iboo Mountains, in which repeated
explorations failed to find a gap. But at the foot of the towering
barrier lay a remarkable deep-set valley four hundred miles in length,
in which northwestward ran the Fraser and southeastward the Canoe and
the Columbia. By following the Fraser to its great southward bend, and
then striking {120} west, a terminus on Bute or Dean Inlet might be
reached, while the valley of the Canoe and the Albreda would give
access to the North Thompson as far as Kamloops, whence the road might
run down the Thompson and the lower Fraser to Burrard Inlet. The
latter route, on the whole, was preferred.

While this route was feasible, the mountain portion promised to be
extremely expensive. This factor, together with the uncertainty of
government policy and the desire of Victoria to have the road built to
Bute Inlet and thence, by a bridge across Valdes Strait, carried down
to Esquimalt, made it necessary to seek untiringly, year after year,
for alternative routes. The only important change made, however, until
after 1880, was the deflection of the line south of Lake Manitoba to
serve existing settlements.

Who was to build the road? It would be a tremendous task for either
the government or the private capitalists of a nation of four million
people. The United States had not begun its Pacific roads till it had
over thirty millions of people, and wealth and experience to
correspond. It was estimated that the Canadian road would cost
$100,000,000, and it was certain that the engineering difficulties
{121} would be staggering. In Canada few roads had paid the
shareholders, and though some had profited the contractors, the new
enterprise meant such a plunge in the dark that contractors and
promoters alike hesitated. In the United States, however, the Pacific
roads had proved gold-mines for their promoters. The land-grants were
valuable, and the privilege of granting contracts to dummy construction
companies controlled by themselves and thus reaping larger profits was
still greater.

It was not to be wondered at, therefore, that the first offer came from
American capitalists. Alfred Waddington, enthusiast rather than
practical promoter, sought at Ottawa a charter for the road he had done
so much to secure, but his bill went no further than a first reading.
At Ottawa he was met by G. W. M'Mullen, a Canadian residing in Chicago,
who was visiting the Dominion on a canal deputation. M'Mullen becam