The Washington herald., 1907-08-04
A HUDSON BAY ROUTE
Canadians Plan a Short Cut
to Europe.
SIX RAILWAYS ARE PROJECTED
Mr.. Hill, Who Once RidicuIed Hud-
son Bay Route, Is One of the Pro-
snry by Blockade of East-bOund
Freight-Some Interesting Figures

The utter blockade Of east-bound freight
on all the railroad lines OF the North
western States and Western Canada has
given great impetus To the agitation for
a short route TO Europe by way Of Hud-
son Bay
Within the last SIX months, says the
Review Of Reviews six different charters
have been taken out for different railroad
schemes connecting with Hudson Bay.
One sof these was obtained by Mr. Hill,
VINO used TO ridlcule a Hudson Bay road
as a venture that would be showed up
for ten months Of the year and iced up
the other two"
The Hill charter plans to feed the
! freight OF Dakota and Minnesota into the
Saskatchewan Valley and from the Sas-
katchewan to Hudson Bay. Builders are
at work on the southern end Of this
project now.
/ another Of these six Hudson Bay char
| tiers is owned by the new Canadian trans
! continental line - the Mackenzie Mann
road. or the f0O miles needed to connect
| Churchill with the railroads of the Sas-
katchewan the MacKeuzie-Ai Mann road has
! already eighty built. q railroad with
| trains running. not Just an iron tonic for
! the cows" as the funny papers have al
ways described roads to Hudson Bay.
Details of Projects.
Two other projects have been galvanized
into life by the schemes for a Hudson Bay
route. For years Canada has talked of a
/ deep-water canal uD the Ottawa. from the
st Lawrence 10 the Great Lakes. sud
denly surveyors are set 70 work estimat-
ing the cost of canal that would connect
Lake Superior with ocean traffic The
cost. it may be said, is estimated at Slz5.-
O00Oc.
Then around Hudson Bay is a vast
unorganized erTitory-Keewatin, about
/ the size Of Germany. The western prov
inces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan
suddenly awaken 10 the fact that each
wants an extension Of its boundaries
across Keewatin Tor a seaport on HUd-
son Bay
Roughly speaking. Churchill which
viii be the seaport Of the Hudson Bay
routes. is just loo miles from the grain
areas Of Hills roads. New York is 2,000
, 3 l..t
gon. New York is nearly 1900.
Says Premier Laurier. i'm answer to a
request for a road from ex-Premier
GFeenway. of Manitoba I agree the time
has come FOR the railroad to Hudson
p Bay. The statute books contain stand
, ing Offer OF 12O00 acres Of land 2 mile
along the line Of this railroad, and II this
IS not sufficient encouragement for pro-
moteTs ether means must be found
Open Five Months.
: As TO the question of the practicabiHty
p OF the Churchill harbor, the writer
3 quotes records showing that it has al
ways an open season Of five months In
favorable seasons this is extended TO
! seven months.
= The harbor itself could not have been
1 better if it had been made To- order. It
E is a direct 555-mile plain. open. deep wa
ter sail from the west end Of the
straits-no shoals. no reefs. tdeep enough
for the deepest draught keel that ever
sailed the sea. This-as captains OF the
. big warships knows true Of neither
- Montreal nor New York AT New York
q deep draught ships have 70 wait the tide
j both for approach and departure and
:
o taking a mud bath on the sand bars
5 over against this advantage. let il be
= stated frankly. Churchill summer and
s. winter, is subject to just as furious gales
SSas ever battered the iron rocks of New
$ foundland. One other danger peculiar to
Churchill must be noted. Five miles out
i the bay is open all the year round. but as
the cold becomes intense what Is known
as frost fog" lies thick as wool on the
sea. obscuring everything.
Entrance Il Narrow
The entrance between the two head
lands is rot a half mile wide. against the
s tremendous current of river ana ebb tide
p but the depth is untouchable. Port Church
s III is the harbor inside. a magnificent ex-
n panse of lard-locked water, with the fur
+ post FIVE miles upstream.
/ But all railroad projects to Hudson Bay
y hinge not on Churchill Harbor, but on the
Il straits Can they be navigated2 How
long are they open? Even if they can be
II navigated by slow oceangoers, will they
? be Of any avail for a fast Atlantic route:
q Hudson Straits are really a deep gorge
which the ice Of the arctic world-the ice
5, of prehistoric ages-has cut and grOOved
VI and torn forcibly out of the solid rock
> finding egresS from Fox Channel Of the
: arctic to open water of the Atlantic Into
u this funnel OF rock 450 miles long, Is
= iammed from the west and pounded anC
, contracted the area Of an ice continent
y and up this channel from the east runs
a tide-rip thirty-five feet high When tide
= rip and ice meet there occurs. what the olC
= lnavigators Of the Hudson Bay fur trade
: call the furious overfall.
n Reports Are Incomplete.
re The Canadian government has sent tw,
Ic special expeditions dn 1885 and 1880 Il
Is test the navigation Of the straits. anC
e one general expedition to navigate tn,
northern waters Q903-0D, but the question
has become so terribly political-so mucl
: a question of East versus West-that th,
he official reports on the expedition are NOR
le noteworthy for what they leave unsai,
s than for what they say.
y The Gordon expedition Of 1850 and tn,
n Wakeham of 1897 definitely establshe,
these facts: Hudson Bay is open all ia
y year round; an open current fow
'e through the straits winter as well q
10 summer, but owing to ice drives this cur
q rent Of the straits is closed 10 navigation
le after November, and not open again I'll
le June-that is. there are always fiv
months when the straits can be nayi
gated, sometimes six. There was ais
discovered just inside the eastern en-
trance TO the straits. a splendid land
l. locked harbor. or haven of refuge-PoT
I'd BurweIl-sheltered from all winds bat tn
re south.