SHIP CAITAL WAISTTED. 19 



may tlie route be vastly sbortenedj but wbat is of even more 

 consequence, a canal witb capacity for sMps of 1000 tons is 

 wanted. If that were provided tlie teeming harvests of the 

 West could be shipped directly to the Atlantic, and the posi- 

 tion of Canada enables her to command this traffic. The short- 

 est route, if there is depth of water, would be by connecting the 

 navigation of the Ottawa river with French river, down which 

 a passage may be opened to Lake Huron. This would cut off 

 450 miles of the present water route between the shores of the 

 three western lakes and the Atlantic. But if adequate depth 

 of water is not to be had by that way, a ship canal between 

 Toronto and Georgian Bay would probably secure it. The 

 Canadian Government and Legislature would do a great ser- 

 vice to their country by the early construction of a ship canal 

 in the best route possible, not only to secure the transit of the 

 Western States, but to serve the territory on the north shore 

 of Lake Superior, and of all that vast country on the Red Biver, 

 and the Saskatchewan, which will shortly be opened to their 

 enterprise, and more especially if it should be determined to 

 make this the route to the gold region of Fraser Eiver and 

 British Columbia. 



I visited the Chaudiere Falls by moonlight. The view from 

 the suspension bridge is extremely fine, the body of water mag- 

 nificent, and the varied forms into which the water breaks, all 

 along the extended face of the rocks, are very beautiful. This 

 is the great seat of the lumber trade. The logs, cut far back 

 in the woods of Canada, find their way down the river to this 

 point, red pine, yellow, and white, — and a kiud, the hardest of 

 all, IsTorway pine. Here many great saw-mUls are at work, 

 about 200,000 logs being cut up in a season. 



Farther up the river the land is said to be much better than 

 that below Ottawa. Wheat is grown with some success, 

 and for cleared farms large prices are asked. I was told of 



