The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-08
HILLS ROAD ACROSS CANADA.
TO BUILD LINE FROM MONTREAL
TO VANCOUVER IN TWO YEARS.
With Branches Across the border Con.
Meeting With the Present Great North
ern sOute-NO Land Grants TO he
Asked For Advantages Over &. r. n.

Meeting With the Present Great North
ern ROute-NO and Grants TO he
Asked Advantages Over &. r. n,
ST. PAUL, MINI, April flames j. Hill
intends to build a t~rans-oontinental rail-
road through Canada from the Atlantic
10 the Pacific. In Il letter to the Winnipeg
Board of Trade he says:
I'VE are now undertaking to build up
a new system-a transcontinental line
through the Canadian Northwest-which
/ hope will serve to further develop your
city and the country from which its pros
perity is drawn. l am called East OF bust
ness which will keep me until about the
list Of May, after which time | intend to
visit Winnipeg"
Andrew Strang, president of the Winni-
peg Board of Trade, 10 whom the letter
was addressed, said:
The Great Northern will come into
Winnipeg from the east and will continue
on through western Canada to the Pacific
Coast. The Great Northern project. Mr..
Hill says, will begin at a connection from
Montreal to Boston. From Montreal west
the line will parallel the Canadian Pacific
and one very pleasing feature OF the UNI
dertaking Is that Mr.. Hill asks no bonus.
He seeks right Of way and is willing to pay
a fair price for it.
SIN this connection the coming Of the
Great Northern Is unique in the history of
Canadian railroads. Every railroad here
tofore has sought from the Government
at Ottawa, and has secured, valuable land
grants. 1t is understood that Mr.. Hill
will ignore these grants and buy the right
Of way throughout the entire line
1t is announced that the Great Northern
will begin construction at once from Winni-
peg to Vancouver, B. c., and that before
work Is long begun on this line the Eastern
extension will be in course of construction.
The big railroad ctors Of Minnesota,
who nave built thousands Of miles Of road
for the Great Northern, the Northern
Pacific, the Canadian Northern and the
Canadian Pacific are now figuring on the
construction Of Mr.. Hills new line. One
Of these contra ctors said to-day that
within sixty days more than 1000 miles
Of j. j. Hills Canadian road would be
under contract. Speaking OF the road
west from Winnipeg, this mar said:
while the contract which we hay We under
taken calls for the building OF the line
to the Pacific Coast, there will be no lees
than twelve branch lines running south
into the gold fields, the oil fields and the
coal deposits. OF these, seven lines will
run into northern North Dakota, northern
Montana, Idaho and Washington and con-
meet with the main line Of the Great
Northern. These branch lines will touch
the great coal fields and the mining centres
on the southern Canadian border.
THE scheme involves the most intricate
system of cross lines and interchange Of
traffic that has ever been devised in the
Northwest. The Great Northern trans
continental line promises to be an i'm
portant feeder for the main line OF the Great
Northern in the States and yet will draw
from the most settled agricultural sections
of the Canadian Northwest.
Unlike the Canadian Pacific 1t will not
be necessary for the Hill road to drag its
trains across the entire Continent loaded
with freight, for 1t may reach the markets
Of the Middle States via Winnipeg and
st. Paul or via Winnipeg or Duluth through
the Lake route 10 Buffalo or Chicago.
THE eastern extension Of the line is from
Winnipeg to Montreal, ,Paralelling the
Canadian Pacific. While Mr., Hill has said
that his road would operate from the At
to the Pacific, it is understood that
will be the Eastern terminus,
probably a traffic connection with
some line reaching Boston, The associates
ol Mr.. Hill are sanguine that the road will
be completed within two years. The
officers under Mr.. Hill ave this week de-
clared that every detail has been arranged
and that nothing can interfere with the
of the line"