province of British Columbia, and the results of efforts to encour- tige their attention to agriculture, thus proceeds:—
"Fish is the great staple product of all the coast Indians, and owing to the numerous lakes and rivers with which British Columbia is most bountifully supplied, affords the chief means of subsistence to almost all of the interior tribes. All kinds of fish are found in great abundance in the Northern Pacific waters; but the salmon, of which there are some six varieties, is the most con stant and appreciated article of diet. The fish is now forming one of the most important exports of this province. The dog-fish is caught in large quantities for the oil contained in the liver, which not only forms a common article of barter between Indians them selves, but is sold to and exported as one of the chief products of the country by the Whites.
"The exports of fish, fish-oil, and furs (the two latter being almost solely obtained by Indians) for the fiscal year ended June 1874 were:—
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Jllly 20, 1870 to June 30, 1871. Fish $69,665 00 Fish Oil 44,45300 27,63800 Furs 307,625 00 200,407 CO Total 421,743 00 228,045 00"
All this, it has to be borne in remembrance, is the produce of native Indian enterprize, under the stimulus supplied by the White traders. The co-operation indeed extends to other industries besides those of the hunter and the fisher. The fur-bearing animals of the province include the bear, beaver, land and sea otters, fur and hair seals, martens, minks, racoons, fishers, wolve rines, wolves, foxes, lynx, ermines, skunks, and pumas. Besides the produce resulting from the hunting and trapping of those fur- bearing animals, and the fruits of native industry in the fisheries of the rivers and the coasts, the Indian commissioner also notes the collection of cranberries as another productive resource of native industry. The export of cranberries from British Columbia varies according to favourable or less productive seasons. In the year 1874, which was regarded as a poor season, cranberries, gathered by the Indians, were exported to the value of $2011.
With such results from the unregulated labours of rude Indian tribes, it is manifest how great must be the resources of the country, not only in the furs which have long been an object of trade, but in the unheeded fisheries of the ocean and rivers. The whale still frequents the coast, and is pursued with success by the Clallums, Macaws, and other coast tribes. Now regular companies are bring formed for its capture. In 1871 the "British Columbia Whaling Company" had produced 20,000 gallons of oil ; and the results continue on a progressive scale. The dog-fish also, which has long been an object of special favour among the Indians, is now taken in large quantities by the Whites for its oil. In 1870 the produce of this fishery alone yielded 50,000 gallons of oil ; aud the price which it commanded in California has since proved a sufficient stimulus to increased zeal in prosecuting the fisheries. Cod, halibut, haddock, salmon, sturgeon, smelt, and sardines, all abound along the coasts, or in the straits and estuaries, and with the growing population and wealth both in the provinces and in the neighbouring States of the Pacific, the value of this branch of industry must rapidly increase. The riches of the sea must, indeed, in the end, far outrival all the produce of the gold mines, and may yet rival the fisheries of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Even now, with a sparse population, and trade in its infancy, the exports of the fisheries for 1874 are valued at $114,118.
The province of British Columbia has the same advantage over the neighbouring States of the Pacific, owing to climate and favourable geographical position, which the eastern provinces enjoy in comparison with the States on the Atlantic. This is specially manifest in the value of its timber ; and this must go on increasing with the wealth of the surrounding States. Already the value of the produce of the forest has amounted in the year 1874 to $260,116; and in its various forms of planks, spars, laths, and shingles, it is being exported not only to the neighbouring States and to South America, but to Australia and China, as well as to Great Britain. The white and yellow pine and the valuable Douglas pine abound. Cedar and hemlock attain to a great size ; fine oak and maple are also abundant; and the rivers and the natural harbours afford every facility for a lumber trade for which the countries on both sides of the Pacific will supply as ready a market as the Eastern States and the ports of Europe alford to the lumberers of the pro vinces of Eastern Canada.
Already railway enterprize is abundantly stimulated by the de velopment of the resources of this young province ; and now the great question of the future is the route of the projected Pacific Railway, and its terminus on the Pacific coast. The disputes be tween the Provincial Government and that of the Dominion relative to its immediate construction have been the cause of much local irritation. In the summer of 1876, the Earl of Dufferin, as Governor-General of the Dominion, made a tour through British Columbia, aud greatly contributed to a more reasonable feeling by his conciliatory mediation. The construction of a railway through the province is attended with more than the usual difficulties, hi contrast to flte vast level ranges of prairie to the cast of the Rocky Mountains, its surface is extremely irregular; and the selection of a railway route is controlled by the necessity of finding both a pass through the Rocky Mountains and a suitable access to the seaboard. Yellow Head Pass affords what appears to be the most advantage ous route, at an elevation of about 3700 feet above the level of the sea. Immediately to the west of this an irregular plateau extends tjo within less than 100 miles of the coast, where the Cascade Range is reached. From this the descent to the coast is abrupt ; the rivers have furrowed deep channels, or directed their courses into the natural canons of this rugged coast line, and much diffi culty has been experienced in selecting an available route. From the mouth of the Columbia River, for 700 miles northward, the coast is indented with numerous inlets which cut deep into the land, and are comparable to the rugged fiords of Norway. Bute Inlet, which was first selected as the terminus of a proposed route through the Homathco Valley, is of this character. It is an ex posed sound, walled by lofty cliffs, and with its waters of great depth, so that no suitable roadstead or anchorage is available. The latest surveys (1876) indicate that the line must pass by the Fraser River to New Westminster, where suitable natural harbourage can be found. The chief objection to this route is its vicinity to the frontier, so that it very partially opens up the interior of the coun try. But Dean Inlet, which has been advocated as a preferable terminus, lies too far to the north. The project of an interoceanic railway through British American territory is, under any circum stances, a bold one ; and the way in which it is being pressed onward to practical realization abundantly illustrates the enter prize of this young country, which only requires the increased population which such facilities would supply to develop its inex haustible resources.
Altogether, evidence enough has already been disclosed to show the great future which is in store for the Canadian provinces on the Pacific. The next decennial census will embrace British Columbia, and furnish more definite statistics as to its industrial progress and natural resources. A steady influx of emigration of the best quality is its first great need. The present population, apart from the native Indian and half-breed, is of a very miscellaneous character, including British, Canadian, American, French, German, and Chinese settlers, with as yet a large preponderance of the male sex.
ln the Tables of the Trade and Navigation of the Dominion for 1874, the province of British Columbia not only exceeds in the value of its exports both the provinces of Prince Edward IslanJ and Manitoba, but it exhibits the exceptionably favourable con trast of an excess in value of exports over imports. The total value of all goods imported for the year 1874 amounted to $2,048,336, while the value of its exports during the same period was $2, 120, 624.
Under the principles of confederation, the full rights of self- government and representative institutions both in its own local parliament and in that of the Dominion have been accorded to this young province. It has its own lieutenant-governor and Legislative Assembly, and is represented at Ottawa by three senators and six members of the House of Commons in the Dominion Parliament.
(d. w.)
