202 REVIEWS OVERLAND ROUTE TO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



sirable to be established, it may be well now to glance at the comparative dimen- 

 sions of the proposed work, and to consider the cost of its construction, as well 

 as the annual expense of maintaining it for ever afterwards. 



" Measuring on the map along the general route of the proposed line from the 

 mouth of Frazer's River, through one of the best passes yet discovered in the 

 Rocky Mountains, along the general direction of ' the Fertile Belt,' keeping 

 south of the North Saskatchewan, crossing the Red River near the settlement, 

 bridging the Winnipeg River at the north end of the Lake of the Woods, striking 

 through the country to the most northerly bend of the shore of Lake Superior, 

 thence in a direct line to a crossing on the French River west of Lake Nipis- 

 sing, and from this point connecting with the existing railway system of Canada, 

 either at the Town of Barrie, or at Peterboro, or at the City of Ottawa. The 

 distance thus measured will be found to be in round numbers about 2000 miles ; 

 and althongh a railway between the two oceans on British territory cannot be 

 considered perfect without the completion of the road between Halifax and the 

 most easterly extension of the Grand Trunk in Lower Canada, yet as there is 

 some prospect of this section being made independently, it does not appear ne- 

 cessary to embrace its length in the present consideration. 



" That a just conception may be formed of the real magnitude of the project 

 under discussion, and the means necessary to its attainment, attention may for 

 a moment be drawn to a few leading details. The construction of 2000 miles 

 of railway, measured by the average standard of similar works existing in this 

 country, implies the performance of labourers' work sufficient to give employ- 

 ment to 1000 men for fifty or sixty years ; it involves the delivery of 5,000,000 

 cross-ties or sleepers, and over 200,000 tons of iron rails for the ' permanent 

 way ;' it comprises the erection of 60,000 poles, hung with 1000 tons of wire, 

 for the telegraph ; it necessitates the creation of motive power equivalent to 

 over 50,000 horses, which power would be concentrated in 400 locomotives ; it 

 involves the production of from 5000 to 6000 cars of all kinds, which, coupled 

 with the locomotives, would make a single train over thirty miles in length; 

 and lastly, it implies a gross expenditure on construction and equipment of not 

 less than $100,000,000.* 



" It will likewise serve as a salutary check on hasty conclusions, to weigh 

 beforehand the cost of operating a truly gigantic establishment of the kind after 

 its perfect completion. A few figures derived from actual results will shew 

 that the first construction of a railway through the interior of British North 

 America is even a less formidable undertaking than that of keeping it afterwards 

 ' open, in the present condition of the country. For operating the line success- 

 fully, the fuel alone required in each year, and estimated as wood, would con- 

 siderably exceed 200,000 cords ; for keeping the road in repair, a regiment of 

 2000 trackmen would constantly be employed, in small gangs, throughout its 



" * Major Carmioliael-Smyth estimated the cost of building: a line of railway from Halifax 

 to the Pacific at £150,000,000 sterling,— equal to over $700,000,000 ; but then he computes the 

 expenditure as on English railways, where more money has been wasted in preliminary ex- 

 penses, and lavished on architectural monuments at stations, than would suffice to build an 

 equal length of road in this or any new country." 



