children. In fine weather this would be made up for by the novelty and
variety of the experiences met with, but in bad weather the Dawson road
must have been a hard road for the immigrant to travel, who had not
previously been initiated into the art and mystery of "roughing it." The
reader will after the preceding somewhat detailed description be enabled
to get a pretty clear idea of what it meant to bring military bodies over
such a rough and varied route, when it is considered that all equipment
had to be continually shifted from boat to land and then carried long
distances overland without any suitable appliances.

We may add that each passenger was allowed 200 pounds of baggage;
children under 14 were half price; children under three were free; all
freight, exclusive of household furniture and machinery, was two dollars
a hundred; household furniture at owner's risk was charged three dollars
a hundred, and for machinery, horses, cattle, sheep, etc., there was a
special rate, which meant that the officer in charge could charge what
he pleased. For way-passengers (as opposed to through passengers) the
charge was five cents per mile on land, and on water and portages two
cents; way freight on land was one and a half cents per hundred per
mile, and half a cent per mile on water. The water and portage journey
covered three hundred and thirty-one miles of which one hundred and
twenty-five was on Rainy River to the North West Angle.

A meal cost thirty cents. Passengers had to provide their own bed-
ding and blankets. No passenger was allowed to carry any intoxicating
liquor, on fine or imprisonment.

The Dawson Road (which was officially known as the Red River
Route) as might be expected met with adverse criticism. It was ad-
mitted that the American way in-with only one change-was the better;
but it was claimed that the new road paid its way if only by bringing
down American charges. The road was opened during the regime of
Sir John A. Macdonald, and after the first year or so it was operated by
a company under lease with a bonus of $75,000 a season. The
Mackenzie Government came into power in December, 1873. When the
management of the road was attacked in the House, Mr. Mackenzie
claimed that in 1874 he got done for $73,000 what in the previous year
had cost $400,000. There can be no doubt that the road answered an in-
valuable purpose and it was a standing proof of the new spirit of inde-
pendence and self-containment inspiring the Canadian people. It will
always remain in story as one of the historic and romantic highways
not only of Canada but of the empire.