as taken in 1899, when
the Grand Trunk secured control of the five hundred miles of {204} the
Central Vermont, with which relations had been close for some years
past. With running rights over a gap controlled by the Boston and
Maine, this gave a line from St Johns, Quebec, to the port of New
London, Connecticut; from this point connection was made by boat to New
York, where valuable terminal docks were owned.

New London was not the final goal, however--Providence and Boston
offered greater possibilities. But to seize them it was first
necessary to break through the monopoly of New England land and water
transport, which the New York and New Haven line had acquired, or to
come to terms with the interests in control. At first the word was to
fight. The Grand Trunk was received with open arms by the business men
of Massachusetts and Connecticut, eager for competition in railways,
and in spite of all the political influence of the New Haven, Hays
secured a charter for his Southern New England Railroad, to run from
Palmer, on the Central Vermont system, to Providence; a branch from
Bellows Falls to Boston was also planned. Construction was begun on
the Providence line in May 1912, but suddenly halted. The Grand Trunk
management declared the {205} halt due to financial conditions, but New
England suspected a compromise with the New Haven. Probably the change
in policy was mainly due to the change in management, the new
administration setting less store on the extension than the
Hays-Fitzhugh executive had done.

All these eastern activities, however, were overshadowed by the Grand
Trunk Pacific scheme. It was not the first plan the Grand Trunk had
formed for westward expansion. In the embryo days of the Canadian
Pacific, it may be recalled, the government had offered to the old line
the opportunity of carrying through the new one. Later, a connection
with the Northern Pacific through Sault Ste Marie had been discussed,
but Van Horne had forestalled this move. Still later an extension of
the Grand Trunk from Chicago northwesterly, possibly through control of
the Wisconsin Central, had been under consideration. Nothing came of
these plans until the proved fertility and rapid settlement of the
Canadian North-West, the improved position of the Grand Trunk in the
money markets, and the threatened loss of traffic between Toronto and
North Bay, lured and urged the new administration forward.

{206}

In 1902 Mr Hay