CANADA 



1112 



CANADA 



was opened to traffic in 1876, and now has a 

 mileage of over 1,450. The main line extends 

 from Moncton, N. B., to Montreal, by way of 

 Levis and the south bank of the Saint Law- 

 rence River. 



Canadian Pacific Railway. The construction 

 of a transcontinental railway was one of the 

 conditions on which British Columbia entered 

 the Confederation. From the first the railway 

 was a political issue, and politics prevented 

 progress. The government began the actual 

 work of construction, but in 1881 turned over 

 the task to a group of capitalists, including 

 George Stephen, later Lord Mount Stephen, 

 and Donald A. Smith, later Lord Strathcona 

 and Mount Royal (see subtitle History, be- 

 low). The road was finished in 1885, and its 

 mileage is now a total of 12,000. The main 

 line extends from Montreal, Quebec, to Van- 

 couver, B. C. In addition to its main line and 

 branches, the "C. P. R.," as it is generally 

 known, has leased or has traffic rights over 

 several roads which give it connection with 

 ports in the Maritime Provinces and with 

 Boston. 



Canadian Northern Railway. In 1896 the 

 firm of Mackenzie, Mann & Company, con- 

 tractors, built a 100-mile railway known as 

 the Lake Manitoba Railway and Coal Com- 

 pany's line. Mackenzie, Mann & Company 

 owned the road. From this small beginning 

 has grown the Canadian Northern Railway, 

 the third of the great transcontinental sys- 

 tems. This road has opened to settlement a 

 great area in the Northwest, north of the 

 Canadian Pacific and the Grand Trunk Pa- 

 cific. The mileage of the Canadian Northern 

 is about 6,600. Through trains from Quebec 

 to the Pacific coast were first operated in 1915. 



Grand Trunk Pacific. This railway system 

 was also opened to through traffic in 1915. The 

 Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company was in- 

 corporated by Parliament in 1903. It agreed 

 with the government to construct a railway 

 from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, B. C., on the 

 Pacific Ocean, and to operate a line from Prince 

 Rupert to Moncton, N. B. The section east 

 of Winnipeg was built by the Dominion gov- 

 ernment and is technically known as the Na- 

 tional Transcontinental Railway, whereas the 

 line west of Winnipeg is the Grand Trunk 

 Pacific. Under the original agreement, the 

 Grand Trunk Pacific was to operate the entire 

 system from Moncton to Prince Rupert, but 

 on the completion of construction, it refused 

 to operate the lines east of Winnipeg. This 



section, therefore, is now operated as a part 

 of the Canadian Government Railways. A 

 number of important branches have also been 

 built by the government, the most important 

 being the Hudson Bay Railway, extending from 

 Pas, about 180 miles northeast of Prince Al- 

 bert, to Port Nelson on Hudson Bay. At 

 Pas a branch of the Canadian Northern Rail- 

 way furnishes connection with Hudson Bay 

 Junction. This branch is intended to open a 

 new route t(5 Europe for the grain of the North- 

 west provinces. See HUDSON BAY. 



Facts and Figures about Canadian Railroads. 

 The total railway mileage of the Dominion 

 (about 30,000) is divided among the provinces 

 approximately as follows: 



Ontario 9,250 



Quebec 4,000 



Manitoba 4,000 



Saskatchewan 5,000 



Alberta 2,500 



British Columbia 2,000 



New Brunswick 2,000 



Nova Scotia 1,400 



Prince Edward Island 280 



Yukon 100 



The Canadian railways also own about 225 

 miles of line in the United States, crossing 

 United States territory in passing from one 

 Canadian point to another and used only for 

 Canadian traffic. 



Since Confederation the Dominion has spent 

 about $325,000,000 for the construction of gov- 

 ernment railways, over $200,000,000 for operat- 

 ing expenses and nearly $200,000,000 in subsidies 

 to other than government roads; this makes a 

 grand total of $725,000,000. All the railways 

 combined carry about 50,000,000 passengers 

 and 100,000,000 tons of freight a year. The 

 railways employ about 160,000 men, and their 

 gross earnings are about $250,000,000 a year. 



Commerce and Shipping. The regulation of 

 Canada's foreign trade is the legal right of the 

 government of Great Britain. As Canada grew 

 and became more important in the Empire, 

 this right fell into disuse. First, the British 

 government grew into the habit of consulting 

 the Dominion's interests and of making no 

 treaties without its approval. Now the Do- 

 minion authorities often conduct their own 

 negotiations, and the resulting treaties are 

 subject to a merely nominal approval by the 

 home government. 



Canadian ships carry a considerable part of 

 Canada's products to foreign shores and bring 

 back the products of other lands. The greatest 

 part of Canadian commerce, however, is still 



