Omaha daily bee., 1906-06-17

dian brakeman shouts winnipegosis on
the shores of the lake of that name. Far
ther west, the iron highways cross Saskat-
chewan and Assiniboia, provinces whose
names have only recently been made ia
miliar by the railway maps. Edmunton, in
Alberta, still nearer the Pacific, Is becom-
ing a railroad center. The Canadian Pa
cifc stretches through the new wheat fields
to the Pacific coast. The Grand Trunk
Pacific is being built westward and the
Canadian Northern has already reached
Edmunton and consequently has but about
500 miles to go before 1t touches the waters
of the Pacific. The new Hill line is to be
pushed from Fernie, a town in British Co
lumbia eastward across the prairie until
Winnipeg is reached. and winnipeb is al
ready included in the Hill system. The
Hill plans contemplate the crossing of the
Canadian Pacific and the tapping of rich
country to the north of that line.
1t is significant of the purpose of the
railroad builders that they seek to find
routes through rich agricultural territory
rather than to hit upon the lines which
would prove to be the shortest distance
between two points regardless of the char
acter of the country which 1t traverscd.
II Is also significant, on the other hand,
that having laid their rails through the
wheat producing areas, the railway men
| thus seek the shortest roads to the nearest
points on navigable waters. One of the
strong points advanced by Mr.. Hill I'm sup
port of the route he has selected is that he
can connect the Canadian northwest with
! Duluth over country Of easy grades
All the other railways traversing western
Canada have or will have connection with
the western end Of Lake Superior
Lake Superior in Command.
| While the greatest of railway projects
now under way in the west center in the
lCanadian wheat fields the building of va
, rious short pieces of road in the western
| states tends to shorten the distance to the
| ports at this end of Lake Superior. A
railway map shows many dotted lines
! where such cuts are proposed. All these
additions to existing railway systems
| mean additional commence on the lakes.
II line is drawn from the eastern end
Of Lake Superior diagonally across the
map of the United States to the Pacific
coast at the southern extremity of Cali
fornia 1t will be found that all the terri
tory north and west of this line is nearer
to Lake Superior ports than to others on
the great lakes, and in shortening their
routes to the east western railroad sys-
TENS evidently have this fact in mind.
Hand in hand with the building OF
western railways goes the development of
the country in many lines With the in
crease in population, regions which are
now devoted to farming and mining will
become the scene OF many manufacturing
enterprises, and in THEN turn will help
to swell the total of the commerce OF the
lakes.A Already in Minnesota steps are
being taken to provide cheap power for
many diversified industries.
Harvesting the Rivers.
In this western country the Harvesting
Of the rivers has already begun, and as
result Of the work now being done on the
st. Louis river with its ultimate capacity
OF 2oO,OOO-horse power, projects are on foo
not only for the establishment of many
manufacturing enterprises, but also for IN,
Identification Of some OF the railroads
which now run north from Duluth TO tn,
great mines on the Iron range. It ha.
been figured out that when Minnesota AM
the Dakotas have a population as denst
as that Of Massachusetts, the three states
Will contain not less than 6O.OOOOCO people
whose needs will be served by $1,000 milel
Of railway.
That time. of course, is still far distant
but the present growth of population II
the northwest country indicates that tn
men who are year by year adding to tn,
railway mileage are making no mistake
And should the time ever come when tn
population of the northwest equals or ex
ceeds the present population OF the coun
try the proportion of the traffic on tn
great lakes can only be conjectured, 70
they will then be one OF the chief mean
OF communication between east and west
as they have always been since the day
when only the birch bark canoes Of tn
Indians were seen upon their waters.