The Hudson's Bay Route Supported. 505 



." It is certainly highly desirable, in the interests of the North- 

 West, that an outlet for its commerce should be found through 

 Hudson's Bay. So far as settlement has yet gone I believe that the 

 traffic will go by Lake Superior, but another tract of country will 

 be opened up which will need another outlet. Another reason for 

 opening up a route to Hudson's Bay is the very great resources 

 existing in that region, from all that we can learn about it. Along 

 the Eastmain coast, from the entrance of James' Bay to the Straits, 

 a distance of over six hundred miles, there are numerous large rivers 

 emptying into the Bay from the eastward. It has now been ascer- 

 tained beyond doubt that those rivers abound in salmon, and that 

 fish of many kinds abound in the Bay. Now, what a field for enter- 

 prise would be opened up if there were a line through by way of 

 Michipicoten, or Lake Nipissing, to Hudson's Bay, what a field for 

 various industries would be opened up to Canada, if this Bay were 

 made accessible. Not only does the Bay abound in salmon and 

 white fish, but cod fish has been found in great abundance in the 

 Straits, and we do not yet know what other elements of wealth may 

 exist. Therefore, the opening up of this region would afford a vast 

 field for industrial occupations, besides affording a channel for the 

 North-West trade ; therefore, I think it is highly desirable that we 

 should have a committee to obtain information, and to get all the 

 knowledge we can concerning that great inland sea — that Mediter- 

 ranean of the north." 



Mr. Watson, of Manitoba said : " I agree with my hon. friends 

 who have just spoken that it is very important that the problem of 

 the navigation of the Hudson's Bay should be solved. The farmers 

 of the North- West have especially a vital interest in the question 

 for the} T need most of all to have cheap freight rates, which, I am 

 sorry to say, they do not possess at present. Ever since the last 

 crop was taken off, and for the last four or five months, the people 

 of the North-West have been discussing the problem of the naviga- 

 tion of the Hudson's Bay. As has been stated by the hon. member 

 for Provencher, this matter has not received proper attention from 

 the people of the Eastern Provinces ; though they have also a great 

 interest in the opening up of the Hudson's Bay for navigation, we 



