The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1910-10-11
HUDSON BAY is
VAST IN WEALTH
Earl Grey's Tour Of UnexpIOTed
Canada an Eye Opener.
development WORK CERTAIN
Governor General Treads Paths Linz
tied to Indians and Wild Game, but
Finds Navigation of Northern Sea
Practicable For Transportation of
Grain and Ore.


/ Grain and Ore.
Nothing in the period of Earl Grey's
governor generalship of the Dominion
Of Canada has been more spectacular
or more indicative of his interest in
the vast extent of territory which he
serves than the journey to and across
Hudson's bay, which he has just ac-
complished.
BY canoe and portage, whaleboat
and sailing vessel Earl Grey Travelled
as a voyager of the old adventurous
days over the same trails, packed hard
by the moccasined feet of 100 years.
| in the same manner as did Hearne.
the explorer, or Mackenzie, the daunt-
less, or many another of the Hudson
Bay company's pioneers of 200 and
300 years ago.
1t was land at a standstill his ex-
cellency passed through.
Country Almost unexplored.
The country had never been explored
from any point of view other than that
of the hunter after fur peltries until
| Earl Grey and his companions passed
through. Although its rivers have been
the highroads of commerce for many
| years, little information other than the
amount of the seasons fur catch has
been sifted from the country.
And this is most natural. For while
Canada as a whole has been advancing
rapidly, this district has been marking
time. Wedged in between the great
wheat acres of the south, ice blown
Hudson's bay to the north, the mixed
farming country of the Saskatchewan
to the west and the mining regions of
new Ontario to the eastward, this vast
and almost inaccessible area has held
sullenly aloof from the white man and
is tracked only by Indians and game.
Until yiceroyalty appeared it was a
barren land-a desert within an oasis.
Now the magic wand of power and
prestige waves over the country, and 1t
becomes a land of gold, of wheat and
of many riches.
Members of the party also bring
back word of what the outside world
has ever suspected to be the case-that
it is huntsman's and fisherman's par
adise, nmitless holiday ground for
millions of people. They also tell tales
of meeting men-men of the frontier
miners and prospeetors, who have
staked out claims In quartz and sand.
One old veteran on Pipestone lake
showed them mica, and the party itself
discovered petroleum without having
to be shown.
Transportation Facilities Needed.
But the wealth of the country is of
little use unless some means can be EN-
ployed to get it out to the civilized
markets of the world, and it is most in
teresting and encouraging to all Cana
dams TO hear what Earl Grey and his
companions have to say upon the feast
bility Of the Hudson bay route as an
outlet for the western harvest and the
products of the Keewatin and Ungave.
For 1T8 years Hudson bay has been
navigated by traders and whalers'
ships continuously with the exception
of one year. Still scientists speak du-
biously Of the possibility of making
use of Hudson bay for commercial
purposes, and old and willy navigators
smile caustically and shake their
heads when they are told within de-
cade the northern route will duplicate
the st. Lawrence trade.
Ships have frequented the bay for
three hundred years and more, and |
scarcely a ship has experienced serious
trouble, although the majority Of them |
have been sailing vessels without aux /
iliary power to keep them moving
through the ice. There are no artis
fetal aids to navigation in the bay,
no detailed or accurate charts being
available, no currents, no magnetism
worked out,
Channels Always Naviuahle.
Earl Grey has had compiled list,
a very incomplete list, but none the
less valuable, of the most experienced
and intelligent of the American and
Scotch whaling masters who have
been accustomed to navigate the
straits each year. From these the
opinion appears to be unanimous that
Turing the autumn and summer
months at any rate should drift Ice
occur in these parts, open water, suit
lBle for the passage of steamers, can
always be found between it and the
shores.
Earl Grey has put an end to another
disbelief Hudson bay never has ana
lever will be frozen over in winter.
1e has this on the authority of In
lians, Eskimos, trappers and traders
Who, either themselves or their an
estors, have inhabited the shores of
he bay for centuries. The bay may
ometimes be more or less covered
With floating ice, but it's great depth
nd the strength of its currents make
IS surface proof against frost.