"ESQUIMALT AND NANAIMO RAILWAY AND COAL MINES AT WEST
WELLINGTON AND NANAIMO.

"The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway runs from West Victoria, near
Esquimalt, to Nanaimo, which latter place is a small mining town in the
Island of Vancouver, lying on the east coast, on the shore of the
Straits of Georgia, nearly opposite Burrard Inlet, from which it is
distant about 28 miles.

"The line is well constructed with a good and substantial road-bed;
steel rails, weighing 54 lbs. per yard (except a few miles near
Nanaimo, where they are 50 lbs. per yard); well ballasted, and well
tied; the bridges and trestles are all of timber, of which material
there is about 1,000,000 cubic feet employed altogether. The steepest
grade is 80 feet per mile rising towards Nanaimo, and 79 feet per mile
rising towards Esquimalt; these grades are rendered necessary to enable
the line to overcome the summit lying between the two places, and which
is 900 feet above the level of the sea. Running, as the line does,
through a rugged country, there are a good many sharp curves rendered
necessary. The distance from Esquimalt to Victoria is 75 miles. The
line was not quite completed when we went over it; and the buildings,
turn-tables, &c. were not yet erected, although some of them were under
construction.

"The traffic on the line will be light, the country being sparsely
settled. It will consist to some extent of coal; but there is water
competition for the carriage of this article of merchandize; and the
station at Victoria is too far from the town at present for much of it
to come by rail for consumption in the town. There is a wharf in the
harbour of Esquimalt, at which coal can be delivered to men-of-war