The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-07-05
Special Correspondence.

the Grand Trunk Pacific, will proba-
bly, be completed in time to help haul
the 1907, crops of gam. This is the
report which has set Canada to re.
Joicing; it means that the bursting
granarieS of the region between Win
nipeg and Saskatoon soon will have
another spout to the Great Lakes"
another railroad to carry to market
! the golden flood which last fall fair
ly swamped the present Canadian
| railways
Contrast with these facts and with
the conditions which make them so
| important to Canada, the mad
prophecy Of London Truth in 1881:
| The Canadian Pacific Railway will
| run, If it ever is finished, through a
! country frost bound for seven or
| eight months of the year, and will
! connect with the eastern part of the
Dominion province (Manitoba)
which embraces about as forbidding
| country as any on the face OF the
EARTH
The first railroad seemed useless
| then-tO the London Truth. Later
| there was a second Now there is
| third Railroad building has not been
able TO keep pace with the increase
of traffic which the new railways have
created. The Grand Trunk Pacific is
being rushed to completion in its en-
tire $500 miles of length as rapidly
as good and substantial construction
will permit, but the road is to be
without heavy grades or sharp curves
because it is designed to carry heavy
traffic and fast trains
The new railway is the farthesS
north of the three great trunk lines
in western Canada-it will awaken
the Lost West. which also has been
found to be part of the best west, in
climate as well as productiveness.
The 'forbidding country of Western
Canada. in 1906 produced new traffic
amounting to 95,0O0,O0O bushels of
grain and exported $4,000 head of cat
tie of average weight of 1926 pounds
This traffic from the region which
the London Truth derided a quarter
century ago, The Canadian Pacific
was the pioneer in the creating of
this traffic. which now exceeds the
capacities of the two roads These
lines through country which London
Truth declared was ''frostbcund seven
or eight months of the year. had be-
come inadequate to the requirements
of the cultivated rand. although but a
fraction of the 200.000,000 fertile
acres in Western Canada were under
plow. London Truth was a poor
prophet.
The facts about Western Canada
were not know 25 years ago, which
explains the view expressed by Truth
Instead of a frigid barren country,
growing more frigid and barren as
one travels northwesterly, the path
nndeTs for the new railway have
found an empire CT prairie and forest
which is wonderful in productiveness
and where the sun shines 800 days
of the year. During many weeks in
many winters, people in the bustling
city of Edmonton sit before their |
open doors enjoying glorious Indian |
summer when thousand miles fur |
Their south there are snow blockades |
and billiards.. EdmontOn's climate is !
tempered with the warm Chinook |
winds, and her people in winter have |
reason TO pity the denizons of Min |
neSota, the DakOtas and Colorado
The Grand Trunk Pacific some $500 |
miles long, will reduce the time of |
travel around the earth by two |
sleeps" becausce it is to be the Cir |
die at the earths smallest circumfer
ence. President Charles NJ Hays of /
the government-backed company, and |
formerly Of the Wabash system in the /
states, conceived the plan. Now, af- |
ter some six years, trains will actual |
ly be running on the badly needed |
branch in a district where the golden
flood of grain flows so wide and deep |
that last year two railroads were I'M
able to haul it fast enough and thou
sands of bushels were left for months
on the ground in great pyramids The
government section of the road, from
Winnipeg to Superior Junction is I'M
der construction; from Lake Superior
to Superior Junction firm of Chica-.
go contractors is building a branch.
The main line, from Winnipeg TO
Prince Rupert, in British Columbis
is being built under the immediate
supervision of General Manager Cal
so vice-president) Morse Last fall
the grade was practically finished
from Portage la Prairie to Saskatoon
and 400 miles Of steel was stored at
Portage.
Further west, in the less explored /
parts, the pathfnders are again this
year ferrying their outfits over the
polling and padding up
the peace river and climbing the
crest of the continent, thence to set
their pegs down the sunset slope to
the sea. The pathfinders bear the
brunt of the hardships of the great
project, for they find some times that
their caches of food have been burnt
by a forest fire; then only an occa-
sional bit of game, with wild berries
must serve them as food, but their
work of running the line" and set
ting the pegs goes merrily on. This
year the survey will be entirely fin
shed from ocean to ocean and the Il
work of plating out the city of Prince
Rupert will be done. Work at Prince
Rupert can De continued all winter,
for the climate is delightfully."- mild.
There are Graded the chinook winds
which modify the climate of this
Last West and which upset old
theories about it. Streets will e
staked for the City of the Future.
"details. as to drainage. sewerage and
water in accordance with the most
modern ideas, in readiness for the
coming of the railroad and the thou
sands it will bring
The rush for lands IN 1907, partly