'Kootanie,' and Dr. Hector the 'Vermilion' Pass, all agree that each is
perfectly practicable, if not easy, and that even better openings may
probably yet be found as exploration progresses. Again, while British
Columbia, on the Pacific, possesses a fine climate, an open country,
and every natural advantage of soil and mineral, it has been also
discovered that the doubtful region from the Rocky Mountains eastward
up to the Lake of the Woods, contains, with here and there some
exceptions, a 'continuous belt' of the finest land.

"Professor Hind says:--

"'It is a physical reality of the highest importance to the interests
of British North America that this continuous belt can be settled and
cultivated from a few miles west of the Lake of the Woods, to the
passes of the Rocky Mountains; and any line of communication, whether
by wagon, road, or railroad, passing through it, will eventually enjoy
the great advantage of being fed by an agricultural population from one
extremity to the other.'

"Although the lakes and the St. Lawrence give an unbroken navigation of
2,000 miles, right to the sea, for ships of 300 tons burden, yet if
there is to be a continuous line, along which, and all the year round,
the travel and the traffic of the Western and Eastern worlds can pass
without interruption, railway communication with Halifax must be
perfected, and a new line of iron road, passing through Ottawa, the Red
River Settlement, and this 'continuous belt,' must be constructed. This
new line is a work of above 2,300 miles, and would cost probably
20,000,000_l_., if not 25,000,000_l_., sterling.

"The sum, though so large, is still little more than we voluntarily