The Meeker herald., 1897-04-17
NEW ROUTE TO EUROPE.
Proposed Ooustzuetson Of . Water.
wsy Through Hudson Bay.
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The distance Qt the great wheat Aeids
of the 0Osthwest from the Atlantic sea-
board, and the consequent expense of
,ntting the agricultural products Of
that great prairie country on the Eu-
20 ,.can market, has long seemed to he
IN unsurmountablc difficulty. While
navigation is open on the great lakes
IL. cos, of transportation is greatly
.essenct!, but ever: with the advantage Of
his inland waterway the outlay OF chip
ping II bushcl OF wheat 10 Liverpool has
ocen, during the past few years, equal
10 the price paid for bushel ut points
n Dakota and Manitoba, which means
that for every bnshel of wheat that the
farmer puts on the European mnrket
ne must have the value Of another bush
Il 70 get it there.
The cs,,ls4 of this is that, whether by
lake or rail, the wheat has to be carried
rom the west to this city, q distance
n soEe cases OIL 1000 milcs.
These freight rates, which are not by
any naans, high for tha distance, make
TIE difference between profit and Toss
10 the farmer.
This evil is to lie overcome by what
y
ny any means. for it Inns been used by
he Hudson Bay company for over 2oo
ears; II wns the route that the carly
,e.tlers on the Red river of the north
.oos when they started the Red River
ol,ny in 1912, and us it has been. ind
S still, to a certain extent, used to tins
.'av, it is evidently not irnpracticable
FOR four months of winter ice prevents
.,ayisa,ion, but it freezes up later in
he fall and thaws earlier in the spring
than Lake Superior.
The route itself is from Port Nelson
% the mouth of the Nelson river.
through the Hudson straits, via Cape
Farewell to the north coast of Ireland,
md thence to Liverpool or Glasgow:
md 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 the
bay.
1t may I've asked: "Why was this not
all thought Of before?' The answer is
;imple. Until the year 1870 the whole
If whnf is now the Canadian province of
Manitoba ard British northwest terri
cries was controlled by the Hudson
Bay company, and as their sole object
was to supply the world with fur. it
vas distinctly to their interest to eN-
.cycrate the dangers of the waters Of
the lay, and in fact do anything that
would retartl immigration to their pre-
serves.
Hut now things have changed. The
hudson Day compspy's rights were p'1,-
chased by the doniuion governmentfn In
,o.u ~. .-L-,.t >es, 900 ,noO worth Of
and, and in 1850. ten years inter. n ci1ur-
sr was granted to the Nelson River
company, who nre now building rail-
way which will, in the course OF q few
years, bring Winnipeg within 60 hours
railway journey to the sea.
By this route St. Paul and Minneapo-
lis would he only 750 miles from the
ocean. What does this mean? A sav-
ing of nearly $50 miles MS compared
with the distance to New York. This
spplies equally. Of course. to points
vest. and even moro to points north and
northwest Of the twin cities. Further.
.hc distance from Port Nelson to Liver
..ool is :. .ses miles. while it is 3,Oto from
Sew York to the same place. showing
difference in favor Of the bay route of
III miles. So that the difference of the
wo routes from st. Paul to Liverpool,
id New York, and via the Hudson bay.
i,ows the latter to be shorter by near
~ $40 miles.
This great northern waterway IL not,
lowcyer, without some drawbacks: for