British Columbia.— British Columbia oc cupies the whole of the mountain region from the international boundary to lat. 60'. It also cuts off a portion of the central plain, where the eastern boundary of the province leaves the Rocky Mountains and runs north along long. 120'. Vancouver Island and the other islands off the mainland are included in the bounds of the province. West of the broad chain of the Mountains, which form the eastern boundary, three older ranges run approximately north and south and are thus confined to the southern part of the province, being extin guished northward by the more recent upheaval of the. Rockies, whose axis inclines to north west. These smaller and lower ran es are, in order from east to west the Purcell, the Sel kirk and the Columbia systems. Near and parallel to the Pacific coast another broad mountain system, the Coast Range, extends northward into Yukon Territory and Alaska, where it reaches its greatest elevation. Be tween the Coast and Columbia ranges there is the interior plateau, about 100 miles in breadth and from 2,000 to 3,000 feet in elevation. To the north it is cut off by transverse ranges of mountains. Vancouver Island and the Charlotte islands are the unsubinerged remains of a subsidiary mountain range west of the Coast Range. The rivers and lakes of British Columbia occur in deep valleys between the ranges. The Columbia River and its chief affluent, the Kootenay, take a remarkable course through the valleys between all the eastern ranges, running north and south in great loops. The lake-like expansions of both rivers form the chief navigable inland waters of British Columbia. The Fraser River which rises in the Rocky Mountains flows at first north, but soon turns westward round the head of the Cariboo Mountains, and finally runs almost due south cutting a deep channel in the interior plateau. It breaks through the Coast Range and reaches the sea not far from the international boundary. Its chief affluent is the Thompson. Both are very turbulent streams and form an additional obstacle rather than an assistance to inland communication. The northern half of the province is still very imperfectly explored. In a central elevated plateau many rivers take their rise, some flowing south to join the Fraser, others, such as the Liard, east into the Mackenzie basin, others again like the Skeena and Stikine westward into the Pacific Ocean. What British Columbia lacks in a system of navigable inland waterways is more than made up by its deeply indented coast line, where many magnificent harbors for sea-going ves sels of any draught are available, from Port Simpson and Prince Rupert at the north to Burrard Inlet at the south extremity. The coast of Vancouver Island is also well sup plied with harbors. British Columbia, al though so mountainous, is not without its, agri cultural industries. The interior plateau forms a good ranching_ country, and in the sheltered valleys, where irrigation can be introduced, fruit farms are very successful. Lumbering is one of the great industries of the province, and the mineral wealth is very great. Gold has been found in many localities from the international boundary to Atlin district on the borders of Yukon Territory. Placer mining alone has been carried on in most of these places, but in the Kootenay district in the extreme south, where communication by railway and water is easy, scientific treatment of ores has been practised for some years. The metals, besides gold, produced by this method are silver, lead and copper. The exceedingly heavy growth of timber has added to the difficulty of making roads and even of prospecting. The most im portant mining industry, however, is coal mining. Vast deposits have been explored and are being worked in various parts of the prov ince, but chiefly on Vancouver Island at Nanaimo and Comox and in the Rocky Moun tains at Crow's Nest Pass. Another great in dustry of British Columbia is the salmon fishery, which is carried on chiefly at the mouth and in the lower reaches of the Fraser River. Canneries are also established at the mouths of the Naas, Skeena and other rivers.
Yukon.—The Territory of Yukon, under the government of a governor and an executive council, in part elective, lies north of British Columbia and is bounded on the west by Alaska. It has also a northern coast-line on the Arctic Ocean, but a comparatively short one, its eastern boundary being an irregular line sloping from southeast to northwest, for the most part following the easternmost range of the Rockies. It does not lie entirely outside
of the Mackenzie river basin, for the mountain boundary is low and the upper waters of many streams tributary to the Liard River, which flows into the Mackenzie River, take their rise in the southeast part of the Territory and flow south. In the north portion also the Peel River, flowing parallel to the Mackenzie., is contained within the boundaries of the Territory for most of its course, but bursts through the mountain barrier near its mouth and empties into the Mackenzie where the delta of the latter begins. The great part of Territory, however, is watered by the Yukon and its tribu taries, the Teslin, Lewes, Pelly, Stewart and Klondike rivers, all flowing from southeast or east, and in the northern portion the Porcupine, which begins by flowing northeast as if to join the bfackenzie, but turns sharply and flows due west until it crosses the boundary into Alaska. The mountain system of the Territory is the series of parallel ranges of the Rockies, de creasing in elevation as they run further north and turning eastward into the Alaskan penin sula.
The Northwest Territories.-- The re mainder of Canada, north of the provinces and east of the Yukon Territory, including the islands in the Arctic Ocean, is broadly de scribed as the Northwest Territories, the for mer provisional districts of Mackenzie, Kee watin and Franklin having been discontinued. This vast country is under the direct control of the Dominion government It is very sparsely populated by Indians and Eskimos, together with a few white trappers and traders in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, and missionaries. The valley of the Mackenzie River in the west is fertile and covered with trees almost to the very mouth of the river in the Arctic Ocean. The climate in that region is not so severe as the high latitudes would seem to imply; the summers, though short, are hot and the summer days long, and vegetables and some cereals have been raised by Hudson's Bay Company's agents at most of their posts in the district. Coal moreover occurs and also pitch, petroleum and natural gas. The fur trade, which is still a considerable industry, is carried on over the whole area covered by the sub-Arctic forest, and much of this vast north cm territory will remain the home of many species of fur-bearing animals as long as that forest remains to shelter them. But the north ern portions of the country on each side of Hudson Bay must remain a hunting country only. The Arctic archipelago has at present only a sentimental value, although the whale fishery is important and there are undeveloped salmon and other fisheries along the coasts of potential wealth. The series of daring British explorers who, in their search for a northwest passage, discovered the various islands and claimed them for British territory, are com memorated in the names given to the islands themselves and to the principal bays, straits and headlands. For ordinary purposes and for men of the white race they are utterly unin=. habitable.
Bibliography.—Amundsen, R., 'The North west Passage' (London 1908) ; Bradley, A. G., in the Twentieth Century' (London 1908); Burpee, L. J., 'The Search for the Western Sea' (London 1908); Dawson, S. E., 'The Saint Lawrence Basin' (London 1905) ; Gosling, W. G., 'Labrador' (London 1910) ; Greswell, W. P., 'Geography of the Dominion 'of Canada and Newfoundland' (London 1891); Main, C., 'Through the Mackenzie Basin' (Toronto 1908) ; MI tin, A., 'La Colombie britannique' (Paris 1908); Morice, A. G., 'His tory of the Northern Interior of British Co lumbia' (Toronto 1906) ; Seton, E. T., 'The Arctic Prairies' (London 1912) ; Tyrell, J. W., 'Across the Sub-Arctics of Canada' (new ed., Toronto 1908); 'Annual Reports of the Geo logical Survey of Canada) (Ottawa 1915) ; 'Atlas of Canada' (rev. ed., published under the direction of the Department of the Interior, Ottawa 1915) ; 'Canada Year Book, 1915' (Ottawa 1915)1 'Fifth Census of Canada for 1911) 'Report on Area and Population by A. Blue' (Ottawa 1912) ; 'Reports of the Ontario Bureau of Mines' (Toronto 1915); Sanford's 'Compendium North America' (Vol. I, 'Canada' by H. M. Ami, 2d ed., London 1915).