THE QUEEN'S HIGHWAY.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 53, 16 March 1887, Page 3

THE QUEEN'S HIGHWAY.

[By Stuart Cumberland.]

(Special CoiittissroNUJSNCE to Auckland Star. J

FBOM PORT ARTHUR TO OTTAWA. One has now struck tho old route of tho traders and Indiaue, and tho one takon by tho Red River Expedition. For directly Port Arthur on Lako Superior ia reached tho water way to any part ot Canada proper has boon entoiod upon. From Port Arthur

to tho connecting waters forming tho highway to Winnipeg and to Hudson's Bay there was a povtugo of somo fifty tnilos to be got ovor, and when tho vot/at/eurs carried stores or furs botweon Fort William (Port Arthur) and Fort Garry (Winnipeg) they woro obliged to toil ovor tho rough intervening land. When, however, the head waters of the connecting streams woro ' struck, boat navigation to Fort Garry was oasily conducted through Rainy Lake, Rainy Rivor, aud the Lako of tho Woods, Rat Portugo causing another land journoy. It was a long roundabout routo from the St. Lawrence to Manitoba in those daysdays which, by tho by, wore but as yesterday—and now, with tho oponing of the " llueon's Highway," a journey attondod by many delays and frequent dangers, taking weeks to accomplish, can bo got ovor without difficulty or interruption under three days.

| With the arrival at Port Arthur, tho trip across tho Continent haa ontorod upon a now phaso, for tho passongor can oil her go on by tho railway to Montreal, round tho north shore of Lake Superior, or by the CanadianPacific's splendid stoimors acro.s tho Lake to Toronto, the commercial capital of Ontario, und tho second city in Iho Dominion 1 had made this journey on it previous occasion, and iho present ono was by the all-rail routo ; so, much as I would havo likod to havo steamed ovor Lako Superior's wide oxpaneo, I was forced to stick to tho hot and dusty care.

Canada is woll supplied with natural moans of intor-communieation, and now that man has added to tho advantages offered by Naturo, nothing can retard her progress. Canada allowed tho United States to got ahead of hor, and the pooplo across tlio border, supply whit she could, had *ho but be«n aware of it, havo supplied quite as well. Coming so late in tho day when her rival has got hold of tho marke.s, her progress Inust naturally bj slow as compiled with that of tlio Statos, but sooner or later Canada will benefit to tho full from the odvantoges arising out of her splendid enterprise. THE GREAT LAKES. Aa 1 have already intimated, from Port Arthur one can got by water to any of the eastern parts of the Dominion, as the valley of St. Lawrence penetrates the continent by a navigable route to a distance of about 2,000 miles from the Hudson. The great lakes in I

the St. Lawrence form the largest and finest body of fresh water in the world, with an area of 90,000 square miles, a depth of

from 200 to 1,000 feet, and with olovations varying from 200 to 600 feet abovo the ocean level. Lake Suporior is, I should add, 420 miles long with an area of 31,500 square miles. Where rapids or other c.usesprevont direct navigation on thoso watery highways, canals havo been constructed by tho Dominion Government : a", for ins'ance, between hakes Ontario and Erie, tho great barrier of tho Niagara falls was encoun-

terod, and, in ordor to overcome this, tho Welland Canal was built, This connecting

link between tho two great hikes was commenced as far back as IS_M, and finally opened in l&o'l. Since then, in order to accommodate tho larger vessels now navl gating tho lakes, it has beon enlarged from time to timo. With its permanent enlarge mont, a work of considerable importance to England as well us to Canada, will havo been effected ; for Great Britain draws

her food supplies from America through the five great ports : Baltimore, NewYork, Philadelphia, Boston, and Portland, on tho Atlantic son board : tho hitter port,

however, relying chiefly upon Canadian grain. Tho object of tho romodolled Wollaud Canal i§ to create a sixth porl in Montreal, from which grain can bo shipped to Liverpool, thus giving tho United Kingdom tho advantage of a competitive routo through British territory, Tho C.P.R. system will act as n gigantic fcoder to this lake traflic, and the President, Sir Goorgo Stephen, informs mo that ho anticipates that a very largo proportion of tho grain grown in tho North West in tho futuro will bo first despatched by rail to Port Arthur, and from there nr.ross f.alto Superior, and by tho net-work of hikes, canals and rivers to Liverpool. This, he

maintains, will bo a vastly superior route to anything that tho proposed Hudson's. Bayroute could posdbly supply. It was a truly daring enterprise, this con-

atruction of a railway lino from Port Arthur, which is 903 mile? from Montreal round tho

north shore of Lako Superior ; and tho cost has naturally been very great. The coast affords an ample fiold for skilled engineering work ; and the way in which what woro originally considered insuperable difficulties havo been ovorcomo, ia highly croditable to all concerned. At timoa the train is soveral hundred feet above tho lako, winding its way along tho sides of the precipitous cliffs, passing over gulches, down which tho cascades fall and froth, sparklo and roar. Now it ia descending from its fearful heights towards tho pebbly shoro of the lake itself, running for awhile along tha beach with tho vivid green water eplashjng on the pobbloa but a fow feet away. Tha coa-_ is a most picturesque ono, with its irro gular outlines of bays and caves, chaema and butting cliffs. When one takes the journey ono can readily understand how this two hundred miles of rocky awfulnesa cost .$12,000,000 to build. Indeed, at first sight, tho route appears to preaent difficulties that no amount of money, backed up by skill, could get over ; yet pluck and money, enterprise and skill have overcome overy obstacle, and Canada haa a highway by rail, na well os by water, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, by way of tho Lako Superior routo. A WILD COUNTRY. There is some big tunnelling through these cold, hard crags, whilst tho trestle work ia such as to causa unstinlel admir..tion. At the head of what is called Kio SuekuCove there is a long trestle bridge 120

feet high, over which the train passes in ordor to reach the other side of the cove. The view afforded from this bridge as tho train curves round, displaying to view tbe projecting rocks, and tier upon tier of harsh, uninviting cliffs, is ono of tho finest, if not tho finest, along the whole distance from Port Arthur to Montreal. This sec-

tion of the Quean's Highway waa one of the last to be completed, and it will be remembered bow, during the recent rebellion in the North-west, the brave volunteers who went out to put down the rising had to march through ica and snow, water and mire, across the uncompleted portions on their journey west. It waa a hard, cruel task sot them, yet they overcamo it manfully and unmurinuringly, such being the pluck and determination of those sons of ours in British North America There are but very few inhabitants along the line of rail, there being littlo or nothing

to attract them, save fi. lung. Tho Hudson's Bay Company haa a pot on tbo opposite side of Nepigon Bay, although the traffic in fur cannot be anything liko what it once was. I am told that French Canadians are taking up sections of forests along the route wherever opportunities present themselves, and that thoro is oxpocted to bo a rapidly increasing immigration from Quebec province to parts between Ottawa and the prairie laud oast of Winnipeg. The Kanucks are expert lumberers, thrifty and patient, and they will livo whore an Anglo ■ Saxon would commit suicide or starve. The Lake Superior region is said to bo ovorvvhelmingly rich in mineral?, especially at Thunder Capo, whore there are, it is alleged, rich silver voins, and prospectors aro already imbued with tho notion that thoy will ono and all eventually become " silver kings." This region, I take it, was meant for eomethiug more than the moro haunts of furbearing animals, and attractive as it will for all time prove to tho tourist, and, in a measure, to the sportsman, Natura intends it to yield in the fitness of time greater results than those ; and so far as I could learn, much may safely be expected of its iron and silver deposits. THE INDIANS OF LAKE SUPERIOR. There are a few Indian settlements back of Lake Superior, aud an Indian chief journeyed down from Winnipeg in chargo of the C.P.R. doctor, a friend of mine, to one of these villages. He was a fine specimen of a Redßkin, and I much enjoyed the conversation I had with him. He was, he assured me, a loyal chief, and full of love for the Great White Mother of whose approaching jubilee he had heard ; and he hoped his people would send Her Majesty some offering on her jubilate. He was 9 voter, and seemed to be highly proud

of the privilogo conferred upon him in common with members of tho more ad-

vanced tribes by Sir John Macdonald by his famous Act of 1885. Ho woro a modal With which the Qorornniuut hud decorated him in consideration of his loyalty and for services rendorod, and he showed it mo with every oxprossion of prido and delight, kissing tho counterfeit representation ot tho Great White Mother with much oinphueis. Indians west of tho Ottawa Kiver, to Lake Superior along tho groat Lakes, are moro advanced than those further west ; indeed, somo of thorn aro highly intelligent pooplo. Ono of the hund.-_on.<;st and best - bred men I ovor met was the son of a pure-blooded Indian chitf and an Englishwoman. Ho was a barrister, in good practice, and much admired by the women of nis mother's race. Indeed, so much was ho admired that a

nativo actress, notod aliko for her beauty and good taste, beggod for hie likonoss — tho likeness, as she put it, "of tho handsomest man sho had over seen."

Thorn are still remnants of the famed Sixnation Indians left, and they still retain a good deal of their ancient wisdom. They aro highly civilised, and Sir John Mac donald, the Canadian Premior, who is Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, says of thorn :—" Many of thoir farms aro well cultivated, and the products of tho soil and dairy exhibited at thoir annual agricultural exhibitions commanded tho admiration of all who attonded them. Their exhibition of this year was remarkably successful, and th3y combined with it tho centonnial colobration of the grant made to

thorn by the Crown of tho tract of land of which thoir rosorve forms a part, in recognition of their loyalty and valour, which is practically proved on numerous occasions on the field of battlo in defence of tho Britl -i Ibg." These Indians peek ovory occasion of showing thoir loyally. For instanco, upon the departure of tho Marquis of Lome and Princess Louise, the Six-nation Council sent a farowell address, and upon the arrival of the Marquis of Lands downu a doourated address of welcome was forwarded by them. Also, upon learning of the death of His Royal Highness tho Duko of Albany, tho chiefs evinced thoir sympathy and loyalty by a mo?._ago of condolonco to tho Q .cen. They will, 1 expect, further evince their sympathy and loyally on tho occasion of Her Majesty's jubiloo in tho sa_o frank and en-nest manner.

At Lako Nipissing thoro is a small settlem .it of Nipiising India.:), a branch of tlio once-powerful Algonquins. Chief Beaneigr,

tho head of this tribe, has built himself a log hut, in which ho pnrpo .os spending his remaining clays, in stuto of tho temptations of tho white man, who covets the rich soil contained in tho reservation, where there are, it is alleged, rich veins of silver.

Tho rail doea not follow tho Lake Superior along the whole length of its coast, but leaves it about halfway, plunges acros* country in the direction of Ottawa, following the valley of tho Ottawa River, which ie 700 miles long, where settlements are in abundance. This is comparatively an old settled district, and there is certainly an air of prosperity about it, Tho soil is

good, and farming is carried on, not extensively but profitably, whilst sawmills aro everywhere in full swing. Ottawa, tho capital of tho Dcniinion of Canada, ia the centre of a great lumbering entorpriso, and

is a fa°fc increasing city. It ia 2.756 miles from Vancouver, and 120 miles from Montreal Tho Dominion Parliament assamblos in Ottawa, but it was not in session when I was there this timo. (To br. Continued.)