New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-08-04
TO HUDSON BAY BY RAIL.
THE WILD SCHEME FATHERED BY THE
DOMINION PARLIAMENT.
IT'S CREDIT PLEDGED TO THE EXTENT OF *so'~o
YEAR FOR TWENTY YEARS TO AID IN
CONNECTING WINNIPEG AND THE
NORTHERN SEA- DIFFICULTIES

YEAR FOR TWENTY YEARS TO AID IN
CONNECTING WINNIPEG AND THE
NORTHERN SEA DIFFICULTIES
OF THE PROJECT.
Ottawa Ont. Aug s.-The Dominion Parliament
has voted a bonus OF $4,000 per annum for twenty
wears to the first section OF the road to HUDSON
Raw payments Of $4,000 per annum to begin wheu
half the section Is finished. and $io.V0 more VINE"
the whole is completed This will enable the pro-
motors to carry the road as far as the sasKatchs-
ivan River and they assert that when they get
there II will be easy to obtain CONSIDERABLY
larger bonus for the section beyond 1t is doupt-
full however II Hudson Bay Will ever be reacned
by rail- and still doubtful II the ocean rou'e
from there to Liverpool will ever be traversed oy
steamships
The scheme Of utilizing the Hudson Bay route
originated during land boom at Winnipeg. ana
found favor with the settlers as means OF a"oiu
ing relief from what were regarded as oppressive
railroad rates. Manitoba get 1t going by giving
bonus of 100000 for the first forty miles from
Winnipeg Further proceedings were stopper oy
scandal II was charged that the promoters handep
back $4,000 the head OF the Provincial taoihet'
who as good as confessed by resgning me pro-
motors, themselves got into a tange with an Eng
fish Arm which supplied the rails, and scamped
the work to such an extent that the Dominion
Government refused to give them land grant
which It had promised. The road was built 10 ST.
Laurent on Lake Manitoba but has never been
operated and Is worthless. Meanwhile the
Dominion Government expedition to Hud-
son Bay determine the length OF the navisa-
ton season The Hudson Bay Company has run
sailing vessels from Scotland to the bay every year
for the last two centuries bringing merchahdlse
and taking back furs. The commander OF the ex-
petition reported that the strait wnich is the KEY
OF the route could not be navigated for moro
than three or three and a half months In thei
year. ordinarily from July 10 TO october To- whch
agreed with the experience OF the companys SAIL
ing-masters that II steamships were employed they
must be of special type in order TO resist the Ice
foes and that navigation would be dangerous az
all times during the brief season In consequence or
fog snowstorms and magnetic influences Affecting
the needle The distance from Churchill TO Liver
| pool is 1850 miles From Winnipeg to Churchili -
go miles The Hudson Bay Company vessels
| usually arrive a, York Factory at the beginning
| Of September and leave on the return voyage at
| the end OF the month. Hudson Bay Is navigable
| as early as June but the entrance to the STRAIT
is seldom open till July. and is likely to be closed
| for weeks at time after that by Ice. conveyed
from the Arctic by currents converging between
Resolution Island and Cape Chudley.
| GREAT NATURAL RESOURCES.
The expedition gave hattering account OF the
| natural resources Of the region. The biologists
| found iron copper and coal. anthracite as we'll as
! Ignite In large deposits. Their representations.
confirmed by later explorers have led to the forma-
| ton Of a company for building a railroad from
| Toronto across the height or Lana 10 James Day
| which may soon begin work. Government geoo-
| glsts advanced into the Mackenzie River region
| lying west Of Hudson Bay. The Mackenzie. which
flows into the Arctic Ocean. is $500 miles long and
| there are fresh water seas like Athabasco. Great
Bear and Great Slave lakes worthy TO be compared
| with Superior and Huron. Here again extensive
| beds Of coal and iron discovered. with I'M
| mense fields OF petroleum and salt. From BehrnS
I Strait to the mouth If the Mackenzie. and perhaps
| as far east Wolaston Land there Is navigation
| for three months in the year in exceptionally hne
seasons. but the wilderness is not likely TO 20
| worth much to unless the Hudson bay
| route is opened Reports made on the Mackenzie
| basin by committees OF the Senate attracted at.
| tenton in England and for time British capital
| was disposed take hold OF the Hudson Bay en-
terprise But the publication OF the observations
OF the expedition of 1ss4-s6. especially those OF the
| members who had been lookout stations along
| the strait for a year more. acted like wet
blanket. British money became shy. and the pro-
| moters have since devoted themselves TO getting
subway at Ottawa, by working up public sentiment
| In Manitoba
The difficulties which appear to render the route
mpracticab. are BRIEFLY these: First Of all. wheat
grown this year in Manitoba or Dakota could not
| be shipped Liverpool until next summer the
cost OF storage Churchill would amount 10 some-
| thing and It would be of reach or market IL
prices rose. The country between Winnipeg and the
Saskatchewan is fairly good. but from the Saskat-
| chewan to Churchill II is subarctic waste OF rock
and muskey. totally UNFIT for settlement. The rail-
| road would therefor be obliged to charge high
| rate especially IL would be shut down during the
dead season Hudson Bay from October to July
| The steamships could not make more than two or
| three round trips in season. and the large Meet
that would be required move the crop could hard
| ~ find employment elsewhere IN the eight months
| OF enforced ideness. they would be OF special
build too small and too slow for the Atlantic trade
| Fre!ghts from Europe would doubtless be sent by
f,a MI
| could scarcely import all his year STOCK az omSg
The vessels laden with wheat would run IN tne TEX
late out of the bay and the best OF times would
be exposed to the ddngers a roas swept
| by floating ice and shrouded in FOG
DIsCOURAGING FACTS.
| Experts who have no interest In decryng the PROV
ect reckon that. taking these and other drawbacks
into account. would cost good deal more TO send
Z. bushel of sran from Winnipeg to England by
| Hudson Bay than to send II. as now. by rail- 10
Lake Superior and thence to Montreal or New-fork.
adding that In any event the route could succeed
only BY sysr'ipg trae 1To@ the Sansssn ono
| which Canada has spent sl5Cvo.Wo OF borrower
| money The promoters do not meet these weghty,
Objections but have managed to keep the Mantle.
bans on their side by promising the expenditure OF
a srea, deal OF money during the construction OF
4 cash bonus payable on the completion OF the The
Ssn S MSs to make grant Of for the
first go miles. but of their followers objected.
S Sna the G Mn hsn Ss"n careful
they are not committing themselves TO the Hudson
Bay project In Its entirety. but only to the nui.ans
| OF a colonization road to the Saskatchewan. but III
is rather hard to comprehend their meanins The
Opposition alege that the Government Is trying 10
! repair their prestige In Manitoba and obtain an
election fund from the promoters who. as before:
! will scamp such part OF the road as they may
build and then abandon 1t TO the Indian and the
gopher. ., A..
| The Government voted down motion that no
portion OF the bonus should be paid unless the ROAD
was operated step which lends color to the Oppo-
sition theory. The chief promoter Hugh Suther.
land OF Winnipeg. has recently associated himself
with we'll known railroad contractors In Minnesota,
who II is supposed. may be induced IN consideration
OF the profits from construction and perhaps from
bonding the road to build as far as the ssska'cne