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 -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. 
 
 
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