Iron is perhaps the most widely distributed mineral. being found in every province. but its utilization has suffered from the lack of coal for smelting purposes, and from the prohibitive tar iffs of the United States. The Dominion Gov ernment and also the Government of Ontario have placed a bounty upon pig iron, which has stimulated its production, the value of the prod uct exceeding $500,000 in 1900. The prospects for the development of iron-mining are greatest in Nova Scotia, inasmuch as coal and limestone are there found in close proximity to the iron ore.
The production of petroleum and of salt in the peninsular part of Ontario has long constituted well-established industries; the annual value of petroleum products exceeds $1,000,000. Nat ural gas is also found in this region.
Among the less important minerals are gyp sum, graphite, pyrites, and mica. The output of lime averages $700.000 per annum, and the production of cement is rapidly appmaching that amount. There are enormous resources in the way of building-stone and clays. which are extensively drawn upon. While the future holds in prospect an increasingly rapid exploitation of Canadian minerals, the supply is so great that the question of their final exhaustion searcely presents itself, and the inliospitable Laurentian regions to the north will contain untouched hoards of wealth for centuries to come.
Rtsiimum's. With oceans washin,g its shores on three sides, the 1:reat Lakes and numerous small lakes and rivers scattered throughout its domain, Canada has exceptional advantages for the de velopment of the fishing industry. Naturally, this was developed early, and in at least three of the four nsritime Provinces it has ranked next to agriculture in importance. Later fishing be clme prominent in the lake waters adjoining Ontario, and still more recently in 'British Co lumbia and on Lake Winnipeg. The total value of the fish product has increased from :446,577,000 in 18.70 to $17.000,000 in 1890, and $21,800,000 in 1899. The recent gain has been almost wholly in the West. Nova Scotia far outranks the other provinces, her yield having stood at about $7,000,000 for a decade and a half. During the same period the yield of New Brunswick has fluctuated at about $L000.000. Ontario and Quebec have each stood a little under the $2,000,000 mark. Prince Edward Island has fluctuated at about $1,000,000, but British Co lumbia has increased during the decade ending in 1899 from $15.000 to $'5.000,000, and Manitoba has increased from almost nothing to $1.000.000, having, fallen considerably below that amount, however, for the last few years.
The total number of fishermen is slowly increas ing, having been 03,700 in 1890 and 79,800 in 1900. I If the latter uumher 70,800 represented boat fishermen, and 8900 vessel fishermen. Be sides these. 18.700 persons were employed in the lobster canneries. The Dominion Government since 1882 has paid a bounty for deep-sea fisher ies, which at present amounts to $101,000 an nually, about two-thirds of which is taken by the Nova Scotia fishermen. In IS99, 27.100 men
shared the bounty.
Of the east coast fisheries, cod and lobster are the most important, each annually exceeding $3,000.000 in value; the herring fisheries ex ceed $2,000,000; and of a large variety of other kinds of fish the most important are mackerel, smelts, sardines, haddoek, and hake. In the Great Lakes trout is the most important, fol lowed by pickerel and pike. Whitefish leads in the lakes of Manitoba. and on the Paeific Coast salmon is of greatest consequence. The sea otter and seal fisheries of the west are also im portant, though much less so than in former years. Thirty-five thousand five hundred seal skins (valued at $440,000) were taken in 1900, of which 16.430 were from the coast waters of British Columbia and 17.300 from the Bering Sea. From 1871 to 1900 the sealskins taken by the Canadian pelagic sealing munbered 737,048. The hest whale-tishing region in the world extends along the north coast, Irons the mouth of the Mackenzie to Labrador, and vessels from many nations visit it annually. The fishing industry is wisely guarded by the Government, the rlinister of Marine and Fish eries being charged with its oversight. Arti ficial pisciculture is carried on in fourteen hatch eries.
Amue ULTI ItE. Dating from the earliest per manent settlement. agriculture has stood prei_Msi nent among the Canadian industries. and 43 per cent. of the population secures its livelihood directly from the soil. The fertile lands of the Maritime and Saint Lawrence provinces I\ ere early brought under cultivation. On the other hand, the vast productive plains of the far West, owing to their isolation and their real and sup posed inclemencies of climate, have only recently been utilized. A large portion of the fertile Minis of southern Manitoba Were taken up at the close of the Nineteenth Century and the occupation and cultivation of the region farther west progresses as it is made accessible by the construction of railroads. The practicability of agriculture in this section has been clearly dem onstrated, the climatic conditions not la•ing so unfavorable as they were formerly represented. It is only in the northern portions of the plains that the growing is greatly endangered by summer frosts. And. though the rainfall is scant, it occurs during the growing spring months, and it is generally adequate for the needs of the crops. The driest portion of the plain is on the western border, but much of this is irrigable and even in its natural state is well adapted to grazing. The Government exercises a close supervision over irrigation, and there are 525 miles of ditches and canals. From the Great Lakes eastward to the Atlantic the agri cultural area is limited only by surface condi tions., the climate being very favorable. There is in this area nmeh hilly and broken territory which does not lend itself readily to profitable cultivation. But throughout northern Canada, including the greater portion of the Laurentian region, the climatic conditions will never admit of agricultural development. See Climate.