and Yukon to Alaska, primarily for defence purposes but looking also to its economic signific ment of both Canadian and United States territory. Neither the present highway nor any highway that might be con- structed on another route could handle a fraction of the trafic involved in a military defence Operation. Moreover, contrary perhaps to the general impression, the cost per mile of railway construction would be very substantially less than that of highway construction on any standard that would stand up to normal trafic. There is not the same difficulty involved in Operating and maintaining a railroad through hundreds of miles of sparsely settled country, particularly in keeping it Open in winter, as would be the case in a highway similarly situated. Further- more, the maintenance of the railway line is incidental to its operation, while, in the case of the highway, a mainten- ance organization has to be created, housed, and kept supplied with materials, equipment, and food. The physical advantages of the Trench route are such that development plans for northern British Columbia and Yukon should visualize the likelihood of its ultimate adoption as a rail route to Alaska. South of the Canadian National main line to Prince Rupert, the line of the Pacific Great Fastern Railway was constructed from Squamish, near Vancouver, to Quesnel in north central British Columbia. At that time it was intended to complete this line from Quesnel to join the Canadian National at Prince George, but physical diffi. culties, notably in negotiating the deep cut banks in the neighbourhood of Cottonwood Creek north of Quesnel have deferred the completion of this project. Subsequent surveys of the Cottonwood Creek locality, made in 1930, justified the present opinion that there are no serious construction difficulties to be met in establishing a practical crossing for the Pacific Great Eastern line here. The matter of its completion from Quesnel to Prince George and its further extension northward to connect with the lines of the Northern Alberta Railways has been the subject of recent discussions between the British Columbia Government and the Department of Transport with repre- sentatives of the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways, who are joint owners of the Northern Alberta lines. It has been suggested that a connection from Clinton or Lillooet with transcontinental lines of the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific might be made at a point near Ashcroft or Lytton, taking advantage of the superior roadbed and the low gradients of the transcontinental lines and obtaining thus direct access to their terminals in Vancouver and New Westminster, as well as direct inter change with the Great Northern Railway at these points. The extension of the line northeastward from Prince George to connect with*the Northern Alberta Railways might follow the Pine Pass route, the route via Monkman Pass or the longer route down the Parsnip River to Finlay Forks, following from that point the right bank of the Peace River to Hudson Hope, thence eastward to Dawson Creel Xo ance in the develop- The latter route, although presenting great physical diffi- culties, has been favoured in some quarters. However pending further study, nothing definite can be said about this project, a prime objective of which would be to provide a direct outlet to Pacific Coast ports from the Peace River country. Any discussion of coast outlets from the Peace River should include mention of the Obed Cut-off which would connect Aggie, on the Northern Alberta Railways, with Obed, on the Canadian National main line, via Sturgeon Lake. This is the best and least costly to develop of the several routes suggested and if connected by a branch westward with Grande Prairie would develop extensive new agricultural areas, as well as linking in a southern loop the eastern and western sections of the Peace River country. The merits of this cut-off warrant careful study. The economic strategy of its location is apparent from the sketch- map of proposed or projected rail lines in the North Pacific Region that accompanies this chapter. Attention is directed to the locations shown on the map of rail extensions or branch lines suggested as future development or connecting lines for the Peace River country. These are shown numbered on the map from 1 to 10, superimposed on an area defined as representing what has been regarded as the best agricultural land in the Peace River section: 1. Extension from Hines Creek to the westward to serve the agricultural areas between the Peace River and the Clear Hills country to the north with a suggested ultimate extension to develop the valley of the Beatton River and the vicinity of Fort St. John. 2. Branch line northward from the vicinity of Grim- shaw to serve the territory on the west side of the Peace River with a possible ultimate extension down the left bank of the Peace to reach Fort Vermilion. The terrain is of a character to admit of railway construction wherever required and there are no major construction problems. 3. Pouce Coupé (or Dawson Creek) northward. This would serve a good agricultural area through the Rolla section and west of the Pouce Coupé River. 4. Extension from Spirit River westward through Dawson Creek. This would likely be built if the Pine Pass route should be adopted as a western or “coast” outlet, although the country to be served has been regarded as somewhat below average. 5. Extension from Grande Prairie northwesterly to join the Dawson Creek line near the British Columbia boundary. This extension would setve directly a large, well-developed territory. As indicated on the map, it would join the Dawson Creek line on the summit between the Beaver Lodge River and Pouce Coupé River waters. The country north [125]