298 CKUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 



of sea navigation on the St. Lawrence. The distance from 

 Churchill to Liverpool is almost the same as that from Montreal 

 to Liverpool; consequently there is a saving in distance of a 

 thousand miles of rail or river carriage in favour of the 

 northern route. 



The question of the storage of the grain until the season fol- 

 lowing the harvest, is at first sight a serious one, but when it is 

 known that not twenty per cent of the grain at present reaches 

 the seaboard before the opening of navigation of the year 

 following that in which it is harvested, this objection practically 

 disappears, for the grain may be as well stored on the shores of 

 Hudson bay as in the elevators on the plains, or at Fort William. 

 The question of storage is reduced to the length of time between 

 the opening of navigation of Hudson strait, and the time 

 required to transport grain from Fort William to Montreal 

 after the opening of navigation on the great lakes, and this 

 difference in time may be measured by days. 



The country through which a railway must run to reach the 

 port of Churchill is known to offer no serious difficulties, and 

 although the local freights between the bay and the head of Lake 

 Winnipeg may be small, the district traversed is equal in fer- 

 tility and natural resources to much of that through which the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway runs to the northward of the great 

 lakes. Given a good harbour, such as that of Churchill, and an 

 adequate number of tramp steamships, there will be no diffi- 

 culty in removing from that port during the season of safe 

 navigation all the grain and other supplies that can be drawn 

 there by a single line of rails. 



The object of this article on the navigation of Hudson strait 

 and Hudson bay is to point out the period of safe navigation, 

 and the advantages and drawbacks of this route to .Europe; 

 other problems of transportation and usefulness being left to 

 those in a better position to judge and pronounce upon them. 



