The Hudson's Bay Route. 281 



begun ; and as these waters trend toward the northern sea they 

 sing but one song, teach but one lesson, and impress upon all but one 

 great truth. That song and that lesson and that truth are but a 

 continuous declaration that their channels shall become the channels 

 of commerce of the north-west. As these waters find their way 

 through Hudson's Bay and Strait to the Atlantic Ocean, so shall the 

 wheat and the flour, and the beef and the pork, and the other pro- 

 ducts of all that vast region which is. now challenging the attention 

 and the wonder of the world, find their way through the same 

 waters to the Atlantic and beyond its borders to the markets of 

 Europe. And not only this ; but the returning ships that carry these 

 sources of wealth will bring back, over the same route, the fabrics, 

 the sugar and the tea, and the thousand and one other articles of 

 merchandise requisite to the comfort and happiness of the people. 



But let us consult the accompanying map of the Dominion and 

 the lines of existing and proposed railways marked upon it. First, 

 there is the northern line running from Port Simpson on the Pacific 

 coast of British Columbia to Churchill. The whole distance of this 

 is less than 1450 miles, and it runs through a country easy of railway 

 construction, and through the Pine River Pass of the Rockies, the 

 greatest altitude of which i*s but 2410 feet above the level of the 

 sea, or nearly two thousand lower than the highest point of the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway. 



This being the shortest line that can be drawn between the 

 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, must one day become a great 

 highway of commerce for trans-Pacific trade. It unites Europe 

 with Japan by a route several thousands of miles shorter than any 

 other that is possible. Moreover, it connects the vast productive 

 areas of the Athabaska and Peace Rivers with the Atlantic by a navi- 

 gation route open probably eight months of the year, by a line more 

 than fifteen hundred miles shorter than any other that can be 

 proposed. Hence, may we not suppose that one day, not very far 

 distant, the freights of steamships from China and Japan will be 

 transferred to railway cars at Port Simpson, and from the same cars 

 again to steamships at Port Churchill, en route to Liverpool ; or, 

 reversing the order, that freights will be transported from Europe to 



