The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-01-01
NUMBER 10.


several weeks ago the govern
ment of the Dominion of Canada adj
vertised for bids for the construction
of four sections of railroad, extending
from Fort Yale, British Columbia, to
kamloops, in the same province.
These sections are part of the surveyed
line of the Canadian Pacific railroad.
The bids were to be received mt Ottawa
on or before the 18th of November.
The news has been received that the
contracts have been awarded, which
news has caused great rejoicing in
British Columbia.
Fort Yale, the western terminus of
these four sections of railroad con-
tracted for, is at the head of naviga-
ton for vessels of light draft on the
lower Fraser river, and at the lower
end of what is known as the Big Can
yon of the Fraser. 1t is, however, 95
miles higher up the Fraser than New
Westminster, the head of navigation
for deep-water vessels. Kamloops is
in the very heart of the province, on
the headwaters of the Thompson river,
one of the largest tributaries of the
Fraser. 1t is also the most extensive
agricultural district in the province.
1t is, however, sparsely populated,
and devoted at present almost eXclu-
sively to grazing. o.
The territory to he traversed by the
railroad, and covered in these con-
tracts, is barren and rugged the most
of the distance, more than one hundred
miles, being through the mountains
of the Cascade range. .y3r
The route selected is that followed
through the Fraser and Thompson
river valleys by the military wagon
road constructed in 1862 and 1868 from
Fort Yale to the Caribpo mining dis
trict. The big Canyon of the Fraser
extends from Fort Yale to Fort Lyt-
ton, ut the mouth of the Thompson, n
distance of 81 miles. In many parts
the rocky walls of the canyon rise per-
pendicularly from 1000 to 1900 feet
above the level of the stream. From
| Fort Lytton to Spence's bridge dis
tance of over % miles, the Thompson
river flows through another deep and
narrow canyon, making altogether an
almost continuous gorge Of about 50
miles in length through which the
railioad will pass. The engineering
difficulties to be overcome are of an
extraordinary and expensive charac-
| ter.
The amount per mile of the success
full bid has not yet been given. The
lowest estimates before the bids were
| invited placed the probable cost of
railroad construction through the big
canyon of the Fraser and Thompson
river canyon at Sl50,000 per mile. 1t
is, consequently, very likely that the
| four sections contracted for will cost
| the Dominion Government more than
| l0,000,000.
The Dominion of Canada has, no
doubt, been moved to take this extra
ordinary step to pacify the Province of
British Columbia, which has threat
ened To secede from the Confederation
unless the terms upon which it entered
it-namely, the econstruction of trans
continental railroad through the Brit
ish possessions-were fulfilled at an
early date. 1t will probably accom-
plish this object, even should the Do
minion delay for years an extension
| of the road.
Aside from the pacification of the
Province, the building of the Yale
Kamloops railroad will be a dead loss
to the Dominion. Ii will begin and
end nowhere. 1t will pass through an
unproductive and uninhabitable re-
gion, which is impossible frequently
in the winter season owing to great
snow slides. The western terminus is
90 miles, above tide-water, ON a river
which is ordinarily closed to naviga-
tion by ice the from the beginning of
November to the end of April. such
a railroad can have no commercial
value, and nothing less than a great
political necessity could possibly war
rant its construction. There is, of
course, "a possibility that at some fu-
ture time ii may form a link in the
Canadian Pacific railroad, but such II
possibility at present appears to be
very remote.-Sun Ff'uaciseo Bulletin.