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OUEEN'S miVEBsirK llBBMr

RAILWAYS

TO THB

IfORTH-WEST;

A LETTER

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE COUOTIES

BY JOHN MACLEAN.

HAMILTON:

PEINTED AT THE " SPECTATOR-' ST.^M PRESS, PI^INOE'S SQUARE.

1867

Tiy the Beeves, Oounoillors, and Batepayers of the Oounties of
Wer'ngton, Grey and Bruce :

Gentle3ien, — The following remarks, by Mr. John
Maclean, of this Oity, who has given much attention
to the controversy which has been going on for some
time, on the subject of a railway through the Coun-
ties of Wellington, Grey and Bruce, are so appropriate,
and contain so much that is deserving the attention
of those who are expected, whatever route is selected,
to contribute towards its construction, that we have
no hesitation in commending them to your earnest
attention. We are glad to be in a position to state
that such steps are being taken as will, should you^
gentlemen, deem the subject of sufficient interest to
justify you in extending a bonus to the road, of which
we have no doubt, ensure its in".mediate commencement
and early completion. We are satisfied that no intelli.
gent man can doubt that your Counties will be much
more benefitted by a railway connecting directly with
the two great Provincial railways leading to the United
States and to the seaboard, than by any of the other
routes that have been suggested. Even the people of.
Toronto, who are now so anxious to secure your assist.
ance to a line which will make your townships tributary
to that City alone, have given evidence in the past that
they regard the Guelph route as the most practical in
every point of view. The first steps taken towards the
survey of that route were taken by gentlemen in
Toronto, but that was before the construction of the
Harrisburg and Guelph branch of the Great Western.
So long as the Guelph route connected only with the
Grand Trunk and thence with Toronto alone, they had
no difficulty in admitting that it was the route which
should be chosen. Their change of opinion is due, not

to the discovery of a superior route, but simply to the
fact that the extension of the Great Western to Guelph
now permits this City, es well as Toronto, to compete
for your trade. Of the advantages of that competition to
the merchants and farmers of your magnificent Counties
there can be no doubt ; and the opportunity for that
competition which now exists, will, we are sure, but
enhance the merits of the Guelph route in your estima-
tion. Commending the remarks of Mr. Maclean to your
earnest consideration,

We are.

Gentlemen,

Your obedient servants,

ADAM BROWN.
THOS. WHITE, Jr. •

Provisional Directors,
W. G. & B. R. R.

HAMUiTON, May 22(1, 1867.

RAILWAYS TO THE NORTH-WEST

BEINQ

A LETTER TO THE REEVES, COUNCILLORS and RATEPAYERS

WELLINGTON. GREY AND BRUCE.

Gentlemen : —

A long and exhaustive discussion of the comparative
merits of all the various railway routes proposed for the
accommodation of your district of country, might be too
much of a tax on both your time ^and your patience to
attend to. But there are a few points of first-class
importance to which your attention may very briefly be
directed, and which ought to be sufficient, if duly
considered, to settle the qiiestion in your minds. There
are three lines before you for approval, viz., the Central,
from Toronto to Durham, direct, thence to Owen Sound
and seme point on Lake Huron ; the Angus and Durham,
in connection with the Northern Railway ; and the line
running north-west from Guelph. I propose to show
why the former two lines, which lead to Toronto only,
are to be objected to ; and why the N"orth-western line,
which will place you in connection with both Hamilton
and Toronto, is by far the best for your interests. The
principal objection to the Central Line is the enormous
expense — far beyond all that the public seem yet to have
been made aware of— that its construction would involve ;
and to the Angus and Durham Line, that it is a long

roundabout sweep, going nearly tliree miles for every
two of direct distance reached, while after all it would
accommodate but a very limited portion of the district
now in want of railway accommodation. Both of these
lines, again, have against them in common what is a
very weighty objection indeed, viz., that they will place
you in connection with Toronto only, while ' the North-
western, as already mentioned, connects you with both
Toronto and Hamilton : thus giving you the choice of
two competing railway routes for a great portion of the
distance, and what is perhaps of more importance still,
the choice of two markets, both to buy and to sell in. '
First, then, I am to show that the Central Line would
be enormously expensive ; so expensive, in fact, that,
though it may be ever so much talked of, you may be
sure it will never be built in our time. I must here ask
your attention to a certain great /act ir connection with
the engineering or scientific aspect of the question. But
do not be alarmed, as if I were about to trouble you with
details which only professional men can understand. It
is something which you will all understand at once when
brought before you. Most probably many of you have
thought of it before, but it may be advantageous should
you think it over yet further, until you fully realize its
importance. Sir William Logan, in his Geology of
Canada, has described for us what he calls the Niagara
Falls escarpment, or Middle Silurian ridge, which in
Canada extends from the Falls to the long point of land
that juts out from the north ot the County of Bruce,
terminating in Cabot's Head and Cape Hurd, and
separating the Georgian Bay from Lake Huron. This
ridge — or wall, rather — sweeps around from Queenston
along the south shore of Lake Ontario to Hamilton,
thence around Burlington Bay through Anc aster and
Flamboro', thence again through Nelson, Esquesing,
Caledon, Melancthon, &c., to the long point of land

already mentioned. This point of land, as also the
Manitoulin Island, st- -itching off .still further to the
north-west, arc simply continuations of this ridge. Take
any map which shows the country as far west as the foot
of Lake Superior — cast your eye along this point north-
westward, thence along the Manitoulin Island and the
whole string of lesser islands beyond, and you will
see at once tlie stretch in that direction of this
identical Niagara Mountain ridge. To get a right
idea of what it is, you must imagine yourselves
standing somewhere on the lower plain to the
nortii of Lake Ontario, and looking at a wall whicli
faces you, from three hundred to six or eiglt hundred
feet high. At the foot of this wall lies the country on
the Lake Ontario level, which from Queenston round to
Flamboro' East is but a narrow strip, but be;yond that
widens out into all the rest of L^pper Canada lying east
of the ridge. Make the ascent of this wall, and you
stand on tlie level whicli is above the Falls, that is, the
level of Lake Erie and Lake Huron. Tlie country above
the ridge is a high table land, with a slope towards Lake
Erie, the River St. Clair, and Lake Huron, in each of
these directions respectively. From the big swamp
which, with its outliers, extends throughout Melancthon,
Proton, Luther, Amaranth, and thereabouts, flow the
Grand Eiver, the Maitlaud, the Credit, and the Saugeen.
You do not require to be professional men — civil
engineers — to understand from a consideration of
these facts what the "lay" of the country actually
is. Your district of country is on the Lake
Huron level, with something additional, represented by
whatever fall of water there may be between your
respective localities and the lake. The market you
want to reach, be it Hamilton or Toronto, is on the
Lake Ontario level — the level of the lake itself, in fact,
as the cars at both these places run to the water's edge.

Now, tliis ridge, or wall,or Middle Silurian escarpment,
as Sir William Lo^an calls it, is a great natural fact,
wiiich has to be considered in connection with any
scheme for connecting your district of country witli Lake
Ontario, by railway. There is no way of evading it, or
of getting round it, and giving it the go-by. From
the Lake Ontario level, you have to ascend Niagara
Falls, the Niagara River rapids, the St. Clair
River rapids, and something else besides : that is, the
rise of your own local streams. Put all these together,
nnd you have the level of your own district, where you
live. The advocates of the Toronto Central route pro-
pose to cut their w.ay up and through this ridge, some-
where in Mono, Caledon, or thereabouts. They tell you
that they have found an uncommonly easy spot, a place
where there is, in fact, but very little mountain at all.
This I beg to assure you, and you will all see it at once, is
all bosh. The produce of your farms grows six or
eight hundred feet, more, in some places, above the level
of Lake Ontario, and up to your level the railway must
come. No jugglery — no manipulation, either of figures
of arithmetic or figures of speech, can do away with tlie
great fact, that the ascent of the mountain must be made.
The Central route people propose to make it. Have
they considered the cost, or do they wish you to consider
it? Doubtful. Have you ever heard what it cost to
get the Great Western Railway up from Hamilton to
Copetown ? I have not the figures by me as I write, but
it is well known that the cost of this particular piece of
road very mucli astonished the engineers, the shareholders
and everybody else ; and at one time threatened to swamp
the Company itself. What it cost the Grand Trunk
Company to get up the steep I have not heard, but any
one going over the line, from Georgetown to Rock-
wood, with his eyes open, will probably come to
the conclusion that it must have cost a heap of money to

luako that piece of road. It will bcurgod, porhapr*, tluit
thoiigli the Central has undoubtedly to make the aseent
of the mountain through hard ro::k, it will not liavo such
a sink as the Copetown swamp to encounter. Won't it?
indeed ! 1 say to the Central route people, it' they lind
that they can go through Amaranth, Luther, Melanethon,
Proton, or that neighborhood, without getting into a
swamp far bigger and deeper than the lieverley riwamp,
they had better write at an curly day and let us all
know. Perhaps, again, they will pretend to ;4iow, by
levels taken, that tlie ascent by Mono Mills and Orange-
ville is not so very steep after all. I. answer, that if the
actual face of the steep, — the mountain wall — appears
any less where they come'square up against it, it will be
because they have already made so much of the ascent
through the rough and difficidt country in the
township of Albion, and thereabouts. The ascent has
to bo made somewhere, you may depend ni)on it.
Positively that difiiculty cannot be evaded. A little
topographical explanation, relative to the country lying
between Toronto and the Mountain ridge line, may
be useful here. Back of Toronto, the proposed Central
Railway, like the Northern Railway, already con-
structed, has to ascend the great Oak Ridge, as
it is called, which, butting endwise against the
Niagara Mountain wall in the northern part of the
township of Albion, takes its course 'hence at nearly a
right angle to the Mountain line, and extends eastward
to Darlington. This ridge is about seven hundred feet
above the level of Lake Ontario; something of a- steep
to get up, you wall say. Now I do not say that the
Central will have to cross this ridge, as the Northern
Railway does, but I do say, that whatever may be taken
off the height of the Mountain face, where it is reached
in Mono, will have been already ascended througli a most
difficult country, in Albion, Caledon,and Mono together,

on the Oak Ridge or outlying portions of it. Look at any
map on which the Central is laid down, and note the great
sweep around which the line makes, between the Gore of
Toronto and Amaranth. You may de; end upon it the
engineers saw something in their way there, when they
made that sharp tnrn out of the straight track. A glance
at the map, merely, may give you a hint of something
that needs to be enquired into, and that very particularly,
in connection vdth this Central Railway line through
Albion and Mono. Between the tremendous ascent of
the mountain steep, and the extensive swamp lying back
of the mountain — in which swamp and its outliers, as I
have already mentioned, the Grand River, the Credit, the
Saugeen and the Maitland take their rise — there will be
found, from somewhere in Albion to somewhere in Ama-
ranth or Proton, fifteen or twenty miles of road that will
cost more to make than a hundred miles lying next to
Kincardine, Inverhuron, Southampton, Owen Sound,
or other points proposed to be reached. No competent
civil engineer will deny the substantial truth of what I
here affirm, as to the great difficulty and immense cost
that would be incurred in making this particular piece
of road. Here is what Mr. Shanly says on this point, in
his letter to Mr. Adair, Reeve of Southampton. After
describing the kind of road he would recommend, ho
says : —

" Without going further into details now,' I estimate
" a road of the above description fully equipped, (with
engines, cars, and all else, he means, as the context
shows,) " and including right of way and fencing, at
" fourteen thousand dollars per mile, if built from some
" point in the County of Bruce to Guelph, or other point
" above what is known as the " Mountain Range, say
" not further east than Acton. A line carried direct to
" Toronto or Hamilton would undoubtedly cost not less
'' than 10 per cent, more, and the proportion of maximum
"grades and minimum curves would also be greatly
" increased."

I venture to say that if any of you ever have the
opportunity of obtaining, from Mr. Shanly or other
competent authority, a more detailed statement of
opinion on this point, you will find that the above is but
a hint to you merely,of the very serious objections which
professional men see to the making of a new mountain
ascent. The level of the Grand Trunk Railway line at
Rockwood is nine hundred and sixty-eight feet, (968,)
above the level of Lake Ontario ; a fact which may give
you the idea that the ascent from the lake to the crc^t of
the Mountain ridge is no joke, after all. Make a road
with curves no less, and with grades no greater, than
those on the Great Western and the Grand Trunk, and
you will have ten or fifteen miles of road that will cost
you as much as a hundred miles beyond will cost.
Try to save this expense, or some of it, now — as 1 fear
the Central route people ha^^e it in their minds to do —
by sharp curves and steep gradients, and you will entail
upon the road, for as long as it lasts, the enormous aa-
ditional expense of running, which railway men will tell
you is inseparable from these conditions, with a great
increase of danger from accidents besides. I challenge
the advocates of the Toronto Central line to answer these
objections, if they can.

I know that it was not the swamp that was the real
difficulty with the Great Western people at Copetown,
in Beverley, when they were building the road. The
" great sink " which for a long time seemed to defy all
their efforts to fill it up was, in fact, nothing else than
an immense body oi quicksand; which was a great many
times worse, and more difficult to make a road over, than
any ordinary swamp would have been. This quicksand
was met with just at the crown of the ascent, and before
the swamp was reached, going up. The Burlington Bay
and Dundas valley, stretching up through West Flam-
borough, Ancaster and Beverley, terminated in this

quicksand ridge and the swamp beyond it, from which
the waters flowed every way ; on one side flowing to Fair-
childs' Creek, thence by the Grand River to Lake Erie,
and on the other by the Dundas creek into Burlington
Bay and Lake Ontario. It is proposed to run the
Toronto Central Railway over the high table land which
takes in the townships of Melancthon and Proton, the
greater part of Luther and Amaranth, and a part of
Arthur, to the south ; also the township of Osprey and a
portion of Artemisia, to the north. This stretch of table
land is doubtless the highest land of equal extent between
Huron and Ontario; {vide Mr. Tate's report, page 4.)
Over a considerable portion of it extends the great
swamp in which the following rivers all have their
sources, viz : the Grand River, flowing into Lake Erie,
the Maitland and the Saugeen, flowing into Lake Huron,
and the Nottawasaga, the Beaver, and the Bighead
rivers, which fall into the Georgian Bay. The plan of
running a railway up on to the highest table land of the
whole Western Peninsula, does look a little foolish, cer-
tainly, when we think of the great swamp which mast
be encountered somewJiere up thereabouts. It would be
out of place to trouble you with difiieult scientific details,
but I do affirm, and let scientific and professional men
pass their dictum thereupon, that there are good reasons
for apprehending that not only the great swamp, but
great quicksands also, will be met with on the proposed
track of the Toronto Central, the latter on the borders of
the former, probably either on or near to the crest of the
ridge. A man going over the proposed line through
Amaranth and Proton, with a sharp pointed pole, about
forty feet long, in his hand, would probably be able
afterwards to make a " report" of incalculable value to
the Company and all others concerned. I would advise
that some reliable person, skilled in the use of such an
instrument as that mentioned, be sent out to examine

and report, before incurring the expense of a thorough
professional survey.

Bear in mind that I am not at present arguing the
question of " cheap railways," or the narrow gauge, as
opposed to the system already in operation in Canada.
That is a question nearly altogether irrelevant to the
question of route ; although I do notice, nevertheless,
that the Central men seem to be endeavoring to mix the
two together in the public mind. It does appear to me
as if they were trying to get the public to take the
words " cheapness and economy," not alone in connec-
tion with the system of narrow gauge, light rails, cars
and engines, and low rates of speed — where the words
do apply, but also in connection with their favorite line
of location of the road^ where the words do not apply at
all. What they aim at is to throw the color of "cheap"
from o'ne thing over to the other, by confusing the two
together. But, let these two questions be discussed
separately, each on its own merits. If a cheap narrow
gauge railway is the thing for you — which I very much
doubt, after all — it can be laid down on one line as well
as another. Only, it would not answer except on an
independent line, reaching a desirable terminus without
connecting with any of the existing broad gauge lines.
I think, however, as above indicated, that I can detect
one reason why the Central men are in such ecstacies
over the cheap railway system. A 3 ft. G in. gauge, with
light rails, must of course cost a good deal less, wherever
laid down, than a 5 ft. 6 in. gauge with heavy rails. My
Suspicion is that the Toronto Central route people,
having an inkling in their own minds of the enormous
engineering difficulties and consequent high cost inci-
dent to their line, are driven to take up the cheap
system of construction as the most feasible means of
lessening the figures which they have to present to the
public. Of course there may be such a thing as a cliewp

hroad gauge railway, with light rails, and used at
moderate rates of speed, connecting with the existing
lines, and for which their locomotives and cars would ]>e
available. And this is the very thing that Mr. Shanly,
in the letter already alluded to, strongly advocates.

Ten years ago there was constituted in Toronto the
" North West Railway Company." The President was
J. B. Robinson, Esq. ; the "Vice-Presidents John Duggan,
Charles Allen, and W. K. Flesher, Esqrs; and the
Directors, Hon. William Cayley, M. P. P., Hon. J. H.
Cameron, M. P. P., George Jackson Esq., M. P. P.,
William Clarke, Esq., M. P. P., John G. Bowes, Esq.,
M. P. P., and Alexander McNabb, John Hutchison,
John Harrington, George Duggan, James Beatty,
Marcus Rossin, W. F. Meudell, and John Ewart,
Esqrs. That, you might say, was a pretty strong
representation of Toronto interests, certainly. To these
gentlemen, and with their entire approval, Mr. Sandford
Fleming reported in favor of a line from Guelph to
Southampton or Saugeen, with a branch from some point
north of Durham to Owen Sound. So it appears that
in 1S57 the Toronto people had not yet come to entertain
the absurdity of making a new mountain ascent expressly
for a " Central " line, but were prepared to support what
was just the present proposed " AYellington, Grey and
Bruce Railway " line, under another name. And in their
support of this line they were sustained by the professional
opinion of Mr. Fleming. I question whether the Toronto
Railway men of the present day can show, to your
satisfaction, fair and honest grounds for differing with
their predecessors of ten or eleven years ago, as to the
superior advantages of this line.

Last year, Mr. Tate, civil engineer, reported on the
" Toronto and Owen Sound Railway," (Mr. Fowler's line.)
On i)age 6 of his report, he concedes " a certain ad van
tage " of the Guelph line in the following terms :

" That there is a certain advantage in the double

" outlet from Guelph, cannot, I think, be denied, and
" should secure for this line favorable consideration,
" provided the position of the line and branch north of
" Mount Forest was such as to afford facilities of com-
" munication to the Counties of Grey and Bruce, as would
" command the required amount of pecuniary support to
" secure its construction."

Mr.' Fowler's scheme, it appears, is now defunct. It
may be worth while quoting what Mr. Laidlaw says of it
in his recent pamphlet in favor of the "cheap Central,"
or proposed " Toronto, Grey and Bruce" clioap Railway.
I give the italics as in the original.

" Mr. Fowler's scheme did not interest the citizens of
" Toronto, because they knew the money for such a road
" could not be obtained, and he was easily overpowered
" by Mr. Cumberland's Northern Eailway friends and
" the apathy of the supporters of the Central Eoute,
" although numbering all other citizens excepting those
" who were afraid the Central Route might connect with
" the G. T. R. at a point west of this city." (Toronto.)

Mr. Laidlaw here lets the cat out of the bag. He
makes but \ slight allusion to a fact which is of very
great importance indeed. A principal reason, it is said
the principal reason of all — of Mr. Fowler's ill success
with the Toronto people was that not a few, but many of
them, were afraid of this very thing, viz : — Tha: the
proposed " Central " would connect with the G .'and
Trunk somewhere west of Toronto, Nor were their fears
altogether unfounded. On the map accompanying Mr.
Tate's pamphlet, you will see laid down an "indepen-
dent" Central line, cutting across the Grand Trunk at
Brampton. This appearance of an "independent line,"
upon the map, however, hardly agrees with Mr. Tate's
printed explanations. He mentions three proposed
locations of the line from Toronto to about Orangeville,
all using the Grand Trunk for a distance. The first

leaves the Grand Trunk at Weston, eight mi.'es from
Toronto. The second branches off a few miles further
west. The third branches off at Brampton, twenty-one
miles west of Toronto, and is the line which Mr. Tate
evidently recommends, though he professes to refrain —
in the absence of actual surveys,— ^from instituting
decisive comparisons. I must ask you carefully to read,
and maturely to consider, what I will now quote from his
report, page 21.

" As there would not be much business to be gathered
" up between Brampton and Toronto, and as the river
" crossings upon that part of the line will be expensive,
" it would in my judgment be advisable if possible to
" arrange with the Grand Trunk Railway Company to
" lay down a second line of rails alongside their track.
" The additional construction to be added to the road
" bed — culverts and bridges between Brampton and the
" city — for a second track, would not cost more than one
" third the sum a new line would require for its con-
" struction ; and the arrangement might include the use
" of the Union Station, which I understand that Com-
" pauy are about erecting in Toronto, for the passenger
" trains of the Central."

After reading the above, you will not wonder at all
that among the citizens of Toronto, as Mr. Laidlaw says,
there were those who were afraid the Central Route
might connect with the Grand Trunin at a point west
of Toronto. They had passably good reasons for their
fears, I should imagine. It may interest Mr. Laidlaw
to know that there ai'e those who in 1867 entertain exactly
the same fears relative to his own favorite line, that were
entertained relative to Mr. Fowler's line in 1866, viz :-that
it will very probably indeed, after all that has been said
about an independent line, simmer down to a connection
with the Grand Trunk somewhere west of Toronto. It
must be allowed, to be sui'e, that Mr. Laidlaw'^ rather
uncomplimentary style of allusion to the Grand Trunk
is not particularly suggestive of any design on the part

of himself and his co-Direetors of the Toronto, Grey and
Bruce heap railway, to use that line, for more or less of
a distance west from Toronto, as a part of their own.
Still, people are so puzzled to make out the sei.se of
building a new railway, between the Grand Trunk and
the Northern, through the townships lying near to Toronto,
that they can scarcely believe the project is seriously in-
tended. Some there are who ask : How much will the
townships of York, Toronto, the Gore, Cliiiigacousy,"
Caledon, Albion, and Mono, give towards the proposed
Railway? And further : what will be the probable cost,
in that part of the country, of the right of way? Can
this be bought cheap, or will it not in all likelihood be
lield uncommonly dear by the owners ? Mr. Tate's
allusion, too, to the expensive river crossings just to the
north-west of Toronto, may cause some people to shake
their heads in a thoughtful manner. These are some of
the reasons which operate on men's minds, and which,
in spite of other appearances to the contrary, keep alive
the apprehension that the proposed Toronto Central may
end in a Grand Trunk connection, somewhere to the east
of Giielph^ after all. Now that it is for your interest to
have a connection with the Grand Trunk I do not deny ;
nay, I urge it upon you as most desirable. But the con-
nection, I affirm, should be at Guelph, and at no other
place. It seems, however, that the Toronto people- who
ten years ago had not a word to say against Guelph as a
starting point for the then proposed North-west Railway,
would now move Heaven and earth, if they could, to
prevent that particular connection, just because it is also
a connection with Hamilton. Leave aside rivalry be-
tween the two cities, and I defy any Toronto man to
show, with a regard to your interests, why forty-five or
fifty mil^s of new road, next to that city, should be built,
when the Grand Trunk to Guelph already answers the
purpose in view. Still worse does the case appear when

\ '••-. : t ,

we consider that this forty or fifty miles of wholly un-
necessary new road, lying next to Toronto, will almost
certainly cost more than all the rest of the proposed road
lying within the limits of your own district. Do you
think it a sensible proposition to ask you — the farmers
of Wellington, Grey and Bruce — to put your hands in
your pockets for the building of a railway through Calc-
don, Albion, Chingacousy and Toronto township, to-
wards which the people of these townships will not
contribute a red cent ? Ah! but, says somebody, don't
you see the danger in making our new railway "tributary"
to the Grand Trunk and the Great Western ? I cannot
see this danger at all, simply because the standing com-
petition between these two roads prevents me from seeing
it. You might as well talk of your road being " tributary''
to the Grand Trunk below Toronto, to the Great
Western as a route to the States; to the New York
Central Railway, which may carry your produce to New
York, or to the lake and river vessels, which may carry
it to Montreal or Halifax. But I will tell you the danger
that I do see, and which you would do well to keep be-
fore you, in your mind's eye. I see very great danger
indeed, that when the Central JRoute people get their
surveys, levels, and estimates made, for as far up as into
the township of Amaranth or thereabouts,-and when the
fearful expense of their first fifty miles of road can no
longer be concealed, they will drop the project, or that
part of it, like a hot potato, and then — what will happen ?
Why, this, namely: — that they will at last alter their
line, and bring it to Rockwood or Acton ; as far east of
Guelph as they can go without having to make the
mountain descent on their own hook. Their own line,
the portion of it next to Toronto, is so tremenduously
expensive, and so impracticable, that you rpay depend
upon it this will be the conclusion of the matter, if you
give them the means to make a start. How much it

■> ' .'

fo-

would be for your interosts to have the line kept a few
miles away from Guelph, for the express purpose of
keeping from you the benefit of tlie competition which
at Guelph would take place between two railways and
two markets for your produce, I think I may safely
leave for yourselves to determine. If it is the interest of
the Toronto people — or if they think it is — to prevent
that competition, it is just as clearly you7' interest that
such competition for your trade and traific should be
established on as permanent a basis as possible.

But how is it proposed to get over this great natural
diflSculty that I have been telling you about ? it will be
asked. I answer — the job is already done to your hands
in two places. The Great Western has done the job of
ascending the mountain in West Flamboro' and Beverley,
and the Grand Trunk has done it in the Township of
Esquesing. There is really no more sense in making a
third mountain ascent, when there are two already made
and every way convenient, than there would be in
putting the third wdieel to a cart. Remember, when
this needless expense is talked of, that there will be no
wealthy proprietary in the old country to fall back upon,
as in the case of the two great companies just mentioned.
The idea of making a third cut up the mountain ridge,
when it is cut through already, and a railway built in
two places, one right on your road to Hamilton, and the
other right on your road to Toronto, is the most outra-
geous folly, — sheer moonstruck madness. The man who
seriously proposes to you to do it ought to be taken
charge of by his friends, and placed somewhere for safe
keeping.

I come now to another point. It may be said — True,
we have the great natural difficulty spoken of already
overcome by both the Great "Western and the Grand
Trunk ; but are these lines available for our use ? The
answer is, that both these roads are not only available

♦ 1 J

. ,•^'11

for all the traffic you can send them, but that they will
always be keen competitors for the same. Make the
shortest and easiest line of all, viz., that from Guelph
Tiorth-west, and what then 'i Why this, namely, that
when your produce reaches Guelph, you have the Great
Western competing to get it to carry to Hamilton, and
the Grand Trunk competing to carry it to Toronto. It
is a fact j^rctty Avell understood now in the Western
Peninsula, that while from all places having connection
witli one of these railways only, freights are compara-
tively high, from all places where the two railways meet,
freights are comparatively low. Guelph is one of those
competing points, and has felt the benefit of the com-
petition. You will easily perceive the advantages of
having this competition operating on the cost of freight,
over as much as po^sihle of the distance hetween your-
selves and Lake Ontario. There is another consideration
which ought to add still greater force to this one. By
coming to Guelph you not only secure the advantage of
this competition over a considerable distance of ground,
but you '^Xs>o 2)lace the competition — permanently to exist
between the two principal railways in Canada — on and
over that ])ortion of the distance leticeen your district of
country and Lake Ontario^ which is the most costly to
huild u])on at firsts and permanently the most expensive
to run freight over. Your own district furnishes a
comparatively easy level country to run over, while the
difficult country, the steep grade up and down the
mountain, is already managed by the Great Western and
tin Grand Trunk. Once get your produce to Guelph,
and you need not trouble yourselves as to whether the
road thence to the lake is a roundabout or an air line —
an easy or a difficult line to build and to run. There
you have the two great Canadian railways competing
for your traffic, and doing it for you at the cheapest
possible rates. Very probably you would not have to

invest capital in cars and locomotives at all, for iMtlier
the Great Western or tlie Grand Trunk, or botli, would
be only too glad to use tlitjir own rollinjj!; stock' on your
road.

One objection to the Angu-^ and Durliani line, from
what ousfht to be vourijoint of view — tukiiiii; vour district
of country as a whole — is the very limited portion ol'tluit
district which it would ucconMnodate. It is not to be
wondered at that Mr. Cumberland addresses Ids letter,
which is entitled " Railvvavs to Grey," — to the AVarden,
Reeves and Deputy-Keevc^sof the SoiUh Uldinij of iircij.
The people of North AVellington and Bruce will easily see
the reason why. I need not further enlarge upon this part
of the question, I should say. But the great and con-
clusive objection to this line in its immense roundabout
sweep and needless length. From Toronto to Angus, by
the Northern Railway, is 73 miles ; thence to Durham,
47 miles ; total, 120 miles. From Toronto to Durham
in a direct line is only 83 milep. In other Avords Durham
is reached from Toronto by a line nearly half as
long again as the air line between the two ])laces.
To be a little more exact, this route is 44 per cent,
longer than the air line, or shortest possible one. Mr.
Cumberland passes trippingly over this little item of
extra distance, as if it were not of much account. But
pray reflect a little and see what it really involves. It
involves /b>' all time — as long as that route is made use
of — an extra, useless, unnecessary and easily avoidable
addition of 44 per cent, to distance travelled, and of
course to working expenses and freight charges. Think
of what this needless 44 per cent, additional would
amount to on the whole freight carried in ten 3^ears, in
twenty years, or in forty years. Forty-four per cent,
additional is something to think of, let me assure you,
in connection with big figures of tens of thousands,
hundreds of thousands, and millions. Let me quote

vi -m:':

what tlie Toronto general coinmitteo, in its report
recently publislied, says on this ]>oint: —

" Wlicn tlie people of these counties have to choose
"between a railway wliich will bring tlieir produce by
" the shortest route to the best port on Lake Ontario,
" and another, which, besides being circuitous, would
" after all, be tributary to another railway, there ought
"to be no two opinions as to the project to which they
" should give their sup])ort. If they elect to take the
" circuitous route they must (.'xpect to pay extra freight,
^'' and to pay it f 07' all time. It would be the greatest
" folly for the farmers of these counties to burden them-
" selves and their posterity for all time, with the
" charges necessary to bring traffic around tivo ,ndes
^^ of a square, in coining to Toronto, when the direct
"route can be obtained, and :i l.irge and j^^^'P^l'^^^l
"saving effected."

I need scarcely, after the above, coming from the Joint
Committee of the Toronto Board of Trade, Corn Exchange
and City Council, say any more on this point. But
there is one objection mentioned, which might be suggested
as applying to the Guelph line, and which I must
anticipate. Note the words — " tributary to another
railway." Applied to the Angus and Durham line, this
objection has great force, for the " tributary," is to one
railway only. The Guelph and North-Western would be
" tributary" also, but, remember, not to one railway only,
hut to tivo. There is a world of difference between the
two cases, as you will perceive. Bring your produce to
Guelph, and, as I have already said, you have the
Great Western and Grand Trunk in competition for the
carrying of it. Bring it to Angus, and you have the
Northern Railway alone, master on its own ground, and
able to dictate terms. I need not further enlarge upon
this consideration, the force of which is so obvious at a
glance. But a word or two in anticipation of another
objection to the Guelph line, that seems to be implied in
the aaove quotation from the Toronto report. There is

A littlo of fl ronndaboiit or oiirvc in ooininp; from Guolj)!!
to Toronto by tlit (Triind Trunk, and id.so in comin<^ by
the Great Western to llainiiton. JJiut i)raeti(;allv thi^ is
nothing to you at all. For these roads compete witli
eaeh other from Gnelph, un<l from Guelph, t'rei<;ht will
always be (uirried to Lake Ontario as ciieaply as it is
possible for a railway to carry it. To show how this
competition actually operates now, you have but to
recollect that the Great Western carries treij^ht from
Guelph to Hamilton, 40^ miles, thence to Toronto, 31*
miles further, — total, 85^ miles, for about the same rates
that the Grand Truid< char;Li;es over its 4S miles from
Guelph to Toronto. The Guelph line, located in your
own district of country, will be perfectly straicjht, or
nearly so, to some point Northwestward, whence
it will have to be continued in one direction to J^ake
Huron, and in another to the Georgian J5ay. Any line
whatever, to accommodate your distri(;t generally, tiiust
branch off somewhere, to reach these two different shores,
both of which will certainly claim to be accommodated.
Within vour own district there would not l)e a sinjrle
surperfiuous mile of railway by the Guelph line ; every
mile would tell directly. The very little roundivbout that
your produce will have to be taken after reaching Guelph
need not count for a feather's weight in your consideration •
for the competition of the Great Western and the Grand
Trunk will relieve you of all trouble on that score.

Then, as to the question of markets. The Guelph line
will secure to you the command, not only of two com.
peting lines for a considerable portion of the distance
to Lake Ontario, but the choice of two markets.
" Reciprocity " has ceased to exist now, but it is still
worth while to have an eye to the future, and we may
have reciprocity again by-and-by. The indications are
that the Americans have already realized what a blunder
they have made in terminating the old arrangement,

and it is possible that some other arrangement of the sort
will be devised before long. Hamilton, besides being
fully equal to Toronto as a lake shipping port, for either
Oswego, Montreal, or the Maritime T'rovinces, has this
further advantage, that it is on the direct land route to
the other side,, The great consideration of having the
two markets — Hamilton and Toronto both — instead of
Toronto only — ought of itself to settle the question in
_your minds, if there were nothing else to be said in the
matter.

A report has reached this country, to the effect that
the Great Western and the Grand Trunk Railway
Companies have agreed upon reciprocal running arrange-
ments and a uniform tariff of rates. It may be that
a fair arrangement of tliis sort will not only be beneficial
to the interests of the Companies themselves, but will be
satisfactory to the people of Canada as well. But, says
some one, what if this new arrangement does away with
+he competition you have been laying so nmch stress
upon \ I answer, that the competition for freight to
carry between any two points, which are both touched
by both railways, will still continue, nevertheless.
Granted that the rates of freight from Guelph to Lake
Ontario are the same by either railway, there will still
be such a competition to (jet hold of the freigJit to carry,
as will permanently insure that your interests will not
buffer. The great complaint, where complaints have
been made in the West, has noc been with reference to
the rates charged, but that cars could not bo obtained
and despatched when wanted. Suppose tliat the com-
petition to carry at what are called " ruinously cheap
rates" is done away with, there will stillbe a competition
for the gaining of youv custom, through civility and
obliging conduct, with prompt despatch and good care
taken of your freight. This sort of competition is prac-
tically the most valuable of the two, and will not be done
away with.

Just one thing more, and I have done. If yon hear
anything said about " selfish aims," and all that sort of
thing, please note that the Toronto people ask you to
support a line that connects you with their city alone.
The Hamilton people, on the contrary, ask you to support
a line which connects with fto^A places, giving you always
afterwards ycur choice of the two. It may be said that
the Toronto people are selfish in their aims, but this
cannot be said of the Hamilton people, who advocate a
line that favors Toronto equally with their own city.
That this line — the Guelpli and Northwestern — also
favors your interest the most of any yet proposed, Avill
be, I trust, obvious enough to you all.

I am, Gentlemen,

Your obedient servant,

JOHN MACLEAN.

Hamilton, May 20th, 1867.

P. S. — Since the foregoing was in type, I have read in

the Toronto Leaded' of May 21st, an article which professes

to discuss the two Toronto projects on their merits. The

Leader supj)orts the Angus and Durham scheme, and in

so doing mentions some facts relative to the Central

scheme, to which I beg to direct your attention :

" It is noticeable, however, so far as we have observed,
that there has been no attempt on the part of the Toronto,
Grey and Bruce company or its promoters to give a
practical estimate of cost applicable to this country ; no
statement of the mileage of their proposed line, and there-
fore no indication of the amount of capital requisite to its
construction and equipment. This is the more to be re-
gretted, because we happen to know that in the question
of the gauge the Joint Committee, whose report, pro-
fessedly " compiled from information received from civil
" engineers" has recently been published, have adopted

i
If h

iews in direct oppcsition to those expressed in the ablest
papers presented to them."

The report above alhided is that of the Toronto Joint
Committe?, from wliich I liave ah'eady quoted; and
wliich, liovvever erroneous in some of the conchisions
reached, has certainly a tbw words of sound sense in the
passage which says that " it would be the greatest folly
"for the farmers of these counties to burden themselves
" and their posterity forever with the charges necessary
" to bring traffic around two sides of a square :" that is,
by the Angus and Durham route. But now mark how
what I have said as to the difficulty of the proposed
Mountain ascent through Caledou or that vicinity is
corroborated by the Leader. The fact is, the Toronto
railway men must be aware of this fatal objection to the
" Central" route : and it is astonishing how some of them
still urge its adoption, and strive to keep the general
public in ignorance of the engineering difficulties inci-
dent to the third mountain ascent. Says the Leader:

" Of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce railway we do not
learn that any survey whatever has been made ; and the
discussion is all the more prejudicial because the valleys
of the Ilumber and the Credit rivers offer — as we see in
the case of the Grand Trunk — very serious and expensive
obstacles ; whilst it is notorious that in the township of
Caledon great engineering difficulties must be encoun-
tered."
On ariotlier point the Leader thus remarks :
" Nor is it necessary to do more than refer to the fact
that, pending the obtaining of chartered powers, no
municipalities, even if so disposed, can legally grant, or
promise to grant, aid to a scheme only provision ally
represented and having no corporate existence. This
introduces a new element of doubt and delay, which
must tend either to the indefinite postponement of any
railway at all, or to the ultimate absorption of the Grey
and Bruce by the prompter, and more practical attrac-
tions of " the ambitious little city." To this end, too,
the action of our representative commercial bodies seems

It li

-^ )

to be surely teucllng • for whilst it has been possible, and
certainly most desirable, for Toronto to get into close and
friendly co operation with South Grey, whose Reeves
appealed to us for a hearing, we somewhat rudely reject-
ed their advances by telling them that, as we had views
of our own, we had no intention of consulting their
opinions or of conciliating their good-will ; and no desire
to entertain or to discuss any other project than one from
which they had already intimated their dissent I"

I have mentioned, taking the statement from the best

scientific authority, that the Grand Trunk Railway line

at Rockwood is 968 feet above the level of Lake Ontario-

But it should further be mentioned, that from Rockwood

or Acton northwards along the ridge, through Erin,

Caledon, Amaranth and Melanchton, there is still more

of a rise, terminating in the latter township in " a flat

broken-edged semi-dome," 1,600 feet above the level of

the sea, or 1,368 feet above that of Lake Ontario. It

has therefore to be remembered that a railway going

northwestwards through Albion, Caledon and Amaranth,

will have to reach a still higher level than the Grand

Trunk does in Esquesing or Eramosa.

Of the two Toronto schemes, sensible people may well
be puzzled to say which is the most absurd, and the
least calculated to suit your case. The Angus and
Durham scheme is so absurd on the face of the majj
alone, that you will scarcely bestow on it many minutes
consideration. The " Central," again, looks well on the
map — for Toronto — but the survey which I propose, by
the man with the long sharp-pointed pole in his hand, is
all that is required to condemn it for good.

Gentlemen : — The Guelph and Northwestern is the
line for you, and against it no sucli objections can be

urged.

J. M.

■fm ^ffmit