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Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols —^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". lire Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many ftames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds 6 des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 6 partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche 6 droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. by errata led to ent une pelure, facon 6 \ i : I n \ * 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 -r : I ' .J C THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT, BY ERASTUS WIMAN. RE-PRINTED FROM x^HE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, JANUARY, 1888. W^ *'•?*.♦ nf ^; HUNTER, ROSE & CO. 1889, * / THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT, BY ERASTUS WIMAX up:-printei) from the north American review, • JANUARY, 1888. * i ; * \ ©ot0nta: hunter, rose & CO 1889. fc'iz fV n this S^ THE GKEAi'^K H VLF OF THE CONTINENT It is not a little singular that, in this country, and in this period of the easy acquirement of p^encral informa- tion, so little is known ot the greater half of the continent of North Ameiica, included within the British posses- sions. It shows, for instance, how little is known even of the broadest generalities, when the statement is re- ceived with surprise, if not incredulity, that, excluding Alaska, Canada is a larger country than the United States. Yet such is the case ; for the United States, prior to the purchase of Alaska, was included within 3,036,000 square miles, while Canada stretches out to fill 3,470,392 square miles. It would perhaps help to convey some conception of the magnitude of Canada when the statement is made that, in area, it comprises very nearly forty per cent, of the entire British Empire, the extent of which is recalled by the boast that the sun never sets on British possessions. A still further rather startling statement in relation to Canada is, that, including the great lakes which encircle it and which penetrate it, and tiie rivers of enormous size and length which permeate it, in it is found more than one-half of the fresh water of the en*iire globe. Such broad generalities as these may well excite the attention of the people of the United States, 4 THE (JREATER IIAT,F OF THE f'ONTINENT. who, in view of the mapfnificent proportions of their own country, have been unconsciously led to believe that it compriscR all that is worth having on the continent. The impression of inaf^nitude, so far as Canada is con- cerned, is, however, always accompanied by a conviction, born of ignorance, that the Dominion is a region of frost and snow ; that it is a sterile and inhospitable waste — sim[)ly a section of the North Pole. This conclusion con- firms the conviction that Canada is of little or no use to the United States, so rich in resource, so varied in climate, and so self-contained and independent of the outside world. The vast number who thus look upon the northern half of the continent fail to remember that, by the purchase of Alaska, and its subsequent development, testimony was afforded as to the exceeding value of regions very many degrees farther north than the average of Canada, and that to-day, so full of promise is the prospect for this latest acquirement of the United States, that no money payment, however large, would have the faintest hope of acceptance for its cession to another power. It is doubtful if, in any part of the United States, a greater return has been realized in proportion to the capital invested or the elibrt put forth, than that which has rewarded the enterprises in the most northern section of the United States. So far as the climate of Canada is concerned, it should never be forgotten that, within the parallels of latitude which include the greater portions of the Dominion, the development in the United States has been the most marked Indeed, no development in the history of the world is more rapid than the growth of the commerce of J THE' t;REATKR H\I,K OF TMK <ONTINKNT. the Great Lakofl, which to-day act as a barrier, dividing the two countries, hut which, under happier conditions, should be the bond that united tlienj. Reference to the extent of this lake commerce brings out another startling comparison, wliich, creating surprise, shows after all how little the average man knows even of his own country, much less of the reijions alongside of his own land. This statement is^ that the tonnage and value of products which passed through the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, com- pressed within seven months of the season of navigation of 1888, equalled that which passed through the Suez Canal in the entire year. Here, in the northern part of North America, between two inland lakes, with only one shore of these developed, a commerce has been created which equals that between two oceans, whose traffic is almost as old as the universe, and contributions to which are made from every clime and country of the globe. Recall, also, the fact that the water communication of the lakes is competed with by the most perfectly ecjuipped railway systems of the age, while the commerce of Suez is practi- cally without a competitor. This development of the States and cities bordering upon the great lakes, and the growth and productive forces which have been set in motion, not only on the shores of these inland seas, but on the wide stretches of country tributary to them, is a testimony to the advantages of a northern climate that it is impossible to ignore. So magnificent is this growth, so significant is the lesson that it teaches, that, so far as Canada and its climate is concerned, a true appreciation of her vast value is, from the advantage of her location, at length beginning to dawn upon the minds of observant 6 THE <iKKATKIl HALF nV TIIK roNTINKNT. men. The place that she should occupy, as the greater and northern halt' of the continent, can be no longer denied to her. A j)roper estimate will show ( ^anada to V)e a countiy havin^jf few e([ual.s in extent, none in riches of resource, in accossildiity, ease of interior communica- tion, and, notwithstanding the smile that lightens up the face of the reader, none superior to her in the advantages of climate. Perhaps the best test of climatic advantage is found in the ability to produce, in the largest quantities, and of the best (piality, the most valuable and the most univer- sally used article of commerce. Certaiidy, in this respect, there is nothing surpassing the article of wheat, which may be said to be the basis of civilize* I existence. The steady movement toward the north of the wheat-producing regions of this continent is remarkable. Wheat is a plant so delicate, and so easily affected by frost and ad- verse comlitions, that it might be supposed to be cultured safely oidy in the most temperate zones. Yet the move- ment of the wheat-producing areas towards the North Pole lias been as steady as the movement of the needle in the compass in that direction. Within the memory of many readers of this publication, the Gennessee Valley, in the State of New York, was the great wheat-producing region. So much so was this the case that Rochester was named the " Flour City," from the number of its liouring mills, and the activity of its commerce in that direction. Since then it has changed the manner of spelling the word which designates it, and though it is still called the " Flower City," it is because of the development of the nursery and seed interests, which so adorn and benefit it, y THE <iHi:ATEU HALF OF THK CONTINENT. nn<l the ivst of tlie country. No lon^'cr is llocliest(M- the; centre of tlu> \vl)«'at-|»ro<lucinf^ nreiis. Wostwaid tliese took their way, first to the valleys of the Ohio, then to the prairies of Illinois and Iowa, until now, in the most northern tier of States and territories, is found the «^roat sources of national wealth in the production of this ^'reat ('(M'eal. The inillini:^ activities of Minnesota, the marvel- ous railroad develo])uient in the Northwest, hoth toward the west and noith, and nion^ recently toward the (;ast» for tlie special accommodation of this Hour and wheat trade, toll the story, that so far as climatic advanta<^e is concerned, wheat has found its {greatest success in States to the extreme north. Is it to he supposed that there is somethiiiff magical in the 49th parallel that bounds Minnesota towards the north ? Its steady trend in this direction for so many hundreds of miles makes it highly probable that, beyond it, wheat should be produced, largely and profitably. Indeed, this is certainly so ; for it so happens that, north of the Minnesota line, and within the Canadian territories, are wheat areas possess- ing all the advantages of the regions to the south, but, in richness, fertility and extent infinitely greater. It would be a startling statement to make, as showing the advan- tages of the much derided Canadian climate, that even in its extreme northern latitudes, the Dominion possesses a greater wheat-producing area than does the entire United States ; that the soil of this wheat area is richer, will last longer, and will produce a higher average of better wheat than can be produced anywhere else on the continent, if not in the world. Wheat is known to have been grrown in the vicinity of numerous Hudson's Hay Company's TnK (JREATKH HALF OF THK CONTINKNT. stations for twenty consecutive years, without rotation, without fertilization, and annually producing crops aver- aging thirty bushels to the acre ! If, therefore, the production of this most valuable of cereais is the truest test of climatic advantage; if the tenderness of the wheat plant in its cultivation is a deli- cate standard of conditions, as it really is, it is submitted that the prejudice as against the Canadian climate should, in the first place, prevail no longer than it prevails against the climate in similar latitudes in the United States, where the greatest success has been achieved ; and, second, that the advantages which the northernmost portions of Canada possess over even parallels far to the South, should be recognized. These advantages are found in the often forgotten circumstance that climate is much more the result of altitude than it is of latitude. According to Humboldt, Europe has a mean elevation of six hundred and seventy-one feet, and North America a mean elevation of seven hundred and forty-eight feet. It is a significant circumstance that the Canadian portion of North America has an altitude of only three-hundred feet. In the extreme northwest of Canada, the falling off from the height of land toward the vast body of water known as Hudson's Bay is shown in the fact, that from even within the Minnesota line the rivers all begin to run towards the north. This low altitude, in its influence upon the climate, is second only to the effect of the marine currents, which are singularly favorable to Canada These influences are shown in the startling fact that the mean temperature of Hudson's Bay is three degrees warmer during the winter than that of Lake Superior ; THE GRKATER HALF OP THE CONTINENT. 'f/ and that it is on the southern and western shores of Lake Superior where the mr ^ important development of American enterprises has taken place, — developments that have yielded in lumber, in iron and copper, riches of greater magnitude than produced elsewhere in the country ; and within parallels of latitude included in this lake, an agricultural development more remarkable than that elsewhere in the world. The moderating influences of vast bodies of fresh water that never freeze over are well known. In the great chain of lakes tliat surround Canada, and the vast number of lakes and rivers that diversify her surface, there is a fresh water area of one hundred and thirty thousand square miles, and as above stated, comprising nearly one-half of the fresh water of the globe. The effect upon the climate of this vast aggre- gation is most beneficial, so that in altitude, and in other influences that mitigate the extreme northern location of the land, there are found considerations of the greatest weight. These influences are shown in the warmer climate of the great territory of Alberta, which lies directly north of Wyoming, from the latter of which and into the former, stock is being regularly driven at the beginning of each winter, because of the presence within the Canadian border, the year round, of an abundance of grass. The experience of last winter showed conclusively that while throughout Manitoba and the Canadian north- west territories the winter of 1888 was not excessively severe, so far south as Iowa and Nebraska the severest cold was felt, and as far east as even New York in the famous blizzard, which never found its equal even in Winnipeg, the most northern of Canadian cities. It is 10 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. true that in the northwestern portions of Canada the winters are long ; that the frost is severe and continuous ; but it is equally true that the climate is dry and invigorating. But aside from this continued severity of the climate in the winter, there are compensations and advantages in the summer months in the extreme northern region of Canada which must not ba ignored. For instance, what would be thought of a device that should provide, underneath the whole surface of a vast and fertile wheat- producing area, of a well-spring of moisture, that should continuously exude, and feel the delicate tendrils of roots that the wheat plant sends down into the earth for sus- tenance ? Yet this is precisely what nature has provided in the thousands of square miles of wheat areas of the Canadian northwest. Ages of long winters, continuous and often severe cold, have produced a frost line in the earth far down below the surface, which being thawed out during the summer months is full of force. What seems, at first glance, a barrier to the productive powers of nature, is, in this case, found to be contributory in the highest degree to man's advantage. For this vast area of ice, far enough below the surface to permit the growth of |)lants, holds in suspense and readiness for the land above, the needed element of moisture, constant and assured, which in other regions comes only in the rains and dews that fall from the sky— a supply uncertain and uncon- trollable. But there is still another advantage in these northern wheat-fields of Canada, incident to the climate ; and that is, that while these latitudes imply long wintei- days, they ecj^ually imply the longest days in summer. % THK OREATKR HALF OF THE CONTINKNT. 11 y/ Thus, there is an average of two hours per day more of sunshine during the period of the growth of wheat in the Canadian northwest, than is vouchsafed in any other locality where wheat can be produced. Not only is two hours of sunshine in each day an inestiniatable advantage, but the sun is stronger and more forceful at this period, and in this region, not only helping rapidly forward the ripening process, but the heat is continuously sufficient to cause an exudation of the moisture from the ice in the ground beneath. So that, in this far north land, despised in the minds of many for its cold and sterility, conditions unite to make it the most productive, and the most valu- able of all the wheat lands upon the continent. It would seem as if a conjunction had been formed by the heavens above and the earth beneath to illustrate, in the highest degree, the productive forces of nature, in regions where man least expected this development. It so happens, also, that the soil which enjoys these advantages of moisture beneath, and long, forceful rays from above, is particularly rich and inexhaustible. Lord Dufferin, an observant and reliablo authority, said that throughout his whole journey of weeks through the Canadian north- west, he was constantly reminded of the English kitchen gardens in the vicinity of London. Cauliflowers grow large enough to serve for three meals for an ordinary family, while potatoes four and five pounds in weight are nothing extraordinary. The average crop of wheat in 1887, in Manitoba, was thirty bushels to the acre, while nowhere else on the continent did it exceed twenty bushels to the acre, and in Minnesota and Dakota did not average more than fifteen bushels. A mere handful of 12 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. settlers in Manitoba produced in that year, a surplus of twelve millions of bushels of wheat, seven millions of barley, and two millions of bushels of potatoes — the latter crop being a failure so great in the States as to comnand throughout the greater portions of the year a rate as high as $1 per bushel, while at points of production within Manitoba they could be had for one- eighth of that price. It is true that early frosts in August of the present year have partially injured the crop of 1888, and that there is this contingency always present in the northern regions ; but early frosts are equally dangerous in Minnesota and Dakota, while this year, as far east as Massachusetts, there was serious damage done. There is no locality but has its disadvantages with its advantages; but taking all the circumstances in view, it may be very well claimed for these northern wheat-producing regions that they are full of the greatest promise, as being in the line of the steady movement north of this most valuable product, and that they cannot fail to have a most important influence in the world's future supply of the staff of life. But it must not be inferred that the climate of Canada is represented by the regions to the extreme north which have just been referred to. The Dominion, from its vast extent, as has been truly said, "possesses all the climates of Europe, from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Ocean, as might be expected, seeing that it extends from the latitude of Rome, in Italy, to that of the North Cape, in Norway, and is of almost equal area." The gul^ stream, in the Atlantic coast, and the Japanese current in the Pacific, are both singularly favorable to Canada. In the Province of British Columbia the thermometer in the THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 13 of J., summer months ranges from eighty degrees to ninety degrees, while in winter, the cold rarely goes below twenty-two degrees. On the Atlantic the climate of Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick is in no respect less desirable in winter than that of Massachusetts and Maine. St. John, the chief city of New Brunswick, is in the lati- tude of Milan, Lyons, and Venice, and the whole province is within parallels which include Belgium, Holland and the German Empire, where populations are most dense. Indeed, for more than half of the summer the maritime provinces are most delightful resorts, as shown in the steady stream of summer tourists that are settling in even north of Mount Desert in Maine. In Ontario the climatic conditions created by the practical encirclement of the great lakes are especially favorable, and such stretches as are included in the Niagara Peninsula, and those bordering upon Lake Erie, force themselves upon the attention of the student of North America as among the most favored spots on the whole continent. So far as climate, then, is concerned, there is no one thing in all the cata- logue of advantages which Canada possesses that is of greater value ; for, in its variety, it favors the produc- tion of numerous cereals and crops, and, in its forcefulness and vigor it stimulates the best efforts of its population. Malte Brun said of these regions : " Everything is in proper keeping for the developement of the cor^bined physical and mental energies of man. There are to be found at once the hardihood of character which conquers difficulties, the climate which stimulates exertion, and the natural advantages which reward enterprise. Nature has marked out this country for exalted destinies !" 14 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. The immeasureable content with which the average citizen of the United States contemplates the fact that, as between the Atlantic and Pacific, there are no stretches of territory that do not contribute to his greatness, can equally be shared by the Canadian. But the American has limitations on the north bv a line drawn at the St- Lawrence and the Lakes, and along the forty -ninth parallel, against which his commerce beats as against an impenetrable wall, and like a wave rolls back upon itself. A night's journey from Boston or New York, and the limit of his boa.«ted areas towards he north are reached two nights and a day, even from Chicago, in the centre of his territory, and the ground to the norMi covered by the trade of that great city is exhausted. Not so with the Canadian. Not only dees his territory stretch two hun- dred miles further )ut into the Atlantic, on the Nova Scotia coast, than the average of the United States — not only does it then stretch across a vast continent of un- told wealth ,0 the Pacific, on the coast of British Columbia, but extends as far north asthe Arctic Ocean. Take in the stupendous figures included in these measure- ments. Adopting the eighty -fifth degree of longitude as a centre, Canada stretches west to the one-hundred and thirtieth degree, and east to the forty-second degree — forty -five degrees on one side and forty-three degrees on the other. North and south the Dominion stretches from the fifty-first degree of latitude, south to the forty-second degree, and north to the frozen sea. George Johnson, the accomplished head of the statistical department of the Dominion government at Ottawa, whose disposition and ability to furnish the fullest information regarding THE GREATER HALF OF THE CUNTINENT. 15 Canada are unequalled, makes some comparisons regard- ing the size of the Dominion that are very instructive. He says : *' It is difticult to afford an ade(}iiate conception of the vastness of this country, England Wales and Scotland form together an area of 88,000 square miles; you could cut forty such areas out of Canada. New South Wales contains 309,175 square miles, and is larger by 162 square miles than France, continental Italy and Sicily. Canada would make eleven countries the size of New South Wales. There are (in extent), three British Indias in Canada,and still enough left over to make a Queensland and a Victoria. The German Empire could be carved out of Canada and fifteen more countries of the same size. In the light of such comparisons, the statement made in a pre\ ous page, that Canada comprises forty per cent- of the area of the entire British Empire, is not so incre- dible as at first sight appears. Judged by standards of American areas, the com])arison was quite as interesting. Thus, the province of Ontario, the fairest land of all the North American continent, is larger than the six New England States, with New York, New Jeresy, Pennsyl- vania and Maryland, by twenty-five thousand square miles. Ontario, extending over ten degrees of latitude, and twenty degrees of longitude, the single province, covers an area larger by ten thousand scjuare miies than Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan combined ; larger than Iowa, Minne ota and Wisconsin by eleven thousand square miles. The basin of the Hudson's Bay comprises two million square miles, in which are the fertile plains of the Saskatchewan Valley, measuring five hundred thous- and square miles, and which, according to Lord Selkirk, are capable alone of supporting thirty millions of people. 16 THE OHE/TKR IIAIF OK THE CONTINENT. That he was right in tlis contention is proved by the indi- cations of the enormous productive forces of this region since developed ; and that a European area, similarly situated east of the tenth degree of longitude, compre- hends very nearly the whole of England and Ireland, the northeast corner of France, the whole of Belgium and Holland, and the greater part of the valley of the Rhine. The vast expanse of Canada may be judged by the extent of her rivers and bays. The St. John, in Mew Brunswick, the largest river on the Atlantic coast south of the St. Lawrence, is five hundred miles in length, and is navigable for two hundred and thirty iniles. The St. Lawrence, one of the noblest of the great rivers in the world, has a length of seven hundred and fifty miles, en- tirely navigable. The Ottawa, which is a mere aflfluent of the St. Lawrence, joining it six hundred miles from its mouth, is in itself five hundred and fifty miles long. The chain of great lakes is familiar to all who look at the map, but not so, to the north, in an almost unknown land, are the lakes Shebandowam, and Rainy lake and river, a magnificent body of water, three hurdred miles broad and two hundred miles long. The Lake of the Woods, too, is almost unknown outside of Canada, yet is a vast stretch of water of almost marvellous beauty, espe- cially its westernmost portion, of 80 miles, consisting of land-locked channels — a lacustrine paradise. Then comes the Winnipeg River, of which Lord Duflferin said : " Whose existence in the heart and centre of the conti- nent is itself one of nature's most delightful miracles, so beautiful and varied are its rocky banks, its tufted islands ; so broad, so deep, so fervid is the volume of its /. a THE (iRKATKK HAM OF THE CONTINENT. 17 /t7 water the extent of their lake-like expansion, and the tremendous power of its rapids." Here empties the great Ked River of the North, starting from the northern por- tions of Minnesota, and the ef^ualiy great Assiniboine, one five hundred miles and the other four hundred and eighty miles in length. Far beyond these is the Lake Winnipeg, a fresh water ;5ea .SOO miles long, from the northwest angle of which sta; ts the Saskatchewan. The entrance to this noble river has been called " the Ciateway of the Northwest," for here is a navigable stream, 1,500 miles in length, flowing nearly due west and east, between alluvial banks of the richest soil. Reaching the Rocky Mountains by this stream, beyond this range are the Athabasca and the Mackenzie rivers, the navigation of the latter alone exceeding 2,500 miles, while the Frazer River and the Thompson llivcr to Vancouver are streams of great magnitude. This enumeration of principal streams will give some faint idea of the vast areas of land through which they flow. But no better idea of magnitude can be formed of the extent of Canada than by the contemplation of the Hudson's Bay. This bay would seem like a projection of Providence for the good of mankind, by which is introduced into th3 heart of the continent an ocean in itself, mid-way between the great Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Fancy a bay so long as to extend from New York to Chicago, so wide as to extend from Washington to the lakes, projected like a huge tongue of sea into the land. What would remain of the fairest part of the United States ? Yet this is the pro- portion of the Hudson's Bay, say 1,000 miles long and 600 miles wide, running from the north into the heart of 18 THE GIlKATEll HALF OF THE CONTINENT. Canada, carrying with it enormous riches in sea wealth for the supply of fish food so grefl>'" benefiting, if ])er- niitted, the prairie States to the 80\. Having almost exhausted the space allotted, by a de- scription of tlie climate and of extent of Canada, the reader must be carried rapidly forward to a consideration of the marvellous resources which this northern half of the continent contains. Incidentally, in describing the cliriiate of the northwestern portions of Canada, allusion has been made to the agricultural possibilities of that region. There are comparatively few portions of Canada, however, but possess great possibilities in this direction. The Province of Ontario, which will be recalled as cover- ing so vast an area, is peculiarly rich in this respect. The excellent statistician of the Ontario Government, Mr. Archibald Blue, at Toronto, says of his native province : '' But Ontario has something more to boast of than broad ex- panse. It has a fertile soil, an invigorating climate, vast forests of merchantable timber, treasures of mineral wealth, and water power of limitless capacity. It has extensive areas which grow a better sample and a larger yield of the staple cereals than any other portion of the continent ; and it has more extensive areas not yet brought under cultivation which may be converted into grazing fields of unsurpassed richness, suitable for the production of the best qualities of butter and cheese. " In a report on the trade between the United States and the British Possessions in North America, made by J. R. Larned, of the United States Treasury Department, in 1871, it was observed that " Ontario possesses a fertility with which no part of New Eng- land tan at all compare, and that particular section of it around TFTE (JHKATKK HALF OK TKK CONTINKNT. 19 which the circle of the Great Lakes is swept forces itself upon the notice of the student of the American map afl one of the most favored spots of the whole Continent, where population ou^^ht to breed with almost Belgian fecundity." Another American, whose worthy eminence none will dispute, has also described Ontario. The Hon. David A. Wells, in the stately pa^jes of the North American Review of many years ago, wrote as follows : " North of Lakes Erie and Ontario and the River St. Lawrence, east of Lake Huron, south of the forty-fifth parallel, and included mainly within the Dominion Province of Ontario, there is as fair a country as exists on the North American continent, nearly as large in area as New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio combined, and equal if not superior to tiiose States as a whole in its agricultural capa- city. It is the natural habitat on this continent of the combing- wool sheep, without a full, cheap, and reliable supply of the wool of which species the great worsted manufacturing industries of the country cannot prosper, or, we should rather say, exist. It is the land where grows the finest barley, which tl brewing interests of the United States must have if it ever expects to rival Great Britain in its present annual export of over eleven million dollars worth of malt products. It raises and grazes the finest of cattle, with quali- ties especially desirable to make good the deterioration of stock in other sections ; and its climatic conditions, created by an almost encirclement of the great lakes, especially fit it to grow men. Such a country is one of the greatest gifts of Providence to the human race, better than bonanzas if silver, or rivers whose sands contain gold." It is unnecessary to go into detail as to the advantages which the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island claim, because space will not permit, except to say that no country in the world possesses a more favorable variety of climate, better soil, a more thrifty or a more industrious people 20 THK OKKA'IKH HALF <)F THfc: CONTINENI than these provinces, many of them possessing great geographical advantages. This is especially the case with Nova Scotia. This province projects out from the main- land into the Atlantic Ocean like an immense wharf, being almost surrounded by tidal waters, no j)ortion of the interior being at a greater distance than thirty miles from the coast. All of her coasts are indented and pro- vided with fine harbors, accessible at all seasons of the year. Its geographical i)osition causes a variation of the climate of the country of great advantage, and as a source of supply in fruit, oats, potatoes, and numerous other agricultural products, should be of the greatest value to the densely populated manufacturing centres of New England. But, great as may jo the agricultural possibilities of the Dominion of Canada, and the wealth in her vast wheat-producing areas that these may yield at the bid- ding of man, it is in the natural resources of the country that a still greater promise is found. In the matter of the fisheries alone, Canada stands unrivalled. Very few realize the vast stretches of coast line along which Canada controls the greatest fisheries in the world. Bounded as the Dominion is by three oceans, it has beside its numer- ous inland seas over five thousand five hundred miles of seacoast, washed by waters abounding in the most valu- able fishes of all kinds. The older provinces of the con- federation have two thousand five hundred miles of sea- coast and inland seas, while the seacoast of British Columbia alone is over three thousand miles in extent ! It is impossible to take these figures in and all that they imply without realizing at once the enormous magnitude THE GHKATKR HAr.F OF THE CONTINKNT. 21 uf this interest. But it is not alone in the matter of ex- tent of Heacoast line that Canada has a surplus in fish wealth ; but, in the extreme northern location which she occupies she possesses an advantage which is of immense value, and this is that the fish are not only better and firmer in northern climates, but that the supply of fish food, owing to the extreme northern location, is inex- haustible. As has been truly said by Mr. Harvey, " the Arctic currents which wash the coast of Labrador, New- foundland, and Canada, chilling the atmosphere and bearing on its bosom huge ice argosies, is the source of the vast fish wealth which has been drawn on for ages, and which promises to continue for ages to come." Wanting this cold river of the ocean, the fish which now crowd the northern seas would be entirely absent. Pro- fessor Hind says : " The Arctic seas and the great rivers which they send forth swarm with minute forms of life, constituting in many places a living mass, a vast ocean of living slime. The all-pervading life which exists here aflfords the true solution of the problem which has so often presented itself to those investigating deep-sea fisheries, the source of food which gives sustenance to the countless millions of fish." The harvest of the sea has not yet been gleaned to the same extent as the harvest of the land ; but this fact may be taken for granted, that of all the countries in the world, and of all the riches of these countries, nothing can be made more useful, in a higher form, toward sustaining life, or to a greater extent, than the vast wealth of the fisheries of Canada. They are practically inexhaustible, because the cold current of the north brings with it the food on which these fish 22 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. thrive, and the supply is one that can never fail. The seacoasts of the Atlantic and the St. Lawrence on the east, the long stretches of the Hudson's Bay coast in the centre, and the three thousand miles of coast line of British Columbia on the west, are iu themselves a great possession, while the fresh water fish of the great lakes of the northwest, especially in the supply of the prairie States, should be relatively as great a contribution to the sustentation of huii.an life as are the supplies of cattle upon the plains. In timber, Canada possesses a wealth of very great im- portance to the United States. When the wide stretches of treelees prairies which this country contains are recalled, and the rapidly disappearing forests within the United States, it is with a sense of satisfaction that one turns to the northern half of the continent, containing as it does the finest forests and the greatest supply of this most essential element of human protection and comfort. Within the catalogue of the \.^oods of Canada, there are sixty-five species of forest trees, including nineteen of the pine family, while the space covered by timber within the Dominion is something enormous. Excepting the great triangular prairie east of the Rocky Mountains, lying between the United States boundary and a line drawn from the Red River to the upper Peace River, the whole of Canada, up to the northern limit of the growth of trees, presents one vast forest area, except where it has been cleared by the hand of man. It is needless to further dilate upon the enormous value which this area is to the country to the south. It is sufficient to say that the source of supply for the next hundred years for the progress oi THE UUKATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 23 jat the United States, lies largely within the Dominion ; and that no estimate of wealth, on the one hand, or of advan- tage and possible convenience on the other, is possible, so far as the United States is concerned. Fully one-half of the lumber consumed in many Western States is now derived from the Canadian forests, climbing as it does over a wall in the shape of a duty of twenty per cent. The protection thus afforded practically operates as a stimulant for the destruction of American forests. The hard and white woods in Ontario, almost within sight of the border, are of inestimable value in the manufacture of furniture; and there are enormous supplies of the beauti- ful bird's-eye maple, black birch, oak, bass wood, black ash, and other highly ornamental woods, which, in this country, are of great value for the highest grade of furni- 'ture and interior decoration. Perhaps of all the surprises which the average American encounters in discussing the wealth of Canadai nothing will startle him to a greater degree than this statement : — That no country in the world possesses so much iron as Canada, in no land is it so easily mined, and nowhere is it quite so accessible to manufacturing centres, This is a statement which no doubt will challenge contra- diction, and it is to be regretted that the space is too small to describe at length the location and precise advan- tage which the iron supply of this Greater Half of the Continent would afford to the United States. Take the instance at^New Glasgow, in Nova Scotia, where, within a radius of six miles, there are found deposits of iron ore of the highest (juality, equal to that of any other portion of the world, side by side with limestone, chemically pure, 24 THK (JREATER HAI.F OF THE CONTINENT. in the immediate presence of coke in abundant quantities, from seams thirty feet thick, lying directly on a railway and within six miles of the Atlantic Ocean ! Could there by any possibility be a combination more fortuitous than this ? Throughout Novia Scotia there are deposits oiore of the greatest possible value; but, in Quebec, and especially in Ontario, the value of the iron deposits is something enormous. Near the city of Ottawa there is a hill of iron called the Haycock mine, which would yield an output of one hundred tons per day of ore for one hun- dred and fifty years without being exhausted. On the line of the Ottawa, on the St. Lawrence, in the Eastern townships, on the Kingston and Pembroke Railway, on the Central Ontario Railway, through Lake Ninissing, in Lake Winnipeg on Big Island, and on Vancouver's Island, there are enormous deposits of ore, all possessing this singular advantage, of almost a freedom from phosphorus. It has been truly said that " what the devil is to religion, that phosphorus is to iron." The peculir advantage of the Canadian ore in this respect is sufficiently demonstrated by the fact that, in the face of a dut}'^ of seventy-five cents per ton, this iron is being steadily introduced, for • the purpose of mixing with other ores, at Joilet, 111., at Pittsburg, Pa., and at other points. A market such as the United States would afford, if it were free, and the intro- duction of enterprise and capital, would create for these deposits the same development and the same value that have followed the activity in the Vermillion, Menominee and Gogebic regions. These laoter deposits are almost within sight of Canada, and are but the edge of the great Lauren tian range or belt of minerals, which, starting on THE OREATER HALF (►F THE CONTINENT. 25 the Labrador coast, covers the vast area of Canada, paralleling the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, till they find an ending in the Algoma district — a locality that has been aptly described a great treasure house of minerals, waiting only the touch of American enterprise, and stimu- lated by an American market, to yield results far exceed- ing those of any mineral development on the continent. Coincident with the presence of these great deposits of iron ore, are discoveries of even greater importance in copper and nickel, and in other metals hitherto nameless but of surpassing value. The copper development at Bruce mines, and especially and recently at Sudbury Junction, on the north shore of Lake Superior, is likely to be even more profitable than that of the famous Calumet and Hecla mines on the south shore of the same lake, whose payment of thirty millions of dividends on a capitalization of two and a half millions of dollars, is a realization beyond th*j dreams of avarice. Already Ohio capitalists have invested over a million of dollars on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway in these deposits. The development of nickel, of which there are only two or three known deposits in the world, is of great signifi- cance ; while in gold and in silver, especially the latter, very excellent success has rewarded the efforts of the prospectors. Perhaps the most marvellous yield of silver that the world has ever seen was at Silver Islet, within the Canadian border, on the Lalie Superior shore, wij^re, for a space of two or three years, an output was realized that enriched the owners with a rapidity equalled only by dreams in the " Arabian Nights." In British Colum- bia inunense quantities of gold are known to exist, and 20 THE GREATER HALF OF THE rONTtNENT, the fact that over fifty million dollars worth has been mined from only a dozen localities, hardly yet developed, is full of the deepest significance, as indicating what yet remains in that distant region to reward the adventurous effort of the denizens of this continent. But it is not alone in these prominent metals that Canada is rich in natural resources. In phosphates, she possesses enormous quantities of the ptirest character. No country in the world needs fertilizers more than large portions of the United States, and no country is better able to supply them than Canada. Analysis shows that Canadian phosphates contain phosphoric acid up to forty- seven and forty-nine per cent., equivalent to eighty to eighty-eight per cent, of phosphate of lime. No contri- bution to the wealth of the continent is of greater value than the development of the Canadian phosphates. In asbestos, in mica, antimony, arsenic, pirites, oxides of iron, marble, graphites, plumbago, gypsum, white quartz for potter's use, siliceous sand-stones for glass, emery and numerous other products, Canada possesses enormous quantities awaiting the touch of man. In the matter of lead, it is found in almost every province, especially in British Columbia, the lead ore there containing as much as fifteen and a half ounces of silver to the ton. The de- posits of salt are the largest and the purest on the conti- nent. Again, anothui surprise awaits the observer in that in the article of coal, Canada possesses the only sources of supply in the Atlantic and on the Pacific, and that between these two there are stretches of coal deposits amounting to ninety-seven thousand square miles ! The magnitude of the interests involved in this question of THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 27 the supply of coal, its contiguity and economy of handling, are of vast importance to the United States. It is significant testimony to the important position whicli Canada holds on the question of coal supply, when it is recalled that away down on the Atlantic, the manufac- turing coal of Nova Scotia should without doubt supply the manufacturing centres of New England, at a minimum of cost ; while midway across the continent, in wide stretches of territory of the lowest temperature, supplies should be drawn from the sources which Providence has placed within the Canadian border, and, still further, that, on the distant shores of the Pacific, San Francisco and contiguous cities should at this time be drawing their supply of artificial heat from the mines of British Colum- bia, and paying a tax to the overburdened treasury of the United States of seventy-five cents a ton I And now, having most inadequately set forth some of the plainly marked features of the greater half of the North American Continent, it remains to be asked — What destifty awaits it al? It is true that the state- ments made herein are nearly all in the nature of sur- prises, but they take on this form mostly because of the hitherto" good-natured indifference of the people of the United States in all that relates to Canada. But a change in this respect impends. The Canadian question forces itself upon the public mind of the United States for adjustment. Aside from Tserious complications, in- volving the relations with a European power, whose navy is the only menace this country need fear, the circum- stances of the hour make it imperative that at last a policy must be decided upon, continental in its character, 28 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. and continental in its consequences. The strange sense of limitation that thus early in the history of the United States is felt, when there is no more new territory to occupy ; the necessity that exists for the widest field for supply of wants that brook no refusal, as in lumber, non- phosphorus iron orcb, coal, fresh water fish in the North- west, phosphates, barley, and other products, either peculiar to Canada or geographically essential to local progress and local convenience ; the serious unsettled railway transportation problem, involving the possible discontinuance of the Inter-state Commerce laws, or the destruction of profit to the American railway systems running east and west ; the future destination of immi- gration, so as not to completely politically extinguish the American ; the worn-out but eminently dangerous fishery dispute ; the canal discrimination ; a free St. Lawrence to supplement a free Mississippi, — all these are questions too important to remain in chaos. But, in addition to all these, is the necessity that arises out of the recent triumph of the Republican party, that a policy should^ctuate its leaders, commensurate with its greatness ; that its return to power should be signalized by achievements that will make its claim to continued confidence less insecure than it has hitherto been. The bitter lesson of defeat four yoars ago, and of narrowed majorities in significant localities since, will not be unheeded, especially if, in manufacturing centres, it can be made to appear that by opening up a market, continental in extent, an outlet is aflForded for the over-production which the stimulant of protection has created. If this market can be secured at the expense of that hated rival, the British manufacturer, [ THE (;rkater hai.f or the continent. 29 so much the better for the purpose in view ; for the frantic bid for the anti-British vote will unfortunatel}^ still be necessary to political party existence. Still another motive may be found for vast expenditures, justified by the requirement of territory, in order to beget a reduction of the surplus without the disturbance of the equilibrium of taxation. All this catalogue of essentials m the present political situation revolve around a policy which may have a Continental Unity for its aim, and which, narrowed down to practical politics, involves an attempt on the part of the United States to shape the future destiny of Canada. The considerations that sur- round this whole question are of a character most com- prehensive, and they will, doubtless, be discussed in this country with frankness and liberality. It is submitted, however, that the almost universal conclusion reached in the public mind, thr.t Canada should form a part of the Union, should be revised. Usually there are ^ wo parties to a bargain ; in this case the parties number three, — the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. Whether the latter is quite ready for an extension over the entire con- tinent, comprising 40 per cent, of her empire, of the prin- ciples of the Declaration of Independence which in former years she struggled so vainly to defeat, may well be doubted. Whether the people of Canada themselves, treated by the mother country with all the affectionate consideration born of experience with her elder wayward daughter, are ready to sever the slender ties that bind them to British connection, even for material advantages, is by no means certain. Indeed, to many it would appear that no revolution in sentiment could possibly be greater so THE HREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. than the change which would be necessary to bring about a willingness on the part of the Canadians to forfeit their loyalty, and the many advantages which in their form of government they possess. A political union, to those- best informed, seems most difficult and distant. To these, however, a commercial union which, so far as trade and commerce is concerned, would be just as advan- tageous, is among the early attainable possibilities. \y y ErASTUS WlMAN. New York, December, 1888. I 3A f^ I ^ ! /