Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-06-01
HILLS CANADIAN LINE
Plan of Great Northern Chiefs
New Trunk Road.
TO TAP LARGE WHEATFIELDS
VILLA m L. Curtis Tells of Vast Prof.
ect Revealed to Him by the FInan-
cier-ImpossibIe Vow TO Transport
the Grain Crop Plenty of Land
For Terminals Secured

l met James j. Hill, the empire build
| er of ST. Paul, at the Gotham hotel, In
| New York, the other day. and he told
| me that he was going to start this
summer on new trunk line, or, rath
er, an extension of the Great Northern
railroad. from Winnipeg to Vancouver
and he declared that he would build
the entire distance without surety or
bonds, says William f. Curtis, special
correspondent of the Chicago Record
Herald. A few months ago Mr. Hill
announced that he was going to retire
from active business life and turn the
management of the Great Northern
railway over to his boys. two of whom
| are now directors in that company. He
has made Il similar announcement sew
eral times in years past. and | notice
that on every occasion it has been fol
lowed by some great new enterprise
which engag eS all his talent and most
of his time. His present retirement
from active business means the con-
struction of Il new line parallel with
of the border, through the provinces of
Manitoba, Saskatchewan. Alberta and
British Columbia. When Mr.. Hill an
nounceS his retirement look out for big
things. He has recently disclosed his
intentions TO the Canadians. He has
written n letter to the Winnipeg board
of trade promising Ito build up Il new
system, new transcomtinental line
through the Canadian northwest. which
l hope will serve 10 further develop
your city and the country from which
its prosperity is drawn"
Mr. Hill tells me that he ordered
5000 tons of eighty pound steel rails
from the Dominion Iron company of
Halifax and $1,000 tons from the 500
Iron company of Sault Ste. Marie.
which Is enough to iron 30 miles OF
road
When / asked him f0 the route of
his new Canadian road AIr. Hill smiled
and said he hadn't selected it. but be-
lieved that there is plenty of room for
another track through the wheattieldS
on the Canadian side of the border.
He has great faith i'll the future of
Canada He said that Within the next
few years there wouh be practically
q single wheatfield 800 miles square
I'D yonder yielding an average of
twenty bushels to the acre. and anoth-
er road will then he needed to carry
the crops to market. He Will haul 1t
not only to Duluth. but will turn over
n part of his freight TO the Grand
Trunk at Winnipeg. The Canadian
roads are not able to handle the crop
now. Even in january they were still
hauling the crop of 1904-just clearing
it I'D. The wheat had been stored for
a year and q half in the fields and in
small elevators along the lines. The
Canadian Pacific cannot take it away
from Georgian Bay as fast as 1t arrives
there. and sometimes the whole road is
blocked by loaded cars. Mr.. Hills
new road will furnish another outlet
and take a share of the crop to Du-
luth. which has two months more of
navigation and abundant facilities TO
handle any amount of grain.
The wheat crop of Manitoba last year
was about SJ,0O0,O00 bushels, and It
was disposed OF as follows:
Kept for seed OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. ioVVOVoo
Local mills I'VOVVO
Winnipeg mills. 100000
East Canada mills. 100000
Because of the enormous immigra-
ton chiefly from the United States,
which has gone into Manitoba, Sas-
katchewan and Alberta during the
10 OF var this crop will no nearly don