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Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the list of Internet Media Types [MIME]."}],"FullText":[{"label":"FullText","value":" Inlet asi Esquimalt Route Ie* 6,\nAKD THE \u2014\nIliiiffdltf asi Iiniii Inlet S@il\u00a9 Ro. I\n*i\nCOMPARED AS TO THE ADVANTAGES\nAFFORDED BY EACH TO THE\nDOMINION AND TO\nTHE EMPIRE.\nBy WM. FRASER ^TOLMIE, M. P. P.\nVICTORIA DISTRICT, V. I., BRITISH COLUMBIA.\nM\nVICTORIA:\nCOLONIST STEAM PRESSES\n1877 Less a two years absqpce, the writer of what\nfollows has, since 1833, resided in these parts,\nhaving the previous year entered the service of\nthe Hudson's Bay Company as surgeon and\nclerk. He has since been stationed at various\npoints at or near the Pacific coast from Oregon\nto Alaska:\nAt the H. B. post, Fort MacLoughlin, Milbank\nSound, having for two years incited the natives\nto search for that mineral, he had the good fortune in 1835 to ascertain the existence on the N.\nE shore of Vancouver Island, of good bituminous coal, which was tested less than a year\nafter on board the Company's new steamer Beaver just out from London.\nHe has by land and water travelled over the\ngreat Northwest from Jasper's House to \"Winnipeg; has been more than once through the\nWalamet Valley, Oregon, and has seen a great\npart of the beautiful bunch grass country of\nBritish Columbia south of N. lat. 51\u00b0 .\nLater in life, when resident at Victoria and\nconcerned in the management of the Company's\nbusiness in British Columbia, the writer had\nmuch occasion and opportunity of acquiring information regarding the coasts and harbors of\nour inland seas, as well as of the farming and\ngrazing capabilities of the trans-Cascade mainland north and south'.\nSince a few years ago\u2014retiring from the Company's service\u2014he has, from every available\nsource, collected facts bearing on the subject in\nquestion, and for such infqrmation has been in-.\ndebted to many. He has now specially to thank\nCaptain Devereaux for essential aid often and\nfreely rendered. To Captains Pamphlet, Bud-\nlin and others too numerous to name, his thanks\nare also respectfuUy offered. The statements of\nfact and opinion in this pamphlet have been\nmade in as moderate a fashion as seemed compatible with a fair presentment of the case advocated. Many of the same facts and conclusions\nhave been clearly set forth in the substantially\nunassailed speech of the Hon. A. deCosmos, during the first day (April S$) of the long debate on\nthe \"Pacific Bailway\" in the House di Commons, Ottawa, session of 1877; but this was unknown to the writer, until the conclusion of his\npamphlet was in type; then, .obtaining perusal\nof Hansard, he was rejoiced to find that during\nthe debate there had been unanimity regarding\nthe pressing need of the Pacific Bailway, as the\ngreat means of Canada's further development\nand expansion.\nThoroughly persuaded, as the writer is, that\nadoption of Boute 6 will be largely conducive to\nthe general good, he the more earnestly desires\nthat every settled section of our Province should\nbe placed in the way of well-doing, by such aid\nas the Dominion and Provincial Governments\ncan afford.\nSeven years ago, the historian Froude urged\nour British rulers to avail .of the calm, sure to\nfollow the close of the Franco-Prussian war, to\nbring to a more definite and satisfactory con\ndition her then and still anomalous relations\nwith the Colonies. A year ago a Canadian writer\nof ability, \"A. M. B., Ottawa,\" in the Canadian\nMonthly of Nov. '76, referred to Scottish experience since 1707, and to Canadian of later date in\nproof that our English friends need to be importuned by complaint and remonstrance, ere\nthey will do or concede anything. \"A. M. B.\"\nlast year urged that Canada should take the initiative.\nWhen the present Eastern war comes to an\nend, another calm may ensue, during which\naction should surely be taken and the great Western queation treated as its importance warrants.\nCanadians must cheerfully assume a fair share\nof the financial responsibility involved in closer\nconnection with the Parent State, in view of the\nmultiform benefits thence to accrue to all concerned.\nPremier Mackenzie must have uttered the\nsentiments of his adopted countrymen, when at\nDundee, Scotland, in July, 1875, he said in public. ' 'I believe that the Colonies are essential to\nBritish supremacy in the world. I don't say so\nbecause we are desirous of the slightest favor financially from Great Britain. We are able and\nwilling. God knows, to bear our full share of all\nImperial responsibility whenever required for\nthe common interest, and we are doing so at the\npresent moment.\"\nFurther on in Mr. Mackenzie's reported speech\nexplanation is given of what he meant by British\nsupremacy. It cannot prove offensive to any,\nbeing \"universal freedom, emancipation from\neverything degrading.\" Soon may such be the\ncase, wherever the flag flies\u2014at home and\n,abroad.\n\"A. B. M.\" and others, though ardent for\nImperial federation, admit that Canada's material interests would benefit by annexation to\nthe United States. That may be a general\nopinion, but nevertheless closer connection with\nthe Parent State is preferred. Sentiment, as the\nvenerable Carlyle has truly said, always rules\ngreat movements, religious and political, and\nnot \"the checks and balances of profit and loss.\"\nIt may be well for civilized communities generally, and in particular for the timid in Europe,, that in the New World, two distinct experiments in Democracy should amicably\nadvance side by side; while amongst older nations, Britain and France progress carefully and\ndeliberately, but unfailingly in the same direction. England must reconsider her free trade\ntheories and practices to which other peoples\nhave not given the expected adhesion.\nAmerica, which appears to have taken a \"new\ndeparture\" for good objects, should, with her\naccustomed forecast, weigh well the possible\nfuture effects of the \"Chinese wall of protection\"\nnow surrounding her.\nA kind and frank interchange of ideas on\ncommercial and tariff matters between Britain,\nAmerica and Canada seems now a great desideratum. Why not a conference of delegates to\nmeet either at London or Washington.\ni \nA VOICE FROM THE OCCIDENT.\n\"Canadian Pacific Railway Routes.\nTlie Bute Inlet and Esquimalt Stoute (No.6)\nand tl\u00bbe fraser Valley and Burrard Inlet Borne (No. ii) compared as to tbe advantages offered by each to tbe Dominion and to tbe Kmpive.\nNo. 1.\n[June 30th, 1877.]\n. Editob Cobonist:\u2014I have for some time\npast thought of writing tmi the railway routes\nand have been induced To offer the present\ncommunication to your widely read gaper, by\nperusal of the speech of Mr. Dewdney. M. P.,\nat Ottawa, 24th April last, correctly produced,\nit is presumable, in your issue of the 24th.\ninst. It may be inferred that when Mr.\nDewdney had the floor at Ottawa his fellow-\nmembers from Columbia, having previously\ntaken part in the debSte, were precluded\nfrom reply.\nAlluding to a recent contention in the\nHouse between himself and the member for\nVictoria, Mr. DeCosmos, as to whether the\npopulation along the Fraser route exceeded or\nnot that on the Bute line, and in which the\nVictoria member read from the voters' list in\nproof that the larger population was on the\nlatter route, Mr. Dewdney did not attempt\ncontradiction; but, in military parlance,\nmanoeuvred into a new position\u2014to a certain\nextent, \"changed the subjeet\"\u2014and adroitly\navoided the real issue by an elaborate showing in figures that in 1875 the number of\nrecords under the Land Act of 1870 was on\nthe Bute line, including. Vancouver Island,\n89, \"while on the Fraser Kiver route, the\nnumber was 551, out of which there were in\nthe New Westminster and Yale districts\nthrough which the line ran 479.\" \"In 1876\n(according to Mr. D.) there were on Yancouver Island and Bute Inlet route 42 records;\nand on the Mainland 37$, of which 312 were in\nthe districts of Yale and New Westminster.\nMr. Dewdney claimed a triumph from these\nshowings. I have not verified, neither do I\ncall in question his figures as presented, nor\nyet have I been at the Land Office to find how\nmany of the records mentioned are those of\nabsentee land speculators who may not yet\nhave paid up. I shall presently submit to\nMr. Dewdney, and to your other readers\neverywhere, facts and figures \"galore\" on\nthe matter of present relative Mainland and\nIsland populations, to which, although the\nIsland has the .preponderance in number\nmore importance seems to be attached at\nOttawa than it merits; as a factor in the great\nquestions of route and terminus..\nMr. Dewdney, who, I will say, is an able\nand untiring advocate of what he considers\nMainland interests, at the outset of his speech\nclaims to be a \"British Columbian knowing\nhis province thoroughly, probably as well as\nany man in it.\" He nevertheless showed\nlack of knowledge or political smartness\u2014\nit is for himself to say which\u2014in omitting\nmention of the fact \u2022\u2014 all important in connection with his figures \u2014 that, since the\nsummer of 1873 the best and most attractive\nlands on the Bute Inlet line and those nearest\nthe already existing settlements, have been\nout of the market. I do think that in the\nheat of debate Mr. Dewdney must have overlooked this. As others, besides himself may\nhave forgotten, or do not know the fact, I\nwill now mention that when in 1873 the Macdonald administration, not without knowledge\nor in any haphazard fashion, but with the\nsurveys of 1871 and 1872, and correct information about harbors, before them, decided\nto locate* a railway line from Esquimalt harbor to Seymour Narrows,\" a belt of public\nland between these points and along the East\nCoast of Vancouver, twenty miles wide was\nreserved from \"sale or alienation.\" What\nsort of land this is, I will let the geologist,\nMr. James Eiehardson, say. Mr. Bichardson\nin his able report on the coal measures of the\nIsland examined by him contained in the\nreport of Progress of the Geological Survey\nof Canada under A. B. Selwyn, Esq., for\n1871-72, speaks of the coal deposits of this\ndistrict as extending from the vicinity of\nCape Mudge (near Seymour Narrows T.) on\nthe north-west, to within fifteen miles of Victoria on the south-east, with a length of about 130 miles.\" Beferring to this tract, which\nhe thoroughly examined, Mr. Bichardson\nadds \"it possesses generally a good soil, and\nmay hereafter be thickly settled. . It is mostly\ncovered with forest, but in some parts presents a prairie or parklike aspect with grass-\ncovered ground, studded with single trees or\nclumps of them, and offers great encouragement to agricultural industry.\nLike the'Fraser Valley west of the Cascade\nmountains, the valuable agricultural country\njust described will need clearing, and Us timber will be saleable; but unlike many of the\nbest parts of the Fraser it will nowhere require\nthe very costly process of dyking, etc., nor\nlike the arable lands of the settled upper\ncountry\u2014(New Westminster and Yale'dis\"-\ntrictsj\u2014will it want the not inexpensive work\nof irrigation.\nBetter than all, our East Coast farmers will!\nin the coal towns, and in the iron-smelting\nand manufacturing towns, and villages of tne\nfuture, have a home market for - all they can\nproduce, not omitting sawlogs and firewood,\nand, when their fully developed ability fails\nto meet the ever-increasing demand, it will,\nby railway, be supplied from the Columbian\nand Saskatchewan Mainland, so that eventually a great interchange ef products will\nensue; thus affording local business to the\nrailway in addition to what, in no inconsiderable degree, would, from the first, arise between Esquimalt and the coal mines and\nagricultural districts north of it.\nThe foregoing is quite relevant to the population question; now for the facts and figures\nthereanent promised in a preceding paragraph :\nFirst, however, let it be premised that\nothers besides the Mainland M. P. need to be\nset right in this matter. How it comes, perhaps Mr. Dewdney can tell; the strange\nbelief has recently found utterance in Ottawa\nand Toronto, that of the .sparse population\nof this Province as a whole the greater part\nis to be found in Mr. Dewdney's pet districts\nalready named. A leader in the \"Weekly\nGlobe\" of 27th April last has the following\u2014\n\"What there is of population in British Columbia is located chiefly along the' Fraser and\nThompson Valleys,\" and the usually accurate\nand cautious Premier Mr. Mackenzie in the\nCommons at Ottawa, 20th April last, speaking on the Pacific Bailway, said\u2014\"There is\nno doubt the bulk of the population of British\nColumbia is settled in the Fraser Valley.\"\nThe facts are decidedly against this statement, as will now be proved in more ways\nthan one.\nThe electoral districts of New Westminster\nand Yale are vast in extent, including the\ngreater part of the as yet settled Fraser Valley, and all of the Thompson Valleys north\nand south fit for arable farming, besides to\nthe south, the - settlements of Okanagan,\nNicola Yalley and Similkameen, and on the\ncoast the Burrard Inlet sawmills and logging\ncamps. These districts in 1858 and succeeding years offered the greatest attraction to\nimmigrants of any part of the Province, as\non the Fraser bars, and the Thompson and\nSimilkameen mines, gold in paying quantities\nwas found. These localities have always (unlike the east coast of Vancouver for the four\nlast exciting years) been open for settlement\nwithout let or hindrance; yet, for all this, the\nB. C. voter's list of 1876 shows fo*r these two\nMainland districts 851 voters, and for the\ncompact districts of Victoria-District and Victoria City 1057 voters, or a difference of 25\nper cent, in favor of the Island. Adding to\nthe two Mainland districts 118 voters for New\nWestminster city electoral district, we have a\ntotal of 969; and adding to the total of the\ntwo Island districts, named as a foreshadowing\nof what Vancouver's east coast will yet be,\n338 voters for Nanaimo district we have a\ntotal of 1395, or about 50 per cent excess for\nthe Island. The 445 voters for Cariboo and\nthe voters of Lillooet and Kootenay help up\nthe Mainland count; yet notiwthstanding the\ndisabilities pointed out the whole Island exceeds the Mainland by about 9 per cent. For\nlack of a census of population the yoters' list\nhas to be referred to. The Provincial census\nof school population for 1876 throws other\nlight on the question*at issue. It indirectly\npoints to the comparativ.e number of married\ncouples and families on the Island and Mainland, thus to a certain extent indicating how\nfar each population may be counted on as\nfixed\/ On the Is^knd the census gives\n1790 as the number of children of school\nage of whom a few are from the\nMainland attendiug the higher public and\nprivate schools of Victoria. The whole Mainland has 700 as its school population.\nThe imposition and collection of assessed\nand school taxes for the year 1876-77 affords\nyet another way of viewing the matter in\ndispute. The revenfte from the Island under\nthis head comes to $31,364\nand from the Mainland to 19,269\nShowing in favor of the Island an\t\nexcess of : $12,095\nI have been careful as to the accuracy of\nthe facts and figures herein presented, and\nupon them rest the case for the Island as\nagainst the statistics above quoted from Mr.\nDewdney's speech, and the erroneous assertion copied from the Toronto\"Globe,'' that the\nbulk of Columbia's population is along the\nFraser and Thompson valleys.\nIn a further communication I will deal\nwith more serious matters, on which I am\ncompelled to differ with Mr. Dewdney and\nsome other Mainlanders. '\nNo. 3.\n[July 16th, 1877,] '\nEditor Colonist:\u2014Dnder the above heading in a letter of 30th June last in your paper,\nfacts and figures were adduced by me to prove\nthe preponderance of population in this\nProvince to be on the Southeast and East\ncoast of Vancouver Island and not in the\nvalleys of the Fraser and Thompson, as had\nmistakenly been affirmed in the House of\nCommons, Ottawa, and \u25a0within the columns\nof the Toronto Globe. This superiority, it was shown existed, notwithstanding the fact\u2014all important in view\nof the aforementioned comparisons made in\nOntario\u2014that, since 1873, the public lands of\nVancouver on the East and South Coasts had\nbeen reserved from sale or alienation in consequence of the decision, that year, of the\nMacdonald administration to ' 'locate a railway line from Esquimalt harbor to Seymour\nNarrows.\"\nNow must briefly be noticed a few of the\nmany matters\u2014mostly irrelevant\u2014brought up\nby the Mainland Guardian, in its two edi\n' torials on that letter.\nRIVAL ROUTES.\nThe Guardian views the subject, of rival\nroutes}\"as.warn threadbare; as to the mind\nof any intelligent person, the question has\nbeen finally settled.\" Not so have I read the\nlast report of Engineer-in-Chief Fleming, on\nthe Canadian Pacific Bailway, 1877. Not so\nhave I understood the purport of the two last\npublished dispatches to our Government from\nEarl Carnarvon.\nACCURACY.\nIt matters not where any particular Islander, or any one or more Mainlanders, may have\ntheir personal interests. All are alike hound\nto aim at strict accuracy in statements publicly made on the railway terminus question,\nand it is the imperative duty of any one,\naware that, on such a vitally important question, inaccurate and misleading : representations have been published, to call these in\nquestion, in order that, by free discussion,\nthe truth may be elicited and ' if necessary\n\"proclaimed from the house tops.\" There is\nno earthly net-d of, as the Guardian hints,\nstirring up sectional strife. Npthing is more\nundesirable or ridiculous* There need be no\nstrife save that of sound argument based on\nthe inexorable logic of such facts as \"winna\nding and daurna be disputed.''\nMISTAKES OR INACCURACIES.\nAn inaccuracy to be noted occurs in the\nToronto Weekly Globe. April 13, 1877, p.\n256, under the caption \"Pacific Bailway.\"\nThe real choice (says the writer) '\u25a0'will to all\nappearance, lie between Bute Inlet and Burrard Inlet, each of which has some advantages\nin its favor. If the railway is ever to be constructed to Esquimalt along Vancouver Island,\nit becomes a matter of necessity to adopt Bute\nInlet as the present terminus. As a military\nroad this Hne would be the most serviceable,\nsince a Une along the Fraser valley would be\nfor a considerable distance in close proximity\nto the Canadian frontier. But the latter has\nthe advantage in respect both of distance and\nthe harbor- atits terminus.\" The italics are\nmine.\nThe author of the foregoing leader in the\nGlobe had probably read a letter in the\nLondon Times of last January or early in\nFebruary, dated New Westminster, British\nColumbia, December 4th, 1876, and signed.\n. \"Old Settler.\" The Globe scribe had also,\nperhaps, heard or read the statement in the\nHouse of Commons, Ottawa, by Mr. Dewdney,\nM. P., on the 6th April, 1876, that (his words\nare quoted) \"the navigation from the southern extremity of Vancouver Island to Burrard\nInlet is excellent,''\n\"Old Settler's\" letter does not overflow\nwith the milk of human kindness towards\nVictoria or Victorians; but let that alone as\nfar as may be. The following quotation is,\nhowever, unavoidable. \"A good route (0. S.\nsays) has been found passing through, or\nclose to, the'settled parts of the Province, and\nterminating at the? magnificent harbor of Burrard Inlet\u2014a harbor capable of containing all\nthe navies of the world, with plenty of room\nto spare; a harbor which Victorians in their,\nblind rage stigmatize as difficult and dangerous of access, but into which sailing ships'\nhave been brought under sail and without a\npilot.\"\nATTEMPTED CORRECTION OP MISTAKES. '\nNow will \"Old Settler,\" over his \"nom de\nplume,'' or, as ho may prefer, kindly inform\nthe readers of The Colonist, how many shipmasters^ the last twelve years he has known\n,to bring their vessels into Burrard Inlet from\nthe Fucan Straits without a pilot ? how manj'\nof these to go out without a pilot, and how-\nmany to repeat the venture of sailing in from\nthe Straits, through the intricate channels of\nthe- Haro Archipelago, across the Gulf of\nGeorgia and through the dangerous Narrows\nat the entrance of the Inlet\u2014but 300 yards\nwide at one place ? Since 1871 I have sought\ninformation from every source, relative to the\nprincipal harbors of this Province, that prima\nfacie, seemed suitable for the Western terminus of the British Transcontinental Bailway.\nAs to the sailing of ships from Boyal Boads\nto Burrard Inlet with or without a pilot, two\ninstances thereof have come to my knowledge,\nbut these vessels, small in size, were piloted\nif not towed out. .There may have been a few\nother like cases. I have been told of shipmasters having come to grief in making the\nattempt. The rule now is for vessels to be\ntowed.to and fro. Far indeed is Burrard Inlet from being the extensively capacious harbor ' Old Settler, the Guardian editor, and\nothers would have the world imagine. Instead\nof, as they assert, -having room for the navies\nof the world, it has of good anchorage at\nGranville, or Coal Harbor, only about 1 square\nmarine mile in extent, and, off Moodyville,\nnorth shore, only about % a square marine\nmile in extent. In English Bay there are\nabout 3 square marine miles; but that roadstead is exposed from W. S. W. to W. N. W.,\nwhence the strongest winds blow from the\nGulf of Georgia, and, with northerly winds,\nthere is a long fetch of sea in from the Gulf.\nHere ships anchor with their tugs, while\nawaiting turn of tide, ere they pass through\nthe Narrows to Burrard Inlet.\nThe remaining space or mid-tfhannel of the\nInlet outside the second Narrows is unsafe for\nanchorage owing to the strength of its tidal\ncurrents and eddies. It is from about 20 to\n30 fathoms ih depth.\nEsquimalt has, with the excepti6n of a few\nspots, some day to be dredged, of safe anchor- age about 3 square marine miles in extent,\nand of wliarf frontage about 4% miles in extent. Its adjacent outer harbor, Boyal Boads,\nhas 3 square marine miles of good holding\nground, where well found ships, -such as\nPlimsoll would approve of, ride out S. E.\ngales, the only wind this roadstead is exposed\nto.\n[August 13th, 1877.]\nESQUIMALT HARBOR.\nEditor Colonist:\u2014On the 26th ult, it was\nin your columns made to appear that, despite\nof sundry boastings,to the contrary, Esquimalt has of safe anchorage about thrice the\nextent possessed by Granville, Burrard Inlet,\nand twice as much as .there is in the whole\n' expanse of the Inlet, inside the first and out\nside the second Narrows.\nvictoria harbor.\nIn connection with the comparison as to\nextent of safe anchorage in Esquimalt. and\nthe \"Inlet\" it is proper to mention that Victoria harbor, not long since by a facetious\ncorrespondent of the Mainland \"Guardian\"\ntei'med \"a mudhole in a rock,\" can by\ndredging and by the blasting of iwo rocks,\neach smaller than the already broken up\n\"Beaver rock,\" have a wharf frontage of\nabout six miles in all, equal for accommodation of merchant shipping- to the enclosed\nartificial docks of older countries. At the\nshallowest part of the entrance of Victoria\nharbor, the depth at low water will be about\n24 feet on completion of the dredging; now\non account of hard times, temporarily suspended by the Dominion Government.\nAt high water in ordinary tides the depth\nat the entrance, now 20 feet, will then be 24,\nand ships of the latter draught of water can,\nafter harbor dredging, he afloat at the\nwharves. That such dredging is practicable\nhas been by boring satisfactorily proved.\nWhere else on this coast anywhere can such\na contiguity of good safe harborage and anchorage be found so near to and so accessible\nfrom the ocean as at Boyal Boads, Esquimalt\nand Victoria ? To what other places are the\nsea-approiaches nearly so good as to these V\nAppendix V of Mr. Fleming's last Bailway\nBeport to January, 1877, consists of letters\nand statements by \"master-mariners, pilots\nand others resident in the Province or locally\nengaged.\"\nSEA APPROACHES.\nFirst in this appendix is a letter dated Victoria, 6th February, 1877, from Captain James\nCooper, of Victoria, to the Governor-General\n\"respecting the sea approaches to British\nColumbia, and certain of the harbors on the\ncoast.\" In said letter Cpatain Cooper's first\nposition is indisputable and will surely have\nthe fullest consideration from those on whom\nmay at length devolve the grave responsibility\nof selecting the western terminus of the Canadian Transcontinental Bailway. \"Sea approaches,\" Cooper says, \"are in my judgment\nthe first essential consideration in finally deciding upon a terminus site.\" Although this affir\nmation is by him made only in reference to\nthe seven Mainland inlets categorically inquired about at the Admiralty by Mr. Fleming,\nit is clearly as applicable to Barclay Sound\nand Esquimalt on the West coast of Vancouver's, as it is to the more inland and unapproachable waters, of which Burrard Inlet\nseems, as far as is yet known, to be the most\neligible.\nHow. as to sea approaches and other essenr\ntjal conditions for a terminal harbor the three\nlocalities just named compare, will be seen as\nwe proceed.\nTreating of the inland navigation north of\nthe Fucan strait, Captain Cooper says,\n\"Vessels'do, however, frequently make the\npassage to and from the lumber and coal\ndepots without the assistance of steam.\" In\nthis I am at issue with the Captain, for as\nstated in my last letter in the Colonist \"The,\nrule now is for vessels to be towed to and\nfro.\" Captain Cooper justly condemns Mil-\nbank Sound, the main entrance from the sea,\nleading'to Dean's Canah' Gardner's Inlet, &c,\n\"FOR THE WANT OF SOUNDINGS AND THE DANGER of the sea approaches.\" Bear this in\nmind, my readers, \"having in view (the Captain considerately adds) the purposes for\nwhich this Inlet mi-jht be selected.\" Italics\nmine.\nPORT ESSINGTON.\nCaptain Cooper next presents much against\nthe northern route to Skeena. Port Essington he says is a bar harbor and freezes hard\nin winter. .\nBURRARD INLET.\n\"It has been demonstrated (he says p. 306)\nthat Burrard Inlet is a safe and commodious\nharbor, for, since the establishment of the two\nlarge sawmills in that port, the first in 1864,\nat least six hundred ships of large tonnage,\nto' say nothing of local and smaller crafts,\nhave xentered to load aud have left the port,\nnot one of which received any damage; and\nthe dasualties incident to navigation in the\ninland waters would compare most favorably\nwith any part of the world.\"\nWESTERN HARO CHANNEL.\nAt p.-307 the.Captain states as follows:\u2014\n\"One common road for the inland navigation\nfrom the Straits of Juan de Fuca, via the Haro\nStraits, whichhas two separate and distinct\nnavigable channels, through both of which\nany sized ship could pass. The channel\nnearest to Vancouver Island, which could be\nused if required, would lead a ship at a minimum distance of 4% miles from the American\npossessions) continuing through Active Pass\ndirect into,Burrard Inlet.\"\nMARINE MISHAPS.\nInvestigation of the comparative merits of\nrival routes, in which I have been engaged\nnecessarily involved ascertainment of the\nmarine disasters on each proposed Une during\na given period.\nBetween Boyal Boads and the Ocean there\nhas not been disaster to shipping, since in\n1860, Bace Bocks Light first guided the mariner to safe anchorage at the Boads, or thence to that wide and safe passage to the Ocean>\nDe Fuca Strait.\nFor six years between 1868 and 1874, fourteen (14) casualties are said to have occurred\nbetween Boyal Boads and Burrard Inlet, and\neighteen (18) between the Boads and Nanaimo. The worst mishap on the Inlet Une\nwas the wreck of the barque \"CorneUs.\"\nNext was the sale of a ship, stranded while\nsteam aide;d. Another stranded ship had to\nsacrifice her deckload ere getting afloat. Seven\nvessels struck and got off in the Burrard Inlet Narrows, and four in the Haro Strait. Of\nthe number of narrow escapes Uttle is known.\nThe foregoing does not accord with Captain\nCooper's herein quoted statement regarding\n' \"casualties incident to navigation.\" On the\nNanaimo line four ships,have been wrecked\nwhen unaided by steam, and three when thus\nassisted. Three steamships of war struck and\ngot off. The same happened to five oceangoing steamers of the mercantile marine.\nOne ship had two anchors down in seventy-\nfive fathoms of water and got off, after the\nmasts had been cut away. One was ashore\nand got off and another vessel struck and got\noff.\nCONTRADICTORY STATEMENTS.\nAnd yet this Nanaimo route is \"the channel\nnearest to Vancouver Island\" through which\nCapt. Cooper, as above quoted, has reported\nto the Governor-General that \"any sized ship\ncould pass.\"\nIn .adeUtion to the various dangers in this\nchannel so clearly described in the pages of\nthe \"Vancouver Island'Pilot,\" there is said to\nbe, in some patches of it, only two and three\nfathoms of water. How would this suit the\nlargest ocean-going ships by night, or in fog\nor storm, navigating to and 'from the terminal harbor, in the days when the Canadian Pacific Bailway wiU be \"an accompUsh-\nedfact?\"\n'\"Active,\" better known as \"Plumper's\nPass,\" is not suited for (to borrow the words\nof Mr. Fleming in his former Bailway Beport,\nJan., 1874,) \"the largest ships that now or\nhereafter may navigate the Pacific'' In July,\n1860, H. M. S. Termagant, drawing 18 feet of\nwater, struck so severely in this passage,, and\nthat, be it observed, with a favorable tide,\nthat after repairs, &c, in San Francisco costing it is said, \u00a330,000 sterling, she was, on\nreaching home, at once condemned and sold'..\nAdmiral Bichards and Staff Commander Pender, B. N., have each had a practical experience of years in the survey of the southern\nand middle coasts of this Province. The results of their work up to 1864 are given in the\n\"Vancouver Island Pilot,\" which from p. p.\n1 to 70 treats of the Fucan Strait and the Haro\nStraits west of the international (sea) boundary hne, marked on recent maps. Both of\nthese officers have furnished answers, to the\ntwenty-eight (28) questions submitted by Mr.\nFleming to the Lords of the Admiralty.\nQuestion 9 is as foUows:\u2014 \"At, what minimum distance would vessels have to pass San\nJuan Island, or other islands on the coast of\nthe United States, in their passage by the\n\u2022 southern, channel to Burrard Inlet, &c, &c?\"\nTo this Admiral Bichards repUes:\u2014Vessels\nneed not pass within three miles of San Juan,\nbut they must pass within two miles of Stuart,\nand Patos Islands, unless indeed they take\nthe inner channel along the coast of Vancouver Island; and the passages from these\nchannels to the Strait of Georgia are dan-\\\ngerous, and they would not be used unless in\ncase of emergency.\" Italic-: min,j..\nHow completely the opinion of Admiral\nBichards just quoted runs counter to that of\nCaptain Cooper, as above given in his own\nwords.\nDesiring only that the \"Truth, the whole\nTruth, and nothing but the Truth,\" should\nbe elicited by the discussion invited in this\nand previous letters, I now respectfully ask\nCaptain Cooper to set me right, if now o.t\nheretofore, as he may think, I have aught\nmisstated.\nNo. 4.\n[August 28th, 1877. J\nEditoe Colonist:\u2014First, I must briefly notice' Captain Cooper's polite and\ncleverly devised letter in The Colonist\nof the 20th inst. Therein the Captain, in\ntrue \"Sir Oracle\" fashion, declines discussing in ' 'a newspaper controversy\" his\nsoidisant \"unassaible\" position as to the\nfitDess of the western Haro Channel for\nnavigation by night, and in fog or storm\nby the largest sailing ships or steamers;\nRailway routes, and the comparative merits of harbors, as projected termini, being\nthe chief subjects of his letter to the Governor-General; this is what his assertions\ntherein must mean. They can have no\nother plain meaning.\nThe words in the communication to\nHis Excellency, (re tbe Haro Channels,)\n\"through both of which, any sized ship\ncould pass\" being without the slightest\nqualification as to times or seasons, it\nmust be obvious to a gentleman ofCaptain\nCooper's well known acuteness that' he\ncannot get off by the hackneyed expedient,\nthe stale strategy, of imputing obtuseness\nto his controversial antagonist and implying that his own meaning has henoe\nbeen misunderstood. In this matter the\ngood Captain's zeal seems to have outrun\nhis discretion.\nThe availability, for shipping, of any\ninland channel, has to be judged of, not.\nas it may be, under snmmer skies with\nsmooth seas, but, as it'oresents under the\nworst conditions of \"weather and darkness,\nknown to oceur in the locality; just as the\nstrength of a hawser or chain cable\u2014cannot safely be reckoned as greater than is\nthe resisting power of its weakest part.\nThat Captain Cooper's assertions as to the\nchannel in question are quite untenable,\nhas in my last, been demonstrated as well\nby reference, to the highest authorities in print, as by mention offacts, verifiable\nby every shipmaster and pilot acquainted\nwith our inland waters from Clover Point\ntoNauaimo.\nAs to the good Captain's pleasantry\nabout my having a \"nautical ally,\" I gladly avow having had not merely one, bnt\nmany such,\u2014men of varied position, experience and nationality, with whom I\nhave often been conferring since in 1870-\n71, the investigation, forming the subject\nof these letters, was commenced. Such\nof these worthy persons, as are still \"to\nthe fore\" and happen to be .here, concur\nin the estimate of the Western Haro Channel presented in my last.\nSEA APPBO ACHES.\nAs the consideration of these is so intensely important,and as Captain Cooper's\nposition thereon is so thoroughly \"unassailable\"' a reproduction of his words in\nlarge type seems warrantable. \"Sea ap:\nPBOAOHES AEE (he SayS) IN MY JUDGMENT\nTHE FIRST ESSENTIAL OONSIDEEATION IN\nFINALLX DECIDING UPON A TERMINUS SITE.\"\nFrom the valuable appendix V. of Mr.\nFleming's oft cited report p. 308 quotation is now made out of a document entitled \"Statement by Captain John Dever-\neux respecting harbors in the Straits of\nGeorgia, and on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.\nCapt. Devereaux, long and favorably\nknown in Victoria, is the only master-\nmariner resident in the Province, who, in\naddition to a practical knowledge of this\ncoast acquired in command of coasting\nsteamers, has brought to bear on the\nqueetion of sea routes to the projected\nwestern termini of the C. P. R. R. a most\nuseful insight, gained by years of service\nas an officer in the ocean mail steamers of\nthe Old Country. Some of my nautical\nallies have had experience in Her Majesty's navy, in command of coasting steamers and of ocean-going sailing ships as\nwell as of coasters and pilot boats.\n\"Burrard Inlet (Devereaux states) has a\nsafe and commodious anchorage two miles\ninside the first narrows at Coal Harbor,\nalso another seven miles inside the second\nnarrows at Port Moody, twelve miles from\nthe entranceohut there is one great objection to either of these places, viz: both\nthe first and the second narrows respectively are but about about a cable-and a-\nhalf wide, through which the tide runs\nabout nine knots an hour, creating whirls\nand eddies and rendering it unsafe for\nlarge steamers to enter or leave port at\nnight, or at certain stages of the tide,\nleaving out altogether interruption by\nfogs and thick weather, which occur more\nfrequently inside than out.\"\n''Next is the outer harbor of Burrard Inlet, known as English Bay; there, at a\nplace marked on the chart as Government\nReserve, is a good anchorage with every\nfacility for a breakwater, or even docks,\nboth wet and dry, andjby erecting a lighthouse on Passage Island, eiitrahce to\nHowe Sounrt, one on East Point, one on\nTurn Point and another on Discovery Island, the largest ships in the woild\nmight be conducted thither in safety; but\nthere are three months in tb.9 year, viz:\nfrom part of August to the same time in\nNovember, when this coast is subject to\ndense fogs, rendering it unsafe, if not ut\nterly impossible to navigate Haro Strait\nand the Gulf of Georgia with large' steamers such as the Royal Mai), Cunard, and\nPacific Mail Company's ship-.\"\n\"This point will, I think, be conceded\nby all who know anything about such\nships, and the straits in question where\nthe tide runs from i'out to six knots an\nhour, with boiling rips and overfalls,\nnarrow channels and outlying reefs, deep\nwater, and no anchorage that could be\nreached in such weather; and to stop a\nsteamer in such a plight would simply\nmean to the mariner to lose his reckoning,\nas he would be carried off by the tide and\nnot know whither to go. On the other\nhand if the engines of a large ship were\nkept going like those of the small steamers on this coast she would neither answer\nto her helm nor turn astern quick enough\nto avoid running ashore, as it frequently\nhappens the fogs are so dense here that\nland cannot be seen one hundred yards\noff.\"\nThe eastern Haro or boundary channel\nis the one referred to in the foregoing\nqaotation from Captain Devereaux. Its\ndepth where ships must pass is from sixty\nto on\u00a9 hundred and eighty fathoms, and\nits anchorages, difficult of approach in\nthick weather, do not afford swinging\nroom enough for ships of from three to\nfour thousand tons burthen. Such as\nthese, and larger craft, will in \"the good\ntime coming,\" be resorting to the terminal\nharbor, if quite accessible at all seasons\nfrom the oeean. If otherwise, their destination may be to American ports; for\ncommerce ever seeks the safest routes,\nand those where delay need not be incurred from any bad weather short of\nhurrioanes, or from other causes such as\nwaiting for tides, for daylight or for lifting of fog.\nAbout eight hundred tons may be considered as the average size of lumber ships\nnow going to the Inlet. A few of from\ntwelve to sixteen hundred tons have been\nthere.\nIn the eastern Haro Strait, between\nTurnpoint, Stuart's Island, U.S.A., and\nCooper's Reef, B.N.A., ships would have\nto pass within less than two miles of possibly hostile batteries. What has been or may be stated about\nBurrard Inlet; and its approaches from\nRoyal Reiads cannot disparage the present\nundisputed commercial importance of\nthat place as the site of two large sawmills.\nThese statements are- set forth simply in\nview of the possible purposes for which\nthis inlet might be selected. They receive\nthe strongest confirmation from Staff\nCammander \"Pender, R N., who in dm\npithy sentence thus summarises his\nopinion in reply to Mr Fleming's last\nand twenty-eighth question: \"For reasons\n. giwen (says Commander Pender, p. 300,\nreport cite\\-i) in No. 27, Burrard Inlet is\nin my opinion preferable to either of the.\nplaees named (the other six mainland inlets inquired about by Mr Pleming, T.;)\nit is also the most easy of access from the\nocean, but even hebe the ribs attending NAVIGATING WITH LARGE STEAMSHIPS\nAGAINST TIME AMONGST THE ISLANDS LVING\nBETWEEN FUCA 8TBAIT AND THE STBAIT OP\nGBOBGIA ARE TO ME VEBV GREAT.\"\nIn his letter to the. Governor General\nCaptain Cooper forcibly dilates on the\nmanifold risks to be incurred \"in a gale of\nwind and thick weather\" off Milbank\nSound, or thence to Kam'squot, head of\nDean's Canal, \"by a steamer having on\nboard Her Majesty's mails and probably\nseveral hundred passengers bound east\"\n\"with scarcely an anchorage for the whole\ndistance thai, the commander of a valuable steamship would risk his ship to\nswing in.\" \"It is questionable (adds the\nCaptain) whether any insurance offices\nwould take the risk on such navigation \"\nOutside Milbank Sound such a ship in\nstormy weather might get to sea. Inside\nher plight would be unsafe indeed. At\nthe best there would be serious and vexatious delay, causing passengers to chafe\nand to declaim agaiDst such a dangerous\nroute.\nAnd now with a deep sense of their importance, and with due regard to Imperial\nor in other words, general, inteiests, let\nme ask Captain Cooper, ho w it would fare\nwith his large mail steamship in a S. E.\ngale and thick weather, or, in one of our\nlong enduring and densest autumnal fogs,\nsuppesing her'course to be from Trial\nIsland, Haro Straits to Burrard Inlet.\nWould not her risks be nearly as great in\nthe latter direction as in the former ? According to the quota, ion just made from\nCommander Pender's evidence and to\nmerchant-seamen recently consulted by\nme, they certainly would. Such a large\nmail steamer as is mentioned, would necessarily be NAVIGATING AGAINST TIME.\nAgain, supposing our transcontinental\nrailway to terminate so far from the ocean\nas at Burrard Inlet, how many casualties\nto ocean steamers or large sailing ships,\nhow toany alarms and narrow escapes,\nhow many even of annoying detentions\ninvolving, no one could tell, how much\nloss to the diverse large interests-at stake,\nhow many of slkjIj mii-baps could occur\non this line, without inevitably diverting\npassenger and goods traffic, express business, correspondence, and everything else\n\u25a0from East and West, to foreign railway\ntermini on or near the Fucan Straits ? It\nis for the Captain to respond, or to adhere\nto the Carlylean maxim that \"Silence is\ngolden,\"&c.\nAUTUMNAL FOGS.\nThe prevalence of fogs on this coast in\nautumn is in tbeir answers dwelt upon by\nAdmiral Richards and Stuff-Commander\nPender. It is also notice.!, I thiDk, by\nCaptaiD Cator. In September, 1868,\ncoasting steamers were by fog for ten days\nconfined to Victoria harbor. In November, 1869, as nearly as I can ascertain,\nseveral steamers were fog bound in Nanaimo harbor, and amongst others the \"old\nBeaver,\" in which Commander Pender.\nR N., was then bringing to a close hit'\nvaluable labors on this coast. At this time\nthe commander of an ocean-goii:g American steamer, doubtless merre pressed for\ntime than the otheis ventured out first,\nand wrecked his beat. This shipwieck was\nomitted in the detail given in a former\nletter of casualties on the route from Royal Roads to Nanaimo.\nRIVAL FOREIGN RAILWAY BOUTES.\nWhether British and Americans are\nhereafter always to be friends is beyond\nhuman ken. Often the unexpected happens in national, as well as in individual\naffairs. The future being hidden, due\nprecaution in selecting the railway route\nand terminus on strategical consideration\nshould be exercised by those having the\nguidance of Imperial interests in this\nquarter of the world. Americans and English have long been keen commercial rivals and are likely to continue so. Notwithstanding this, and the irritations it\nusually engenders, they have lately, like\nsensible kinsmen, become better friends.\nOn the Fucan Straits, almost opposite\nEsquimalt. anel seventeen miles distant,is\nthe much prized American harbor, by\nVancouver named Ediz Hook, now better\nknown as Port Angeles, and jocu'arly\ntermed \" Cherbourg.\" This port is, at\np. 188 of the U. S. Pilot (Washington\nTerritory) termed \" an excellent and extensive harbor.\" At page 190, of the Pame\nauthority, is the statement that \" coal of\nfair quality is reported to have been\nfound within three miles of the harbor.\nPort Angeles could by a railway of from\n150 to 175 miles to Tenino, be joined to\nthe line going south from Tacoma to Kai aroa, Washington Territory, XLS. A. This\nline, it is said, will ultimatelv be joined\nin California to the Central Pacific Trans\ncontinental line. Between Kalama and\nPortland thecoDneotionis made by steamer on the Columbia and Walamet rivers,\nbat from the latter town southward a railway route is in operation throughout the\nlength of tbe Walamet valley lo Rose\nburg in the Umpqua valley, a distance of\nabout 170 miles.\nOTHER AMERICAN POSTS IN WASHINGTON\nTEBRITOBT.\nAfewyeirs ago American capitalists\nprojected the North Pacific Railway to\nconnect with lines in the E tst. They explored extensively in Washington Territory, finding the most favorable opening\nthrough the Gambade Mountains at Sno-\nqualimi Pass; and their terminal point at\n.Holmes' barbor. sixty miles southeasterly\nof Port Angeles and facing em the eastern, or more inland shore of Whidby Island.\nLund at and around' this locality of\ncourse rose greatly in value. For the\nsake of reaching this harbor, it was then\nproposed to bring the railway, by a long\ncircuit, north to opposite Fidalgo Island,\nthither by bridge, thence south, and by\nbridge across Deception Pass to Whidby\nIsland, and on to Holmes' harbor, which\nwas, by a short ship canal, to be connected with Admiralty Inlet, the straight, and\ncomparatively safe, southern furcation of\nDeFuca Strait.\nA point in some degree suitable might\nperhaps have been found at Mukilteo, or\nelsewhere on Possession Sound, in a westerly and more direct course from the Cascade mountain pass; and, on the mainland\nshore, are Simiamo, Birch, and BeUingham Bays, all like Burrard Inlet (B. 0.)\nseparated from the Fucan Strait by the'\nislands of the Haro Archipelago. From\nthe nearest to the Strait of these, BeUingham Bay, where, says the W.T. Pilot, the\nanchorages are \"from 4 to 20 fatho...s in\ngood sticky bottom,\" coal has in sailing\nvessels been for years exported. The capitalists mentioned nevertheless seem to\nhave been resolved to get to the east\nshore barbor, most accessible from the\nFucan Strait, and the costly operations\ncontemplated, in order to compass this\nend, clearly indicate the paramount importance attached to it.\nIf it be of extreme consequence to Americans to have railways from the East\nterminate on the seaboard at the points\nmost accessible from the Pacific Ocean,\nmust it not, in equal measure, be so, Mr.\nEditor, for the widespread British people. The whole Empire is interested in\nhaving the best selection made.\nNo. 5.\n[October 13th, 1877.]\nEditob Colonist: True it is as stated\nin my last that the selection of the best\nroute for the Canadian Pacific Railway is\nof vital import not only to the United\nKingdom and the Dominion but likewise\nto all British interests, present and prospective, in Polynesia, Australasia and\nEastern Asia. It cannot be doubted\nthat \"the high contracting parties\" to the\noriginal railway compact fully agreed\nthat the line should pass where it would\nafford the most widespread advantage to\nthe varied interests of the several diviB '\nions of British North America, settled and\nyet to be settled; and. on the Pacific seaboard, lead to the harbor in every respect\nmost eligible for commerce\u2014aye and for\ndefence\u2014but not for defiance, save to a\nfoe.\nThe recent newspaper advocates of Burrard Inlet as the terminus set much store\non its value as a hiding place, but even in\nthis respect being by land so easily assailable it could only be made to >ifford the\nsort of safety the pursued ostrich has been\nsaid to seek by concealing its head amid\nthe scant herbage of the desert.\nIn the just quarrels for which alone Britons now feel it a duty to fight, may the\nday never arrive whentthey will hesitate\nto \"meet the enemy in the gate,\" yea, and\noutside of it too, if they can have at hi in\non \"the mountain wave\" the scene of yore\nof Britannia's greatest triumphs\u2014triumphs, too, let the nations remember,\nwhich early in this century so much tended to relieve a large portion of Europe\nfrom apprehension of an abhorred foreign\ndespotism.\n. New Westminster editors, but without\na particle of proof thereof, continue to insist that the choice of the powers that be\nhas already, for route and terminus, fallen\non route) No. 2. Firmly persuaded that\naccording to Earl Carnarvon's despatches\nto our Government, the question is still\nopen, I ask our New Westminster friends\nto calmly consider the following quotations from Mr. Fleming's last report published some four months ago,and referred\nto in my previous letters.\nAt page 65, Mr. F. says: \"It is most\ndesirable that the railway should terminate on the coast at a harbor wbioh from\nits general excellence and geographical position would be best calculated to accommodate the shipping of the Pacific and attract commerce from distant countries.\nThis question has an important bearing\non tbe choice of route.\" Then at page 66,\nMr. Fleming dwells on the importance of\nselecting such a route and terminus for\ntbe railway \"as would beet attract ocean\ntraffic and wonld admit ef successf al competition with foreign lines.\" Again at\n. page 71, he says: \"An unbroken line of\nrailway from the easterh Provinces of the\nDominion to one of these harbors on the\nouter coast of Vancouver Island would be\nexceedingly desirable. All the difficulties of navigation to be encountered IN BEACHING THE MAINLAND FROM\nTHE OCEAN. WOULD THEN BE AVOIDED.\"\n(Emphasising mine ) It must also in\nfairness be stated that in the same page\nMr. Fleming adds \"thebridging from the\nMainland to Vancouver's would be unprecedented in magnitude and its costs\nwould indeed be enormous.\"\nBut as Mr. Fleming, at page 72, says:\n\"By extending the railway along the western side of Bute Inlet and thence across\nto Frederick'Arm\u2014a feasible scheme but\none exacting a heavy expenditure, ' 'Nod-\nales channel,\" a completely sheltered and\nan easily navigated sheet of water is\nreached. This channel is reported to be free\n^from str'ong currents, slu xls, or other difficulties, and could be used by a railway ferry\nat all seasons of the year.\" (Italics mine.)\nAs to the proposed bridging being of\nmagnitude unprecedented\u2014what wonders\nin the .way of unprecedented achievements\nengineering and other, has not the world\n.within the last conturv witnessed, say\nsince 1777, when the sick and grief-worn\nEarl of Chatham in a last bootless appeal\nto his infatuated sovereign ere the news of\nSaratoga had reached home, urged the\nstaying of fraricidal strife by an offer of\nfederal union, between England and her\nAmerican colonies.\nBridging can be dispensed with for\nsome years. The excellent ferry-line from\nsome point on Frederick Arm to the snug\nharbor Otter Cove,Vancouver's,will serve\nevery purpose until, owing to the greatness of \"through traffic\" and the wants of\nthe millions 'yet to occupy our country\nwest of Ontario, through railway connection may be deemed essential.\nThe navigation of the Frederick Arm\nand Nodales channels is by nautical men\nconsidered as safe as that on the Thames\nbetween Blackwall and Gravesend, or on\nthe Clyde between Broomielaw and Dun-\nbarton. At a convenient point fronting\non the south shore of the ferry channel,\nChameleon harbor, easy of access, offers\nsafe and good anchorage which on emergency might be of great avail. This good\n- and conveniently placed harbor will yet\nbe the site of sawmill and other industries.\nOne more quotation. At page 74, Mr.\nFleming's remarks on the \"Route via Bute\nInlet:\" \"If it be considered of paramount\nimportance to carry an unbroken line of\nrailway to one or more of the harbors on\nthe western coast' of Vancouver Island,\nand there is a likelihood that this project\nwill, regardless of cost, hereafter be ser\niously entertained, then Route No. 6 becomes of the first importance and really\nthe only one open for selection.\"\nBRIDGING.\nWhen bridging is to be a necessity much\ndepends on how soon the mother country\nand the Dominion learn to work heartily\nand unselfishly together in fairly proportioned joint outlay, for,'amongst other\nthings the settlement of the vast and fertile though yet unpeopled wastes of the\ngreat North-west, soon sarely to be to the\nBritish Isles \"the butchers'and bakers',\ndepartment\" with \"an Imperial cooperative store.\" These words are from\nthe very able pamphlet by Captain Co-\nlomb, R.M.A., already quoted frominThe\nColonist and entitled \"Imperial and Colonial Responsibilities in War.\"\nOf course Colomb thinks the Imperial\ngovernment \"should take prominent part\nin the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. He speaks well of what\nCanada has already done in the way of\ndefence, saying at page 16: \"Considering\nthat an Englishman in Canada bears a far\ngreater military burden than an Englishman in the United Kingdom, surely in\ncommon justice we would be bound to\nsacrifice our whole naval power rather\nthan permit her being invested by blockade.\" At page 19, British Columbia is\nmentioned as \"the North Pacific gem, set\nas it is with black diamonds,\" and of\ngreat strategical value to the Empire,while\nthe neglect of Columbia's defence is condemned. At page 20, the Canadian Pacific Railroad is said to be \"the short cut\nfrom Britain to the infinite supply departments of Australia, Tasmania and New\nZ.-aland.\"\nThere is much of deep interest to us all\nin Colomb's pamphlet. It is circulating\nin Victoria and should, by such as feel interested in federation of the Empire, be\nearefully read and pondered over. This\nPan-Britannic unification, the dying desire of the great Chatham, the sentiment\nfor which united empire Americans a\ncentury ago sacrificed home and kindred,\nthis noble aspiration is now becoming\nmore deeply felt, and ils realization more\nlonged for by English-speaking people at\nhome and abroad. It is for the United\nKingdom and the Dominion to take the\ninitiative. The Australian colonies will\nsoon join in and Colomb's most sensible\nand pressing suggestions will be carried out\nin their entirety while yet there is time.\nEnlightened Americans of the United\nStates, well aware that they already have\nenough of social and political problems to\nwork out. look with favor on this British\nfederation movement,knowiDgthatBritons\nare their own co-workers in all that tends\nto the upraising of humanity; and that 1\n10\neach of the great kindred Anglo-Saxon\nnationalities learning, one from the other\nwhat to imitate and what to avoid, may\nthus \"strive together in well doing,\"\nwhile having no othei contention. Eli-\nhu Burritt, the well known learned and\nphilanthropic New Englander, has in the\nCanadian Monthly for August last an article on the \"Integration of the British Em-\np\u00bbe\" that does him infinite credit. There\nis more pith in this short essay than in\nSir Francis Hincks' recent lukewarm\ndealing with the great subject in the same\nperiodical; or than in tomes of able and\nwell-meaning Goldwin Smith's theorising\nabout disintegration in other monthlies.\nMr. Editor, I may in part of the foregoing have seemed to digress, but the digression, if a y, has been more seeming\nthan real. The Canadian Pacific Railway\nby the best possible route from ocean to\nocean, and soon to be completed by \"a\nstrong pull and a pull altogether,\" is indeed the first step and the sine qua non to\nthe much needed consolidation of the empire. \t\nNo. 0.\n[November 5th, 1877.]\nEditor Colonist:\u2014Inasmuch as England, after all the good she has for some\nthree hundred years past been effecting\nin North America, is likely through what\nseems the \"manifest destiny\" of Imperial\nFederation to be an abiding power on\nthis'continent, it has happily ensued, in\nthe Divine order of events, that on the\nPacific she owns the Northern, while her\nfirst born and biggest daughter, the United States, possesses the southern shore of\nthat great inland sea, the Fucan Strait,\nwhich presents more advantages to the\nmariner than any other inlet on the Anglo-American Pacific Coast; aye, or from\nthe Magellan to the Bhering Strait.\nThe Fucan Strait, extolled above all\nothers on our coast by the naval authorities consulted by Chief Engineer Fleming, is excellently described by Captain\nDevereux, p. p. 309-10 of Fleming's Report, 1877. Although from August to\nNovember it is occasionally subject to\nfog, \"sometimes very dense over the entrance for days together,\" \"these are not\nnearly of such freqnent occurrence as on\nthe neighboring cop.st of California.where\nthey prevail almosff uninterruptedly during the summer, and as late as the middle\nof October.\" Both the foregoing extracts\nare from the Vancouver Island Pilot, p.\n5. The United States Pilot for California, Oregon, and Washington, at p. 69,\nmentions the sunset fogs on the San\nFrancisco bar and outside of it as of frequent eecurrence in summer. At p. 70\nthe same authority states that \"during\nheavy Southeaster the sea breaks upon\nthe San Francisco bar, clean across the\nentrance, presenting a fearful sight.\" The\nsound can be heard at the anchorage in\nfront of the city.\" At p. 183, referring to\nthe Fucan Strait.the Coast Pilot men!ions\nthat \"in winter the S.E. winds draw di\nrectly out, and create a very heavy cross\nsea off the entrance, the great Southwest\nswell meeting that rolling out. In such\nca'ses trading vessels try to gain Neah Bay\nor San Juan Harbor and remain at anchor\nuntil the wind changes.\" Both these harbors need breakwaters to make them\nthoroughly effective for shelter; but that\nfor each country is a work of the future.\nAn immediate and pressing want on the\nBritish side of the Strait is telegraphic\nextension to Cape Beale lighthouse in order that sailing vessels, now occasionally\ndelayed outside by calm, fog, or foul\nwinel, may thence indicate their arrival\nand need of a tug.\n'DEEP SEA SOUNDINGS.\nOwing to the fortunate irregularity of\nsoundings, and variety of bottom on the\nocean banks reaching for more than forty\nmiles outside Fuca Strait,powerful steamers can enter during dense fog, or during\na S. E. gale with its usual attendant,\nthick weather.\nThis being in either case impossible off\nSan Franci-co bar, it is obvious that from\nthe nautical point of view ports on the\nFuca Strait are better suited for commerce\nthan any to the Southward. This strait\nwill yet be a great highway for British\nand American trade, and the Empire must\nLave its chief North American port thereon , just as necessarily as that a London merchant prince must be established for business within hearing of Bowbells, and not\nat Islington or Croydon.\nThe time occupied in land travel by\nrail, and in ocean travel by steamer, can\napproximately be calculated,'but the delay and risks caused by the intricacies of\ninland navigation cannot be reckoned on.\nFOGS.\nIn this quarter fog may last from half-\na-day to more than eight days, that being\na much longer period than is occupied in\ncrossing the continent by railway. In dry\nseasons, fog is more enduring, being then\nprolonged and intensified by the smoke of\nextensive forest fires. The early rains, in\nSeptember, have this autumn prevented\nsuch a combination of the \"powers of\ndarkness.\" Fog is not unknown in British waters,and it must have been in avoidance of this and other dangers incident,\nless or more, to all inland navigation that\nat home the points of arrival and departure for ocean-going mail steamers have,\nsince the Atlantic was first steamed across,\nbeen gradually shifting ocean-wards from\nLondon, until, at length, the ultimates of\nCork and Falmouth have been reached. 11\nWHAT OCCURRED DURING OUB RECENT FOG\nAND ITS, TEACHINGS.\nNot long ago the large American steamer Alaska, bound'from Puget Sound to\nEsquimalt for the British Columbia outgoing mail and passengers,was fog-bound\nthirty hours in one and sixteen hours in\nanother United States pdrt; besides, as\nthe fog continued, having been navigating\nslowly and with circumspection in her\ncourse towards Esquimalt. Now, let us\nuppose,\nFirst\u2014That transcontinental railways in\noperation terminate at Port Angeles,W.T,\nand English Bay, B.C.. respectively.\nSecond\u2014That each ef equal speed, and,\nduring fog, proceeding towards the termini just named, an American (A) and a\nBritish mail steamer (B) at the same time\nenter the Fucan Strait ami that while A is\nlahding mails, passengers and specie at\nPort Angeles, B\u2014unable to proceed further' with safety in such weather\u2014is sacking anchorage in Esquimalt Roadstead.\nIn such case, and from what has in previous letters been set forth, is it not an\nobvious conclusion that, should our supposed fog\u2014by no means a \"vain imagination'\"\u2014last as long as the real one which\nlately delayed the Alaska, passengers.etc.,\nby the line from Port Anereles, would be\nconsiderably more than a thousand miles\nadvanced on the journey eastward, 'ere\nthose bound for English Bay. Gulf of\nGeorgia, could set foot in a railway car?\nIt has been well remarked by a late\nAmerican writer that \"Commerce, as\nevery one must realize, who carefully\nconsiders modern methods, depends upon\nspeed and regularity of communication,\nhot merely in the movement of goods,\nbut far more in the carrying of mails. The\nmerchant who can get in his order, his\noffer, or his remittance most promptly\ngets the cream of the market.\"\nThis is perfectly true, and in view of\nthe varied commercial competition in all\nlikelihood yet to ensue on the Pacific be-\nteen Britons and Americans, it ought now\nto be keenly appreciated by all whose interests lie north of the United States\nboundary.\nThe Imperial and Dominion authorities\ncannot, in the general interest, neglect to\navail to the utmost of every natural advantage our province possesses, and the\nharbor and roadstead of Esquimalt on the\nFucan Strait are amongst the greatest of\nthese.\nEsquimalt roads (or on the chart Royal\nBay) is becomingmore and more resorted\nto by ships seeking freight. Here they\ncan anchor free of pilotage or other\ncharge, and from Victoria, some five\nmiles off, telegraphic communication can\nbe had to the more important parts ot the\nworld, while within less than a hundred\nmiles are thelumbe?r ports of Puget Sound\nand Burrard Inlet, en the continent, and\nthe coal depots of Nanaimo and Departure\nBay on Vancouver.\nGreat, indeed, will be the attraction to\nEsquimalt and its roadstead after the\ngraving dock there is ready for the repair\nof merchantmen, and when the largest\nsailing ships afie at can at its coalbies be\nexpeditiously laden with the coal brought,\nfrom the north by 'railroad. iVhen ships off\nCape Beale lighthouse can telegraph their\narrival to Victoria and, if , necesssry, be\ntowed in, the inducement for large ships\nto take a coal cargo from Esquinult will\nbe much strengthened.\nMerchantmen from San Francisco sail\nto Royal Bay in from six to ten days.\nSailing up the Straits is so for the rule.\nA wheat cargo can only in season be obtained in Oregon and California ports. It\ntakes considerable time to obtain and ship\na lumber cargo, but coal could, from\nproperly constructed bins in Esquimalt,\nbe poured in fore and aft so as to shorten\ntbe trimming process and let large ships\noff with a cargo in a very few days. The\nadvantages of this are obvious.\nNow, with the probability of a' widespread war, in which England, and of\ncourse her dependencies,can hardly escape\nbeing involved, the coaling of Her Majesty's ships at' Esquimalt in the safest\nand speediest manner possible must\nsurely be a consideration of pressing' import. So, likewise, must be the preparation of the graving dock for the promptest repairing of these ships during war.\nIn commerce, time judiciously saved is\nalways money gained. In war, time saved is often mdney saved, and that besides\nwhich, to Britons tbe world over, is much\nmore precious. It is indeed fervently to\nbe desired that the solemn and not overcharged monitions of Colomb as to the\nexisting lack cf land defences in British\ndependencies are 'having due attention\nfrom our rulers at home. Time and tide\nwait neither for man nor nation, and history abounds in proofs of the truism that\n\"opportunities lost can never be recalled.\"\nISTo. 7\".\n[December 14th, 1877.]\nEditob Colonist :\u2014As promised in the\nsixth paragraph \u2014 headed \"Sea Approaches\"\u2014of the third letter of this\nseries, brief comparison must now be\nmade between Esquimalt and Uchuk-\nleist, Barclay Sound, recommended p.p.\n298-9 of Fleming's report by Capt. Cator,\nR.N., as the fittest point for our railway\nterminus in the west. Thereanent no\nbetter referee can be found than Admiral\nRichards, in the Vancouver Island Pilot.\nExcept its two good, but by no means\nextensive, anchorages, \"Snug Basin\" at I\n12\nthe head and \"Green Cove\" at the entrance, the soundings in Uchuklesit vary\nfrom twenty to forty fathoms. Depth of\nwater is an objection to the greater part\nof Barclay Sound. Three miles long,\nUchuklesit is but half mile wide, and not\none and half miles, as stated by Capt.\nCator, F. R. p. 299.\nWEST COAST OF VANCOUVEB'S.\nIn the V. I. P., p. 1S1, Richards, treating of the island ocean shore, north of\n\"Fuca Strait to Sydney Inlet,\" says \"the\ncoast is fringed by numerous and hidden\ndangers, especially near the entrance of\nthe Sound, and the exercise of great caution and vigilanoe will be necessary on\nthe part of the navigator to avoid them,\neven with the present admiralty charts.\"\nThe nature of the bottom where there are\ndeep sea soundings is so uniform \" as\n(p. 182) not sufficiently to afford any\nguide for ascertaining a vessel's exact\nposition on the coast.\"\nAs to Barclay Sound specially, Richards\n(p. 184) says : \" Off the entrance, and in\nthe southern part of the Sound, are innumerable rocks and islands with navigable channels between them,\" and (same\npage) \"the three navigable channels into\nBarclay Sound all require great caution\nin navigating.\"\nThe Provincial Government steamer\nSir James Douglas, owing to the uniformity of soundings as to depth and\ncharacter, has, as lighthouse tender, been\nin fog compelled to anchor with a\nkedge within a few hundred yards of Cape\nBeale lighthouse, her officers being unable\nto ascertain either the position of the\nlight or of the entrances to Barclay\nSound. See Devereux, p. 309, F. R.\non Uchuklesit and the west coast of Vancouver's generally north of Fuca Strait.\nObstructions in respect of sea approaches added to some sixteen miles of\nintricate, and, iii bad weather, dangerous\ninland navigation, relegate to their proper\nlevel in the scale of fitness, the harbor in\nquestion and Barclay Sound, irrespective\nof their comparative inferiority, as regarded from the commercial and other\npoints of view.\nA digression is here necessary, as an\neditorial in the Mainland Guardian of\nNew Westminster (Dec. 5, 1877) without\nshadow \u2022 of proof, stigmatises as \"undoubtedly false\" some unspecified statements in a pamphlet on the railway question recently published in London, and\nwith which I have hai to do. Most of\nthe statements in the pamphlet have been\nat greater length reproduced in the foregoing letters, with ample reference to\nauthorities. The Guardian editor has it :\n\"He says the tides rush at the rate of ten\nknots an hour through the first Nar\nrows !\" This is a quotation shamefully\ngarbled. At p. 8 of the pamphlet, par,\n4, occurs the following : \"For two hours\nspring tides are said by experienced men\nto average ten knots an hour through\nthe Narrows.\" This has been proved io\nthe following way : A master mariner,\ncommanding a boat capable oi running ten knots an hour in still,\nsmooth water, has. when under orders to>\nproceed with all speed for the Inlet. beeD\nfor two hours steaming against the tile\nin the first Narrows without gaining an\ninch.\" This happened in January, when\nand in June the strongest spring tides run.\nAt p. 110, V. I. P., Riohards states\n\"the strength of the tide in the narrowest\npart of the first Narrows is from 4 to &\nknots. Admiral Richards, let it be\nnoticed, does not here specify spring\ntides.\nUnless the tidal currents and eddies of\nthe first and second Narrows, as well as of\nBurrard's Inlet, mid-ehannel, were the\never-recurring obstacles to \"navigation\nagainst time,\" they are in this quarter of\nthe Dominion well understood to be, why\nshould Captain Cooper, at p. 307 of\nFleming's report, at the end of the 21st\nparagraph of his already quoted letter\nto His Excellency the Governor-General,\nas a \"means of reducing the current at\nthe entrance of the Inlet probably one-\nhalf or two-thirds of its present velocity,\"'\nmodestly have suggested the Cyclopean\nand perhaps impossible undertaking of\n\"blocking up\" the north arm of said\nInlet, and why should another gigantio\n'work have been spoken of, to wit : The\ndredging of the first Narrows. A third!\nproject that has been mentioned is the\nconstruction of a breakwater in English\nBay, which, although, like the Inlet, difficult to approach froin Fuca Strait during\na fog or storm,, has been talked of as \u00ab\npossible' site for the terminus. Spanish\nbank (see chart) a prolongation' around\nPoint Grey of the Fraser sand heads,,\nwould, in the roadstead, be the only site\nshallow enough for such a \"costly e rec-\ntion, if it afforded a sufficiently solid\nfoundation ; but oh two occasions a merchant steamer aground on the bank\nthrough the action of her propeller displaced so much sand as to have been\nafloat before the rise of the tide enabled\nher to move over the rim of the basin\nthus scooped out. Spanish bank may be\nmore solid elsewhere.\nTHE RIVAL ROUTES COMPARED ON THE\nMAINLAND.\nIn continuance of the investigation,\nfrom the first contemplated in these letters, Routes 2.and 6 must now be regarded otherwise than merely in respect of\nthe nautical,'commercial, strategical, and 13\ngeographical -MsabiliJies or advantages\ninherent in each. Eifefeer line proceeding\neastward must reach Edmonton ob the\nNoit^ Saskatchewan. From-tEdmontOB\nwestwareJijfB^as \"the most eligibteJhjajo\nbor.ai-tho Pacific Coast,'\"-jtbat line mvdk\nif reason rules, be adopted,.i5-dlifch, in the\nimmediate :fjutt*jr*\u00a3[: in cegstji'juition of\nexisting settlements, will bdothe most\ndensely peopled, and that which on tjbef\n^aainlan^Ffias, nqtfeand southr\u00bb6o^\u00bb: the\nlfWgest extent of countrjtijj'swtftbX&for\ncolonization. Such a railway linfe Can-\nyet by land anfttwater from vaarwus\npoints have connections greatly increasing ifewaysicje. ftad export traffic.\nFrom Edmonton, via Leather Pass-to'\nFdrt George,Ahere is* Bot mSfirii'farming\nland. Neither can much be .\"found from\nEdmonton by way of 'the No*ftte*d?bJbmp-\nson to Kamloops or Savona, most of toe*\np:$pduotive. districts ois