Railways.—The Canadian Pacific Railway has two main lines and several branches making connection with United States railway systems, as well as operating on Vancouver Island. With the exception of one or two small gaps the Grand Trunk Pacific will have its line completed through Central British Columbia this year. This will open up a very large area for settlement. At the Pacific terminus in Prince Rupert, splendid steamers connect with other portions of the Mainland and with Vancouver Island.
The Canadian Northern has secured low grades across the Rockies and, making its way down the Fraser and North Thompson, finds an easy outlet at Port Mann near Vancouver. The Great Northern enters the Province at points in the boundary. The provincial railway mileage is 1,854 miles with 1,000 miles under construction.
Stock.—Dairying pays handsomely in British Columbia. The local demand for butter is constantly increasing and the prices secured are higher than in Eastern Canada. The Province possesses many elements necessary to constitute it a great dairying country. There are extensive areas of pastoral land in the interior, while increased cultivation in the lower country will form the necessary feeding ground. With a plentiful supply of good water, and luxuriant and nutritious grasses, there is every required facility added. Cattle raising on a large scale was formerly one of the chief industries of the Province, and many of the large ranches are still making money, but the tendency of late has been for smaller herds and the improvement of the stock. Sheep raising is another branch of agriculture capable of great expansion. Hogs, in small farming, are probably the most profitable of live stock, owing to the general demand for pork, bacon, ham, and lard, and much attention is now being given to raising them. Over 1 million dollars of hog products are imported annually, and prices are always high. The demand for good horses, especially heavy draft and working animals, is always increasing, and prices are consequently high.
Dairy Products.—In 1912 this industry reached a valuation of nearly 4 million dollars. Poultry raising is a branch of general farming which is beginning to receive special attention in British Columbia. The home market is nowhere nearly supplied either with eggs or poultry, large quantities being imported from Manitoba, Ontario, California, Washington, and elsewhere. Good prices prevail at all seasons of the year. Every portion of British Columbia is suitable for poultry raising. In the Coast districts, hens, ducks, and geese can be raised to great advantage, and the dry belts and uplands are particularly well adapted to turkeys.
Grain.—Wheat is grown principally in the Fraser, Okanagan, and Spallumcheen Valleys and in the country around Kamloops. Barley of excellent quality is grown in many parts of the Province. Oats are the principal grain crop, the quality and yield being good, and the demand beyond the quantity grown. Potatoes, turnips, carrots, mangolds, and all other roots grow in profusion wherever their cultivation has been attempted. Hop culture is carried on in the Okanagan, Agassiz, and Chilliwak districts. British Columbia hops command a good price in England and recently Eastern Canada and Australia have bid for them. Some attention has been given to the cultivation of sugar-beets, tobacco, and celery, and in each case with the most gratifying results, ensuring an early expansion of operations in all of these lines.
In 1912 there was a total agricultural production in the Province of about 14½ million dollars, but there was imported another 15 million dollars' worth.
British Columbia agriculturists and fruit growers are particularly fortunate in having a splendid home market for their products, and for their surplus there is the enormous present and illimitable future demand of the Prairie Provinces, assuring always good prices and ready sale for everything they produce.
Game.—For big-game hunters there are moose, wapiti, sheep, caribou, goat, deer, grizzly, black, and brown bear, wolves, panthers, lynx, and wild cats; in the way of small game there is the best snipe shooting procurable anywhere, and duck and geese, prairie chicken, grouse, and quail abound. In addition to sport with rifle and shot gun, salmon fishing, unknown elsewhere, trout and grayling fishing, unsurpassed in any other country, may be enjoyed at a minimum of cost and inconvenience.
In Central British Columbia there is an area of agricultural land that is unexcelled anywhere. Wonderful yields of all small grains are reported.