anscontinental railways were then much in the air: the Grand Trunk,
the Trans-Canada, the Great Northern all planned extensive projects.
Reviving prosperity and new-found confidence were making a dollar look
as small to government and public alike as a dime had seemed some years
before. Aid might confidently be looked for--but by which aspirant?

In 1902 and 1903 a junction of forces between the Grand Trunk and the
Canadian Northern was proposed, and would have had much in its favour.
The negotiators could not come to terms, however, and each road
continued on its independent plan. Nothing daunted by the Dominion
government's decision to recognize and aid the Grand Trunk, {188} the
Canadian Northern turned to a policy of piecemeal construction, seeking
aid from the provinces as well as from the Dominion.

Making hay while the subsidy sun shone and the prosperity of the
Laurier regime was at its height, the Canadian Northern pressed forward
extensions, flung out branches, filled in gaps on every side. The main
line was pushed westward to Edmonton in 1905. Branch lines were thrown
out freely in all the prairie provinces. In Ontario the gap north of
Lake Superior was bridged by a line from Port Arthur to Sudbury, not
completed until 1914. Toronto and Ottawa were linked with the western
lines, and several feeders were acquired which gave connection with
Kingston and Brockville. In Quebec the Great Northern, running from
Hawkesbury on the Ottawa to Quebec City, was absorbed in 1902, and the
Quebec and Lake St John five years later. By building a tunnel three
miles long under Mount Royal, an entrance was secured into the heart of
Montreal. Nova Scotia did its part by lending money to another
Mackenzie and Mann enterprise, the Halifax and South-western. The
Inverness Railway in Cape Breton and the Nova Scotia Central with minor
lines were built or acquired, giving the {189} Canadian Northern first
place in mileage in the province.

The most difficult task still remained--building a third railway
through the mountains to the Pacific. Surveys for a road from
Yellowhead Pass to Vancouver by Sandford Fleming's old route were begun
in 1908. By the aid of lavish guarantees and subsidies this last link
in the transcontinental system was pushed to completion in 1915.

The financial and political aspects of this great enterprise were as
striking as was the construction. Governments have many a time given
lavish aid, pro