Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-01-30

steamship lines from here to the orient.
but this will be changed soon as
peace comes, and via Prince Rupert
will be the shortest sea route around
the world. BY it the voyage across
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans will be
greatly reduced to miles and days.
1t is only about four days from E,i-
rope to Halifax. Nova Scotia, where the
Grand Trunk Pacific railway begins.
The road runs from there in one con-
tinuous line across the North Ameri-
can continent to Prince Rupert on the
Pacific. 1t crosses Canada far north of
the great lakes to Winnipeg. then cuts
through the wheat belt to Edmonton
and goes to climb the Rockies by
easier grades than any other road that
crosses our continent. 1t has short cuts
by various connections to all of the
United States cities. and it promises
to be the fast freight route for per-
ishab Bile products between Alaskan wa
tiers and the rest of the continent. AL
ready trainloads of fresh fish are being
shipped weekly from here to our cities
and every train that starts out has
cars of halibut and salmon. fresh or
frozen. destined for Minneapolis. Chi
caEo. New York and Boston
! wish | could show you Prince Ru-
pert. The town lies on a beautiful bay
guarded by islands. Its harbor Is four
teen miles long. and large enough to
hold all the fleets that will ever sail
at any one time toward Bering strait
Jerusalem. 1t is right on the sea. and
the buildings climb up and down the
mountains of rock close to the shore
The chief difference between them is
bare. while those of Prince Rupert are
wooded and clad in perpetual green
Seven Years ago the site of this city
was forest. Pines and cellars covered
the mountains, and today the stumps
rising out of the sloping town lots look
like the black bristles of an unshaven
chin. The town has 5000 people.
venture il has more than 10000 stumps
The stumps are rooted in the crevices
of the bed rock, and the space between
them is matted with muskeg, a messy
vegetation two or three feet in depth
that holds the water like a sponge, and
makes it impossible to go across coun
try without thick boots or rubbers.
This muskeg covers the whole region
about and 1t was one of the difficulties
that had to be conquered in laying out
and building the city.
Another and still greater difficulty
was blasting the rocks from the sides
of the hills and making level places
upon which streets might be laid and
houses be built The site was all rocky
mountain, and every bit of the town is
founded on the bed rock. The sewers
of the hills and built up in the valleys.
The same is true of the roadways in
the business part of the town, the whole
having required proportionately almost
a. much grading and blasting as the
Culebra cut of the Panama canal.
In rhe residence section the streets
are of planks resting upon trestle-
work or upheld by posts, The town
site. which covers about 1000 acres. is
made up of sharp hills. which run back
to wooIed mountains over 1000 feet
nigh. The place is so rough that to
build solid roads through it would
bankrupt the city many times over. and
so the roadways are wooden, looking
like lines of continuous bridges. The
streets run up hill and down and they
are sixteen feet wide. They rest upon
posts of various heights, according to
the grades and the valleys. In some
places the planks are spiked to trestle
work from ten to twenty feet high. and
in others they lie the bed rock of
the hills. The planks are three inches
thick and the roads are substantial
enough for heavy teams and the scpre
or more automobiles owned in the
town. Prince Rupert has twenty-one
miles of such roads. and in addition
many miles more of pathways of
boa rds five or six feet in width. The
latter connect the main roads with the
houses.
1t was in company with Mr.. j. ii.
Pillsbury, the civil engineer who laid
out Prince Rupert, and Mr.. NJ ]. Holm,
a member of the board of trade, that l