CHAPTER XXI
CANADA AND NEWFOUNDLAND
A very large part of Canada is so far north that the ordinary food-stuffs cannot be grown there; the river-valleys of British Columbia and the basin of the Saskatchewan excepted, there are but few marks of human industry beyond the fiftieth parallel. The general conditions of topography resemble those of the United States—a central plain between the high Rocky Mountain ranges in the west and the lower Laurentian ranges in the east.
Canada is an agricultural country, and because of the great skill with which its resources have been made commercially available, it is the most important colony of Great Britain. The basin of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River is the most populous part of the country. This region is highly cultivated and produces dairy products, beef, and the ordinary farm-crops.
From Lake Winnipeg westward, nearly to the Rocky Mountains, the land is a succession of prairies admirably suited to wheat-growing.[56] The wheat is a hard, spring variety, and the average yield per acre is about one-fourth greater than the average yield in the United States.
The area of forestry includes the larger remaining part of the great pine belt, together with a very heavy reserve of merchantable oak-timber. The part of the forest area in Canada aggregates one and one-quarter million square miles, and yields an annual product of about eighty million dollars; about one-third of the lumber is exported.
The northerly region of Canada produces furs and pelts. As long ago as 1670, Charles II. granted to Prince Rupert and a stock company the lands comprising a very large part of Canada around Hudson Bay, and secured to them the sole right to trap the fur-bearing animals of the region. In time the company, known as the Hudson Bay Company, transferred all its lands to Canada, and out of the domain thus annexed various provinces and unorganized districts have been created.
The company now exists as a corporation for the merchandise of furs. For the greater part, Indians are employed as hunters and trappers, and the pelts are collected at the various trading-posts, known as "houses" and "factories," to be sent to the head-quarters of the company near Winnipeg. Nearly every Arctic animal furnishes a merchantable pelt. The cheaper skins are made into garments in Canada and the United States; those commonly classed as furs are sold in London. Several other fur companies are also operating in Canada.
The fisheries of the coast-waters and the Great Lakes are among the most productive in the world. Everything within the three-mile limit of the shore is reserved for Canadian fishermen. The smaller bays and coves are reserved also within the three-mile limit. Beyond this limit the waters are open to all, and a fleet of swift gun-boats is necessary to prevent illicit fishing. Salmon, cod, lobsters, and herring form most of the catch, amounting in value to upward of twenty million dollars yearly.
The output of minerals varies from year to year; since 1900 it has averaged about sixty million dollars a year. The gold product constitutes nearly one-half and the coal about one-sixth of the total amount. Nickel, petroleum, silver, and lead form the rest of the output. Iron ore is abundant, but it is not at present available for production on account of the distance from transportation.