| [20] | The figures for 1906 were:—city of Tobolsk, twenty thousand, eight hundred; Omsk, forty-three thousand, four hundred; province of Tobolsk, one million, six hundred and fifty-six thousand, seven hundred. In 1910, the total population of the province of Tobolsk was given as one million, seven hundred and sixty-nine thousand, eight hundred. According to latest statistics available the population of the four million, eight hundred and seventeen thousand, six hundred and eighty-seven square miles comprising Siberia is eight million, two hundred and twenty thousand, one hundred. Siberia in 1910 raised one hundred and seventy million poods of cereals. A pood equals thirty-six pounds. E. J. C. |
| [21] | According to a blue book issued by the Board of Trade of Great Britain in 1905, the province of Tobolsk in 1901 contained three million, eight hundred and four thousand, eight hundred and forty-seven head of life stock, and from one district alone, viz: Kurgan (about the latitude of Peace river) there was exported in 1902, nineteen million, seven hundred and eleven thousand, four hundred and forty-six pounds of butter, which was largely marketed in Great Britain. E. J. C. |
| [22] | Referring to the map produced by Mr. Young before the committee, on which he had shown the position of places where wheat had been grown in northwestern Canada by a scheme of red discs appearing on the map. |
CHAPTER XVI.
THE MACKENZIE RIVER REGION.
Tree Growth and Timber Resources.
Forests About Great Slave lake and Slave river.—Remarkable Extension of Forest Growth Northward Down the Mackenzie.—Wide Distribution of the Economically Important Canoe Birch.—Magnificent Forests of Spruce and Big Cottonwood Trees in Liard valley.—Useful Birch and Large Spruce Grow Within the Arctic Circle.—Trees that are Centuries Old.—Northern Tree Growth May be Hastened by Drainage.
The splendid forests along the banks of Slave and Mackenzie rivers have been remarked by all who have ever travelled along the truly magnificent waterway of the far northwest, and the fact has been abundantly established that the growth of timber extends, along the rivers at least, far beyond the Arctic circle, and well down the delta of the Mackenzie. It is true that there are large muskeg and rocky areas in the basin of the Mackenzie which support no tree growth, but the aggregate forest wealth of the country is immense.
Mr. Elihu Stewart, formerly Superintendent of Forestry, testified before the Senate committee of 1907 that the principal tree between Rocky mountains and the plains is the spruce, mostly the white spruce, and from its position near the prairie there is no doubt that it will be more sought after to meet the increasing demands from that quarter. The country along the upper waters north of Saskatchewan, Athabaska and Peace rivers, is partly prairie and partly wood. The varieties of timber are principally aspen and balsam poplar, the former predominating, and white spruce. The poplars, as we go north, seem to increase in size and height. Below the junction of the Smoky they grow very clean and straight, not over a foot or fourteen inches in diameter, but reaching a height of seventeen or eighteen feet, making excellent building timber, as well as fencing and fuel. In some parts there are stretches of good spruce well adapted for lumbering purposes. There has so far been but little destruction from fire in this quarter. The land is mostly level, soil excellent, and if the summer frosts do not prevent it, the country will begin soon to settle up and there will be an ample supply of timber for local uses, if not for export to the adjoining prairie regions. Mr. Stewart said he never saw as fine poplar as he saw there. A considerable number of poplars were over a foot, but a foot would be a fair average. He had seen poplar in all parts of the prairie country, but never saw anything growing up as straight.