Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-25


~ est railroad building feat in the
history of the world.
Shining steel rails, $40 miles OF them.
are steadily pushing back Americas last
frontier at the rate of almost mile
day-carrying 1t back miles beyond the
timber line, across the glacial ice OF the
barren lands, across land inhabited
by only few hundred white people.
Mile by mile, railroad Is reaching
out from The Pas on the Saskatchewan
River toward Hudson Bay, tying that
sea outlet by steel band to the wheat
and cattle farms of Central and
Western Canada.
On the western shore of Hudson Bay
on the barren rocks at the mouth of
the Churchill River, where year ago
only few scattered houses stood.
modern seaport is rising-witn grain
elevators and warehouses and docks
large enough to accommodate ocean
going cattle and wheat boats and
shanties for the great rush of workers.
merchants and the people who make up
q seaport town.
Transporting Seaport.
This seaport-just under the Arctic
Circle and marking the end of the trail
of steel from the wheat and cattle farms
to the Far North--is one OF the most
wonderful and spectacular accomplish
ments in the history of the Dominion
and the world. For 1t is more than the
construction Of a modern seaport in the
last outpost of civilization-it is really
the razing and transporting of seaport
60 miles north along the shore Of Hud-
son Bay. Years earlier the port had
been started at the mouth Of the Nell
son River. But that site was found
unsuitable and as result bridges, steel
girders, piles and lumber had to be
gathered up and moved threescore
miles to the north.
The end of the great undertaking is
looming in sight now. and the Hudson
Bay Railroad is racing the big freeze
I'D in Nothern Manitoba in the hope
that the golden spike can be driven
into the last tie at Churchill before
Jack Frost seals up the country for the
Winter.
Task Proves Difficult.
The race has proved far more diff
cult than 1t originally looked. The
Canadian National Railroad. which
owns the Hudson Bay line, originally
had hoped that early this month it
would be able to run the first Pullman
train over the $40 miles OF new track
across the barren lands to the new
port on the west shore OF Hudson
Bay.
Draining and filling in. however. have
oroved SO difficult that 1t Is now feared
that the first regular passenger train
will not roll over this new link with
the Far North much before the big
freeze-up comes in October.
Down through the last century Amer
ica's frontier lay to the west Steadily
and relentlessly 1t was pushed back to
the sea. The California gold rush
marked the end of the trail across the
continent to the west. The rush to the
Yukon and Alaska turned the tran to
the northwest, and again the frontier
vanished into the sea. But now the
trail has turned northward. instead OF
westward. The last frontier on the
North American continent lies to the
north.
1929 Trail by Steel.
Whereas the trail Of '49 to California
vas by horse and covered wagon ana
the trail of SO to the Yukon was by dog
team and sled. the trail Of 90 will be by
steel laid by brawny laborers from
Belgium Holland and Scandinavia. In
their task they we're most ably aided by
horse and bobsled, dog and toboggan.
tractor and snowmobile, locomotive and
track-laying machine-and, above all,
by the swift and speedy airplane.
Naturally the question is asked why
the Canadian government Is spending
some S50.0oo,000 building 5lO-mlle
railroad from near the SaskatcheWan
border, 500 miles north OF winnipeg.
across flat-and for 100 miles almost
unpopulated-barren land to Churchill,
a hundred miles up on the western
shore of Hudson Bay, which is only free
from ice for shipping four months IN
the year.
There are four important answers to
this question: % Wheat, (2) cattle,
go freight, ~ ore.
Road Will Aid Farmers.
The greater part of the population OF
Canada is distributed along the southern
border of the Dominion Hitherto the
farmers and ranchers of western ana
Central Canada have been compelled
to ship their wheat, farm products and
cattle to Europe via rail to montreal
and then by ocean going steamer.
Annually Canada ships to England
immense quantities of wheat and hum
dreds of thousands Of cattle and horses.
But it is 1000 miles from the extreme
western parts of Canada and about
1000 from Winnipeg to the st. Lawrence
River, whence 1t is shipped to Liverpool.
Now the shortest and most direct way
10 ship cattle and freight from Western
and Central Canada to England is from
Hudson Bay. 1t Is 5000 miles from
Montreal, the shipping point on the st:
Lawrence, to Liverpool. 1t Is also just
about 5000 miles from Churchill on the
western shore of Hudson Bay to Liver
pool. Therefore by exporting and I'M
porting all their goods, cattle, farm
products, wheat. ETC.. by way Of Hudson
Bay. the inhabitants of Central and
. Western Canada would save thousand
miles of freight rates on exports and
imports and from two to three weeks
feeding and maintaining cattle in tran
sit. and the animals would be In much
better physical condition when they
reached England. Such railroad would
be very beneficial to the pocketbooks
of every inhabitant Of that part OF the
country.
Ore Supply Doubtful.
The question whether, in the hundreds
of thousands of square miles the Hud-
son Bay Railroad would pierce, valuable
ore could be found in sufficient quanti-
ties to make that region an important
factor in mining and smelling was a
matter Of scientific debate. For the adj
ditional freight charges that would come
from the mining districts might make
the railroad a profitable venture.
Canadian geologjsts discovered that
the territory comprising the fiat cnun-
try north Of the Pas to Hudson Bay
and west to the Great Slave Lake and
the northern CANADIAN Rockies had
once been as high as tive Rockies them
selves. But glaciers. through millions
of years of erosion, had worn them down
to the pre-Cambrian shie!c-down al
most to the level of high tide on Hud-
son 6ay. This meant that II gold, cop
per. iron and possibly cosl existed IN
suficient quantities to b. mined 1t
would lay not far below the surface.
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