728 REPOET — 1886. 



were relieved tlie following year, and the information thus obtained, together with 

 the evidence of experienced navigators which was collected by a special committee 

 of the Canadian Parliament, have satisfied the people of that com:try that the 

 route is entirely feasible. 



It is confidently expected that this new trade route, already in process of 

 development, will create a revolution in the commercial traffic of the vast interior 

 of that continent on both sides of the international boundary. Minnesota, Dakota, 

 Montana, and Wyoming, with their immense productions of wheat and cattle, are 

 naturally tributary to that route, as well as the whole of the Canadian possessions 

 west of Ontario. 



A reference to the map will show how far down into the heart of the continent 

 Hudson Bay extends, and how favourably it is situated for commanding the entire 

 trade of that vast territory. It would seem as if nature intended that it should be 

 the outlet, oifering as it does a seaboard within convenient reach of the districts 

 named, and virtually placing them as near to European markets as Ontario, Western 

 New York, and Ohio now are. 



The attention which has been given to the bay in consequence of this new 

 project has resulted in increased Iniowledge of the resources of that great inland 

 sea. Salmon, seal, whale, and walrus abound in great numbers, while the coast 

 regions of the bay and strait are rich in minerals. The region of country draining 

 into James's Bay is covered with valuable timber. Besides offering a new and 

 advantageous trade route between Europe and America, it is not improbable that 

 the utilisation of those waters for such a purpose will soon be followed by the 

 development of fish, timber, and mining industries of great and practically 

 inexhaustible richness. 



4. Proposed new Eoide to the Great Frairie Lands of North-west Canada, 

 via Hudsons Strait and Bay. By John Rae, M.B., LL.D., F.B.S., 

 F.B.G.S. 



The project of opening a new route through Hudson's Strait and Bay by 

 steamer, and from the west shore of the latter by railway to Manitoba, is being 

 undertaken with the most praiseworthy motive of making a shorter and cheaper 

 route for transmission of emigrants to, and for carrying grain and other produce 

 from, the prairie lands of Canada than the present means of transport by lake and 

 railway by the St. Lawrence river and Strait of Belle Isle to England. 



Earnestly desiring that, if practicable, this great work should be carried out 

 successfully, I fear, however, that failure is more probable than success, and a 

 failure would be an immense misfortune. There are a number of adverse circum- 

 stances that have either been entirely overlooked or not taken suflaciently into 

 consideration. These difficulties are wholly connected with the navigation of the 

 Hudson's Strait, and have nothing whatever to do with the navigation of the Bay 

 nor with the construction of the railway from thence to Manitoba, both of which 

 are easy enough. This route, if established, would shorten the distance by 400 

 or 500 miles — more or less, according to the position on the prairies from which 

 the measurements began — and would give about two days quicker time to a loaded 

 steamer of ordinary speed ; an advantage more than counterbalanced by a probable 

 average detention by ice of three or four days on each voyage through the strait. 

 The disadvantages are — 



1. The short time — three or three and a half months (?) — during which the 

 strait is sufficiently open each season to allow a steamer to get through without 

 much hindrance by ice, whilst on the other hand the great Canadian lakes are 

 perfectly open for fully six months, and the Strait of Belle Isle navigated for at 

 least five months by the Allan steamers. 



2. The danger to a large heavily laden steamer, whether of wood or iron, if 

 caught in an ice-nip ; also the higher rate of insurance consequent on such danger. 



3. The uncertainty and rapidity of ice movements, which baffle the skill and 

 experience of the oldest whaling captains, and are so well described by Lieutenant 

 Gordon, who commanded the Neptune in 1884 and the Alert in 1885, on 



