George Mercer Dawson, Frederick Edward Molyneux St. John, and Frank Dawson Adams

“ The mining laws are liberal, and being based on the experience gained in the adjacent mining centres of the Western States, are convenient and effective. The most important smelting and reducing plants are those at Trail and Nelson in the West Kootenay country, and at Grand Forks and Greenwood in the Boundary district. There are also numerous concentrating plants. Mining machinery of the most modern types is employed wherever machinery is required.
The province contains enormous supplies of excellent coal, most of which are as yet untouched. ”

“ Finance.—Under the terms of union with Canada, British Columbia receives from the dominion government annually a certain contribution, which in 1905 amounted to $307,076. This, with provincial taxes on real property, personal property, income tax, sales of public land, timber dues, &c., amounted in the year 1905 to $2,920,461. The expenditure for the year was $2,302,417. The gross debt of the province in 1905 was $13,252,097, with assets of $4,463,869, or a net debt of $8,788,228. These assets do not include new legislative buildings or other public works. The income tax is on a sliding scale. ”

“ The producing collieries are chiefly on Vancouver Island and on the western slope of the Rockies near the Crow’s Nest Pass in the extreme south-eastern portion of the provinces. Immense beds of high grade bituminous coal and semi-anthracite are exposed in the Bulkley Valley, south of the Skeena river, not far from the projected line of the Grand Trunk Pacific railway. About one-half the coal mined is exported to the United States. ”

“ Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands, as well as the smaller islands lying off the western coast of Canada, belong to the province of British Columbia.
Physical Features.—British Columbia is essentially a mountainous country, for the Rocky Mountains which in the United States lie to the east of the Great Basin, on running to the north bear toward the west and approach the ranges which border the Pacific coast. ”

“ Great Britain is the largest but not the only market for British Columbia salmon. The years vary in productiveness, 1901 having been unusually large and 1903 the smallest in eleven years, but the average pack is about 700,000 cases of forty-eight 1-℔ tins, the greater part of all returns being from the Fraser river canneries, the Skeena river and the Rivers Inlet coming next in order. There are between 60 and 70 canneries, of which about 40 are on the banks of the Fraser river. ”

“ There are about eighty sawmills, large and small, in the province. The amount of timber cut on Dominion government lands in 1904 was 22,760,222 ft., and the amount cut on provincial lands was 325,271,568 ft., giving a total of 348,031,790 ft. In 1905 the cut on dominion lands exceeded that in 1904, while the amount cut on provincial lands reached 450,385,554 ft. The cargo shipments of lumber for the years 1904 and 1905 were as follows:—
There is a very large market for British Columbia lumber in the western provinces of Canada. ”

“ Much attention has been given to fruit raising, especially in the Okanagan valley. Apples, plums and cherries are grown, as well as peaches, apricots, grapes and various small fruits, notably strawberries. All these are of excellent quality. Hops are also cultivated. A large market for this fruit is opening up in the rapidly growing provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. ”

“ The Indian fishing stations and burial grounds are reserved, and other land has been set apart for them for agricultural and pastoral purposes. A number of schools have been established for their education. ”

“ Since that date this has been largely increased by the influx of miners and others, consequent upon the discovery of precious metals in the Kootenay, Boundary and Atlin districts. Much of this is a floating population, but the opening up of the valleys by railway and new lines of steamboats, together with the settlements made in the vicinity of the Canadian Pacific railway, has resulted in a considerable increase of the permanent population. The white population comprises men of many nationalities. ”