St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-19
SHORTER ROUTE TO THE SEA
BUT 1T IS QUITE DOUBTFUL IF
CONSTRUCTION IS EVER
RESUMED.
GRANTS FROM THE DOMINION,
But Not Sufficient to Make the
Project an Assured Sue
cess.


a portion of the new Hudson Bay
railroad. Newspapers came to the
front with the assertion that as soon
as this new road would be completed
it would furnish a fine outlet for the
grain of the Northwest by a direct
water route to the Atlantic seaboard,
much shorter and much more direct
than any all-rail route at present in
operation. 1t was also urged that
the charges for transportation would
be much smaller than at present.
But if the story which has been
sent out by a correspondent of the
New York Times from Ottawa is true
then the dear people who are look
ing toward the completion of the
Hudson Bay road as means of
cheaper transportation will be COM
PEELED to wait for awhile longer be-
fore they will see their wishes graf
flied. This correspondent gives to
his paper a little inside history Of the
undertaking, which seems to show
that there is little or no money be-
hind the undertaking. The story as
given by the New York paper is as
follows:
The scheme has been given a set
back by the dominion parliament in
recent session, and is now said to be
in bad hands. 1t is not a new idea,
for periodically during the last fiji
teen years, Canada has been stirred
up by proposals for a road of this
oil Of no
strongly supported the plan all along
The first move was in 1880 when the
Winnipeg & Hudson Bay railway was
incorporated, one of the chief pro-
motors being Hugh Sutherland, q
prominent lumberman Of Manitoba A
guarantee from the government Of
bonus of a land grant of 10000 acres
per mile of completed road was OBJ
tanned. With this for a capital, the
company forged ahead, and during the
next six years, and largely at the eX-
pense of contractors, it Is said, man
aged to build forty miles of road north
from Winnipeg.
The whole distance is 500 miles from
Winnipeg to Hudson Bay, and half
way lies the colonized valley of the
Great Saskatchewan river. Then the
resources of the projectors gave out,
but they did not give up. Hugh Suth-
erland remained firm in the Hudson
Bay railroad idea and was elected to
parliament from a Manitoba province.
chiefly on that platform. He associa-
ted with him 4 number of influential
men, among whom it is said was
Charles Smith, a wealthy Ottawa lum-
herman, and he had Manitoba and
Winnipeg at his back all the time.
as the building of the road would mean
a good deal for the province. Finally
IN 1887, parliament was induced to pass
an act reconstructing and CONSOLIDATE
ing the company, fixing it's nominal
capital at S15,0000O0 and empowering
it to borrow half as much more
Things languished until 1880, when the
charter was renewed until June q
1894.
THE NEW CHARTER
provided that the road need only be
built to the Saskatchewan, halfway
to the bay. The government also
agreed to give bonus of $4,000 a year
IN cash for twenty years, but payable
after the completion of the line to Sas-
katchewan, in considera ton of which
the government was to have the use
OF the railway for the transportation
OF mail and troops. Then Sutherland
endeavored to get aid in Europe The
forty miles already built remained I'M
used and useless. Then another re-
newal of the charter was obtained
this time until Dec. 81, 1S96-and in the
renewal the name was changed to the
Winnipeg Great Northern railroad.
the name Hudson Bay being dropped.
as well as the idea of getting there.
Last spring an order-in-council was
secured from the government n,ovi4-
ing instead of 10000 acres per mile
and $4,000 a year payable after the
completion Of the line to the Saskatch-
evan, the company should get a cash
loan of s2,500,G00 from the government.
payable upon engineers estimates as
construction proceeded. The loan was
to be secured by intangible assets
none other than the land and money
subsidy previously offered. As soon as
the order-in-council passed, the pre-
motors of the road closed the contract
with the st. Paul firm for the con-
struction of the road But there was
still trouble. The government. having
called a special session of parliament
the order-in-council being approved nv
poth houses, as was necessary. The
cabinet took advantage of Sutber-
lands change of contractors he hav-
ing passed by the Winnipeg firm that
built the first forty miles and secured
an American firm, and notified him
that the order-in-councT
DIDN'T HOLD.
Having lost this point, the projectors
or the road fell back on a new idea
Ihey now tried to get the half dis
lance practically halved. That is in
stead of getting $4,000 a year for
building to Saskatchewan, they get
S40eO0 year after building half Wav
TO the Saskatchewan. They also ask
ed to have their charter extended to
Dec. 81, 1898, and to have the right to
abandon the first forty miles built and
commence the road at Portage La
Prairie, little west of Winnipep.
Ihere was vigorous opposition in par
lament, but the measure was adroitly
submitted on the last day and got
partly through. The extension was de-
feated and so was the proposal to
start from Portage, but what did get
through was that the company should
begin to get $4,000 year when the
road was built half way to Saskatch-
evan, which is but 120 miles from
Winnipeg, and if the present fortv
miles is utilized it means the con-
struction of eighty miles of road
Whether even this little stretch of
road will be built is question, as
there is said to be little or no money
behind the project, and it is claimed
that such road will not pay. until
the Canadian Northwest is people5
with millions instead of thousands.