usand miles. The Great
Northern was remarkable in at least three respects. Except for the
original grants for the Minnesota lines, it was built through to the
coast {229} without a dollar or an acre of subsidy from the state. Its
capitalization was kept close to the actual cost of the road and its
fixed charges were low. It took the lead among American roads in an
aggressive and enlightened endeavour to build up the country through
which it ran, not only by flexible rate charges, but by a direct
campaign of education among the farmers and other shippers on its route.

The mineral wealth of southern British Columbia and the farming wealth
of the western plains turned Hill's attention toward Canada once more
about the beginning of the twentieth century. In British Columbia the
progress of the Great Northern invasion was slow. The character of the
country made construction difficult, and the Canadian Pacific,
appealing to national prejudices, fought every inch of the way. But Mr
Hill pressed on. The coal-fields of the Crow's Nest Pass, in which he
acquired a controlling interest, were made accessible by a road from
the south, and a series of lines branching from Spokane entered the
Boundary mining region. Winding in and out across the border the road
continued westward to Vancouver. Fortunately duplication was in large
part avoided; by arrangements with the Canadian Pacific, the {230}
Canadian Northern, and the Northern Pacific, the difficult country
south of the Fraser was pierced by common lines, and common terminal
facilities were secured. Meanwhile, in 1906 and 1907, more ambitious
schemes were announced--the building of north and south lines through
Brandon and Regina, and the construction of an east and west line from
Winnipeg to the Pacific. In ten years, it was officially forecasted,
the Great Northern would have as extensive a system in Canada as in the
United States. What was more startling, Mr Hill denounced
'spoon-feeding,' and did not ask for a cent of subsidy. The building
of the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern postponed
indefinitely these larger plans. Actual operations were confined to
the construction of branches running northward in Manitoba, to Brandon,
Morden, and Portage la Prairie, and the acquisition, jointly with the
Northern Pacific, of a lease of the Canadian Northern line from Pembina
to Winnipeg, under the name of the Midland, and of terminals in
Winnipeg. Meanwhile