The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-08-08
NEW ROUTE TO EUROPE.
Proposed Construction OF q Water,
way Through Hudson Bay.
Il Would Lessen the d istanes from -
Paul Co Liverpool $40 Niles and Re
of Immense Advantage 70 the
shipping Interests.

shipping Interests.
The distance of the great wheat fields
of the northwest from the Atlantic sea-
board, and the consequent expense OF
putting the agricultural products OF
that great prairie country ON the Eu-
ropean market, has long seemed to be
an unsurmountable difficulty. While
navigation is open on the great lakes
the cost of transportation Is greatly
;essened, but even with the advantage of
this inland waterway the outlay of ship
ping a bushel of wheat to Liverpool has
been, during the past few years. equal
TO the price paid for bushel at points
m Dakota and Manitoba, which means
that for every bushel of wheat that the
farmer puts on the European market
he must have the value of another bush
81 to get it there.
The cause of this is that, whether by
lake or rail, the wheat has to be carried
from the west to this city. q distance
In some cases of II, 900 miles.
These freight rates, which are not by
any means high for the distance, make
the difference between profit and loss
TO the farmer.
This evil is to be overcome by what
Is called the new idea 1t is not new,
bv any means, for it has been used by
the Hudson Bay company for over 200
years; it was the route that the early
settlers on the Red river of the north
took when they started the Red River
colony in 1912, and as it has been, and
Is still, to a certain extent, used to thin
day, it is evidently not impracticable.
For four months of winter ice prevents
navigation, but 1t freezss up later In
the fall and thaws earlier In the spring
than Lake Superior.
The route itself is from Port Nelson
to the mouth of the Nelson river,
through tho Hudson straits. via Cape
Farewell to the north coast of Ireland,
and thence to Liverpool or Glasgow;
and Port Nelson is to be connected with
the wheat fields and cattle ranges by
means Of railway from Winnipeg, Man..
which is less than 400 miles from tho
bay.
1t may be asked: "Why was this not
all thought of before?" The answer is
simple. Until the year 1870 the whole
Of what is now the Canadian province OF
Manitoba and British northwest terri
tories was controlled by the Hudson
Bay company, and as their sole object
was to supply the world with fur. 1t
was distinctly to their interest to ex-
aggerate the dangers of the waters OF
the bay, and in fact do anything that
would retard immigration to their pre-
serves.
But now things have changed. The
Hudson Bay company's rights were pur-
chased by the dominion government in
1870 for about $4,000, 900 worth OF
land, and in 1880, ten years later, char
ter was granted to the Nelson River
company, who are now building rail-
way which will, in the course OF few
years, bring Winnipeg within Sc hours
railway journey to the sea-
By this route st. Paul and Minneapo-
lis would be only $50 miles from the
ocean. What does this mean? A saw
ing of nearly 75o miles as compared
with the distance to New York. This
applies equally, of course, to points
west, and even more TO points north and
northwest of the twin cities. Further,
the distance from Port Nelson to Liver
pool is 2,926 miles, while it is 3,o4o from
New York to the same place, showing
q difference in favor of the bay route OF
ia miles. So that the difference of the
two routes from ST. Paul to Liverpool,
via New York, and via the Hudson bay,
shows the latter to be shorter by near
~ $40 miles.
This graat northern waterway Is not,
however, without some drawbacks; for
instance, during four months 1T cannot
be used, but owing to the fact that tho
lay does not freeze until October the
western farmer, with his early harvest,
could get most of his grain on his hands
and shipped before that time, and
such of his produce as he could not get
to the seaboard in time would be held
IN elevators at Port Nelson until spring.
when he would catch the inevitable rise
in the market in Europe in May.
Grain is by 10 means the only COM
modify to be considered. Think OF the
cattle during the long summer shipping
season. Freed from the long trans
continental railway haul, they would
arrive in Europe in much better condi-
ton than nowadays.
Then there are hay, timber. logs. wool
and a hundred and one things that
would be profit to the westerner with
cheap freight to Europe, which are now
glut on the market Even horses
might be raised at proAt-N. Y. TEX
egram.