions 

 about Lake Winnipeg. It is proposed to con- 

 vey the grain to Port Nelson, at the mouth of 

 the Nelson River, or some other port on Hud- 

 son's Bay, and to ship it on steamships from 

 there to Liverpool. A railroad 800 miles in 

 length would connect Lake Winnipeg with 

 Hudson's Bay. Port Nelson is distant only 

 2,966 geographical miles from Liverpool by the 

 route proposed, which would cross the ocean 

 from Cape Farewell, the southernmost extrem- 

 ity of Greenland, to the north of Ireland in a 

 direct line. The route from the mouth of the 

 Nelson River would be shorter than the near- 

 est route between Liverpool and New York. 

 Hudson's Bay and Straits are said to be navi- 

 gable from July to October inclusive. The 

 navigable tributaries of Lake Winnipeg the 

 Saskatchewan, Qu'Appelle, Assiniboine, and 

 Red Rivers run far back into the grain coun- 

 tries of Manitoba and the Northwest Territory. 



The rush of settlers to the Red River coun- 

 try has been stronger this last year than ever. 

 The province of Manitoba, situated between lati- 

 tude 49 and 53 30' north and longitude 96and 

 99 west from Greenwich, having the United 

 States boundary-line on the south and Lakes 

 Winnipeg and Manitoba on the north, was pur- 

 chased from the Hudson's Bay Company by the 

 British Government in 1869, and constituted into 

 a province the following year. It is only with- 

 in the last three or four years that the tide of 

 emigration has set strongly in that direction. 

 Not only emigrants from Ireland, England, and 

 Scotland, and Canadian farmers, have been at- 

 tracted, but settlers from Iceland and Russian 

 Mennonites, and even prosperous farmers from 

 the United States, have flocked to this land of 

 promise. In 1876 the sales of land amounted 

 to 153,535 acres to 807 settlers ; in 1877 they 

 were 1,392,368 acres, and the takers numbered 

 8,648. In the month of April, 1878, the Em- 

 erson Laud-Office alone sold 52,960 acres, and 



