The Portland daily press., 1872-05-06
The Progress Of Railroads iu Canada,
as Bearing upon the Interest Of Port

The Montreal Herald of May LIST contains
the proceedings of mass meeting held in that
city the previous evening in the interest Of the
''Northern Colonization Railway" -f Gi
Ex-Mayor Workman made a speech favor
ing the grant of aid by the City of Montreal
He said he had the most friendly feelings to-
wards the Grand Trunk Railway; he believed
it a well-managed road, and the gentlemen at
the head of it were men OF talent and high res
probability. But the country wanted this nne,
the inner line so to speak in order to meet the
wants of our Trade-which line would Drihg
| Chicago some so miles nearer to Montreal tnan
| by the present route, and one thousand miles
| nearer to Liverpool via Montreal than the
route round by New York, and China and ia
| pan some two thousand miles nearer to Eng
| land via the Northern Pacific Railway through
| Canada than by the present long and tedious
Eastern route.
Mr.. NJ. p Ryan, M. p. paid graceful COM
pliment to the Provincial Legislature for its
liberal land grant, and promised the railway to
Ottawa, as also connections with Toronto and
the Great Western Railway within two years,
and within four years its extension to Sault
Ste. Marie. .s6 as
| The Hon. John Young wrote that large as is
| now the trade ON Lake Michigan-yet it is only
beginning In 1888 sold pork packed in Ohio
for consumption in Chicago. In that year the
| export from that place of grain was only "a
bushels-yet in 1870 upwards of forty million
| bushels of grain were shipped from that one
! port, where also over twelve hundred thousand
cattle and hogs were packed for export
| The trade of Lake Superior will in a few years
far exceed the trade on Lake Michigan, and
| when it is considered that the northern part of
| the State of Michigan, of Wisconsin and of
Minnesota, not speaking of the vast fertile
plains to the west of these States or of the vast
fertile valleys of the Red river and the Sas-
katchewan, are all accessible by railway from
Montreal and Quebec, on a route over $50 miles
shorter than by any other route to an ocean
| port, it seems to me strange that there should
be opposition to such work, so well calculat-
| which we live s. ~ so
While the route through the valley of the
| Ottawa to Sault st. Marie should be prosecuted
in the most direct line, yet it is necessary for
the interests of the country that there should
| be line from the city of Ottawa ola Carlton
Place to Toronto, thus connecting Montreal
and Quebec with the whole railway system
| from Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, &C., by
route with a uniform guage of 4 #. 81 in,
| and some 20 miles shorter than by the present
route of the Grand Trunk Railway.
Councillor McShane discussed at length the
| Importance of the road, as also to the security
| there was for its construction from the guaran-
tee of Sir Hugh Allan, the richest man in
| Canada. a -sF g..
| : Sir Hugh Allan was much pleased with the
| large meeting to whom he at once announced
| majority for the railway of over 4100 on the
| two days polling. He showed that his interests
were identical with those of the City of Mon
treal, showing that by the increased traffic
brought on by this line and by the Great Pacific
line of which it would prove part, the city
| would be much benefited and would rise to that
| position of eminence and importance to which
| otherwise it could not attain He maintained
| that with the deepening of the channel, freight
could be brought through Montreal to Europe
| by a much shorter and more inexpensive route.
on which account this city ought successfully to
rival New York and Boston He showed that
the produce of Japan could be taken to Europe
via Canada and the Pacific, 1000 miles shorter
than by any other route, and much more quick
ly If Montreal would only study its own in
terests it would go strongly for the road, which
was indeed fully secured, as the opposition was
comparatively nothing. All it was was the
grumbling of few discontented people who
existed in every community.
This exhibition of the purpose and plans of
the representative men of Canada-men of en-
terprise. and capital, whose credit at home and
abroad is almost unlimited, is of great interest
to those of our citizens who prefer that the out
let for their traffic shall be at Portland via the
Portland and Ogdensburg road than at Boston
via the Vermont Central, in whose interest the
Montpelier papers are teeming with articles de-
signed to defeat the Ogdensburg enterprise.