| January 1910, No. 143 | The Railway and Marine World (Toronto) | Page 31, col. 2 |
National Transcontinental Railway.
Grand Trunk Pacifc Ry.
We are advised that during 1909 the company laid 309 miles of new track distributed as follows:—from Irma, Alta., to Cloverbar, Alta., 102 miles; from Edmonton to Wolfe Creek, Alta., 122 miles, making 224 miles of main line; branch line from Melville to Balcarres, Sask., 34 miles; branch from Melville to Yorkton, Sask., 25 miles; and branch line from Tofield to Camrose, Alta., 26 miles, making a total of 85 miles of branch lines. The company has under construction 414 miles of main line and 24 miles of a branch. The contract for main line work is being carried out under several contracts by Foley, Welch and Stewart, with headquarters at Stoney Plain, Alta., and Price Rupert, B.C. The eastern contract covers the 179 miles from Wofle Creek to Tete Jaune Cache, and the western contracts cover the 235 miles from Prince Rupert to Aldermere, B.C. The branch line under contract is an extension of the Tofield-Camrose branch 24 miles southerly, the contract being let to J. D. McArthur, Winnipeg.
Replying to questions in the House of Commons recently the Minister of Railways said the cost of the Prairie section of the line, from Winnipeg to Wolfe Creek, 915 miles, to Sept. 15 had been at the rate of $33,423 a mile, and it was estimated it would cost $1,557 a mile more the complete it. On the Mountain section, from Wolfe Creek to Prince Rupert, there had been expended to Sept. 30, $7,053,863, and it was estimated that it would require $60,002,136.89 more to finish it; this amount includes $5,536,000 for interest. In reply to another question he said the Government was not paying any sum for terminals on the G.T. Pacific Ry.; it merely guaranteed the company's bonds for $13,000 a mile on the Prairie section, and to the extent of 75% of the cost of the Mountain Section.
The company has under construction an 18-stall standard round house at Edmonton, Alta. The foundations will be of concrete, the walls of brick, the frame work of timber with cast iron door columns, the roof of steel trusses in the machine shop, and the roof covering of tar and gravel. The building will be heated with hot air piping carried underground.
In a recent interview at New York, C. M. Hays, President G.T.R., stated that of the line easterly from Prince Rupert about 110 miles had been completed. The whole line was expected to be completed within three years.
Reports from Prince Rupert state that work on the second section of the line easterly has been suspended owing to the lack of supplies, principally explosive for blasting. Navigation closed at a much earlier date than was anticipated, consequently the contractors were not able to get their supplies in by steamer. An attempt will be made to get in supplies for some of the camps by land, but it is not expected that it will be possible to keep more than two or three camps going.
The Dominion Parliament is being asked to pass ac act authorizing the construction of the following additional lines by the G.T. Pacific Branch Lines Co:—From between the east limit of range 12 and the west limit of range 17 of the third meridian, thence south-westerly and westerly to Calgary, Alta., or to the line authorized to be constructed by par. 14, clause 11, chap. 99, of the statutes of 1909; from the last mentioned line between the east limit of range 20 and the west limit of range 28 west third meridian, easterly or south-easterly to Regina, Sask.; from the last mentioned line between east limit of range 24, and west limit of range 27, west of the second meridian to Moose Jaw, Sask.; from between Artland and Wainwright, easterly and south-easterly to the line authorized to be constructed to Battleford, by par. 13, clause 11, chap. M99, of the statutes of 1909; from Regina, south-westerly and westerly to Lethbridge,m Alta., on the line authorized to be constructed from Calgary to the southern boundary of Alberta, near Courts; from the main line between Moose Lake and Tete Jaune Cache, through the valley of the Clearwater River, Bonaparte River, Seaton and Anderson lakes, Lillooet or Squamish River, to Vancouver, B.C. The company also asks for power to issue bonds for $30,000 a mile for the Manitoba, Saskatechwan and Alberta extensions, and for $50,000 a mile for the extension to Vancouver. (Dec., 1909, pg. 893.)