ed with land-seekers, and between the land-buyers of to-day and the
wheat-shippers of to-morrow the owners of the once discredited railway
saw their coffers fill to overflowing. In 1879 they divided among
themselves the whole fifteen millions of stock issued, floating sixteen
millions of bonds for extension and equipment. For three years they
took no dividends, letting the profits go to further building. Then in
1882 another $2,000,000 stock was issued, and in 1883 a deferred
dividend came in the shape of a $9,000,000 issue of bonds, or, rather,
the stockholders sold to themselves a $10,000,000 issue for ten cents
on the dollar. Aside entirely from interest and dividends, the
stockholders of the Great Northern in the seventeen years following
1889 were presented with over $300,000,000 of interest-bearing
securities. {139} All the railway annals of the United States cannot
present a duplicate of the startling success attained by these four or
five Canadians and their associates.[4]

These were the men to whom the Canadian government turned when the
minister of Railways, Sir Charles Tupper, urged them to unload upon a
private company the burden of completing the road to the Pacific.
'Catch them before they invest their profits,' was the advice of Sir
John's most intimate adviser, that shrewd Eastern Townships politician,
John Henry Pope. Probably they came half-way. They knew the West as
well as any men, and with their road built to the Canadian boundary and
with a traffic arrangement beyond to Winnipeg, they were already in the
field. Of all the group Stephen was most reluctant to undertake the
new enterprise, but he was assured by his associates that the burdens
of management would be shared by all. The government had also
approached Duncan M'Intyre, a Montreal capitalist who controlled the
Canada Central, running from Brockville by way of Ottawa to Pembroke,
{140} and under construction from that point to Callender, the eastern
end of the Canadian Pacific main line. He was more than willing to
link up this railway with the larger project, and the group was formed.

[Illustration: Lord Mount Stephen. From a photograph by Wood and
Henry, Dufftown. By courtesy of Sir William Van Horne]

They debated the question with the government early in 1880. It was
felt, however, that negotiations could not be concluded in Canada.
More capital would be needed than even these new-fledged millionaires
could or would furn