The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-11-19
THE GRAND TRUNK
PACIFIC |. Railway !.
canada's New Highway Across.
the Continent to BE Built
BY the Government.
THOUSANDS NOW AT WORK
Canada's New. Wheat Belt and
It's American Set
tiers.
BY Frank G. Carpenter.

ny Frank G. Carpenter.
Especial Correspondence OF The Tincs-
Dispatch.)
MONTREAL, November, l5.--I have lust
had a long talk with Mr.. Frank w.
Morse, the Vice President and General
Manager OF the new trunk line which
= the government OF Canada is building
from ocean to ocean. say the govern
ment. for although the road is being
engineer under the Grand Trunk Paci-
fic Railway management and although
1t will really belong to that company, 1t
Is being built on government guarantees,
and me eastern halt OF 1t BY govern
mcnt engineers and on government con-
tracts.
It is the biggest single Job any gov
eminent has ever unuertaken. with per-
haps thef exception OF the Trans siberian
Railway and the Panama Canal. Its
building Will be as difficult as that Of
the Trans Siberian, and 1t will cost
s123. 100000. or more than half as much
as the Panama Canal f..j
Transport yourself In your magma
tion back to the time when this United
States had 100000 people. We had
f about 3,UvO, 100. believe, when Jefferson
was President Think OF the period
when most OF our citizens were along
the Atlantic. seaboard and south Of
Lakes Erie and Ontario, and suppose
that we then had determined to build an
Iron track through the wilderness from
Boston 70 San Francisco, and theace
north to Seattle. That Is somewhat like
what this little SIX million nation Is
undertaking now. 1t is surveying new
line o; railroad 5000 miles longi which
shall connect Halifax. Nova Scotia. with
y Port Simpson, on the Pacific Ocean. Eot
far from the lower end Of Alaska. about
300 miles north OF Puget Sound, and
perhaps half that distance south OF Sitka,
I'm Alaska The line everywhere ryns
several hundred miles north OF the
American boundary. In the Rockies II Is
about 500 miles nor tn. II goes mostRof
4 the way through a new and nnsettled
country. and for AIT house nd miles or SO
through lands SO suited for farming that
Mr. Morse tells me they Will soon be as
thickiy populated as Iowa or Nebraska s q.
Thousands Already at Work.
This railroad is not mere possibility
q scheme mapped out upon paper. It has
beea authorized by the Canadian Par!ia-
rnent: s33. 100000 worth OF Grand Trunk
Pacific bonds. guaranteed by the govern.
uent, have been issued and they were
subscribed for ten times over. The money
Is at the call OF the managers, and 1t IS
being put into the work as rapidly as
possible. Already ITS miles OF road are
under construction. Two thousand men
are at work laying the rails between
Winnipeg and Edmonton, and by this time
next year there will be an army OF labor
ers pushing the construction all along the
line.
The road is being built to stay. The
government contract provides that 1t shall
be as good as the line Of the Grand Trunk
between Toronto and Montreal, and that
is as good as any road on the continent.
The Trans Siberian was made with rails
which were far too light for the traffic,
and the whole road must now be reatd.
SO Prince Hilkofr. the Russian secretary
of railroads. told me when talked with
him about that line just before the war
With Japan. The Canadian Pacific was
originally laid with fifty-six pound rails;
that Is, with rails which weighed fifty-six
pounds to the yard. This has all been
changed. and the road now has the heavy
rails and all the Improvements OF the New
York Central or the Pennsylvania, The
Grand Trunk Pacific Is being laid with
rails which weigh eighty pounds to the
ward, and It's grades will be the least, SO
Mr., Morse says, OF any rans-continental
uas, The road will be completed IN 191l.