WINNIPEG TO TORONTO, VIA LAKE SUPERIOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2883, 23 June 1909, Page 27

WINNIPEG TO TORONTO, VIA LAKE SUPERIOR.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

TORONTO, May 14. The representatives received a hearty welcome at Winnipeg. It may be termed the Chicago of Canada, ami hae unquestionably a great future before it — a tuture beside which its present rimpprtanc-e.r impprt-anc-e. as a trading and commercial centre, great though it be. must be regarded r.s comparatively insignificant. We' left Winnipeg deeply regretting that we were unable to stay for a week and .<-ee some of the great trading and industrial concerns within the city bounds, and that \\e were unable to make the -better acquaintance of the prominent men and women of the city, who had showered their hospitality upon us. But the laws of the Medas and Persians were no more inexorable than the hard-and-fast itinerary of our friend of the C.P.R., Mr Ham, and we consequently have to move on, or the

Empress of .Britain would leave Quebec without us, for we have still a programme of engagements of considerable magnitude to encompass ere we embarK on the waters of the Atlantic. We accordingly left Winnipeg in our ." Lorraine " car, after giving three hearty cheers for the city and the courteous 'adies and gentlemen who had come to the station to see us off.

The present terminus of our train journey is Fort William, at the head of Lake Superior, and we arrived there without anything of moment transpiring. -Fort William and Port Arthur adjoin each other, being only about four miles apart, and occupy positions of considerable prominence. Although at present their populations are only 30.000 and 20,000 respectively, both cities are certain to develop into vastly bigger places. They are in the very gateway to the great cities and prairies of the west, and the trade between the eastern cities and thoee of the west must inevitably increase. Such, at any rate, is the confident belief of the inhabitants. Already they have great manufactories of various kinds, and at Port Arthur there is an enormous grain elevator said to have a capacity of 7,000,000 bushels.

At Fort William there was the usual display of interest in the press delegates, and ' a luncheon was given to 'them, at which the attendance was very large and enthusiastic. The toasts of Australia and New Zealand were responded to by the Hon. C. E. Davies, of Hobart, and Mr G. Femvick, of Dunedin, and both speakers were warmly applauded. At 4.30 p.m. we left Fort William in the C.P.R. Company's s.s. Keewatin, a fine steamer of 4000 tons, comfortably carpeted and furnished throughout her various decks. The cabins were very roomy, and most of them had a separate bathroom and lavatory attached — a most convenient arrangement. We ploughed our way in fine style across the placid waters of Lake Superior. It was only the second trio of the steamer for the present season, and, on the first trip a week previously the waters of the Soo River were ice-bound, and a way had to be forced through. After a wellserved dinner we paced the top deck, where there is an uninterrupted promenade of great length. We had paesed a prominent landmark known as the " Sleeping Giant. ' It wanted but little imagination to discover the likeness to a huge recumbent figure of a fiat-topped promontory. There was. the great head, the sharply-defined neck, the vast body, and sloping away, the covered limbs of the giant. It is a familiar feature to those who traverse the waters of the lake. About 8 o'clock we witnessed a glorious sunset, the great orb sinking behind -a mass of cloud a globe of fiery red, and leaving behind him a sky of rosy pink and translucent pearl. Butthe air was much too keen to admit of our staying longer on the upper deck, and we went below. . We traversed Lake Superior, sometimes out of sight of land, at others with islands on all side© of us. In due course we reach the river Sault Sainte Marie, commonly called the Soo, with two large towns near the entrance into Lake Huron, one the American Soo, in Michigan, the other the Canadian Soo, in the province of Ontario. A "fine railway bridge, with a drawbridge, giving entrance to a lock on the river, connects the two. The drawbridge was swung aside and the steamer passed into the lock. The water on the Lake Superior tide is 20 feet higher than that on the Lake Huron side, and it was interesting to watch the steamer rapidly settle down to the lower level as we passed through. On Lake Huron the weather was not pleasant, and we retired to rest at 10 o'clock, only to be awakened at midnight by the hoarse sound of a powerful siren which repeatedly smote our ears and told us that we were enveloped in a dense fog. The speed of the Keewatin was reduced to almost dead slow for some houns, but finally a wind came up, and at 7 a.m., after passing a disturbed night, we found ourselves at Owen Sound — a city about 120 miles from Toronto.

Notwithstanding the fact that it was Sunday, even at that hour -prominent business men of the place were at the spot where we berthed. They had come to welcome us, and had a number of carriages waiting, and ready to take the whole party for a drive round the biibiness and residential portions of the town. The -ladies were supplied with bouquets of carnations and other flowers, and buttonholes were distributed to the gentlemen. The drive proved to be most interesting, and we were very much struck with the fine class of solid-looking brick and stone residences that presented themselves on every side. Churches also were met with in numbers, all of stone, and showing that the people have recognised that the means of grace should be presented to them in fitting temples. Like the rest of the people of Canada whom we have met. our Owen Sound friends were most cordial and attentive, and regretted we could not epare time to lunch with them and receive publicly their good wither. But we had to hasten to our train.

Toronto was reached about 2 p.m., and we were met on our arrival by a number of prominent men of the city, who accompanied us to the King Edward Hotel, a building of noble proportions, whose accommodation exceeds that of the Empress at Victoria. The va«t hall and the lounge corridors on the first floor, luxuriously furnished, must be seen to be appreciated. There is probably nothing more comfortable or more luxurious to be found in Canada or the United States. The Australia, in Sydney, has many fine characteristics, but it is far behind this great hotel. In the afternoon the ladies of the party were entertained in the drawing-room of the hotel by Mrs George, wife of one of Toronto's most public-spirited and most prominent citizens. To-morrow there is a very full programme for the press delegates, terminating with a banquet at the National Club, at which there is to be a large attendance pf Tprftnto'fc principal men..