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of ContentsEngineer Wm. McCarthy with some forty surveyors and several tons of supplies
arrived on the Str. Kenora on Saturday evening and left on Monday by the
Majestic for Seine river.
In conversation with a HERALD representative Mr. McCarthy said they would
proceed to Mine Centre, thence north to some point between Bad Vermilion
and Little Turtle lakes where they would establish their central camp. His
party then divided up into two sections, one of them under Chas. Gordon,
C.E., of Winnipeg, would locate the line eastwards via Sturgeon falls, and
he (McCarthy) would run the line west towards Fort Frances to meet the line
now coming this way from the terminus of the Winnipeg and Southeastern.
Mr. McCarthy when asked as to the exact route was non-committal but went
so far as to say that it would cross the northwest arm of Rainy lake at
Hay Marsh bay, thence westward from Fort Frances to some point along Rainy
river. He also said that work was being actively pushed on the east end,
some 500 men and being at work grading. The road would be built as fast
as the surveyors could get it ready and he was certain that it would be
complete through to Winnipeg in time to carry out the wheat crop of the
northwest in 1900.
Since Mr. McCarthy was here in the summer he has been exploring in the Shebandowan
district with a view to locating the road to the best possible advantage.
While there several land surveying parties were in that district surveying
mining claims, chiefly iron, and from what could be ascertained it would
seem that with the road completed a great boom in mining and especially
in iron would take place. Port Arthur people are figuring on getting a smelter
built at that place in the near future and with rich iron mines within easy
distance this industry would soon be one of the most important in western
Canada.
Running as this new line does nearly its whole length through a rich mining,
timber and agricultural country the road should be a paying one from the
start. Being an independent road it would naturally reduce freight rates
and would also be a great factor in development and settling the country.
With the advantages Fort Frances possesses and such a road running through
it there is no reason why she should not be one of the largest cities in
Canada.
It is only a question of another year or tow when things will change, and
what is now a dreary ice-bound waste for six months in the year will be
a populous community teeming with the hum of industry and the happy homes
of thousands of Canada's most prosperous people. With the advent of a Canadian
road tapping this country it will not be long before one of our southern
railways will follow suit by building north and tapping it at this place.
Once a southern and eastern outlet is obtained we will then be in a position
to offer to manufacturers the best place in Minnesota for a milling site
and which will speedily take advantage of once a market is assured.
In addition to pulp wood and timber we have thousands of acres of rich and
fertile land, the best in the world, which only awaits settlement to show
to the world what can be grown. Now is the time to take up land while it
can be procured close to a market. How many will avail themselves of the
opportunity?
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