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THE 
 
 Development of North-West Canada 
 
 BY THE 
 
 HUDSON'S Bay Trade-route. 
 
 BY 
 
 W. SHELPORD, 
 
 ( lit'pnnted from "The National Rkview " of June 1880.) 
 
 71? 
 
 PRir>lTED FOR Private Circulation. 
 
^-^i 
 
 /^f.3^Sl 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT 
 
 OF 
 
 NORTH-VS^EST CANADA 
 
 BY THE 
 
 HUDSON'S BAY TRADE-ROUTE. 
 
 While many minds are directed to the solution of the problems 
 affecting the great population of these islands and arising out of 
 its rapid increase, those enterprises which provide immediate work 
 and offer fresh inducements to permanent settlement in a new 
 country are worthy of serious consideration. 
 
 The writer of the following pages claims for the development 
 of the Hudson's Bay Eoute that it will comply with these con- 
 ditions ; and surely the time is opportune when on this side the 
 population is increasing at the rate of nearly 1,000 per day, with- 
 out any corresponding increase in the trade of the country, and 
 on the other side of the Atlantic there is a territory within the 
 Queen's dominions, and full of home friends and associations, 
 which has been well described by Sir George Stephen, the Chair- 
 man of the Canadian Pacific Kailway, as " another Russian 
 Empire waiting for population." 
 
 It is to bring our surplus population in contact with that great 
 territory that the route is to be opened. The fact of starting it will 
 lead to cargoes of steel rails and other British manufactures being 
 conveyed by sea direct to Port Nelson, and to the employment of 
 English labourers in the formation of the line. These men will 
 find work and supplies waiting for them, and it will be contrary to 
 past experience if they do not permanently settle in the country and 
 induce their friends at home to follow them. Hitherto the vested 
 interests of the Hudson's Bay Company have barred the way. 
 So long since as 1749 that Company had acquired an unenviable 
 reputation as monopolists, for in that year petitions were pre- 
 sented to Parliament from the leading cities and towns of England 
 complaining of the undue exercise of their rights by keeping out 
 traders and shutting up the country — rights derived from a charter 
 which had been granted to the Company, and which practically 
 gave them a monopoly of the trade of the larger part of the North 
 American Continent. 
 
 The Marquis of Lome, the late Governor-General of Canada, 
 
 • <i 
 
THE HUDSON S BAY TRADE-ROUTE. 
 
 has said in effect* of the Great North West, that to within the last 
 few years, 
 
 Courteous as were the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, not one of them 
 could be found ■who would not deprecate the idea of " opening the country for settle- 
 ment." They could not foresee that a favourable bargain for the Company would be 
 made in reference to their lands, and they only looked upon an immigrant invasion as 
 the expulsion of the fur-bearing animals which alone afforded a good trade. 
 
 Had they been able to prophesj' they would have welcomed the tide of the white 
 races whose advent would enhance a thousand-fold the value of the as yet useless 
 grass ocean around them. But the Hudson's Bay Company's people had had enough 
 trouble in years long past with their competitors, and, having procured a monopoly, 
 they did not desire neighbours. So it was said that grain would not grow ; that even 
 roots were difficult to raise. Who know if the virgin soil was worth the plough ? 
 Such was the language industriously employed. But Lord Selkirk had persuaded 
 some of the Highlanders who at the beginning of the century thronged so eagerly to 
 the emigrant vessels to sail into Hudson's Bay and to ascend the Nelson River and 
 to settle to the south of Lake Winnipeg, where they formed a most flourishing colony. 
 Then, again, the Americans higher up the Red River had found the vallej' most 
 fertile, with a soil marvellously black and rich, and it became evident that vast wheat- 
 fields had been hidden away in that dim green north land. 
 
 To-day all this is changed. The great Prairie of the North- 
 Western States of America has become a vast farm, and in 
 Canada the province of Manitoba, and the whole country beyond to 
 British Columbia, has been opened up by the Canadian Pacific 
 Eailway, and the pioneer city of Winnipeg is now reached in 
 Pullman cars in fewer hours than it occupied weeks in 1870 for 
 Colonel (now Lord) Wolseley's Red River Expedition to march 
 along the same route to Fort Garry. 
 
 The fertile territory may be taken to extend over an area of at 
 least 270,000 square miles, and of this great domain the Canadian 
 Government have appointed one twentieth of eq,ch township to the 
 Hudson's Bay Company in satisfaction of their monopoly. 
 
 The Hudson's Bay Company has thus an aggregate quantity of 
 about eight million acres, which is spread over the whole area, and 
 has a direct and substantial interest in its rapid development by 
 the construction of railways for its colonization and settlement. 
 
 There remains another great Corporation, the Canadian Pacific 
 Railway Company. Their line crosses the fertile territory from East 
 to West, a length of 900 miles, at an average distance of seventy 
 miles from the southern frontier, and has attached to it a strip 
 of land twenty-four miles wide on each side called " the railway 
 belt," with an area of 32,000,000 acres. If this land were but 
 half under cultivation the traffic would require the service of a 
 greater number of trains per day than the existing single line could 
 accommodate, and would be a very severe strain upon a double one. 
 
 Such is the prairie character of the country, the extraordinary 
 rapidity with which the land is taken up and can be developed, 
 
 * G'oorf JForrfs, February 1886. 
 
\ 
 
 THE Hudson's bay tradk-routb. 
 
 a 
 
 V 
 
 and the facility with which it lends itself to settlement, that it 
 may be reasonably expected to become the home of numbers of 
 our surplus population, and, in a very short time, the backbone 
 of the Canadian Pacific Railway. 
 
 From Wini'ipeg (fifteen years old), the largest town in the North 
 West, to Calgary, lying under the lea of the Rocky Mountains, 
 where it has had yet scarcely a three-years' existence, there are 
 villages and towns springing up all along the line of 900 miles — 
 Brandon, for example, which had no existence in 1881, has now a 
 population of 3,000, and is a most important centre. 
 
 Winnipeg, the point d'appui of Lord Wolseley's Red River Expe- 
 dition, contained, in 1871, but 850 inhabitants, and has now above 
 25,000. It is well laid out, with regular streets, in no case less 
 than 66 feet wide. The main street is 132 feet in width, over 
 two miles in len^ h, paved with wood, and is fitted up with tram- 
 way and electric light. The town has the telephone, gas, water, 
 sewers, handsome public and private buildings, a good club, uni- 
 versity, churches, and last, but not least, enjoyable society. It 
 is prepared for, and expects, a large increase as a centre on 
 which will converge the traffic from British Columbia, on the 
 West, from the United States on the South, and from the lines 
 made, and to be made, for the more complete accommodation of 
 the great North-West. 
 
 Winnipeg is, therefore, and is likely to remain, the capital and 
 mart of the country comprised in the " railway belt," and beyond ; 
 and the only outlet from it to the east is the Canadian Pacific 
 Railway, which is thus secured a heavy traffic. 
 
 One of the lines authorized is the Winnipeg and Hudson's Bay 
 Railway, which runs north from Winnipeg to Port Nelson, on 
 Hudson's Bay, and excites the keenest interest, not only in Mani- 
 toba, but throughout the North-West Territory, to the foot of the 
 Rocky Mountains, and even southwards, in the States of Minne- 
 sota, Dakota, and Montana. It will serve the double purpose of 
 assisting in the settlement of those regions, which are not yet 
 within the influence of railways, and of providing a new outlet 
 and a shorter route for the exchange of produce between Great 
 Britain and North-West Canada. This is the old Hudson's Bay 
 Trade route, which alone gives access to the north, while the 
 Canadian Pacific Railway provides for the south of the fertile 
 territory. This route it is now the earnest desire of the Mani- 
 tobans to improve, by constructing the Hudson's Bay Railway to 
 connect with the existing railways, and the great waterways of the 
 country, and by substituting ocean steamships for sailing vessels. 
 
 The line, which has a total length of about 960 miles, has been 
 authorized by the Canadian Parliament, and includes a branch of 
 
 
THE Hudson's bay tradk-eoutb. 
 
 800 miles to the westward, in the direction of the Pacific Ocean, 
 which will be reached by running over the Canadian Pacific Rail- 
 way (see Map). Moreover, the Government has reserved a magni- 
 ficent area of 8,400,000 acres from the Crown lands adjoining the 
 railway, as a subsidy or free gift; and, further, as evidence of 
 the keen interest with which the undertaking is regarded in the 
 North-West, the Provincial Parliament of Manitoba has granted a 
 bonus of j£200,000 to assist in its execution. 
 
 And here it may be well to consider why such facilities should 
 be offered by the Canadian authorities to bring about the rapid 
 completion of this important work. Fortunately, the cause is not 
 far to seek. The fertile North-West, with all its advantages, has 
 one disadvantage in being more remote than the rest of Canada 
 from the Atlantic seaboard. Many intending settlers are thus de- 
 tained and induced to settle in the eastern provinces. The com- 
 munication with the mother country is less direct, and the cost of 
 transport is greatly enhanced by a continuous railway journey of 
 some 1,800 miles after reaching the Port of Montreal. Although 
 travelling is made comfortable and cheap, the first-class fare 
 being only about one penny per mile, it is sufficiently tedious 
 and expensive to deter a new arrival from going farther west, 
 especially when the more favoured inhabitants of the east are 
 offering him their best inducements to settle with them ; and for 
 goods traffic, however good the road and economical the working of 
 it, the cost of carriage by land must always greatly exceed that 
 by sea, to say nothing of the fatigue and consequent shrinkage 
 and loss of cattle in long railway journeys. 
 
 The effect of the Hudson's Bay Route when opened up by the 
 improved internal communication afforded by this railway, will be 
 to add little to the sea voyage, and to reduce the railway carriage 
 enormously. Here, then, we have the reason why the Canadian 
 and Provincial Governments have offered the facilities already de- 
 scribed, and why every farmer, stock-breeder, and inhabitant of 
 the North-West looks forward with eagerness to the realisation of 
 his hopes in the direction of Hudson's Bay. 
 
 The distances by sea are : — 
 
 From New York to Liverpool 
 
 „ Montreal „ via Belle Isle . 
 
 „ „ ,, via Cape Race . 
 
 „ Port Nelson (Hudson's Bay) to Liverpool 
 
 And the distances by rail are : — 
 
 From Winnipeg to New York 
 „ „ Montreal 
 
 Geographical mi leu. 
 
 . 3,100 
 
 . '2,787 
 
 . 2,990 
 
 . 2,996 
 
 Miles, 
 
 . 1,779 
 . 1,425 
 
TriE HUDSON S BAT TEADE-BOUTE. 
 
 5. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 From Winnipeg to Port Nelson (Hudson's Bay) . 650 
 
 „ Regiiia to New York 2,135 
 
 „ „ Montreal 1,781 
 
 „ „ Port Nelson (Hudson's Bay) . 700 
 
 Whilst the difference in the sea voyage is evidently unimportant, 
 the saving in railway carriage by the Hudson's Bay route is very 
 marked, aid is — 
 
 Saving in miles. 
 
 From Winnipeg via New York .... 1,129 
 
 „ „ ,, Montreal ..... 775 
 
 ,, Regina ,, New York .... 1,435 
 
 „ „ „ Montreal .... 1,081 
 
 Regina is the capital of the North-West Territory and the centre 
 of the great wheat-growing belt of land, and it is estimated that 
 the saving in the cost of transport of wheat thence to Liverpool, 
 which will be effected by the Hudson's Bay route, will amount to 
 5s. per quarter. Similarly for cattle, it is estimated that the 
 saving will be from .£3 to £4 per head. 
 
 These figures should serve to draw the traffic from whatever 
 sources may be available, and when it is considered what these are 
 the importance of the proposed railway will be eviilent. Not only 
 Manitoba and the North-West Territories of Canada, but the ad- 
 joining States of Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, and Washington 
 Territory will find by it the cheapest and shortest outlet to Europe 
 for the produce from their wheat lands and cattle ranches. 
 
 Moreover, the saving in distance from Regina applies to British 
 Columbia, China, and Japan. 
 
 The quantity of wheat produced by the States of Minnesota and 
 Dakota is about ten million quarters per annum, and the surplus 
 crop of wheat in Manitoba available for export is about 400,000 
 quarters, and is rapidly increasing. As to cattle, it is estimated 
 from last years " round up" that in Alberta alone there are at 
 least 80,000 head. In 1885 the number of cattle exported from 
 Canada to Britain was 144,000, and as the cattle ranches of the 
 North West are developed the trade will undoubtedly acquire much 
 greater importance.* 
 
 There are also sources of traffic of a less ambitious character, 
 such as the produce of the rich agricultural and timber regions 
 through which the line runs, and the communication which it will 
 establish between Hudson's Bay and the Canadian and American 
 markets. ' r 
 
 The Americans have, for a quarter of a century, carried ->n a 
 
 * See article in the Natiomil Review, March 1886, on the 
 Englishmen." 
 
 Newer North-V 
 
 for 
 
« 
 
 THE HUDSON'S BAY TEADB-ROUTB. 
 
 
 lit 
 
 lit 
 
 il 
 
 very profitable whale fishery in Hudson's Bay, and there are por- 
 poise, walrus, salmon, and trout fisheries in existence, besides coal, 
 iron, and other minerals, capable of speedy development as soon 
 as the present inefficient means of internal communication are 
 superseded by a railway which will connect with the railway system 
 of the United States, via Winnipeg, and with the artery of Canada 
 — the Canadian Pacific Eailway. 
 
 It is conceded by all who know the district, and has been ascer- 
 tained by actual survey, that the country is well adapted to the 
 construction of a cheap line, and that Port Nelson, on Hudson's 
 Bay, will admit ocean steamships. 
 
 The same unanimity of opinion among disinterested persons may 
 be said to prevail as to the navigation of Hudson's Bay and Strait. 
 For 276 years they have been traversed by sailing vessels of various 
 classes, from the boat of the whaler to the ship of war, and for 
 almost every year during the past century and a half they have 
 been visited by the vessels of the Hudson's Bay Company, without 
 any but the most trifling loss. 
 
 Had not the Hudson's Bay route been feasible, the Company's 
 traders would have fared badly, for they depended upon it for their 
 home supplies, and generally as the only established means of 
 communication with Great Britain until the recent introduction of 
 railways. Nor was this a small matter, for the Company had for- 
 merly numerous centres of trade, which were planted over most of 
 the northern part of the Continent, and extended for several 
 hundred miles south of the Canadian boundary, and of these there 
 is still a goodly residue in the 175 trading posts now existing in 
 the Dominion of Canada. 
 
 Their system of communication o inprised an interior and an 
 ocean navigation ; and York Factory, within a few miles of Port 
 Nelson, was the point of exchange between the two. 
 
 To and from this point the trade with the interior was carried on 
 chiefly by the waterways of the counti'y, near to one of which part 
 of the proposed line of railway runs till they both reach Lake Win- 
 nipeg, distant some 800 miles from Hudson's Bay. 
 
 Lake Winnipeg is the reservoir which receives the waters from 
 one of the largest water-sheds in the world, embracing several im- 
 portant rivers, *;.//. the great Sascatchewan river, wi^h a drainage 
 area of some 800,000 square miles of fertile territory, which, 
 stretching to the Bocky Mountains, is navigated by large steamers 
 for 1,000 miles, and many of its branches are navigable. 
 
 The Red river, which runs northward to Lake Winnipeg from 
 as far south as Fargo in the United States, is also navigable. 
 Its valley is now well settled, and possesses, for a length of 
 tiOO miles, probably the richest soil in the world. 
 
 k. 
 
THE HUDSON 8 BAY TEADB-ROUTB. 
 
 ^-^.P" 
 
 The Assiniboine river, which is tributary to the Red river, is 
 also navigable for 300 miles. 
 
 Over this immense area the "York boats" of the Company 
 (so called from York Factory) were well known, and were recog- 
 nized as the best means of internal communication until they were 
 supplanted by steamers and large cargo-boats, and York Factory 
 itself, after the introduction of railways, came to be no longer the 
 base of supply. 
 
 It cannot be denied that these waterways constitute a network 
 which will act as a feeder to the proposed railway, and will not 
 compete with it. 
 
 On the landward side of York Factory, therefore, the whole of 
 the old communications of the Hudson's Bay Company will be 
 utilized where suitable, and, where not suitable to modern pro- 
 gress, they will be superseded by better routes and later methods. 
 
 Seaward of York Factory the conditions affecting the naviga- 
 tion of Hudson's Bay and Strait resolve themselves into the 
 period during which the Strait is open for navigation, for the 
 temperature of the waters of Hudson's Bay in summer compares 
 favourably with that of the water of Lake Superior, and the latter 
 is a fresh-water lake, while the former is salt water and tidal. 
 
 A Select Committee of the House of Commons of Canada, ap- 
 pointed to inquire into the navigation of Hudson's Bay, reported 
 in April 1884 that the above difference in temperature was 14°, 
 and Lieutenant A. R. Gordon, R.N., who commanded the expe- 
 dition sent out by the Canadian Government in 1884, in the 
 steamship Neptune, reported, as the result of his observations on 
 the surface temperatures in the bay, that " Hudson's Bay may, 
 therefore, be regarded as a vast basin of comparatively warm 
 water, the effect of which must be to considerably ameliorate the 
 winter climate to the south and east of it." 
 
 From the tables given to the Government by the Hudson's Bay 
 Company in 1880 it appears that at York Factory, for a period of 
 fifty-three years, the breaking up of the ice in the river occurred 
 early enough to give an average of five months or thereabouts of 
 navigation ; and the evidence goes to show that Port Nelson opens 
 even earlier, that Hudson's Bay itself is never frozen except for a 
 fringe of several luUes from the shore, and that the period of open 
 navigation at Port Nelson approximates to that at Montreal, where 
 the value of the exports and imports exceeds ^16,000,000 sterling. 
 In short, there is a consensut: of opinion in favour of the perfect 
 feasibility of the navigation of Hudson's Bay. 
 
 Of Hudson's Strait the Committee of the House of Commons 
 before referred to reported : — 
 
 Were it not (or the proBence of the polnr See which ootnei down from the yrent 
 
 -— — » i» I 
 
i • 
 
 8 
 
 THE Hudson's bay tradb-rottte. 
 
 \i 
 
 Arctic seas by way of Fox Strait during the months of April, June, and July, Hudson's 
 Strait ■would, it is admitted by all, bo exceptionally safe, owing to the uniform great 
 depth of water, and the entire absence of reefs or dangerous islands. 
 
 And again : — 
 
 We find that the great majority of those who have been there, and consequently who 
 know, reckon the duration of navigation in these waters at three and four months. 
 
 For more than two hundred and fifty years sailors have counted upon having an 
 uninterrupted navigation of from two and a half months to three months, and this 
 without marine charts, without an accurate knowledge of these waters, without lighthouses, 
 without a system cf telegraphic communication, and without the aid of steam. It is not, 
 then, an unwarranted belief, that with all the appliances now at the disposal of nautical 
 science, this navigation will be prolonged for some weeks. 
 
 The Eeport goes on to contrast the St. Lawrence in 1716, when 
 its navigation was described as the most difficult and treacherous 
 of all known countries, with its now magnificent harbours and 
 powerful and numerous fleet, and concludes by remarking upon the 
 absolutely impartial character of the labours of the Committee. 
 
 Following upon this Report the Canadian Government sent out 
 an expedition in the same year (1884) in the steamship Neptune, 
 a Newfoundland sealmg vessel of 684 tons, which was the first 
 8teamer that ever entered the Bay. She conveyed scientific 
 observers to various points in the Strait, where they passed the 
 winter until relieved by the expedition of 1885 which proceeded 
 there on board H.M.S. Alert, of 700 gross tons, and fift^' horse- 
 power. 
 
 The Reports of Lieutenant Gordon, R.N., commanding the two 
 expeditions, show a period of navigation of four months each 
 season. The officers in charge of the observing stations were 
 instructed to note the movements of the ice, and of these Mr. 
 Laperriere, who was stationed at the western end of the Strait, 
 reports that the local ice formed on the 23rd October 1H84, but 
 that low fogs were seen throughout the winter, " sure sign of open 
 water." 
 
 On the lltli February 1885, the drift ice wholly disappearinl, 
 and there was open water for two days, "and il^ same thing 
 occurred again from the 2nd to 4th Mardi." 
 
 For a month from May 15th to June iJJth, 1884, no ice was 
 visible. On the 13th June it returned, but was so slack as to be 
 easily navigable by stcsamships, and it IhuiUy disappeared early 
 in July. Mr. Ashe, Superintendent of the Quebec Observatory, 
 who was i'l charge of a station on the North Coast al)out midway 
 through the Strait, reports : — 
 
 All wii'.i..' thmugli, whciioviT tlic« wind proviulml fimii llip iiorlli-cHst to tlio north- 
 west, It woulil (ipon a cliannol along my shoro, varying from ii mile to four niiloH in 
 width, Hliowiiig llius tiii> "xtont of open wator tlmt Imd liooii proviouHly <liHtril)uto(i 
 among tho tlooH, 
 
 Speaking of channelH thus formed by the winds, he says : — 
 
 1 would InHtiincc how tbo Alrrt this Hi-aHon Htrugi^lcil willi tho ioo on tin' nortli Hlioro, 
 whilst I oould sen from my Htation perfectly ojjcn wntor twenty nxWnn or Iohh oIT shore, 
 
THE HUDSON S BAY TRADB-EODTE. 
 
 i 
 
 and I concluded that for six weeks previously, at least, there was a perfectly feasible 
 channel, free of ice, on the south shore, for any class of vessel. 
 
 An ocean steamship with ordinary steam-power would have no 
 difficulty in penetrating ice slack enough to form these channels, 
 besides which the width of the strait, from forty-five to eighty 
 miles, would permit a ship crossing from one side to the other to 
 take advantage of such open water. 
 
 Mr. Ashe concludes by expressing his firm belief that the Strait 
 is navigable for from four and a half to six and a half months at 
 least. 
 
 Much further evidence on this subject could be easily adduced ; 
 suffice it to say here that Lieutenant Gordon, in his Report of 
 1884, says : " The ice has been supposed hitherto to be the most 
 formidable barrier to the navigation of the Straits, but its terror 
 disappears to a great extent under investigation " ; and he further 
 says that, had he been making the passage direct instead of 
 coasting and working across the Strait, as he had to do in order to 
 establish the observing stations at various points on each side of 
 the Strait, he does not consider that he would have been delayed 
 by ice more than forty-eight hours. 
 
 Moreover, he found as the result of comparative meteorological 
 obsen'ations that in the character of the weather for the two 
 months (August and September), so far as it affects navigation, 
 Hudson's Straits compare favourably with the Straits of Belle Isle, 
 there being eleven heavy gales at Belle Isle against three in 
 Hudson's Straits, and more than double the amount of fog. 
 
 The Report of Lieutenant Gordon for 1885 says, in effect, that 
 the reports of the observers stationed by him in Hudson's Straits 
 in 1884, go to show that the navigation would probably have been 
 closed for eight months in 1884 and 1885, and that the movements 
 of the ice 'n the spring of the latter year were much later than 
 those of the former. 
 
 He concludes by saying, on the information of a captain who 
 had made a number of "voyages through Hudson's Straits, and 
 had seen them clear of ice in June, that the fact that the Straits 
 have been clear at tliis time shows that there is great variability in 
 the dates of the opining of navigation " ; the inference being that, 
 as he had himself encountered an exceptionally unfavourable 
 condition of the ice, the effect of variability would be to increase 
 the period of open water beyond what he had met with, rather than 
 to reduce it. 
 
 That the more circumstance of variability in the season does not 
 constitute a bar to navigation or to the development of trade, can 
 be shown by a reference to the Baltic ports, which are very un- 
 certain. Riga, especially, is often closed from October to April ; 
 
10 
 
 THE HUDSON S BAY TRADE-ROUTE. 
 
 but 
 
 the other hand, 
 
 LS been known to be open all the year 
 round ; and the value of its trade may be appreciated by the fact 
 that in 1883 the exports and imports amounted to dE3,679,000 
 sterling. 
 
 Other important ports in Europe could be mentioned to prove 
 that an annual close season is not confined to places on the sea- 
 board of Canada, and is not inconsistent with good trade where 
 the communications with the interior of the country are favour- 
 able. Even in the south there are ports on the Black Sea and the 
 Sea of Azoflf, among which may be instanced Odessa, where, under 
 local influences, a severity of climate occurs in the winter which 
 is remarkable at such a latitude. Odessa is frequently frozen up 
 during the winter, yet in 1883 the value of its exports and imports 
 amounted to ^12,44 1 ,000 sterling. 
 
 The most northerly point of Europe — that of Archangel — is 
 closed for eight months of the year, and is subject during the 
 navigable season to many disadvantages, among which are the 
 nature of the channel by which the port is approached, for the 
 safe navigation of which trained pilots, aided by a system of 
 signalling, are required ; the capricious weather ; and the preva- 
 lence of fogs. Yet, in spite of such hindrances, an extensive and 
 regular traflic, consisting largely of grain, is carried on in quan- 
 tities regulated, not by the consideration of hindrances to naviga- 
 tion, but by questions of internal communications, the improvement 
 of which would probably at once develop the traffic of the port in 
 the face of a class of difficulties which are formidable only in the 
 eyes of the inexperienced. The average annual total of shipping 
 cleared from Archangel in the five years ending 1878 was 156,000 
 tons, in 500 vessels, the value of the exports being estimated at 
 ^1,000,000 sterling. 
 
 The history of Hudson's Bay in relation to the subject of this 
 paper is instructive, and may be easily told. After the period of 
 discoveries which commenced in 1610, came the first establishment 
 of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670. 
 
 From that date until the Treaty of Utrooht in 1713, tlio Bay bocamo tlio tlioatro of 
 sanguinary conflictB ; many a horo tlioro won fame for doodH renowned in Htory ; the 
 navies of England and France made it tlio Hold of many a light, and tlio fortn on its 
 shoros were timo and again taken and retaken, so timt Iberville, writing to the King, 
 said to him, " Sire, jo suIh las do ponqucrir la Bale." The Treaty of Utrecht con- 
 firmed England in poHHORsion of HudHon's Day and the adjoining countries, and a 
 gloomy silence foil onoo more upon tlioHO liindH. • 
 
 Thus the Hudson's Bay Company acquired their monopoly, and 
 obtained quiot enjoyment of their trade-route to York Factory 
 via Hudson's Bay and Strait, which, as has been already 
 shown, formed their line of communication. A century and a 
 
 * Report of Bolout Commivteo of Uouau of Oommona, 1U84. 
 
THE Hudson's bay teadb-routb. 
 
 11 
 
 half ago, " the navigation of these unknown seas was charac- 
 terized as safe and comparatively easy," " and if the number of 
 vessels sent out by the Company is less in our time, it is because 
 since the establishment of railways to the south of ]\Ianitoba it 
 costs them less to export by this route a great portion of the 
 goods that they formerly despatched by way of Moose or York 
 Factory,* via Hudson's Bay. 
 
 The writer has ventured to quote much from the Eeport of the 
 Select Committee of the House of Commons, because he believes 
 it to have been undertaken without reference to preconceived 
 opinions, and at a time when the subject was even less tram- 
 melled by vested interests than it now is. 
 
 Convinced that the navigation of Hudson's Bay and Strait has 
 been proved to be feasible, and may be found easy when worked 
 by modern methods and supplemented by improved internal com- 
 munications ; satisfied, also, from a personal knowledge of the 
 country, that the rapid settlement of the Great North-West of 
 Canada is earnestly to be desired in the interests alike of that 
 colony and the mother country, he advocates the development of 
 the old Hudson's Bay trade-route as a work " which will assure to 
 Canada a fresh pledge of prosperity and grandeur." 
 
 * Report of Soloct Committee of House of Commons, 1884.