Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-03-17
cANADA's PROJECTED TRANS.
CONTINENTAL RAIL WAY.

For more than 500 ye a British
statesmen have dreamed o. possessing
the shortest possible route to the ORR
ent and the dream is now certain of
realization. through the efforts OF Sir
Charles Rivers Wilson and C. NJ Hays
The stockholders and directors OF the
Grand Trunk railway have approved
of the plans for constructing the
Grand Trunk Pacific railway 10 extend
from North Bay or Gravenhurst, Ont,
to either Butte Inlet or Port Simpson,
a distance OF 3025 miles. and the Ca
madam government has agreed to con
strucl a portion OF the road and guar
antee the bonds to be issued for The
remaining portion. The total cost
Will not be less than $l25 .o10.00O, and
the undertaking outranks in import-
ance any single railway project In his
tory, with the possible exception of
the Trans-Slberlan railway
Besides having the shortest route
from Liverpool. from the large centers
OF Canada, from New Yor, and the
manufacturing centers of the cast, and
practically an equal route from Chica-
go and the middle west to the Orient.
the company will have the lowest
grade mountain line on the continent
and over 700 miles of continuous rail-
wny, with steamship connections. over
which rates can be made to every part
of the world without consultation with
friendly or unfriendly connections.
The New England states are reached
by the Central Vermont OF the Grand
Trunk system and the gl;eways Of
Chicago. Detroit and Port, Huron by
the Grand Trunk Western both roads
making short connections with the pro-
posed tran5-contincnlal railway. Some
of The distances are significant For
example, from New York TO Yokoha-
ma By the way OF Montreal and the
new line will be as miles shorter than
by the Canadian Pacific. 555 miles
shorter than by Chicago and San Fran.
cisco and 1900 miles shorter than by
Galveston and San Francisco. From
Liverpool TO Yokohaml by the way of
Quebec and the new route VIII be 52S
miles shorter than by tho Canadian
Pacific, 1873 miles shorter than by
New York and San Francisco and 1870
miles shorter than by Moscow and the
Trnns-Siberlan railway. From Chlca.
20 and Milwaukee to Yokohama by the
Grand Trunk will be 535 miles long
er than by the short route by St Paul
and the Canadian Pacific. but shorter
in time nnd viii be 2G5 miles shorter
than by st. Paul and Winnipeg.
An idea Of the part this line viii
play In oriental trade is gathered from
the statement that the Canadian eN-
ports increased from $93.S270T7 in
1890 to s211 $40. 2Gs in 1902, while from
the United States the increase was
from $15l 100, 900 10 $i33. $50. 900.
Along the lines OF the Grand Trunk
system are located IS cities and towns
of more than 1000 population each and
aggregatlng 1,o0p9i0. which is 1874
per cent Of Canads's population. From
these towns the bulk Of manufactured
articles are now shipped to the north
west and exported
One Of the most important facts in
connection with the project Is the ex.
istence OF approximately 100000 900
acres Of fertile and unoccuplcd land In
northwest Canada. or hve-eights OF the
total farm acreage OF The United
States. or the II 100000 acres OF oc
cupied land there only G,000,000 acres
are under cultivation, and they pro
duced 60.0o0,000 bushels Of wheat in
1902. It is estimated that the unoc-
cupied lands are capable Of a wheat
production amounting to between Two
and one II to. three billion bushels,
or five mes greater than the United
State rrpp Of 1900. There are other
fa".rrs VII ~ make the Grand Trunk
7 -lfc 4 one OF stupeudous pos
slbilitics