Winnipeg June 29th 1891

The Hon.
John Beverley Robinson,
Toronto

My Dear Sir,

I am very much obliged to you for your letter of the 15th June and will forward to you, as soon as I receive them a copy of the small book, together with the maps, that I mentioned in my former letter and I hope you may find some interesting information about the more northerly and westerly portions of the Dominion in it.

The knowledge so far obtained of some of the most remote and out-of-the-way portions of the Dominion by the Explorations recently made by the officers of the Geological Survey, and also by others, cannot fail to convince the people of Canada of the great value of those, at present, inaccessible regions and of the benefits to be derived by the country generally if they are rendered accessible by railways.

The objects I have in view in publishing this book are to impart to our countrymen and others, in a concise form, as much reliable information as possible regarding the portions of the country referred to and to show where the best locations are for the first trunk lines of railways to ensure its future development and from which trunk lines branch railways can, in the future, be advantageously constructed to reach all other portions of those extensive territories that are suitable for agricultural, pastoral, mining and other purposes.

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It took me from the year 1858 until 1866 to make certain that a feasible line for a railway could be obtained by the route I wished through the mountains of British Columbia, and then the profound stupidity of some of the would be politicians of that Colony frustrated my endeavours to open the way through the mountains and get at the Kootenay Mines, as those men had set their hearts upon a scheme to bring immigration into that colony by means of a subsidized line of steamers from San Francisco to New Westminster which I opposed as much as I could but without avail and the money I wished to build the road with was [ ] or rather thrown away in paying a subsidy to a foreign line of steamers which took away more people than it brought into the country and consequently the Kootenay country was thrown back in its development for years.

Having during those eight years obtained a personal knowledge of the country through which I proposed the C.P.R. should be build I had no fear as to the trade it would ultimately develop and which is now surprising people who were quite unacquainted with the country. When I left the service of the Government as engineer for the mountain section in 1874 and my proposed line was abandoned I felt certain Mr. Mackenzie's Govt. would make a great failure of the transcontinental railway and that the proposed northerly extension from Selkirk would not be accomplished for many years to come. I knew a good line could be obtained that way by adopting the Yellow Head Pass but it was not the proper line for our first transcontinental railway.

The time to push forward the more northerly lines of railway has now arrived and they will when completed, form, with a line of ocean steamers, over a short sea voyage, a connection with the great railway through Russia now being rapidly pushed forward to Vladovistoc on the Sea of Japan and which is destined to make vast changes in our northwest territories, in the north and north east portions of British Columbia, in Alaska and in Siberia, and under proper management such as has brought prosperity to the C.P.R. since it got out of the hands of the government [their] railways will be most prosperous

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commercial undertakings to operate for those interested in them and will be of incalculable value to the governments of the Dominion and the United States and assistance can reasonably be looked for to further the construction of these railways by grants of land [etc.] from both governments.

I think it would be to the advantage of the North West Central Railway to be the first in the field to occupy the ground from Prince Albert to and through the Yellow Head Pass as far West as Tete Jeaune Cache on the Fraser River where your railway would connect with my International railway through British Columbia and Alaska and then the charter can be kept alive until required. By making an application for the charter for this proposed extension of the North West Central Ry. It may prevent future complications that may be very troublesome and probably expensive to get over.

I remain

Very truly yours

Walter Moberly

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