Every Inquiry From Trappers, Traders,
Indian Voyageurs, Missionary Priests Of The Jesuits, And From All Sorts
And Conditions Of Men And Women, Made Difficulty After Difficulty
Disappear.
The great work began to appear to me comparatively easy of
execution between Fort Garry, or the lower town of Selkirk and British
Columbia; the cost less; and, owing to facilities of transport,
especially in winter, the time of execution much shorter than had been
previously assumed.
In addition, an examination into the physical
conditions of the various routes proposed through the United States,
convinced me that here again the difficulties were less, and facilities
for construction greater, than I and others had first imagined. In
fact, I came rightly to the conclusion that the more southerly the
United States route, and the more northerly the British route - while
always, in the latter case, keeping within cultivable range - the
better. Still, at this time there was much to find out. As respects
real knowledge of the country to be traversed, the factors of the
Hudson's Bay Company knew every fact worth divulging, but they were
afraid to speak; while the Catholic missionaries, accustomed to travel
on foot in their sacred cause over the most distant regions, possessed
a mine of personal knowledge, never, so far as I could learn, closed to
the Government of Canada or to any authorized inquirer.
Prior to my sailing to New York, en route for Canada, to fulfil
my mission for the Grand Trunk, in 1861, I had a long interview with
the Duke of Newcastle, as Colonial Minister.
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