Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-22
GATE TO GRAIN FIELD.
Canadian Wheat Sent For
ward From Fort William.
TERMINUS OF LAKE TRAFFIC
Connected by Railway With Win
nipeg.
RIVAL OF PORT ARTHUR
Former Has Greater Commercial Ad-
vantages-Latter More Desir-
able for Residence.
OF PORT ARTHUR
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald

FORT WILLIAM. Can,
September s. 1911
Until the main line from Quebec to
Winnipeg, north of the great lakes is
completed the Grand Trunk Railway
Company will carry it's passengers from
Halifax, Portland, Providence Quebec
and Montreal to Winnipeg and the west
ern provinces by way of Toronto, Sar-
MIA and the Sault Ste. Marie. The COM
pany has fleet of luxurious steamers.
equipped with every comfort and conven-
fence. and one of them. the Harmonic,
it claims to be the largest and the fast
est passenger steamer on the lakes.
The steamers sail three times week
between Sarnia, Fort William and Du-
luth and from Colingwood through
the islands of Georgian bay to the
same ports. The Grand Trunk railway
has recently been completed from Fort
William to Winnipeg, distance of 673
miles. at a cost of $14,000.00O. Freight
trains have been running for nearly
year. Passenger trains will be put on
next spring.
Fort William and Port Arthur are twin
cities and desperate rivals, Very much
like Duluth and Superior City. and are
to Canada what those cities have been
western terminals of lake traffic and the
entrepot for the grain sent from western
Canada to Europe and the Atlantic ports
Port Arthur and Fort William are on
opposite sides of the same bay and are
connected by trolley line. six miles
long, which is owned jointly by the two
municipalities. Eventually the two cities
will come together. Their extreme limits
are now only three miles apart, and at
the present rate of growth the dividing
line will soon be obliterated Their In
terests should be common instead of COM
petitive. and both would be better off it
they were one. Every expense of ad-
minstration Is now duplicated and a
great deal of unnecessary money is
spent to boost each in preference to the
other, although neither is harmed there
by.
There is an 'intercity council which
meets once a month to consider mutual
interests and to arrange for team work
1t has no legal status and is only advis-
DRY, but whatever is recommended by the
council is usually carried out, and 1t IS
the strongest influence toward amalgama-
ton. The younger generation OF the
population is in favor of union and
predicts that it will take place as soon
as few old ones die off,
Port Arthur has $1,000 population; Fort
William has a few short of 10000. and
has doubled since 1905 and trebled since
1903, when it had only 6.49l.
The twin cities are go miles northeast
of Duluth, go miles northwest from the
500, and $50 miles by direct line from
Winnipeg: 613 by rail. Fort William has
three railroads, the Canadian Pacific. the
Canadian Northern and the Grand Trunk.
which came in last year Port Arthur has
two railroads The Grand Trunk has not
been able to get in yet. but expects to
very soon.
The Cities Contrasted.
Whatever is said in appreciation of
either one of these twin cities applies to
the other also; any benefit that may fol-
low will be shared by both: but it is safe
to discuss their respective individualities
only on that basis.
Port Arthur has the most desirable
situation for a residence city; Fort Will
liam has the greatest commercial adyan
tages because three rivers run through
the town site, all navigabe, and there is
a large area of level, unoccupied iano
surrounding it. There is room for fifty
or sixty miles of docks on the banks of
these rivers, with manufactures behind
them, and they will some time be occu-
pied. The factories are already coming in.
Port Arthur is the more attractive in ap-
pearance. 1t occupies an unusually fine
location-a broad amphitheater, gradually
rising from the shore of the bay to
ridge $50 feet higf which encircles 1t.
You seldom see so perfect natural site,
and ultimately the homes of people who
those sunny slopes.
Port Arthur has long been a favorite
resort for tourists andsthe starting point
of excursions for Thunder pay, Georgian
bay and various other interesting places
on the north coast OF Lake Superior.
Great Place for Business.
Fort William has not much to look
at as Port Arthur, but is a great place
for business, and several vast elevators
has already been erected on the banks of
the kaministivnia river-called the Kan
for short-which is navigabe for eight
miles back to rapids. and further on is
tremendous fall. which is good for 5000
horsepower of electricity. About 10000
horsepower has already been developed.
Two other rivers, the Mission and the
| McKeller. also flow into the bay. and are
practically tributaries of the Kan.
Fort William was named In 1893 in
honor of William McGillivray of the HGd-
| son Bay Company. which had d trading
| post here as far back as I'LL. In lS1o
| its rival, the Northwest Fur Trading Com
pany. settled at Fort William also. and
| the two divided the fur traffic until they
| amalgamated in 1921. Duluth, the French
| explorer spent winter here in 1869,
| half d century later the French govern
ment at Quebec built fort, and from
/ that time it has been place OF impor-
| lance, because 1t was the nearest port
on the great lakes to Hudson bay. Win
nipeg and other trading posts in northern
and western Canada. F'urs were brought
| in by trappers to the prairie posts, packed
| into bales and shipped to Fort William,
| whence they were conveyed down the
| lakes and the ST.. Lawrence to Montreal
| and Quebec. The same business is car
| ried on today on even a larger scale than
| ever before, only the furs are brought
| down on railway trains and are carried
| away on steel steamers instead of birch
bark canoes.
| century ago the Roman Catholics es
| tablished a mission here and a group of
| log houses which were part of it are
| still standing The priest had house Of
stone, which is now used for office pur-
| poses. and there was a large convent in
which the nuns used to teach the Indian
maidens to sew and cook and say their
prayers. The Grand Trunk Railway
| Company bought 800 acres of land from
| the mission-vacant, virgin soil, upon
which it is building great terminals and
and other manufacturing industries. There
| ty of .O,&00,G0J bushels. The Grand
Trunk elevator has storage capacity of
ESQ bushels, and can unload 80 cars
| Of grain in a single day of ten hours
Gateway to the Ocean.
/ Practically all of the Canadian harvest
| that does not go to Minneapolis and
| Duluth finds it's way to market through
the elevators at Fort William, and the
volume of traffic is increasing in a mar
yelous manner. In 1900 the grain handled