It was an unpretentious enterprise, for the projected line was only some fourteen miles in length. It was named the Champlain & St. Lawrence railway, the idea being to link Lake Champlain, whence New York could be reached by water, with the St. Lawrence. The first section of the line was opened in 1836, though it was not operated by steam. The rails were of wood, and the vehicles were hauled by horses. This system obtained for only one year, however. The first winter sufficed to demonstrate to those concerned with the enterprise that such primitive methods were far from satisfactory. Consequently the “wooden flanges,” as the rails constituting the track were called, were torn up to make way for iron rails, and the steamengine took the place of the animal motor. A year or two later the objective of the promoters was attained. Lake Champlain was brought into communication with the St. Lawrence at Montreal by a railway some fifty miles in length, the inland sheet of water being tapped at Rouses’s Point at the head of the lake in United States territory. It is stated that Jay Gould, who afterwards became one of the greatest railway-builders and magnates in the United States, gained his first insight of the construction of railways upon this line, by being associated with the location survey. From this humble beginning was woven the huge railway network of Canada, which now gridirons the country in all directions, and aggregates some 25,000 miles. Other projects were formulated in rapid succession for a comprehensive invasion of the eastern corner of the country. Foremost among these was the Grand Trunk Railway Company, conceived in 1852, to build a trunk road between the Atlantic seaboard and the Great Lakes, which at that time was practically the western commercial limit of the Dominion. It was an English enterprise, and, moreover, was strongly imperial from the sentimental point of view, for it was planned to thread Canadian territory entirely. The famous firm of railway constructional engineers, Messrs. Peto, Betts & Brassey, fresh from their triumphs on the Continent, were willing to carry out the work. They had an extensive accumulation of plant lying idle, and at the time were seeking for fresh worlds to conquer. Canada presented just the opportunity they desired, and they were ready to provide all the railways that Canada would require for some years to come. The faith in this firm of constructional engineers was so great that British financiers were open to provide any amount of money that might be required.