BRITISH COLUMBIA, since 1871 a province of the Dominion of Canada, on the Pacific, bounded on the north by the 60th parallel of latitude which separates the Province from the Yukon district; east by the main chain of the Rocky Mountains and the western boundaries of Alberta Province; south by the United States and the 49th parallel; and west by the Pacific Ocean and Queen Charlotte's Sound. On the northwest lies the United States territorial possession purchased from Russia of Alaska, the boundary between which and British Columbia has long been in dispute. The dimensions of British Columbia are: Length 7641/2 miles; breadth about 400 miles. Area 372,630 square miles. The coast line is deeply indented. The northern part of the Province is diversified with mountain, lake and river; is of extraordinary fertility, producing all Canadian cereals and vegetables, and fruits in larger measure than any part of even Ontario, and with a mining region (Omineca) at the head waters of the Peace, Skeena and Fraser Rivers, which, though very imperfectly explored (owing to their inaccessibility to general travel), gives indications of being very rich in gold and silver. The southern and middle part includes the rich gold valley of the Fraser River, and is well adapted for pasturage, and also, with irrigation, for agriculture; some parts, however, such as the Chilcotin plains, and the great and beautiful valley of the Okanagon, require no artificial irrigation, nor does any part of the seaboard. Throughout the whole extent of the Province there is an abundance of forest land, the timber on which is of the most valuable description. One kind especially, the Douglas fir, is celebrated for its length and straightness and has squared 43 inches for a length of 90 feet. The tree is very often from 150 to 300 feet in length, without knots or branches, and the diameter varies from 6 to feet, and in quality is about twice as strong as Canadian red pine, and, being more gummy, is more durable and takes a better hold. At Burrard Inlet, 9 miles from New Westminster, there are pine trees 27 to 30 feet in diameter. Timber limits can be leased from the Government at a nominal rate per acre per annum, with a rebate of 25 cents per thousand exported out of the province is the royalty. The total exports of British Columbia for the year 1903 amounted in value to $15,604,896, while the value of the imports for the year was $11,141,068.

The mineral resources of British Columbia are very great. Gold is found all along the Fraser and Thompson Rivers, and in great abundance in the Cariboo district, the yield in that one locality exceeding, in a single year, one million dollars, while the yield of the entire Province, from 1862 to 1903, was $84,510,640. The gold yield for the past three years (1901-2-3) exceeded in value $17,000,000. That of the Yukon district amounted in value, in 1903, to $12,250,000. The quantity and value of silver produced in British Columbia for the years 1901 and 1902 was as follows: 1901, 5,151,333 ounces, of the value of $3,036,711; 1902, quantity:3,917,917 oz.; value $2,043,586.

The production of lead (1901) was over 511/2 million pounds, valued at $2,235,603. Much of the wealth of the Province, however, is its coal fields, which are reputed to be inexhaustible, easy of access and easily worked. Bituminous coal is found on the mainland, and on Vancouver Island; and anthracite coal on Queen Charlotte Island. Nanaimo coal fields cover two hundred square miles; those of Comax, seven hundred, each mile of which is computed to yield 16,000,000 tons. The value of the coal production of the Pacific Coast Province has in the past three years exceeded four million dollars per year. In an article on “Mineral Wealth,” Prof. Dawson, C.M.G., F.R.S., says: “Everything which has been ascertained of the geological character of the Province as a whole tends to the belief that, so soon as means of travel and transport shall be extended to what are still the more inaccessible districts, these also will be discovered to be equally rich in minerals, particularly in the precious metals, gold and silver.” The fisheries which are proving a source of national wealth are amongst the most valuable known, and over 65,500 men are employed in the fisheries proper, to say nothing of the shore hands. The yield value of the British Columbia fisheries was for 1901 $7,492,771, and for 1902 $5,284,824. The annual seal catch in the Province has of recent years varied from 5,000 to 10,000 seals. Of British Columbia salmon, the catch for the years 1901, 1902 and 1903 has filled over 2,300,000 cases, chiefly from the Fraser and the Skeena rivers. The value of the Provincial salmon catch for the year 1902 was $3,753,892. The climate of British Columbia is mild and favorable enough to allow animals to live in the open air throughout the winter, and in many parts the plains and hills are covered with a herb called bunch grass, which possesses highly nutritious qualities and keeps cattle in excellent condition during the whole winter. Winter lasts from November till March; but snow seldom remains long on the ground. The prevailing winds are from the north in summer, and from the south and west in winter.

The land fit for agricultural settlement is diversified by hill and dale, and watered by numerous streams and lakes. The soil varies from a deep black vegetable loam to a light brown, loamy earth, the hills supplying slate and building stone. Wheat, barley, potatoes, turnips, apples, pears, etc., grow luxuriantly.

The country is rich in fur-bearing animals, of which the principal are the black, brown and grizzly bears, lynx, marten and beaver.

Shipbuilding is a branch of trade which promises to assume large proportions.

Manufactures, though yet in their infancy, are steadily increasing. The value of the entire exports of B.C., for the year ending June 30, 1903, was $15,604,896.

Chief among the rivers of the country is the great Fraser River, which pursues a rapid course between steep and rocky banks, until, approaching the sea, it presents a fertile and finely wooded valley from 50 to 60 miles in length. The total length of the Fraser River is about 700 miles. The Thompson River surpasses the Fraser in the richness of its scenery, and flows through one of the most beautiful countries in the world. The Columbia is another noble stream. It enters the United States at Fort Shepherd, after a course of nearly 800 miles in British territory. Total length about 1,200 miles.

The means of communication with the interior of British Columbia are very good.

Steamers ascend the Fraser River over 100 miles, to the head of navigation, and for over 450 miles beyond this there is an excellent gravelled road, constructed by the Government at great expense. Burrard Inlet is the largest and finest harbor on the mainland. Vancouver, which twenty-five years ago was hardly known, is now the first city in the Province, with a population of 26,133 at the 1901 census; to-day it is about 45,000; it is the terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Steamers belonging to the same company connect that city with Victoria.

British Columbia consists of two perfectly distinct parts, the mainland above described and Vancouver Island. This island is the largest in the Pacific, being 278 miles long, and 40 to 50 wide. It is separated from the mainland by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which is about 16 miles in width, and by the Strait of Georgia, which varies from 30 miles in width to a narrowness that is bridgeable, viz.: at Valdes' island, Queen Charlotte's Sound which separates B. C. from Vancouver Island on the north. The surface is marked by mountain ranges and extensive plains The soil is productive. The island Is noted for its coal mines. Gold has also been found. The harbors are numerous and excellent. At Esquimalt until recently was located here, the Imperial naval dockyard and arsenal, with extensive fortifications.

The public affairs of British Columbia are administered by a Lieutenant-Governor, an Executive Council of five members, and a Legislative Assembly composed of 42 representatives elected every four years. The Province, which entered Confederation in 1871, is represented in the Dominion Parliament by seven members in the House of Commons and three Senators. Justice is dispensed by a chief justice and four assistants.

Education is free to all; the schools are nonsectarian. In 1903 there were in the Province, 273 common schools 65 graded and 8 high schools with a combined teaching staff of 607, and an average attendance of 16,627 pupils.

Victoria, Vancouver Island, is the capital of the Province, and the seat of the see of the Lord Bishop of British Columbia. It is situated on a narrow inlet, which, completely landlocked, gives accommodation to all vessels whose draught of water does not exceed 18 feet. It is rapidly rising into a considerable city, the last (1901) census showing a population of 20,816. New Westminster, in 1901, had a population of 6,499. The other towns of note in the Province embrace Yale, Lytton, Kamloops, Nanaimo and Hope. At Vancouver is situated Stanley Park, an attractive and impressive forest reservation on the point which separates the harbor from the Strait of Georgia. It is about 950 acres in extent and is encircled by a driveway ten miles in length.

British Columbia occupies a commanding position not only with regard to the trade of the western part of America and the Pacific islands, but also with respect to China, Japan, and other Asiatic countries, and the Australian colonies. Along the whole coast line of at least 7,000 miles (following indents) a perfect labyrinth of islands exists, giving innumerable harbors, inlets and channels, teeming, as well as the rivers that empty into them, with salmon, sturgeon, mackerel, cod, herring, halibut, oulachans and whales. Except the whale fishery, these vast fisheries are altogether undeveloped.

This colony was first established in 1858; it was admitted into the Canadian Confederation in 1871, and has since made remarkable progress. The total population in 1871 was 32,247 exclusive of Indians. This total comprised 8,576 whites, 462 negroes, and 1,548 Chinese. The number of Indians is supposed to be about 30,000. The population (1901) numbers about 178,657. The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway has developed the magnificent resources of the Province, and adds greatly to the wealth and general prosperity of the Dominion. The distance from Montreal to Victoria is 2,984 miles, which can now be accomplished in five days.

The revenue of the Province, for the year ending 30th June, 1903, was $2,044,633, while the expenditure was $3,393,182, the chief items in the latter being the disbursements on public works, education, civil government, and interest on the public debt.

An authority has this to say as to the fertility of Northern British Columbia:

”At Fort St. James, about lat. 54° 30' N., 2,000 feet above the sea, the first barley (five quarts) sown produced five bushels, say about 84 bushels per acre. This was about 50 miles west of McLeod's Fort, which last is the highest post on the Rocky Mountains.

“At Fort Fraser, still further west, on the slope of the Cascade, the first potatoes planted, about a bushel, produced forty-fold.”

The total area of British Columbia is 372,630 square miles, and the wheat area 150,000 square miles, or 96,000,000 acres, being all south of lat. 55° N. (although there are fine wheat valleys far beyond north), islands included. The grass, barley, and vegetable area north of the above—that is, from lat. 55° to 60° N, northern boundary line of British Columbia), and from lon. 120° W. to American boundary, 141° W., is estimated at 100,000 square miles, or 64,000,000 acres. A considerable portion, say one-sixth of these areas, is covered with lakes, which like all the rivers, abound with wholesome fish—fish, in fact, is the native staple food.

The coast line of British Columbia is estimated at 10,000 miles, a predicate on that of Norway the latter, on actual measurement, having been found to have in its indented line thirteen times the length of its coast in a straight line. In point of fact, the British Columbia coast is much more indented and more deeply so than that of Norway, some of the inlets running in upwards of fifty miles. The inlets are full of salmon and other fish.

The census of 1901 gives the religions of the people of the Province as follows: Anglicans, 40,689; Roman Catholics, 33,639; Presbyterians, 34,081: Methodists, 25,047; Baptists, 6,500; Lutherans, 5,335; Congregationalists, 1,198; Jews, 554; Salvation Army, 570; Adventists, 254; Brethren, 164; Unitarians, 133; Quakers, 130; others not specified, 30,363.

There are many hundreds of lakes in British Columbia, varying in dimensions from 70 miles in length by 4 or 5 miles in breadth to the mere mountain tarn of a few acres in extent, and generally abounding with fine fish. Of the principal lakes the following may be mentioned: Horse Lake and Lac des Rochers on the the great Okanagan Lake and the Osooyoos, North Branch. On the Columbia water-shed the Arrow Lakes, the Great Lake of (the Arcsplattes on the Kootenay Branch. On the waters of Peace River, McLeod's Lake, etc. Close to Stuart's Lake is Nata-punket or Babine Lake, a sheet of water of the first magnitude heading a branch of the Skeena; and on a tributary of the same stream flowing from the northward is Connolly's Lake, on both of which are posts of the Hudson Bay Company. Other lakes will be found described elsewhere in the Gazetteer. The area of the Province in lakes is estimated at 1,550,830 acres. See also British Columbia Rivers of.

“The unique position of British Columbia as a watershed on the Pacific Coast of America,” says an official bulletin of the Province, “will at once be recognized when it is seen that all the rivers of great importance on that coast, with the exception of one (the Colorado), arise from within its boundaries. The drainage of its extensive area of mountains and highlands is received into the numerous lakes which have been noticed as forming so striking a feature of the interior. Thence the surplus is discharged into the few large rivers or their many tributaries, which finally reach the sea. These rivers are the Columbia on the south (debouching through American territory into the Pacific Ocean); the Fraser (750 miles long), the Skeena (300 miles), and the Stikine, on the west; the Liard (over 300 miles in British Columbia), on the north; and the Peace River (over 300 miles in British Columbia), on the east. These rivers are of great size and volume, and the first four are sufficiently navigable to steamers to form waterways of no small value in the development of the country.” To the above list has to be added the Kootenay, and the two branches (N. & S.) of the Thompson. The latter two branches come together at Kamloops, and after flowing through Kamloops Lake the combined stream empties into the Fraser River at Lytton. Economically speaking, it may be said that the most useful river, the great watercourse of the Province, is the Fraser.