The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-29

1t has many miles of we'll laid streets,
macadimized with bituminous rock.
They are generously lighted with gas
and electricity. Electric cars run in
the principal thoroughfares and the SER
vice extends to New Westminster,
twelve miles distant on the Frazer riv-
er. Lining the harbor are extensive
wharves and numerous warehouses.
There are several fine churches, opera
house and hotels. The principal one is
Hotel Vancouver, one of the hostelries
owned by the Canadian Pacific, and 1t
is only just to say that in comfort lux
ury and refinement Of service this hotel
equals any on the continent. Our five
days stay, here was luxury in the ex-
treme. Every tourist may protitably
and comfortably spend q week at Van
couver. Opportunities for sport are un-
limited here. Mountain goats, bear
and deer are found in the hills along the
inlet; trout fishing in the mountain
streams, and sea fishing in endless va
riety. Its streets combine frontier and
sea-faring, back woods, European,
American and Oriental conditions and
people. For instance, one curio shop
sells basket work, silver and slate carv-
ings, brought In canoes by the coast
Indians, and at the next door all the
Orient is set before you by Chinese and
Japanese traders, who add to their stock
by each arriving steamer. A mountain
Of tea chests is unloaded from each
empress, and mountain of sacked flour
and cotton in bales takes their place.
Stanley Park comprises nine miles of
carriage road through the forest prime
Val-some as dense as tropical jungle
some a street Of trim villas with beau
tifully kept lawns and gardens, and
some where the Douglass spruce grows
to 200 even 300 feet high.
MODEL STEAMSHIPS.
Special mention should be made of
the regular Canadian Pacific Trans
Pacific Royal Mail steamship service
to China and Japan. The three mag
niticent steel steamships employed are
called the Empress Of India" EN-
press Of China" and Empress of
Japan" The latter being in port dur
ing our visit to Vancouver, we visited
it with much interest and courteously
shown through it. They are all uni
formly built, Of 60O0 tons burden,
staunch, speedy and capacious, and
are under contract with the Imperial
government to carry the royal mail.
They are 4S5 feet long, 81 feet breadth
of beam. and the only twin screw
steamships on the Pacific. They are
Of 10000 horse power, have triple eX-
pansion engines and steam nineteen
knots, or nearly twenty-five miles an
hour. The cabins are large and roomy
and contain all the modern improve
ments and no expense has been spar
ed in their luxurious fittings. The
promenades are extensive and free
from distractions. The saloons, smok-
ing rooms, social hall, and all passen-
ger accommodations are amid ships,
and surpasses most anything we have
ever seen ahoat. These vessels are
lighted throughout by electricity IN
q word modern marine architecture
has in these palaces excelled itself.
These steamships are heavily SUBJ
sidized, receiving $1,000 each trip.
They are ostensibly merchant vessels
and passenger ships, but so heavily
built as to be easily utilized or con-
verted into war ships at short notice.
Another instance of British fore
thought that our American govern
ment may well emulate. In our next
we resume our travels eastward over
this great national highway.
j. f. RICHMOND.