Weekly Mail

GROWTH OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. I I > -INDUCEMENTS TO EMI- GRANTS. WHAT THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY HAS | DONE. IRON AND COAL WAITING OR CAPITAL AND LABOUR. TSOM A CANADIAN COSBESPONDSiSfT. General Annenkofi's line from St. the ttr £ *° Vladisvostok has been coinple-ted "wo great colonising nations oi modem site 1T stand face to face upon the oppo- Jw shores of the Pacific. W-lni»"b we have ^av westwards th-i Russians have <iisV j eastwards, until between. us at no e .we shall have girdled the whole with oiu' steei rails and knit the *kit5BBeil'U'- with our lines of steam- ed who stand to-day upon the outer of Vancouver island are the outposts iV estm-tl civilisation, and if it were only i Vft8? t*us province is the very est western point upon which CjmU the vagrant English Colonist ► any possibility settle, it would be k(>0 -v that jjiiglishmen generally s-hould oj £ a little more than they do at present 4 :-K1&T?r island and the province of Bri- to which it belongs. That of a:8 of Englishmen know extremely little titis Columbia still is unfortunately recent experience having taught u»s that still highly educated people .who 1L £ Pacific province of the Dominion 3e State oionibia in South America, l-iglaad for the capital of if tt, Columbia under the impression that, I Mil not to live in tents, at least" they f to ,expected (as governesses and such-like) i -Uiftjc,, j^*e floors of their employers' houses, -as suc^ ignorance is, it is not 1 si* Ye^ we consider that it is only (i^y* since a railway made this coast in r accessible to the ordinary i Wd!v6i' geography was until recently lnoi;|*ded: in. the scheme of a. liberal Jorte,i on'' that books of travel are less fra-L, than the police news with the that so little interest is dis- that so little interest is dis- o^i j by the average Englishman in the k Of world that the leading newspaper I l^Denj-i1 °r, -^gland's greatest cities confessed I Wi 't the news of all the Colonies °°Wan x crammed into half a Suite'- because its readers were in- ^il0ir6 .interested in a local board I WttiT~5 ln their own town than in the most Question that ever exercised Colonial Aov R,h>lfa?' In spite of the good work initiated Tlivo-Ui il todies as the imperial and Colonial °f fpt^ S'i''on^y a Colonist" is still a term) "■ +'^e "°k'1 country/' ail<l will, ^reiudi^' continue to be so as long as insular Paj-ado^-6 Colonial ambition c-oiitinus to be, ^glish^ch ^ie ~ieadbig traits of the %dia was a legacy to England from °luinVi t'.ast India Company, so British ► S?Pat +la^as a legacy to her from that other corporation, the Hudson Bay ^or)eep~*° the fur-h-anter was the .Russians' sQii liay11},1'1'1"? s0 the trappers of the Hud- A *he V" ,,J°mpany were England's pioneers in »I Littie ^r'33t. ■ f °l«Tnh 111016 tllai1 balf a century ago British IJ'H! Island Wa's-Poetically untxplored. Even M haye\ V ancouver can scarcely be said explored to-day. Sixty a ^ew isolated forts, with primitive m Ji-Scotch' pU^lce(i to protect a mere handful *4 » ^>^dians from the maimed nations M 1^3, -st, and it was not vntil Mar(;h, ^derl (a-fterw.irds Sir) James Douglas- vUlity 0? I S'teen inen on the southern ex- ffl thp v ,iacouver Island, and proceedf d, ijH So t f0ri of the natives, tc> build his fort. <ft«ari3 uV V*e ure told, was a hundred yards <f%sO ia iai,:r.0i.mcied by pickets of cedar wood, °n> w6l^ t, which, with a dozen small :ijfv tli(, y^.1"6 considered sufficient fortifications m th6 Vi,Jct°ria of those days. Only last W a to whom the command of this !s{'i "!0h ^ri e^U^ec' ky its founder was still alive 4 f Wv"' \h arid yet to-day the stockades have >A! etoria is a city of at least 20,000 in- o'ij .wilding sites" within the limits A gStoefcade are worth l,000dols. a front lHrO^)l/lti3h Columbians have voted binij- ^0r their new Parlia- i/h^ta-^d P^,s' and their credit is j} iW4?1 thi+ afc they have been able to W ,n thl t COns^dera.ble -sum by way of a Lotidon Market at 3 per cent.! In ^>ls rev eii(, of the province N, is to in. 1892 it was l,020,000dols.— ^ti }j S3*r' had nearly doubled in five \? buji progress was, no doubt, due /j B f R the Canadian Pacific ilail- Jn w 1- and it it worth while to con- KI Ifeavk^&a] British Columbia owes her 'i I Mtj, t»o c, growth, what induced sueii a a3 the building "f the Railway, and to what British 't' ':]:>! ftfti+ s ^°r h '»• future. 1 of a sueeessful colony is to the colonists, and in this M a5ada probably excels all the rest <r M a Colonies, and British Columbia all » tK sprang originally from the (ft rth Sea is not one which needs V H clrJ'B' ^11Jt yet^ even a race as hardy as tW p°t, as a whole, thrive best in tW p°t, as a whole, thrive best in as marks the winters of Mani- toba, or renders intolerable the wind-swept prairies of Assineboia. In British Columbia a man can almost choose his own climate. If he cares to go far enough north he can experience all the rigours of an Arctic winter: on the high uplands of Ghii- cotih he will be reminded of the bracing air or Colorado; while on the coast and on Van- couver Island he may -shut his eyes and fancy himself back in South Devon,, with a triSe more breeze from the Pacific than generally blo-ws from the Channel, and with an unfamiliar scent Of pine and cedar in the air. There is more sunshine on the coast than we ever see in England, and the rainfall is a trifle less, though, being condensed into the four winter months, what there is "tells" more. in so vast a district as that of British, Columbia there is, of course, a great deal of diffe- rence between the rainfall in different localities, a. fact which has given rise to a great many mis statements in the press. Taking the average of eighteen stations in 'P, t iI I Columbia (including those at which the rainfall is greatest} we find that the rainfall is 32'81in. per annum. At Esquirnalt (the naval station on "Vancouver Island) the rainfall is 29 at Ladner's Landing (a point on the Frozen River Delta.) it is 33"57in., and at Clinton (an upland town on the mainland) it is only 2 '99in.. If we consider that the average rainfall on the West Coast of England and Wales is from 4-Oin. to 60in., and thai of the East Coast [rom 25in, to 4-Oin., and compare these figures with the preceding ones, we shall arrive at a fair idea. of the rainfall of this province. On the coast the extremes of heat and cold are about what men are accustomed to in England, although in British Columbia there are none of those black days, with a bitter east wind, which drive the life out of miserable Londerers from November to May, but on the .mainland the tllennometer sometimes falls to 40deg. below Kero. It needs only a very casual glance at the well- built figures of the men and the exquisite com- built figures of the men and the exquisite com- plexion of the women to ascertain that, as far as climate goes, the Pacific province is admir- ably adapted to the requirements of the Engiisa race. WEtii«ai<jsh. a-climate and such; a, a fur-trading centre; then a gold miner's Eldo- rado then a Crown Colony, and now a pro- vince of the Dominion, and a junction, as it- were, in the main line for much of England's, trade with the Orient—it is not wonderful that the population of British Columbia is excep tionally and unmistakably English. This was more marked, perhaps, ten years ago- than it is to-day, for the original British Columbian is dying out and giving' place, to Eastern Cana- dians and Americans, brought hither by the Central Pacific Railway, or drawn to us from Montana by our new mining centres, or from the cities of the South by our superior pros- perity in recent times of depression. Letiti be said hes-e that this 1st not set. down as altogether a. misfortune for British Columbia, for, though yonr typical Canadian is the most tetchy person in the world if you mention his nationality in any but a spirit of reverence, he is a most excellent fellow and only not supe- rior to the race from which he sprang and of which he is as justly proud as anyone, if oniy "Canadian" is not used as being- a term too distinct from "English." The advent of the American' is not, perhaps, an unmixed blessing*, lie has, of course, brought with him the indomitable "push" and energy of his race; lie has brought with him brains and capital to help in the development of the country, but he has brought with him, too, that spirit of Mammon-worship and specula- tion which is the essence of his daily life, which stimulates him during his hours of busi- ness and suggests "poker" as his evening lecrea- fcion. The curse of the whole Pacific Coast has been this- spirit of excessive speculation, which has enabled adventurers of very doubtful honesty and no education to play far too large a role in our recent history. Thank? princi- pally to that exceptionally strong man, our late Chief Justice, this spirit of specu- lation was not accompanied during the E'-azer Iliver rush by the deeds of v fence' which disgraced the goldfields of California; but it has, nevertheless, wrought infinite harm here by a svstem of land booms, which have added nothing to out, real wealth, but have done much to retard the growth of British Columbia, by tying up the capital of a- large portion of her people in unproductive "real estate. This is a misfortune which is causing .considerable financial stringency in the province at present, and which in a country of fewer resources might well end in disaster. In British Colum- bia the check occasioned by the reaction after the land boom will be hardly noticeable, and if the result of the present depression be to temper the spirit of speculation in our midst, the recent "boom" and "bust" in real estate will have been a real blessing to us. We have said that a congenial climate is essen- tial to the ranid growth of any Colony, and have endeavoured to -show that in British Columbia. Englishmen find a climate admirably adapted to their needs. Congenial and re- munerative occupation, and occupation similar to tlia-t to whiicih they been acciistGnied to that to which they have been acciistGnied in the "old country," is as essential as even a good climate to the well-being of a Colonist. In British Columbia the principal occupations of the people are almost identical with those in which men of like class make their living at home, and, although the rate of wages, when considered in relation to the cost )f living, is not quite so high when compared with English wages as it at first sight appears, still it is high enough to make this a. perfect paradise for a limited number of labourers. But it must be borne in mind by nuenaing immigrants that nutti more capital conies into British Columbia, and until more permanent industries are started in this piace> our laoour market is not a la-rsre one, and is already full. Taken in industrial order, our principal industries are the fur traae, gold mining, coal mining, salmon cau- nnig and beating, the lumber trade, and silver mining. Earming, fruit- growing, and cattle raisnig, and the catering for a very conside- rable volume of tourist travel, occupy a ^arge proportion of our people, but the- six indus- tries first enumerated may be looked upon as producing the bulk of our wealth. In a, short paper such as this it is not pos- sible to deal at length with each of them, so that we may content ourselves with a, few figures illustrating the importance of each industry. To take the fur trade first: Although the day is past when a sea. otter's skin could be bought for any trinket, the fact that one fur trader m British Columbia took m over 1,000 black bear skins in 1891, :.nd rhat the total value of furs exported in .1892 from Victoria has been estimated at 255,321 dollars, proves that there- is life in the 'old trade yet. trade yet. The gold mining of Cariboo and of the Eraaer in the earlr days (from 1358 to 1862) produced^ as rich a harvest for as small an outlay of labour and money as -any, perhaps, I in the world's history. British "Columbia's contribution to the world's gold store up to the present -date is about 54-j000,000dols., and although the days of the "poor man's mining" with pick and shovel, pan. and rocker, are with pick and shovel, pan. and rocker, are past, a. richer exyld-produeing era is just dawning- for us, in which the machinery and capital recently taken into- the Horsefly and Cariboo districts will play an important part. It is but reasonable to believe that now that maehin'<ery can at last be introduced into the upper country we shall obtain greater results from our hydraulicing operations than we did from the "scratchings" of the pioneers. The coal mines of British Columbia are possibly better known than anything else in the province. but in speaking- of them it is generally assumed that they are all included in the Vancouver xslancl group. This, of oourse, is not true. The mines at Nanaimo and Wellington, on Vancouver Island, export over a million tons per annum of what is admittedly the best steaming coal on ihe ooast-, but the produce of these mines can be supplemented u when necessary by coal from Queen Charlotte's Islands, from the Nicola district, and, above a,ll, froii-,i the Crow's Nest- ra.3S, where there is said to be a phenomenal outcrop of excellent coal. Of the lumber trade of British Columbia it may be said that the province probably pPM-esses the largest area, of hitherto un- touched timber limits still left in the world; that the mills of the East could not handle our logs; that., except in the ieighl, )Iir ii, Stat-as of the U nioll no timber of a similar quality exists; and that already a ell mand for Western lumber has sprung up in the East.; already capitalists # from the Atlantic have been here investing in the timber limits of the Pacific, and that local men are .suffi- ciently awake to the value of the property they hold to prefer to keep it for a few more years rather than sell it just yet at com- paratively unremunerative, prices. The fisheries of British Columbia would in them- selves support a larger poulation than our bit, like all the- other resources of the country, these have been only tested, or, at any rate, it is only to-day that ally serious attempt is being made to develop 1892 the province exported from her fisheries alone pro- duce to the value of 2,849,483dois., but of this 602,706dols. must be credited to sealskins and 2,1001 ilols. to sea otter skins. The balance was made out of salmon, sturgeon, halibut, herrings, orlachans, oysters, isinglass, &c., all properly included in our marine harvest. And this brings us to the last and youngest, but, assuredly, not the least, of British Columbia's principal industries. Since 1886 the district of West Kootenay has attracted considerable attention from miners, but since 1891 that attention has been redoubled and focuesed upon the district of Slocan, the very heart of West Kootenay, and of belt of high- grade silver lead fields lor which West Kootenay is becoming famous. In 1892 there were no railways into this country^ and the lakes by which the capital of West Kootenay (Nelson) is approached are "frozen solid;" for several tnonthsin the year. But, in spite of the diffi- culties of transportation, shipments of ore were made from Kootenay's "prospect holes" (they were not mines) to Tacoma by pack train for a part of the way, at a total cost (from the mines to the smelter)"of 48dols. per ton, in addition to which the ore was subject- to United States duty of lg cents per lb. on lead contained therein. As the ore runs about 60 per lJimtt. lead, this brought the total expense for freight and duties up to 66dols. per ton, and yet, after adding to this the cost of mining and of smelt- ing, the shipment paid the shippers. No one questions- the character' of West Kootenay's galena to-day, and the result is that the Americans who made fortunes in the silver fields of Montana have already built one rail- way (the Nelson and Fort Sheppard) into the district. A British Columbian company, with a Government guarantee., is building another (the Nakusp and Slocan Railway), and several others have obtained charters. It is too early to write yet of the development of the West Kootenay silver fields, but to us who live near enough to the m to know the value of the ore which is being even now shipped out by the Nelson and Fort Shepjwd Railway it is permissible to regret that- it is principally Anierican, instead of English, capital which is being employed in the development of British f Columbia's richest mines. It would take too long to deal seriatim with farming, cattle ranching, fruit growing, or even hop raising, though we may be permitted t to call attention to the fact that British Columbian hops have already taken the very ) highest place amongst imported hops- in the English market. We have said enough to demonstrate that there are in British Columbia industries congenial to the English raca similar to those to which the emigr aIts from the old country" lrav e been accustomed. There is a third essential necessary to the Colony which would attract and keep the Eng- lish race. Unlike our cousins," the Ameri- cans, we English require sport as well as work. All woik and no play makes John Bull a dull boy, and the play par excellence for John Bull is sport." Of that there is no lack on the Pacific Coast—indeed, it is doubtful whether there exists to-day any district in which such excellent sport under such favourable condi- tions as to climate can be obtained by a poor man as. in British Columbia. The game list includes bears, panthers, wolves, lynxes, coyotes, wapiti, mule deer, black-tailed and wlute-tailcd deer, cariboo moose, mountain sheep, and. mountain goats, and, amongst small game, eight kinds of geese, twenty-three speciss of ducks, four of grouse, three of ptarmigan, as well as two kinds of quail and the pheasant. These last .have been imported. If anything, there is more sport for the rod than there is for the gun or the ride. There are five species of salmon which visit our waters, and, though I these will not rise to theHy, they g-iveexcellent sport when trolled for with a light rod and a spoon: but if the salmon will not behave, as fiv fishermen consider that, they ought to do, the two speoi ;s of trout (salmo purpuratus and sal mo gaiitbiorii) and two species of charr (sal- velinviK* maliaa and salveliuus namayeusn; velinviK* maliaa and salveliuus namayeusn; make amends for their cousins' delinquencies. Some idea of what may be done in these waters by moderately expert anglers may be gathered from the fact that four tods took over 500 trout aver agin"- Iglb. in three days' fly fishing in 1592. We have, then, in British Columbia a neany perfect climate,, haif a dozen important and remunerative industries a-lreadj^developed, and, in addition to the means oi mailing money, e have at hand opportunities for enjoying that mGDey when made in the fashion most congenial to our race. But we have more than that: we have hope! These days are but the days of small things for this province, and it requires no prophet to tell us of the future which must be ours. Many, if not all, the elements-which made the mother country great are round us here to-day. Beside our coal lies our iron, unworked as yet, but waiting only for the advent of more capital and mors labour, and almost washing the edges of these -deposits of coal and iron are the waters of the Pacific-. Looking across these, and remembering that from us to "Vladivostok, the future terminus of .Russia's greit line, it- is less than 5.00J miles, how can we help seeing the ships .which shall lie built here in the f uture for that trade with the Pacific Islands, with the Chinese Empire, Janan, and Siberia which Americans sometimes Janan, and Siberia which Americans sometimes boost "will be taken from Engalnd and Hol- land bv the merchants oi San Jrraneiseo ana Puget Sound.