T.—How can we ship by rail?
P.—By using the Grand Trunk or the Canadian Pacific Railway.
T.—Now, I shall have to tell you something about the canals and the first railway from Upper Canada. There were several canals already built on the St. Lawrence: the Lachine, Welland, and others. In fact, we had spent about $1,500,000 on canals before Confederation. The Grand Trunk Railway was running from Sarnia to Quebec city by 1856, just eleven years before Confederation. (Have a pupil trace the line from Sarnia to Quebec, so that the class may see how much of Upper Canada was served by the Grand Trunk.) Can you tell me now what place on the St. Lawrence would be taken as the western terminus of the new railway?
P.—Yes, Quebec would be the one.
T.—Why?
P.—Because the people of Upper Canada had ways already for sending their goods as far as Quebec city.
T.—The next point to think about is—How had Canada been shipping her goods across the sea in winter before this?
(Several suggestions were made. "We would have to keep everything till the next summer." "We would have to use ice-boats." Objections were raised to these methods to show that they were impossible. Finally one pupil thought that we could send our freight through the United States.)
T.—Well, why did the people not continue doing that, instead of wanting to build a railway of their own?
P.—The United States would likely make them pay for doing it.