The Southern Terminus of this Railway is in the Town of Port Hope; at this terminus there is now in course of construction, and intended
to be completed simultaneously with the Railway, a capacious and secure artificial Harbour, which will be, not only the best on the north
Shore of Lake Ontario between Kingston and Toronto, but will also be the only one entitled to be considered a Harbour of Refuge. At this
point the Railway forms a convenient connexion with the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada.
The Town of Port Hope has been rapidly rising
into importance. Within the last four years its population has more than doubled, and now contains about 5,000 souls. The value of the
Assessed Property of the Town has increased twenty-five percent during the last year, and the rental or annual value now represents an
actual value of upwards of £600,000 Currency. The Railway runs in a North-West direction, through a tract of country not surpassed in
natural resources by any portion of Upper Canada, of similar extent. The Towns and Villages on the line of the Railroad to the shores
of Lake Simcoe, are—
(Miles distant from Port Hope)
Perrytown
Millbrook
Manvers
Metcalfe
Lindsay
Montecello
Beaverton
9
17
25
33
42
55
69
A careful examination of the Map of North America will satisfy any one that the extention of this Railway to Lake Huron promises advantages
which must ensure the early completion of it to Georgian Bay, a distance of 107 miles by the surveyed line. This will secure for it a
remunerative share of the trade of the extensive country West of Lakes Superior and Michigan. This Road, it is expected, will be open for
business before the close of 1856, and there is no doubt it will become one of the most important feeders of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada.