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STANFORD'S
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
BASED ON HELLWALD'S « DIE ERDE UND IHRE VOLKEK.'
NORTH AMERICA
EDITED AND ENLAEOED BY
Professor F. V. HAYDEN,
LATE CHIEr OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUBVEV •
AND
Professor A. R. c. SELWYN, F.R.S.,
DIRECTOR OF THE GEOLOGICAL OURVEY OF CANADA
JtfAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
\B LONDON
EDWARD STANFORD, 55, CHARING CROSS, S.W.
1883
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The present volume of the Compendium of Geography
and Travel will, it is hoped, l>e found a not unworthy
companion to the volumes that have preceded it.
In common with the series, it is primarily based upon
Mv. Keano's translation of Von Hellwald's Die Erde nnd
ihrc VoUccr; but the considerable alterations and additions
which have been deemed desirable make it, to all intents
and purposes, a new and original work.
Tlie complete volume was originally undertaken by
Professor Hayden, then Chief of the United States
Geological Survey ; but on the receipt of his MS. it was
considered, both by him and myself, better that the
British American portion should be edited by some
gentleman resident in the Canadian Dominion, and whose
knowledge and predilection for the Dominion were quite
equal to Professor Hayden's for the United States.
Professor Selwyn, F.E.S., the head of the Geological
Survey of Canada, kindly acceded to my request that
he would undertake that portion of the volume ; and I
have endeavoured to supply such maps and other illus-
Yi PREFACE.
trations as would form suitable companions to tlieir joint
labours.
I have not thought it requisite to reprint Mr. Keane's
valuable Ethnological Appendix, wliich will be found in
the volume on South America.
E. S.
April 6, 1883.
CONTENTS.
PAHK
PART I.
NORTH AMERICA.
CHAPTER I.
The Coasts.
General view of the Continent-The Gulf Coast-The Eastern
Coast-The Pacific Coast-The shores of the Arctic Ocean
CHAPTER n.
The Appalachian Mountain System.
General features-General geographical structure-White Mountains
-Green Mountains-The Adirondacks-The Alleghanies in
Pennsylvania-The lilack Mountains of North Carolina-Vegeta-
tion of the Appalachian ranges- Geology of the Appalachian
region-Mineral resources of the Appalachian region-Tho Ad-
palachian coal-fields— The petroleum districts . . . f
CHAPTER III.
The Mississippi Valley.
Extent-General features-Lake Itasca-Course of the Mississippi-
Secondary tributaries of the Mississippi-The Mississippi fiLn
-Ihe Iraines-Geology of the Mississippi Valley --Mineral
resources of the Mississippi Valley-Coal-fields of the Missis^^
Valley-Iron-Lead-The salt-mines of Louisiana-The Great
LaKes and the St. Lawrence River-Lake Superior-Lake Huron
-Lake Michigan-Niagara River and Falls-Geology of the
region of the Great Lakes . SJ' "^ uio
. 20
VUl
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
The Cordilleran Plateau.
General geographical features — Cliniato of the Cordilleran Plateau-
Natural vegetation of tlio Cordilleran Plateau
PAOB
40
CHAPTER V.
The Great Plains.
'J'lieir physical aspect— Tlic Llauo Estacado— The Plains in British
America — Bad lands — Vegetation — The Fauna — The buffalo —
Geology of the Great Plains . . . . .47
CHAPTER VI.
The Rocky Mountains.
General divisions of the Cordillera system — The northern section of
the Rocky Mountains in the United States — The Yellowstone
National Park — Geysers and hot springs — The White Mountain
Si)rings — The Geyser Basin on the Firehole River — Old Faithful
— The Beehive — Giantess — Castle — Grand Geyser — Turban
Geyser — Giant Geyser — Grotto Geyser — Lower Geyser Basin —
The Shoshone Geyser Basin — The Minute Man — Red Mountain
Springs — Gibbon Geysers — The Grand Cahon and Falls of tho
Yellowstone — The Missouri Valley — Tlie Grand Falls of the
Missouri — Tho Wind River and Yellowstone Ranges — Snako
River— The Snake River Plains — The Big Horn Mountains—
The Continental Watershed from South to Bridger's Pass — Tho
southern section of the Rocky Mountains — The Colorado or
Front Range — The Sangre de Cristo Range — The Parks — North
Park— Tlie Laramie Plains— Middle Park— South Park— The
San Luis Valley— The Park Range— The Sawatch and Elk
Ranges — The San Juan Range — The Continental Divide
57
CHAPTER VII.
The Plateau Region op the Colorado River.
General view — The Caflons of the Colorado and Green — Running a
rapid — Fauna and Flora of the Plateau Region . . .92
CONTENTS.
IX
CHAPTER VIII.
The Qrkat Basin.
PAOK
Its general appearance — The Wahsatch Range — The Basin Ranges —
Great Salt Lake— Death Valley . . . .103
CHAPTER IX.
The Pacific Ranges.
lu general — Tlio Cascade Range — Results of the latest surveys —
Mount Rainier — Glaciers — Mount Shasta — The Sierra Nevada —
Tlie Yoseniito Valley — The Coast Ranges — The Sacramento and
San Joacjuin Valley — The vegetation of the Sierra — The " Big
Trees" — Agricultural resources of the Cordilleran Region . 110
CHAPTER X.
Geology op the Cordilleran Plateau.
General review — Rocky Mountains — The Plateau Region — The Basin
Region — The Sierra Nevada, Coast, and Cascade Ranges —
Mineral resources of the Cordilleras — Gold — Methods of gold
mining — Silver — The Comstock lode and Virginia City — Utah,
Idaho, and Colorado — Leadville, Colorado — Coal . .127
CHAPTER XI.
Historical Survey.
General discovery and first settlement — Rise of the English and
French settlements — Spread of the English power — Democratic
and religious character of the early English settlements — Politi-
cal enfranchisement and adoption of Republican principles —
Federal Union — Progress of events — Spread of the Union to the
Pacific — The Civil War — Its causes and results — Reconstruction
of the Union ....... 162
CHAPTER XII.
Extent and Population.
Boundaries and extent — Population — Distribution of the population
— American cities — New York City — Philadelphia — Baltimore,
the Monumental City — Washington — Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit,
Pittsburg, Cincinnati — St. Louis and Chicago— San Francisco . 179
X
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIII.
The Population and its Various Elements.
PAGE
Statistics of the native and foreign elements — Native Americans —
The German element — The Irish element — The Whites of the
.Soutiiern States — The Negro — The Chinese in the States — Their
f.'oo(l qualities — Degraded habits and vices of the Celestials —
yocial state of the Californian Chinese — The Japanese in
California. . . . . . . ,203
CHAPTER XIV.
The Indians.
Statistics of the settled and nomad tribes — Pueblos — Aloquis — The
nomadic tribes — Characteristic traits of the Indian — Are the
Indians dying out ? — The predatory tribes of the West — Indian
Territory — Half-breeds — The unwritten history of America — The
Mound-Builders — Ruins in the Sonth-Western Territories . 218
CHAPTER XV.
Social Relations.
Classes of society — Public instruction — The schools — Defects of tlio
system — Colleges and universities — Sectarian spirit of the private
scholastic foundations ...... 239
CHAPTER XVI.
Religion.
The Christian religion — Eccentric forms of religious development —
The Shakers : their history and constitution — The Inspiratiouist,
Perfectionist, etc. — The Jehovah People — Mormonism — Joseph
Smith — "The Book of Mormon " — Nauvoo — Brigham Young,
"The Lion of the Lord" — Deseret — Polygamy — Constitution of
Jlormonism — Schism — Prospects .....
246
CHAPTER XVII.
Material Progress.
Agriculture — Maize, oats, potatoes, etc. — Wine and tobacco — The
plantations — Cotton and sugar — Cattle-breeding — Farm stock —
Timber — Reckless destruction of the forest — Hunting and fishing
— Manufactures — Mercantile interests — Decline of the American
carrying trade — Inland trade — Railways and canals — National
wealth and liabilities ......
261
CONTENTS.
XI
CHAPTER XVIII.
Political Administration.
PAOB
The Federal Constitution — Congress — The Executive — The President
— The Judiciary — Constitution of the States and Territories — Tho
Cabinet — Revenue and expenditure — Laud and sea forces . 270
CHAPTER XIX.
The TERpiTi)RY of Alaska.
Phj'sical aspect of the country — Inhabitants — Indians — Eskimos —
Agricultural prospects — Natural resources — Tho fur trade —
Geology and mineral resourcos ..... 276
PART 11.
THE DOMINION OF CANADA AND
NEWFOUNDLAND.
CHAPTER I.
The Coasts.
Boundaries and area — The Atlantic Coast — The shores of Hudson Bay
—The Arctic Coast — Tlie Pacific Coast — Queen Charlotte Islands 289
CHAPTER II.
The Mountains.
General features — The Acadian Highlands — Tho Shickshock, Notre
Dame, and Laurentide Mountains — Rocky Mountains — Tho
Cascades, Coast, and Gold Ranges of British Columbia . . 328
CHAPTER III.
The Rivers and LAKsa
General features and extent — The River St. Lawrence — Tributaries of
the St. LawTence — Lake Ontario — Lake Erie — Lake Huron and
Georgian Bay — Lake Superior — Lake Nipigon . . . 344
xu
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
The Basin of Hudson Bay.
PAOE
General features — The Saskatchewan River — The north branch of the
Saskatchewan — Tlie Nelson River — The lower part of Nelson
River — Lake Winnipeg — Lakes Manitoba and Winnipegosis —
The Winnipeg River — The character of the country about the
Upper Winnipeg — The Red River — The Lake of the Woods — The
Beaver or Churchill River ..... 377
CHAPTER V.
The Basin of the Mackenzie River and its Tributaries.
General view — The Peace River — The Du Liard River, or River of the
Mountains — The Hay River . . . . 4'J6
CHAPTER VI.
The Western Slopes of the Rocky Mountains and the
Rivers and Lakes of British Columbia.
General view — The Columbia River — The Fraser River — The Lakes .
437
CHAPTER Vn.
Climate and Vegetation.
General review — Climate of North -W^est Territories and British
Coliunbia — The forest — Tlie grasses — Fruit-gi'owiug
453
CHAPTER VIIL
Mines and Minerals.
British Columbia — Ontario — Salt — Gypsum — Silver-
ore — Quebec — New Brunswick — Nova Scotia
-Copper — Iron
501
CHAPTER IX.
Canals and Railways.
Railways — Postal systems — Telegi-aphs
. 510
CHAPTER X.
Manufactures.
Trade, Commerce, etc. — Fisheries
. 527
CONTENTS.
xm
CHAPTER XI.
The People.
PAOE
Numbers — Pliysique of the people — Military position and militia-
Visitors — Artists — Attractions for sportsmen . . . 535
CHAPTER XH.
Indians and Indian Treaties.
General View — Indian missions — Games — The Metis or Mixed races . 557
CHAPTER XIII.
Immigration and Settlement
576
CHAPTER XIV.
Cities op the Dominion.
Halifax (Nova Scotia) — Fredericton (Ntw Brunswick) — St. John
(New Brunswick) — Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island) —
Quebec (Quebec) — Montreal (Quebec) — Ottawa (Ontario) — King-
ston (Ontario) — Toronto (Ontario) — Winnipeg (Manitoba) — Vic-
toria (British Columbia) — New Westminster (British Columbia) 581
CHAPTER XV.
Constitutional History, Religion, Education, y.tc.
General outline — Discovery and early history — History of the Federal
Union — " Dominion of Canada " Proclamation . . . 604
CHAPTER XVI.
Education .
621
CHAPTER XVII.
Newfoundland.
Geology of Newfoundland — Agricultural capabilities — Railway across
the island— The iisheries and the treaties— Exports . . 625
Index
. 637
LIST OP MAPS.
Physical North America
National Park
Geological United States
Political Eastern United States
,, "Western „
Population
Rainfall
Temperature — Greatest Cold .
M ,, Heat
Dominion of Canada .
lilanitoba : Thunder Bay to Winnipeg
British Columbia and the Saskatchewan Territories
Railway Map of the Dominion of Canada and the
Northern Part of the United States
Route Map, Europe to Manitoba and the North-West
Canada : Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova
Scotia, Prince Edward Island .
Newfoundland . . . . .
To face page 1
59
160
169
170
180
261
286
287
289
416
437
512
522
580
625
LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS.
Wasliington
Mississiiipi Shore ,
The Rapids at Niagara
On tlie Colorado Kiver
Buflalo-imutiug
Prairie Dog Tillage
The IJocky Mountains
Yellowstone National Tark
Hot Springs, Yellowstone Valley
Geyser in the Yellowstone National Park
Beeliive Geyser
Upper Falls, Yellowstone River
Tlie Great Salt Lake, Utah
The Cascade Mountains
Mount Shasta
Yosemite Valley, California
Giant Trees
The Aravaypa Canon in Arizona .
View of the Sierra Nevada
Chinese Gold-washer
Hydraulic Gold-digging .
New York City
)> Broadway .
St. Louis ,
San Francisco
» The Chinese Quarter
Emigrants attacked by Indians .
Utah, with the Mormons' Tabernacle
Frontispiece.
Page 20
M 35
„ 41
To face page 52
, M 54
Page 5?
„ 60
61
62
To face page 65
Page 73
„ 106
„ 110
M 114
„ 118
„ 123
» 129
,, 133
» 144
M 146
To face page 183
Page 184
M 197
To face page 199
Page 214
„ 229
„ 253
XVI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Baptism of a (new) Mormon Convert
Page 256
Otter-hunt in the Aleutian Islands
„ 280
Yale, on the Fraser River (British Columbia)
To face page 341
Junction of the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence
„ „ 351
Falls of Niagara ....
„ „ 353
Niagara .....
I.ige 355
A Winter Hut in the Saskatchewan Country
To face page 384
Valley of the Thompson .
Page 442
On the Yukon ....
„ 452
Petrolia ......
„ 503
Labrador Marten . . . . .
„ 551
Reindeer .....
To face -page 553
Indian Sledge ....
Page 557
Indian Wigwam . . . . .
„ 575
Halifax (Nova Scotia) . . . .
To face page 581
Quebec .....
M „ 585
Montreal .....
,, ,, 587
University College, Toronto
„ „ 624
New Westminster (British Columbia)
„ „ 602
Newfoundland Dog
Page 636
i
lli'i
NORTH AMERICA.
CHAPTER I.
THE COASTS.
1. General View of the Continent.
North America has, in common with very many of the
hind features of the eartli, a roughly trianguhir shape,
with the base near its northern line, and its acutest angle
stretching towards the south. Its nortliern shores are
covered by the perpetual ice and snow of the polar
regions, while its southern extremity is dressed in the
rich profusion of the tropics.
Politically, it contains several divisions, the central
and most populous of which is the United States. North
of tliis, and occupying very nearly the same area, are the
British Possessions ; while north-west of the latter is
Alaska, recently sold by the liussians to the United
States.
South of the United States is the uneasy republic of
Mexico, occupying the greatly diminished breadth of the
continent ; Yucatan, occupying the peninsula of the same
name ; Guatemala, Honduras, and other small princi-
palities.
In this work we shall confine ourselves to a descrip-
tion of the two first-mentioned countries, ]\Iexico and the
smaller states south of it having been already described
in the work on Central and South America.
B
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COMI'KNDU'M OF (JKOdHAI'llY AND TllAVKL.
Tlie United Stiites, tluMi, wliile bounded on the west
nnd enHt by the riicilie and Athintie Oceans resjx'ctively, is
limited on th(^ north by the British Possessions, and on tli(!
south by the (lulf of Mexico, and by tlie north ])oun(hiry
of Mexico. This line follows uj) the Ilio (Irande del
Norte to Kl I'iiso, M-henee it takes a •,'eiieral westward
course to the I'acilio, followinj^ certain ])arallels of lati-
tude or certain arl)itrary directions without rei^ard to the
natural features of Hie country.
The main ythysieal features of lliis ]»art of North
America an; very sim])le. There are two jj;reat meridional
systems of uplift; that of the Appalacliians, near the
Atlantic coast, and the vastly ^n-eater one of the Cor-
ililleras, which occupies an enormous breadth, in tiie west-
ern part of the country. Between the two is a broad
basin, that of the Mississippi Valley and the Cireat Lakes.
1'he area of the United States, including Alaska, is
3,580,242 square miles.^
2. T/ic Gulf Coast.
The Gulf of Mexico washes the southern shores of
the United States, from loni-itude 8r to 97° west of
(Ireenwich. The general trend of the coast-line is cast
and west, turning sharply to the south at the east and
west sides of the riulf. It is comparatively simple, being
but slightly cut by bays and other indentations. It is a
tropic coast tliroughout. Tt is low, and in very many
places marshy. It has many long, narrow islands, lying
parallel with the general coast-line, l)ehind which are
lagoons — narrow bays parallel to the coast — opening, in
some cases, into other bays, which extend some distance
inland, making fine and well-iirotected, but shallow har-
bours. Most of the rivers discharging into the Gulf
have formed sand-l)ars across their mouths ; and several of
1 The area of the great hikes is not inchided in this statement.
SKA-COAST LINKS. 8
the streams, notahly tlie Mississippi, have built up deltas
about their points of discharge.
3. TJic East cm Coast.
The eastern scalioard has, on the whole, a straight
course, inclining a little to the north-east. Within the
Uniteil States its general course is but .slightly broken
by projections and indentations. The great peninsula of
Florida, mainly the work of the coral polypes, projects
southward, partially separating tlio Atlantic from the Gulf
of Mexico. Thence north to the southern limit of Vir-
ginia the coast greatly resenddes that of the Gulf in its
low-lying shores, its lagoons, and lagoon-islands. In this
section Albemarle and Pandico Sounds are the principal
inlets, and Capes Fear and llatteras, the " stormy cape,"
almost the only ])rojections.
As we proceed northward the coast becomes bolder
nnd more l)roken. The harbours are deeper, and the bars
at tlieir entrances diminish and then disappear. Here are
the great bays of Delaware and C'hesapeake, and, farther
north, Long Island Sound, separating Long Island from
tlie State of Connecticut, the beautiful Narraganset Bay,
and Massachusetts Bay, on whose shores the Puritan
pilgrims found a resting-place.
4. The Pacific Coast.
The west coast of North America is much less varied
than the eastern coast. The whole western seaboard of
the United States, from the insignificant little bay of San
Diego on the south, northwards to Washington Territory,
presents nothing save a few small inlets and islands to
vary its uniformity. The Bay of San Francisco only,
under the 38tli parallel, penetrates to any extent inland,
and forms one of the finest harbours on the continent.
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4
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
But north of the houndaiy line botrt'een tlie States
and tlie British I'ossossions the features of the coast-liue
become more interesting. At the bound? v itself lies the
island of Vancouver, separated from the mainland by the
Straits of Juan de Fuca, Georgia and Queen Charlotte's Sound.
Thence northward there is a line of islands along
the coast of British Columbia and Alaska, and, from the
extremity of the peninsula of the latter, an almost con-
tinuous line stretches across to the coast of Kamtchatka.
At the southern boundary of British Columbia there
begins a peculiar fiord-like formation, strikingly recalling
the features of the Norwegian coast. Nor is it the coast
of the mainland alone that is so indented ; also, though
to a less extent, are the numerous islands lying off the
coast, including Vancouver, Queen Charlotte, Prince of
Wales, Sitka or New Archangel, and Kodiak, off the
Alaskan Peninsula.
In latitude 67° the American coast approaches very
close to that of Asia, a space of only 32 miles separating
them. This strait, first discovered in 1728 by a Cossack
voyager, was, in 1808, carefully explored by Bering,
after whom it has been named. It connects the Pacific
Ocean with the Arctic, to whose coasts we next turn.
5. The Shores of the Arctic Ocean.
These inhospitable regions are little known, as this
frozen land is seldom visited by white men.
This shore trends very nearly east and west, and lies
approximately on the 70th parallel of north latitude. In
its western part it is simple, but farther east it becomes
rut deeply by bays, and off the shore are many and very
large islands. Hudson's Bay, the great inland sea already
mentioned, connects, through Fox's Channel, Hecla and
Fury Strait and the Gulf of Boothia with the Arctic Ocean.
Turn i,
of the
inferio]
Its
few de
I'anges ,
to the ^
Sul
which a
wliich ]
]>Jateau
tlie iiigj
lias an
rfi
The
system i
which
'J'hey ha
"plifts, 1
foldings,
strata of
ArrALACIIIAN MOUNTAIN SYSTEM.
CHAPTER IT.
THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN SYSTEM.
1. General Features,
Tuts is the easternmost of the two great systems of uplift
of the continent. In magnitude and in height it is far
inferior to the Western or Cordillera system.
Its general trend is parallel to the coast — that is, a
few degrees east of north, and the numerous parallel
ranges and ridges which are its component parts conform
to the general trend of the system.
Subordinate to the ranges is a general rise of the surface,
which at the north is noticeable quite near the coast, but
which retreats from it as we trace it southward. This
plateau extends some distance west of the range, forming
the highlands of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, where it
has an elevation of nearly 2000 feet above the sea.
1-1^1
2. General GcograpTiical Structure.
The structure of the ranges which make up this
system is as varied as are the formations composing them,
which range from the Arcluean to the Carboniferous.
They have been subjected to repeated subsidences and
uplifts, resulting in a complicated system of flexures,
foldings, and fractures, causing vertical displacements of
strata of more than 10,000 feet. And they have subse-
i'h
6
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
quently been so eroded into peaks, hedges, and valleys,
that little of their original form is left.
Throughout its extent this system is divided into two
parts by a great valley, which follows the trend of the
system. This has been named by Prof. Guyot the Great
Appalachian Valley. In New York and Canada it is
occupied by the Hudson River, Lake Champlain, and the
valley of the St. Lawrence. In Pennsylvania it is known
as the Cumberland Valley ; in Virginia, the Shenandoah
Valley ; and in Tennessee, the valley of East Tennessee.
Its width ranges from 15 to 50 or 60 miles.
3. White Mountains.
That part of the Appalachian system included in New
Hampshire is known as the White Mountains. These are
in the form of a group, nearly isolated from the rest of
the system. Its peaks range from 4000 to 6000 feet
in height, while the highest. Mount Washington, reaches
6288 feet above the sea. These mountains are a very
popular resort for pleasure-seekers during the summer
season.
4. Green Mountains.
The ranges of Vermont are known as tlie Green
Mountains. They consist mainly of two nearly parallel
ridges, only occasionally broken into peaks. They are not
as high as the White Mountains by fuUy a thousand feet.
They continue into Canada, where they are known as the
Notre-Dame Mountains.
5. The Adirondachs.
In northern New York is the group of the Adiron-
dacks, at present one of the most popular of the mountain
The
sists, acco]
tains, the
Mountains
Tennessee.
the higlu
Black Dor
I'iiis is the
APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN SYSTEM. 7
resorts in tlie east. The culminating peak of this group,
]\Iount Tahaurus or IMarcy, is HuTD feet above the sea.
The highlands of the Hudson and the Catskills of
south-eastern New York are also members of this system.
G. The AUcghanies in Pennsylvania.
In Pennsylvania the system is represented by a
number of ridges of no great elevation. Though topogra-
phically of little importance, their economic value is enor-
mous, for, hidden in the recesses of these minor mountain
ridges are the vast stores of anthracite and bituminous
coal which have played so great a part in making this
country what it is ; and great wells of petroleum, which
needed only that a JMoses should smite the rock to burst
forth ; and, with these, enormous deposits of iron ore.
Farther southward the ridges increase in altitude.
The Blue Eidge, which is the eastern of the ranges
throughout Virginia and North Carolina, rises from about
3000 feet in the former state to more than 5000 feet
in the latter.
7. Tlie Black Mountains of North Carolina.
The culminating region of the southern section con-
sists, according to Professor Guyot, of the Black Moun-
tains, the Great Balsam Mountains, and the Great Smoky
Mountains. These are in North Carolina and Eastern
Tennessee. The summits range from 5000 to 6700 feet ;
the highest are Mitchell's Peak, Clingman Peak, and
Black Dome, the latter being 6707 feet above the sea.
This is the highest summit in the Appalachian system.
8
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
8. Vegetation of the Appalachian Ranges.
The mountains of this system are almost everywhere
lieavily timbered witli vahiable woods. Among them are
the white and yeUow pines, the spruce, and fir, various
species of maple, beech, ash, oak, and other trees. On the
poorer lands and along the mountain ravines grow smaller
species and bushes of various sorts, and in the swamps
the hackmatack or black larch. The eastern or Atlantic
slopes were heavily wooded throughout, but now, in many
localities, the best of the timber has been cut for various
uses. The necessity for fine timber for shipbuilding has
caused the cutting of the best timber in Maine and most of
the Southern States, and the demands of other manufac-
turing interests have caused the partial or total destruction
of tlie timber in many other large areas. Still, the region
of the Appalachians and that eastward to the sea is essen-
tially a timbered region.
9. Geology of the Appalachian Region.
The Geological maps of North America show the
xVppalachian region to be largely covered with Pakeozoic
or the oldest stratified rocks which extend north-eastward
from Alabama through the Southern and Middle States to
Canada. East of the Palteozoic belt and parallel with it
is an Arclia3an or Gneissic area, wliich attains its greatest
width in Georgia and South Carolina. Between the
Archaean strip tliu.:, outlined and the Atlantic coast is a
Tertiary area which extends southward from a point in New
Jersey near Sandy Hook to the northern part of Florida.
This Tertiary belt is overlapped by alluvium, which has
its greatest development in Florida, of which it forms
almost the entire area. It is also of considerable extent
in eastern North Carolina and the eastern shore of Mary-
APPALACHIAN KEGION.
land, .and forms the surface formation of Long Island.
From beneath the Tertiary, the Cretaceous formation out-
crops in New Jersey, in North and South Carolina, and
the northern part of Alabama.
In the Connecticut Valley, in South-eastern Pennsyl-
vania, and in isolated areas in Virginia and North Caro-
lina, remnants of the Triassic strata are seen resting on
the Archaean.
The geological history of the Appalachian region
may be very briefly descrilied as follows : —
In Arch»an time the Laurentian highlands of the
United States and Canada rose above the ancient sea,
and in Silurian time their southern slopes were washed
by the Silurian ocean. This dry land stretched \vestward
from Canada as a huge island of continental proportions.
This was the " firstborn among the continents." Europe
was then represented by islands.
When the Silurian era began, the Appalachian region
was outlined by Archa3an islands and reefs, which acted as
barriers to the interior region where the Silurian, Devonian,
and Carboniferous rocks were to be subsequently deposited.
West of these sheltering islands and reefs were warm and
shallow seas, whose waters were filled with beautiful corals,
and stone lilies, and myriads of molluscs and crustaceans,
whose remains are now found in the mud-marked rocks
which once formed the gently sloping bod of the Silurian
ocean. Before the era ended the Green Mountain region
made its appearance as dry land, with, however, a much
less elevation than at present. At the close the limit of
dry land, which had been gradually extending southward
and south-eastward, crossed the State of New York near
the central, east and west line of the State ; and at the
close of the Devonian it had so expanded as to include
the whole of the State, as well as the New England
States.
I '
k
10
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
With the ushering in of the next age there is a change.
Dana speaks of the Sub-carboniferous as " a period of sub-
merged continental regions," and of the Carboniferous as
a period " of as extensive an emerycnce ; not continuous
emergence, but prolonged and repeated emergences, witli
little change of level, alternating with slight or partial
subsidences."
The Carboniferous history of the Appalacliian region
is that of shallow seas changing gradually to fresh- water
lakes, which were transformed in the course of centuries
into marslies on which, under tropical atmospheric condi-
tions, forests of gigantic ferns, horsetails, and conifers,
flourished. There were no Alleghanies. This region was
a portion of the great coal-making plain, and, with a part
of Khode Island, was covered with Carboniferous forests,
marshes, and jungles, among which wandered numerous
reptiles of imcouth form and huge proportions. The
atmosphere, loaded with moisture and carbonic acid was
unfavourable to the presence of the quick -breathing
animals, but the waters teemed with life.
By the end of the period the Appalachian portion of
the continent appears to have been almost completed.
Its mountains were small in number ; the Adirondacks, a
few ridges in New Jersey, the Blue Eidge of Virginia, and
perhaps the Black Mountains of North Carolina, make up
the list ; and the rivers gathered on these limited Arclucan
lands were small and insignificant.
Toward the close of Pahieozoic time occurred the
flexures and folds that resulted in the formation of the
Alleghanies. Tlie marshes were drained and the coal-
bearing strata folded and elevated with numerous disloca-
tions. As with the more ancient mountains, they re-
mained parallel with the Atlantic coast.
In the next following age it is probable that the con-
tinental area extended nmcli farther to the eastward than is
APPALACHIAN REGION.
11
■ft
I
indicated by tlie present Atlantic coast, and has since been
subnier}j;ed by the subsidence of the land. The ocean
now rolls over what was once a portion of tlie Triassic
continent, over wliich roamed the higher types of reptiles
and inferior types of niannnals, which were proplietic of
those to follow in the succeeding ages.
During tlie Cretaceous period the Atlantic coast-line
extended from New Jersey, near New York city, south-
ward to Georgia, at a distance of aljout 60 miles from the
present coast-line ; and in Georgia it turned abruptly to
the westward, to merge into the shore of the interconti-
nental sea. The coast-line thus sket-jlied appears to
have changed but little until the end of the Miocene
Tertiary, when it assumed very nearly its present shape,
changed later only by the addition of Florida, and the
narrow strip of alluvium reaching northward to the coast
of Massachusetts.
IS
10. Mineral Resources of the Appalacliian Ecgion.
Important as is the Appalachian system in its geo-
graphical features, and interesting as is its geological
history, it is by its economic resources that it is best
known to the world. Its coal and iron deposits are
practically inexhaustible.
The mineral wealth of the Middle States is extensive
and varied.
In Pennsylvania, gold, silver, copper, and sulphur in
a native state, have been discovered, but none in suffi-
cient quantity for profitable mining.
Zinc and nickel ores are mined, and the iron ores, of
which nearly every known variety has been found in the
State, have probably furnished one-half of the pig-iron
manufactured in the United States. The zo"ies in which
these ores are found extend southward to aibama and
12
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
northward into New York. Coal, however, is the most
vahiable economic product of the State, over 30,000,000
of tons being annually mined. Petroleum comes next in
importance, but both this and coal will be considered at
length in another place. In IMaryland, chromic-iron and
other iron ores are found in the central portions of the
State, while in the north-west tliere are extensive deposits
of bituminous coal.
Tlie State of New York is also rich in iron ores,
vast beds of magnetic iron occurring in the Adirondack
Mountains and other localities in the northern counties
of the State. Near Peekskill, layers 100 feet in thick-
ness are found. The most extensive coarse salt-works of
the United States are at Onandaga, New York, while the
mineral springs of Saratoga have long been celebrated.
Serpentine, soapstone, marls, and a host of minerals of
minor importance, are found. The graphite of New York
is the purest found in the country.
The argillaceous marls, pure marls, and shell marls of
New Jersey, are used to the amount of more than 200,000
tons per annum in the State, and render its agricultural
lands of higher average value than any other State in the
Union. Her zinc-mines furnish seven-tenths of the zinc
oxide, and one-fifth of all the metallic zinc produced in
the United States. The Franklinite and red oxide found
in Sussex County produce zinc free from arsenic. Iron is
abundant, and lead, nickel, and graphite occur; wdiile por-
celain and potter's clays are dug to the extent of nearly
30,000 tons annually. Sand equal to any known for
glass-making purposes is abundant, and largely used in
the southern parts of the State.
The marls and bog-iron ores of New Jersey extend
southward into the State of Delaware. The iron and coal
zones of the Middle States follow the Appalachian Moun-
tains into the Southern States. Besides coal and iron,
^^irgil
zinc (
ginia
Jurgelj
Tl
deposil
nessee.
from 8
beds e>
is bitur
smeltiu:
coveriuf
not as }
As.
and iroi
Carolina
liefo
the richt
County,
the busl
the niin
United S
Silver,
of tlie
have be
crystallin
Carolina.
Ill So
are found
phosphate
United S
farther soi
rich in
cleposits
Georgia, ai
fii
I
■\
APrALACHIAN REGION.
13
A'
¥
?'
Virginia and West Virginia contain gold, silver, lead, and
zinc ores, antl rock-salt. The sulphur-springs of Vir-
ginia are liuld in high r('[)ute, and her salt-springs add
largely to her mineral 'svealth.
The eastern part of Kentucky has rich and abundant
deposits of coal and iron, which extend into Eastern Ten-
nessee. The eastern coal area of Kentucky comprises
from 8000 to 10,000 square miles, in which about ten
beds exist aggregating about 30 feet. Much of this coal
is bituminous ; but a large part is especially adapted to
smelting and iron-making, and iron ores are abundant,
covering about 20,000 square miles of the State, although
not as yet extensively used.
As is the case with the States already mentioned, coal
and iron furm the principal mineral resources of North
Carolina.
Before the discovery of the California gold regions,
the richest gold-mine iu the United States was in Kowan
County, North Carolina, and in 18-40 it yielded $500 to
the bushel of earth, or $3,000,000 in all up to the time
the mine was flooded. There is still a branch of the
United States mint located at Charlotte, North Carulina.
Silver, lead, zinc, and copper all occur ; and diamonds
of the first water, of from half a carat to two carats,
have been foimd. The chief source of granular or
crystalline corundum, or emery, is also in North
Carolina.
In South Carolina the finest quality of porcelain clays
are found sometimes in beds of 6 feet thickness, and the
phosphate marls are not only extensively used in the
United States, but also largely exported. Proceeding
farther south we find the States of Georgia and Alabama
rich in minerals of economic importance. Immense
deposits of iron are found iu the north-western part of
Georgia, and in Alabama the Red Mountain extends for
u
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVFX.
more tlian 100 miles ficross tlie State, having in its wliole
course a stratum of solid red iron ore from two to eight
feet in thickness. Brown hematite is also abundant, and
the iron manufactured is of excellent quality. The coal-
fields of Alabama reach into Georgia. Gold was dis-
covered in Georgia in 1831, and a branch of the United
States mint was established at Dahlonega in 1837, and
during the succeeding twenty-four years over $0,000,000
were coined there, mostly of Georgia gold. The mint was
discontinued in 1861. In Alabama, gold M'as discovered
in Randolph County in 183G, and up to June 1872
$213,700 had been coined at the United States mints,
most of it previous to 1859.
In both States copper, lead, and silver are found, and
various kinds of mineral springs.
When we turn to the New England States we find
that the minerals of economic value are of far less import-
ance than those of tlie other parts of the Appalachian
region, although the list of minerals of scientific interest
is very extensive. Gold has been discovered at a number
of localities in Massachusetts, and is being successfully
mined at Newburyport, while Chester has furnished con-
siderable quantities of emery of good quality.
In New Hampshire graphite is mined for the manu-
facture of crucibles, and Vermont furnishes black, white,
and variegated marbles. The Thomaston quarries of
]\Iaine have furnished large supplies of lime for various
parts of the United States. Eliode Island also is noted
for its coal-fields. Maine, Vermont, jMassaclmsetts, and
Connecticut produce iron, but in small quantity compared
with Pennsylvania.
11. The Appalacliian Coal-Fields.
The coal-fields of the United States cover an area of
more t
SfjUfire
distrild
P.'ii
Soil
Alk
In enstc
Cai'hoiiij;
of ^'irgill
In J{
niotnmorj
partly co
being jcn
111 J'eniis,
as \\Q, go
eastei'u p
iH'xt semi,
sylvajiia
a<ljaeent
areas ]iin-
iiietaniorj)
matters in
TIio ii
^Viis tliat n
over lUO
waste coal.
New York,
to 1844,
struggle to
coal.
Tlie K,
tJiree bods
AITAL.VCHIAN fOAL-FlKMiS.
15
more tlinn 200,000 square iiiiloa, of wliicli ulxnit 00,000
S(iuiirc'. miles heloiifjf to the ApiKilacliiuu system, unci are
distributed as follows : —
Now Enf,'lan<l anthracite tiolil
IViiiisylvaiiia anthracit*; fieMs
Sdutlifpu triassic coal-tields
Alk-yhaiiy coal-Uokl
7r)0 sq. miles,
470
220
58,737
51
Total . .60,177 „
In eastern Xovth America the coal strata are all of
Carboniferous ajre, except tliose of the small Triassic basins
of Virginia and North Carolina.
Tu lihode Island the Carboniferous Strata are highly
metamorphosed, and the coal contained in them has been
partly converted into gra])hite, the variety found there
l)eing known as plumljaginous or gra])hitic anthracite.
In rennsylvania there is a regular gradation in the coal
as we go from east to west in the State. In the most
eastern portions we have the hardest anthracites, and
next semi-anthracite, which extends in a belt from Penn-
sylvania to Alal)ama. In AVestern Pennsylvania and
adjacent ])ortions of Ohio the coal is bituminous, these
areas having been so far removed from the focus of
nietamori)hic action as to have retained the volatile
matters in their coals.
Tlie first coal-field develo])ed in the United States
M-as that near Pichmond, Virginia, where in 1857 trees
over 100 years old were found growing on banks of
waste coal. The export from these mines to Philadelphia,
New York, and Boston, was considerable from 1789 up
to 1844, but since the latter year there has been a
struggle to compete in the home markets with other
coal.
The New England graphitic-anthracite liasin has
three beds of coal that have been developed, althoufjh
K)
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKArilV AND TUAVKL.
the amount that has been mined is in.si.^Miificiint. Tiio
coal, when pure and solid, compari's f'avourahly witli the
Ponnaylvanian anthracite, with which its phint-rumuius
show it to bo related.
The Pennsylvanian anthracite coal-fields are divided
into about four basins, which were once a 8in;^de field,
but which has been folded and upheaved and broken into
frai,'inents by fracture and erosion. This ui»heaval and
foldin«,' chaiifjed tlie bituminous coal into anthracite by
driving out the volatile matters through the agency of
the heat and pressure developed.
The discovery of anthracite was made in the Wyom-
ing Valley of Pennsylvania soon after its settlement, and
the first authentic account of its use was in 1708-69.
In 1777, coal was quarried near Wilkesbarre, and taken
to Carlisle, where it was used by blacksmiths and gun-
smiths, this probably being the first successful use of
anthracite in the world. From 1791 to 1814 C(jal was
taken to riiiladelphia from the Lehigh region at various
times, but it could not be uiade to l)urii. The city
authorities purchased some to supply the steam engines
of the water-works, but could not ignite it, and it was
broken up to gravel the walks in the grounds surround-
ing the works. In 1812 IMessrs. Wliite and Hazzard
procured some coal from Pottsville for their wire-manu-
factory near Philadelphia. Mr. Uaddow thus describes
their experience : —
" ]\lr. White and his firemen spent half a day in the
attempt to burn it without success. At noon they closed
the furnace doors, and went to their dinner in disgust
with the ' stone coal ; ' but on tlieir return they were
astonished to find the doors redhot and the furnace in
danger of melting."
The general trade began in 1820, and at first the
increase in the consumption was slow. The following
APPALACHIAN COAL-FIELDS.
17
305
tons.
3r)0,H)0
)»
6,-J 10,08-)
>»
18,954,078
>i
53,333,409
j>
00,883,488
M
shows tlio profluction for the dccatlus beginning with
1820.
1820 .
1S30 .
1N4() .
1851 .
1800 .
1870 .
Antln-acito is also found in a fmv localities in Virginia,
but lli<^ basins are small.
The Triassic area of Virginia lias already been alluded
to. Tliere are two similar areas in North Carolina, but
the coals are not very promising. In all these localities
the coal is bituminous.
The Alleghany coal-field is the largest in the Appa-
lachian region, containing over 58,000 square miles. It
is club-shaped when outlined on the map, and comprises
portions of Pennsylvania, Oliio, Maryland, Virginia,
West Virginia, Kentucky, 'J'ennessee, Alabama, and
Georgia. It may be considered as an elevated plateau,
which reaches an elevation of 2000 feet above the sea
in Tennessee, and has its greatest depression along the
Ohio Ilivcr below Pittsburgh, Pa.
The coal is partly bituminous and partly semi-
bituminous. In Pennsylvania there are eight basins,
two of which have been identifieil in Maryland and two
in West Virginia. The area in Tennessee is divided into
two basins, and in Alabama tliere are four. The trend of
tliese basins is the same as that of the Appalachian
Mountains.
The production of the Alleghany coal-field in 1871
was 17,257,025 tons, of which nearly two-thirds was
from Pennsylvania. The more southern coal-areas have
as yet been only partially w^orked.
c
>'4
18
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGR^VTIIY AND TRAVEL.
12. Tlie Petroleum Distriets.
The Appalacliian petroleum districts include portions
of reiiiisylvauia, Oliio, and West Virginia. The deposits
of Pennsylvania on Oil Creek are the most extensive,
furnishing more than three-fourths of all the petroleum
of commerce.
The occurrence of oil in these regions has long been
known, and evidences have been found which indicate
that M'ells were dug by the ancient people, of whom
traces have been discovered in the copper regions of
Lake Superior, and who built the mounds of the Mississippi
Valley. The North American Indians also collected the
oil, and sold it under the name of seneca oil. In boring
for salt- wells in Ohio in 1819, it was also discovered,
but considered an evil, as it interfered with the manufac-
ture of salt.
Oil Creek, in Pennsylvania, was early named in conse-
quence of the occurrence of oil along its banks, which
floated on the surface of the water. The inhabitants of
the region were in the habit of collecting it from the
surface of pools and ditches by allovring blankets and
woollen cloths to become saturated with it, and then
squeezing out the oil. V company was formed to collect
oil in this way, but it could not compete with those that
manufactured oil from bitui-.inous coals and shales.
In 1858, Colonel E. L. Drake, who had made his
residence at Titusville, on Oil Creek, began to suik a
well for oil, much to the amusement of his friends and
neighbours, who considered the [)roject absurd. The
work progressed slowly, and when in August 1859
m1 was struck at a depth of 71 feet, there was intense
e-scitement
At hrs 400, and soon 1000 gallons were pumped
duily, and this continued without interruption for ^\•eek:3
PETKOLEUM DISTBICTS.
19
Ins
a
:he
59
luse
Iped
Xo mining enterprise had ever offered such opportuni-
ties for sudden wealth. Every spot where oil had ever
been found, or was likely to be found, attained a new
vahie, and the farmers of Oil Creek Valley soon became
millionaires. Every one who could leave home rushed
to the oil regions, which became the centres of incredible
activity. The villages presented curious aspects with the
tall derricks for boring wells scattered among their gar-
dens and house lots. The entire valley was tilled with a
forest of derricks. Towns sprang into- existence with the
rapidity of mushrooms, not in years, but in weeks and
days. In 1865, Tithole City, four months aiter its founda-
tion, had a population of 5000, nearly all men. It had
forty taverns and eating-houses, an opera house, several
banks, a newspaper, a theatre, and several churches.
Though the place was so young, unlike the California
mining towns, good order was kept, although there had
not been time to appoint magistrates.
As the novelty wore oft', a permanent industry was
established, and an extensive branch of trade developed,
which in some respects surpasses in importance that
resulting from the discovery of gold in California in 1849.
The production of oil in the Pennsylvania districts
steadily increased from 3200 barrels in 1859 to
10,910,300 barrels in 1874, the total production for
tlio whole period being 7G, 320,730 barrels, witli a total
value at the wells of $245,904,880. The amount of oil
exported in 1872 was 27,812 barrels, wliicli in 1875
had increased to 5,200,000 barrels. The price per barrel
decreased from $13 in 1859 to $1-21 in 1875.
Tlie export of petroleum now is a large business interest
at Philadelphia and Baltimore.
'1' '-
MISSISSIPPI SIIOIIE.
CHAPTER III.
THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
1. Extent — General Features.
East of the Cordillera mountain system lies a great
depression, occupying the whole length of the continent,
from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, and stretch-
ing eastward to the Appalachian lange. Properly con-
sidered, it really forms but one valley, though of pro-
digious extent. Formerly it was in part the bed of a
great inland sea, and even in the Jurassic period the
eastern and western sections of the continent were divided
by a branch of the sea from the Gulf of Mexico north-
wards to tlie Arctic Ocean. The southern part of this
gigantic valley is now occupied by the Mississippi, the
" Father of Waters," which, flowing southerly into the
Gulf, receives many large and long aflluents from the east
and west. For long distances on either side the country
consists of plainS; gently sloping to the bed of the main
stream. Of this great river, Foster, in his Mississippi
Valley, says, "The Mississippi Eiver, when we consider
its great lengtli, the number and character of its tribu-
taries, often exceeding the first-class rivers of Europe, the
area of country which it drains, the vast lystem of inter-
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
21
nal navigation which it affords, and the populous towns
which have been founded on its banks, may be regarded
as one of the most striking topograpliical features of the
eartli. . . . This great river -system penetrates to the
very heart of a continent, and, with its numerous
tributaries, affords an inland navigation of unsurpassed
magnificence."
:lll|
2. Lahe Itasca — Course of the AUssissippi.
In the northern part of the State of Minnesota, in a
region of lakes and forests, lies Lake Itasca, under a low
sandstone ridge, overgrown with jiine-trees. From it
flows a little streamlet, taking a southerly course, which
farther on becomes the mighty Mississipj)i. At first it
winds through the lacustrine State of Minnesota, travers-
ing several of the countless lakelets which dot its surface,
and forming a series of rapids, of which the Falls of St.
Anthony marKs the limit of its upper course. Along its
middle course, where it serves as the boundary line
between several States, it receives many great branches,
— from the west the Missouri, Arkansas, and Red Elvers,
— from the east the Ohio. Its course throughout is very
winding. In the upper part it is bordered by high steep
bluffs, tlie margins of the fiat prairie level, which stretches
back to a limitless distance on either side. Between the
bhdl's the great river meanders from side to side of a broad
bottom-land of inexhaustible fertility.
Farther south the blufi's disappear, the banks become
low and liable to overflow by the floods of the river. In
former times great areas of the Southern States were
covered with water by these inundations. Xuw, a system
of levees, extending for enormous distances along the river,
curb its destructive propensities, and have reclaimed vast
areas of cotton and rice lands.
/
09
COMrENDIUM OF GEOGRArHY AND TRAVEL.
The river has as tawny a mane as the Eoman Tiher.
From the arid plains of the west its great, swift hranclies
come, loaded with detritus, and below the mouth of the
Missouri the great river is a dense yellow torrent. The
southern part of Louisiana is the work of this river. The
soil on which New Orleans is built was carved from the
rocks of the high ])lains 3000 miles away.
The waters of the river reach tlie Gulf of jMcxico
through a number of passages, known as passes, of which
five now afford exit to the water, while several others,
which have been open, are now closed up by the deposit of
detritus, and have become lakes or bayous.
At the mouths of the passes, wdiere the current is
checked by contact with the still waters of the Gulf, the
silt is deposited, and bars are the result. These bars are
of course serious impediments to navigation, and much
labour and money have been expended in attempts to
remove them. This has at last been accomplished by an
American engineer, Mr. J. B. Edes. By means of a
system of jetties, by which the rapidity of the current
was increased, the stream scoured its own bar away, and
scattered the material far and wide over the bed of the
Gulf
By this means the South Pass, wliich previously had
a depth of but four feet on its bar, now — 1879 — lias a
depth of thirty feet, and the largest vessels are daily
passing in and out.
The following table, taken from Humphrey's and
Abbot's Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi Bivcr,
gives much valuable data concerning this great stream
and its affluents: —
TJ
Ohio l.'iver .
Itjipi- Jlississ
(above iiioutl
Missouri) ,
Jlissouri
Arkfiiisas
Ked J.'ivor
Louisiiiiiii
Yazoo liivi'i-
St. Francis Ri
Mississippi (]j,.]
month of jj
sonri) .
The draiiiage-i
Of the
Arkansas r
Cordillera s
tary, rising
Mexico, fl
draining tli
The Yazoo a
of the midd]
Of the
■^ro of first
branch of tl
of which is
Platte also,
navigable on
miles, and dr
Kansas or K
I
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
23
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.
Drninngo
Area.
Sq. Miles.
LenRtli.
Navif,'nlile
]-fii),'tli.
Miles.
Elevation in Feet.
nisdiartte
per Second
Cub. Feet.
Miles.
Of Head.
of Mouth.
' Oliio liiver . . .
214,000
975
975
1,650
275
158,000
Upjier ilississippi
1
(above mouth of
Jlisscmri) . . .
109,000
1330
658
1,600
381
lO.^OOO
Jlissouri . . .
518,000
2000
2644
7,000
381
120,000
Arkansas . . .
18y,0o0
1500
522
10,000
162
63,000
Ki'il Itivor of
Louisiana . .
97,000
1200
595
2,450
54
57,000
Yazoo liiviT . .
l3,sr,o
500
240
210
103
43,000
St. Francis River
10,500
380
80
1,150
2U0
31,000
Mississippi (billow
month of Mis-
souri) ....
1,244,000
12S6
1286
381
675,000
i
The drainage-area and discharge given under the latter are those of the
whole system.
Of the branches mentioned above, the Missouri and
Arkansas rise in the Eocky Mountains, a part of the
Cordillera system ; the Red Eiver is also a western tribu-
tary, risincf in the Llano Estacado of Texas and New
Mexico. The Ohio River is the princijial eastern tributary,
draining the whole western slope of the Appalachians.
The Yazoo and St. Francis are confined to the low prairies
of the middle of the valley.
3. Secondary Trihutaries of the 3Iississ7p2^i.
Of the secondary tributaries of the Mississipi, many
are of first-rate importance. Thus the Yellowstone, a
branch of the Missouri, has a length of 535 miles, 400
of which is na\agable by steamers of light draught. The
Platte also, though a shallow stream, and consequently
navigable only for small boats, has a length of about 800
miles, and drains an enormous extent of country. The
Kansas or Kaw Eiver is another very large branch.
24
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
The Arkansas has two large branches — the Canadian
and the White Rivers. The former rises in the eastern
foothills of the liocky Mountains, about GO 00 feet above
the sea, and has a course of about 1000 miles in length.
The latter, which discharges in part into the Arkansas, in
part into the Mississippi directly, drains the northern part
of Arkansas and the southern part of Missouri.
The Upper Mississippi has very many large tribu-
taries from both sides. Among them may be mentioned
the Minnesota, Wisconsin, Eock, Cedar, Des Moines, and
Illinois Iwivers, the last two of which have lengths of
about 400 miles each. Most of these are navigable for
greater or less distances.
The Ohio is the result of the junction of a number of
large navigable streams. The Alleghany and Mononga-
hela unite at its head. Lower down it receives the
waters of the Tennessee, the Cumberland, the Wabash,
Kentucky, and the Great Kanawha.
Fart
becomes
region b(
fertile so
waving
masses oi
country.
Illinois, ;
and Keni
Eastern ^
off to the
arid plains
South
of the Te;
coast regio;
a region o
surface, an
4. The Mississipioi Basin.
The region drained by this river differs extremely in
its different parts, in surface, climate, elevation, and
natural products. That portion of it lying west of the
100th meridian belongs properly under the head of the
Cordilleras, and will be reserved for the cliapter relating
to that region. The middle and eastern portions of this
drainage system present somewhat more uniforndty.
Most of the upper course of the Mississippi proper is
through a country densely timbered with coniferai, more
or less marshy, and dotted with innumerable small lakes.
This includes nearly all of Minnesota, the northern part
of Wisconsin, and the eastern portion of Dakota.
Tlie re|
time was
witli here
present Mh
souri, Arka
^vashed the
then occupi
and Devonit
the southwa
period, a lai
vast level p
Appalachian
foi'est, excep
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
25
5. Tlie Prairies.
Farther southward the timber thins out, the surface
becomes very level, and the lakes disappear. The prairie
region begins. Its characteristics are a level surface, very-
fertile soil, well watered, and naturally covered with high
waving grasses, interspersed with scattered belts and
masses of timber. This is the agricultural region of the
country. The prairies cover the States of Indiana,
Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Western Tennessee,
and Kentucky, Southern INIichigan and Wisconsin, and
Eastern Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian Territory, shading
off to the westward in the three last States into the liiuh
arid plains.
South of the prairie section is the semi-tropical region
of the Texas coast, Louisiana and Mississippi, with the
coast region of Alabama, and the swampy state of Florida ;
a region characterised by a hot unhealthy climate, level
surface, and dense tropical vegetation.
6. Geology of the Mtssissiiipi VaVcy.
The region of the IMississippi Valley in Arch.Tan
time was covered with a great inter-continental ocean,
with here and there isolated areas of land west of the
present Mississippi, in what are now the States of Mis-
souri, Arkansas, and Texas. The waters of this ocean
washed the southern shores of the young continent that
then occupied only British America. During Silurian
and Devonian time this continent gradually expanded to
the southward, until, near the close of the Carboniferous
period, a large portion of the Mississij)pi Valley was a
vast level plain, which was continuous with that in the
Appalachian region. The whole country was " one vast
forest, except where fresh waters lay too deep for forests
It ■ .
26
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
to grow; and the lakes probably had islands of shrubbery
and forest vegetation floating over the waters, as is now
true of some of the tropical lakes of India." " Being
thus level, tliere could have been no great Mississippi or
Ohio ; the continent would have had no sufficient drain-
age, and tlie wide plains would necessarily liave been
marshy and spotted with shallow lakes," — (Dana). On
the east of this basin were the Green Mountains, and on
the west the embryo Eocky Mountains. " Tlie interior
sea, which in Silurian and Devonian periods had spread
from the Gulf of Mexico over the whole interior conti-
nental basin, and northward on the west side of the
ArchaMu nucleus to the Arctic Ocean, after many varia-
tions eastward and westward in its extent through the
whole Palaeozoic, was at last mostly Imiited to the region
west of the Mississippi." — (Dana).
In Mesozoic time the continent reached westward to
Kansas ; the Gulf of Mexico extended as a bay northward
to the mouth of the Ohio, and westward it extended over
much of the region of the plains and the Eocky Moun-
tains, probably as far north-westward as the Arctic Sea.
After the Cretaceous this Mediterranean Sea disappeared,
but it was not until after the Miocene Tertiary that the
Gulf of Mexico retreated to near its present limits.
During the Tertiary the Ohio and Mississippi barely
united before emptying into the Gulf. It was not until
the Quaternary that the Mississippi Eiver system was
completed. Such is the brief sketch of the geological
history of the region of the Mississippi Valley.
7. Mineral Ecsources of the Mississiijpi Valley.
The mineral resources of the Mississippi Valley are
extensive, and comprise iron, coal, lead, and copper, as
the principal minerals of economic value.
TI
nary (
stands
licr pr
lead ai
Gold ai
Mfniies
not WOl'
same Si
wJiicJi is
In r
of ]\Iissc
Union,
iron is fc
carried o
coi)per-m:
the pi'inci
the mines
all the ot;
Lead
Hot s
Arkansas
miles S.M
springs ra
The watei
find carboi
are said to
Coal is
minerals of
principal hi
8.
A large
wliich are a
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
27
The State of Louisiana contains the most extraordi-
nary deposits of salt ever discovered, while ^Michigan
stands in the first rank of mining States on account of
her production of copper anil iron ores. Copper and
lead are found in all the Xorthern States of the Valley,
(""lold and silver exist in moderately paying quantities in
^linnesota, hut the region is yet so wild that mines are
not worked on account of their inaccessibility. In the
same State also are found quarries of Indian pipestone,
which is used for a variety of i)urposes.
In richness and variety of mineral products the State
of ]\Iissouri is not surpassed by any other State in the
Union. Silver is found in connection with galena, and
iron is found in every county. Copper mining M-as once
carried on, but since the opening of the Lake Superior
copper-mines it has been rendered unprofitable. Iron is
the principal product of the State, and after it comes lead,
the mines of the State producing a larger quantity than
all the other portions of the United States together.
Lead is also found in Illinois, Iowa, and other States.
Hot springs are found at many localities, but those of
Arkansas are the most celebrated. They are about 60
miles S.W. from Little Eock, and comprise about 60
springs ranging in temperature from 93° to 148° F.
The waters contain a large amount of carbonic acid,
and carbonates of the alkalies and alkaline earths, and
are said to be very efficacious in many chronic diseases.
Coal is the most widely distributed of the economic
minerals of the Mississippi Valley, and is found in three
principal basins or fields.
4
8. Coal-Flclds of the Mksissiiipi Valley.
A large part of the prairies is underlaid by coal-beds
which are all of bituminous varieties, no anthracite being
28
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
found west of the Appalachian range. There are three
areas, viz. the Michigan Basin, the Illinois Basin, and
the Missouri Basin. The Alleghany Basin of the Appa-
lachian region also extends somewhat into the Mississippi
Valley region, especially in Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, and
Tennessee, and in Alabama.
The coal-fields are distributed about as follows : —
Michigan Basin .
•
6,700 square miles
Illinois Basin
•
. 47,188 „
Missouri Basin
•
. 84,343 „ „
The Michigan Basin occupies the lower peninsula of
Michigan, its coal-measures occupying nearly 7000 square
miles, 123 feet in thickness, with a maximum of 11
feet of coal. It is thickest in the centre of the basin,
and thins out to the thickness of paper at the edge.
In the highest portions of the peninsula it is mostly at
such a depth as to require constant pumping to keep the
mines free from water. The coal is bituminous and of
fair quality, though not the best.
The Illinois Basin includes portions of Indiana and
Kentucky, aliout 4000 square miles being in the latter,
and over 6000 in the former. It is sometimes called the
central coal-field. In Illinois there are ten beds aggregat-
ing 38 feet in thickness, and in Western Kentucky nine
beds, 29 feet thick in all. The coal is non-coking or
free-burning bituminous coal, known generally as " block
coal," because it comes out in square pieces, owing to the
multitude of joints and seams in the beds. The proximity
of these coal-areas to the vast manufacturing establish-
ments of Chicago and St. Louis, and to the steamers on
the Mississippi, enhance their value. The coal is also
valuable for the smelting of iron. The coal production
of Illinois is about 2,000,000 tons per annum. The total
production of the basin in 1872 was nearly 4,000,000 tons.
T
as it
tent h
tliinne
iield ii]
field ey
part of
Territo]
Go(
j!*J"ebrasJ
area.
thicknes
niiles, ai
ftiid oth
Wock an
of water
souri Bas
Iron
covering ]
ill almost
forms, in H
firgillaceoi
111 Tennesj
Tlie ir
ill the fiftj
production
and coal fc
for heartJis
ill Tenness(
In Mk
county—- bo
iiiiionite
MlSSISSim VALLEY.
29
Tho Missouri Basin, or tlio Groat Western coal-field
as it is sometimes called, is the largest in territorial ex-
tent in the United States, althou!:jli the beds of coal are
tliinner and not so numerous as those of tlie Alleghany
lield in the Appalachian region. The coal-measiires of this
field extend over a large portion of Iowa, the north-western
part of Missouri, and parts of Nebraska, Kansas, Indian
Territory, Arkansas, and even extend into Texas.
Good workable coal has not been discovered in
Nebraska, and little is known of the Indian Territory
area. The coal-measures of Iowa are about 200 feet in
tliickness. The area in Missouri is about 23,000 square
miles, and the coal is of various qualities, some coking,
and others being non-coking. The grade is between
block and cannel, and the coal contains a large proportion
of water and sulphur. The total production of the Mis-
souri Basin in 1872 was only 250,000 tons.
i '
9. Iron.
Iron is found in workable quantity, in many places
covering large areas in the Mississippi Valley. It occurs
in almost fabulous quantity, and in almost innumerable
forms, in Missouri ; and in connection with coal deposits, as
argillaceous hematite and carbonate, it underlies gi^eat areas
in Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.
The iron ores of Tennessee have until lately kept her
in the fifth place among the States of the Union in the
production of iron. The facilities for the supply of wood
and coal for smelting, limestone for fluxes, and sandstone
for hearths, are such that iron can be made more clieaply
in Tennessee than anywhere else in the world.
In Missouri iron is found in some form in every
county — bog ores in the south-eastern part of the State,
limonite or brown hematite in the southern counties.
H^ :
30
COMI'ENDIUM OF GEOdlJAl'IIY AND TRAVEL.
goetliito in Aduir County, rud lunnatito in tlie conl-nica-
sures with sjiutliic ores, red find yellow oclires in niiuiy
counties, and tlie s])eculnr ores in vast quantities in Iron
Mountain, Pilot Knob, and .Shepherd Mountain. Of the
latter. Iron IMountain and I'ilot Knob are the most cele-
brated. The former is an eruptive elevation of manuuil-
lary shape, covering 500 acres, and having a height of
228 feet. It forms the western extremity of a ridge of
reddish feldspathic porphyry, and consists chiefly of an
iron ore, which contains 55 or GO per cent of iron that
is free from sulphur. The amount of ore seems to bo
immense, the main body having a thickness of 50 feet,
and continuing indefinitely in depth. 371,474 tons of
ore were shipped from Iron Mountain in 1872.
Pilot Knob differs considerably from Iron Mountain.
It is nmch higher, and its ores are more siliceous in
character. It rises 650 feet above its base, and is mainly
composed of a dark siliceous rock, which forms at least
two-thirds of the hill in the lower part. Above tliis the
iron is found in heavy beds alternating with siliceous
bands. Some of the beds are very thick, and made up of
very pure micaceous and specular iron ore. There are
other similar localities in the neighbourhood.
sivcly
soil of
iiiidcrji
acattcn
ol'tvn I
Tile ])!■,
G64,5;j
it M-as ^
Jn-eguliii
TIio
than tlia
more coi
tiojis. 3
of tlie Si
tJie Missf
^vorked m
thnn ,5' no
1,000,00(
J'liiiGs in t
ductivo.
of ore hay
^eeu reaeli
10. Zcad.
The only lead-producing districts of the United States
are both located in the Mississippi Valley, and are those
of the Upper Mississippi, and those of Missouri.
The first of these comprises the region in the south-
western part of Wisconsin, and the contiguous portions of
Iowa and Illinois, by far the larger part lying within the
limits of the first-mentioned State. The lead is found in
gash-veins in the galena limestone which belongs to the
Lower Silurian system. This limestone has been exten-
TI
iG sa
as
far Lack i
iiiarket.
discovered
rises liiO
coast of tlie
witli forest.
0"t dirt or
mass of rod.
SW110 50 f,
soJidit}- of t]
i
Mississirri vallky.
31
sivdy eroded, and forms Lroad valleys nnd plains, the
soil of which, derived from the wearing down of the
undcrlyini,' rock, contains many nins.scs of oalena. These!
scattered masses are not only valnahlo in tlu'mselves, Imt
often lead to important deposits in the rock heneath.
The ])rodnetion of galena in this district in 1825 was
G64,r)IjO Ihs. The increase was rapid nntil 1854, when
it was 54,404,850 lbs., since which it has gruduidly but
irregularly declined.
The lead of Missouri is found in an older formation
than that of the Wisconsin district, and the fissures are
more continuous, giving more certainty to mining opera-
tions. There are two lields — one in the south-eastern part
of the State and the other in the south-west. Among
the IMissouri lead-mines the " Mine La Motte " was first
worked more than 150 years ago, and is valued at more
than $500,000, although it has at times yielded more than
1,000,000 lbs. of lead per annum. Yalle's and Perry's
mines in St. Francois County have been scarcely less j)ro-
ductive. In these mines a system of inosculating veins
of ore have been found, the limits of which have not yet
been reached.
*
11. The Salt-Mincs of Lonisiana.
The salt-springs of Louisiana were somewhat noted as
far back as 1812, but they were at some distance from
market. In 18G1 an extraordinary deposit of salt was
discovered on Petit Ansc Island on the coast. The island
rises IflO feet out of the sea marsh that lies alon<:j the
coast of the State, and contains about 5000 acres covered
with forest. The salt is a pure chloride of sodium, with-
out dirt or foreign matter, and exists as an amorphous
mass of rock-salt with its crest 20 feet under ground, and
some 50 feet below the summit of the island. The
solidity of the salt is complete, and as there are no seams
1^
i , i
32
COMrEXDIUM OF GEOGRArilY AND TRAVEL.
or cleavage, tunnelling is difficult, and blasting mars the
purity of the salt. During the civil war this island fur-
nished the Confederacy with a large supply of salt. A
shaft was suiik 50 feet into the deposit, and tunnels were
run east and west from this for about 100 yards without
reaching its margins. About 2000 tons were mined and
carried to the surface. The facilities for reaching markets
are good, but little has been accomplished in mining it up
to the present time.
In sinking the shaft of the mine, remains of pottery
and implements of various kinds were found, with human
bones, and the bones of the mammoth, mastodon, elk, and
deer. It is probable that the animals resorted to this
place on account of the salt, and that the men frequented
the place for game. The waters of the Quaternary sea
overtook them suddenly, and left them very near where
they perished, and now the island is separated from the
mainland only by a marsh, and is reached by a dike and
plank-road three miles in length.
12. The Great Lahcs and the St. Lawrence River.
East of the northern portion of the Mississippi Valley,
and occupying a part of the same general depression, are
the great lakes of Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and
Ontario. They are connected with one another, and drain
to the Atlantic by the River St. Lawrence.
The following table gives their dimensions, height above
sea level, etc. : —
Aivii,
Sq. Miles.
Lcii-lli.
Miles.
Elevation.
Feet.
Me.in
Depth.
Feet.
Lake Superior
„ ]\Iicliigau ....
„ Huron
„ Krie
„ Ontario
31,400
2r),600
2:5,800
10,000
7,300
355
340
280
250
190
609-40
589-15
589-15
573-08
250-00
1000
990
1000
120
606
TJie
bluff, am
coniferai.
rapid cor
of tJie M
States an
cominiinic
^vard tlie
boundary.
The s
^vealth. ]
I'otli nortl
TJie
coppe
source of :
is found tc
The southej
-"^farquette,
^vbicJi is D
quantities.
Tile n\
Huron. On
'*^ii"It St. \
^luwn an inc
This is t
mainly low,
^vestern coasi
into tlie bwi
it extends, w.
t'iiuada.
GREAT LAKES.
33
13. Lahe Superior.
The shores of this lake are eveiywJiere rocky and
bhiff, and the country about is very densely timbered with
coniferiu. From near its upper end a chain of lakes, with
rapid connecting streams, extends westward to the Lake
of tlie "Woods. The boundary line between the United
States and British America follows this chain of water
communication as far as tliis lake, and thence west-
ward tlie 49th parallel of north latitude serves as the
boundary.
The shores of Lake Superior are rich in mineral
wealth. Native copper, in great abundance, is found on
both northern and southern shores, and on Isle lioyale.
The copper-mines in Northern Michigan are the chief
source of that metal in the L^nited States. Silver also
is found to some extent in connection witli the copper.
The southern shore of the lake, in the neighbourhood of
Marquette, is underlaid by vast beds of pure hematite,
whicli is now being quarried and smelted in enormous
quantities.
The river St. ^larie connects Lake Suj)erior with
Huron. On tliis river are the picturesque rapids, or the
Sault St. ]\Iarie, where the river rushes tumultuously
down an inclined plane among rocks and islands.
\M'
III
14. Lalcc Huron.
This is the next link in the cliain. Its shores are
mainly low, and everywliere heavily timbered. Its
western coast is broken only by Saginaw ]3ay, opening
into the lower peninsula of ]\Iichigan ; but on the east
it extends, with many bays, fiir into the Dominion of
Canada.
1:.^
!::!
34
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
15. Lake Michigan.
Lake ^Michigan, though not a part of Huron, is con-
nected M'ith it at its northern extremity. It cuts the
State of Michigan into its two peninsulas, and separates
the lower one from Wisconsin. Like the others, its
shores are well timbered.
Lake Huron is drained hy the St. Clair River, south-
ward to the little lake of St. Clair, thence by the Detroit
River into Lake Erie. The Niagara River connects the
latter with Lake Ontario.
IG. Niagara River and Falls.
The great natural wonder of this region is the Falls
of Xiagara, discovered by Vhvo, Hennepin in tlie year
1678. The Niagara River, forming the boundary line
between Canada and the States, flows almost north for
a distance of 36 miles of which 22 are above and 14
are below the Falls.
Above the Falls the river encircles a large island,
known as Grand Island, its course thus far being quiet.
Presently, however, it liegins to feel the influence of the
coming leap, and sweeps along more impetuously, and
so(jn breaks into furious rapids. Reaching the head of
Goat Island, it sei)arates into two branches ; that on the
American side rushing straight forward to the brink in
a mass a thousand feet broad, and shooting over into the
oulf below. That on the Canadian side of Goat Island
sweeps around, and plunges over a cliff in the form of a
horseshoe (hence the name of this fall), the two parts of
the river mingling at the foot of the fall.
The height of the American Fall is 1 8 feet. That
of the Horseshoe Fall is slightly less, owing to the smaller
height of the crest. Its leap is 173 feet.
The subjoined description of this stupendous water-
f'dl is
Scene r I/,
" A.
''"w wit
'•"ivo ail
I'rogress
'J^' rocks
it is pro J
'"ilietuoii;
nito tlie
^'i\'er bene
noise Jo,:
f'lnnder,
^^'itw's fall
•'•'q' basin,
i'oinul into
"1 immense
%"J-es, Avhit
'"^"^i sparkli,
'■^"^i a])parei.
]'^'J<?e at til
'•'i'i"^' hei
"fliers, wli
" From
"nd tJie patll
^■'t"r conini
^■i^'^vs in ji
--Goat Isl
'"''"i at e
'^'T'^eslioe
''''•idosser J,
o'df benentJ
"I'^-.'irds in,
"''Jects ^y\n
NlAtlAHA FALLS.
35
viet.
the
and
of
the
the
llainl
lof a
LS of
[That
laller
rater-
THR n.\riDS AT NIACiARA,
fill is quoted from N. P. Willis, in his Canadian
Sccncri/, ii. pp. 42-44 : —
" As the ciii-reiit a})proaches Goat Island it seems to
llow with redoidiled velocity. It is impossible to con-
f-ivo anythin^L,' equal to the loivc, and swiftness of its
pro^U'ress to the ledge
of rocks over which
it is pri)pelled, till it
impetuously tumbles
into the bed of the
river beneath, with a
noise louder than
iliunder. "When the
waters fall into the
deep hasin, they re-
bound hito the air
in innnense spherical
fi Inures, white as snow
and sparkling as diamonds. These figures, after rising
and apparently remaining stationary for a moment, ex-
plode at the top and emit columns of spray to an aston-
ishing hei'dit. They then subside and are succeeded by
others, wliich disappear in the same manner.
" From that part of the Table Rf)ck which yet remains,
and tlie path which I liave already described, the spec-
tator commands one of the grandest and most romantic
views in nature. The tremendous rapids above the Falls
— Cioat Island in their midst, covered Avith trees, which
>"('ni at every moment about to be swept away ; the
Horseshoe Fall, inmiedintely below Table Eock ; Fort
>^rhlosser Fall, beyond Goat Island ; and the frightful
gulf beneatli, boiling M-itli perpetual rage and shooting
mnvards immense volumes of sparkling foam, smoking
with ap|)iirent intensity of heat ; — are a few of the great
iilijects whicli are forced upon his attention.
H
W. ':]
, ■ Is
: f I!
ii
1 i
I; I!
36
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGUAPHY AND TRAVEL.
"Another jilace from which the Falls assume, ii"
possiljle, a more striking and awful appearance, is at
the bottom of the cataract. The precipice leading to
this spot is descended by means of a ladder, commonly
called the ' Indian Ladder,' — a piece of mechanism con-
sisting sim})ly of a cedar tree, the boughs of which are
lopped oft' at sufficieiit distance from the trunk to make
them answer all the purposes of irregular steps. After
descending this ladder, the perpendicular height of which
is upwards of GO feet, you proceed along the edge of the
river, which is covered with broken rocks, wrecks of
boats, and other rubbish, until you arrive at the bottom
of the Horseshoe Fall. From this place visitors fre-
quently proceed on foot several hundred yards, within a
prodigious sheet of caverned water, which is formed by
the overshooting of the cataract. But they must be
men of the firmest nerve who venture on such a daring
enterprise, for the most nndaunted resolution is in danger
of being shaken on looking upward at the impending
rock, which continually seems to bend and groan beneath
the rolling flood, to which it serves as a fearful support.
From the projecting edge of this rock the mass of waters
is impelled forward, and leaves a large and smooth ex-
panse, whicli reaches from the sheet of falling water to
the very base of the gradually -undermined mountain.
If the atmosphere be dense it is still more diingerous to
engage in the bold attempt of exploring the stii'nle founda-
tions of the river, for people at such times not infre-
quently lose the power of respiration in jiroceeding far
beneath the rocky ceiling. Notwithstanding this and
various other dangers to which all are equally exposed
who venture to approach the Fall in boats, the fisherman
frequently continues there for hours together, apparently
jvithout any apprehension of danger.
" The whole breadth of the precipice or falls, including
the isl,
IkkIv
iiiid on
thi'v ar
Hated <
to thi-
i'ort Sc]
seiits a
Little Ff
of 140 3
all tJn-ee
gallons.
" The
eveiiij]rr r
mles. J)
P-vcelJent 1
threction.
Jieard at (
into a pro
of at lea.'
^'onfine tlic
sufficient
i'lterruptior
^^iagai'i
"'I ^vaterfal
the stream.
^'^"G, Wllicll
he lowered
''^' tiiis bac:
to Jiave bee]
^^ amount U
<^ver a Jimesi
^^^> p-eat eroi
"^ j'ts course
^'een washed
NIAGAKA FALLS.
37
ill
IIU.
to
[da-
Ifre-
t'ar
laud
)sed
iuau
ktly
the islands whicli intervene, is 1335 yards. The ji^reatest
hody of water falls on the Canadian side of the river,
and on acconnt of the form assnnied by the waters before
they are dashed from the top of the rocks, it is desig-
nated tlie Horseshoe Fall. It extends from the shore
to the intermediate island, a distance of GOO yards.
Fort Schlosser Fall, which is on the American side, pre-
sents a sheet of water 350 vards in hreadlh, and the
Little Fall extends across a ledge of rocks for n})wards
of 140 yards. The quantity of water which ponrs over
all three in every minnte is estimated at 109,344,000
gallons. . . .
" The noise of the fall is said to he heard, on a calm
evening, as far as Burlington Heights, a distance of 50
miles. J)Ut when this is true the wind, which is an
excellent transmitter of sound, nmst blow exactly in that
direction. The waters make a report which might be
heard at a juuch greater distance, if, instead of falling
into a profound gulf, surrounded on every side by hills
of at least 350 feet in perpendicidar height, which
confine the sound, they fell upon a horizontal plain of
sutticient altitude to allow the sound to pass without
interruption into the circumjacent country."
Niagara forms no exception to the general rule that
all waterfalls tend to work backM-ards to the source of
the stream. It is continually retreating towards Lake
Erie, which it must one day reach, when that lake will
be lowered to the same level as Ontario. The ])rogress
of this liackward tendency, which, however, would seem
to have been exaggerated, has been calculated by Lyell
to amount to about one foot every year. The fall rushes
over a limestone bed, and would probably have produced
no great erosion but for the fact that for the last 78 feet
of its course, a more yielding argillite or clay slate has
been washed from beneath the overlying limestone by tli )
11!
;f
38
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
mechanical force of the vast volume of water here preci-
pitated.
17.
Gcoloijy of the Bcgion of the Great Zalts.
The Great Lakes lie along or near the line of contact
between the ohlest stratified rocks and tlie granitic rocks;
tliey are near the limit between the oscillating jiart of
the continent and tlie stable Archtcan area, and to this
fact owe their formation (Dana). In the early Quater-
nary age the entire region was one immense lake whicli
spread far to the soutliward, and probably had its outlet
through tlie Mississi])pi Eiver. Later, an elevation
occurred, which made a vast change, and the immense
interior lake became the five great lakes which discharged
their waters through the St. Lawrence. "When the
Niagara shall have carried its gorge back to tlie mouth
of Lake Erie, great changes will again ensue. As Prof
Newberry says — " Every day sees something taken from
the rocky barrier of Niagara ; and, geologically speaking,
at no remote time our great lakes will have shared the
fate of those that once existed at the far West. Already
they have been reduced to less than half their former
area, and the water level has been depressed 300 feet or
more. This process is pretty sure to go on until they are
completely emptied.
" The cities that now stand upon their banks will, ere
that time, have grown colossal in size, then gray with age,
tlien have fallen into decadence, and their sites be long
forgotten, but in the sediments that are now accunnilating
in tliese lake basins will lie many a wreck and skeleton,
tree trunk, and floated leaf. Near the city sites and old
river mouths these sediments will be full of relics that
will illustrate and explain the mingled comedy and
tragedy of human life. These relics the geologist of the
Ill
GREAT LAKES.
39
future will doubtless gather and study and moralise over,
as we do the records of the Ternary ages."
The Lake Superior region has been long known as
a cop]>er region, the Jesuits, who travelled extensively
through the region, having filled their accounts witli
exaggerated and extravagant stories of its abundance.
Numerous excavations have been found, some 50 feet
deep, in which stone hammers, fragments of charcoal and
copper tools, have been found, sliowing that some ancient
people carried on mining operations. Some of the trees
growing over the excavations show that they are at least
several hundred years old. The present Indians have nc
traditions as to co])p.er mining, nor do they have am'
conception as to who did the work.
The first actual mining operations were in 1V71, but
it was not until 1 845-40 that the shores of the lake
were whitened with the tents of miners and geologists
In 1847 the country was almost deserted, but in 1850
copper mining became firmly estal dished, and has con-
tinued to develop. The northern shores are high and
composed of Laurentian and Huroniiin rocks whicli
contain silver. On the southern side the shores are lower
and more sandy, and tlie rocks are mainly Silurian sand-
stones associated with igneous rocks that were ejected
tlirough fissures. The copper occurs in irregular veins in
both the igneous rock and the sandstone near their
junction. The copper is mostly native, and occurs in
great masses or sheets, and in strings made up of
imperfect crystals, with which silver is associated in
imbedded grains. The pure copper frequently occurs in
such immense masses that it is almost impossible to
mine it.
I 's:
40
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPIIV AND TRAVEL.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CORDILLERAN PLATEAU.
1. General Geoyrapliical Features.
The western part of the Xortli American continent is
one great plateau, ei steel by the numerous ranges wliich
collectively make up the Cordilleras of Xorth America.
Occupying nearly the whole Ijreadth of Mexico, from
ocean to ocean, it enters the United States witli a great
breadth, extending, with its long eastward slope, from
near the 100th meridian westward nearly to the Colorado
Eiver. Its flat crest is at the continental M'ater-parting,
where it is 4000 to 4500 feet above the sea. As we
f'lllow its limits northward, we find its eastern Ijoundary,
though indefinite and shadhig by imperceptible degrees
into the prairies of the Mississi[)pi A'^alley, generally to
run nearly north on the 100th meridian.
The Avestern l)oundary swee])S gi'a(hiidly to the west-
ward to the Sierra JN'evada, and follows tliis great range
and the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, Washington Terri-
tory, and British Columbia. As its breadth increases, its
elevation increases also. The continental water-]iartiug,
following its summit, increases in elevation through Xew
]\Iexico and Colorado, reacliing its maximum in the latter
State, where, over a great area, tlie mean elevation of this
plateau is from 8000 to 9000 feet. Tiience northward
its elevation decreases gradually, and at the northern
boundary of the States its mean elevation is not above
4U00 feet.
tlie ])liit
in a h.
i\o\yn tc
^'iiUey, J
]<no\vu a;
On tl
genei'al ft
eoni])le\'.
i'a<lo llWi
heads iicii
of this <■
•'"I'l I)urs
generally
of south, er
Cahfornia j
l^UUllduiy c
TJiis g]-(
its loi]ii- tr
('ither side
gi'eat gene
ill the sui
corre.spondii
west. This
iiiiiy be coi
si>nr from tJ
joins it neai
tJie Cohjriu_ .
W;ihsatch vi
stands upon
line.
West of t
T'liige, extend
tJie Sierra Xe
^OHh'a, is a
c
COIiDILLERAN PL.VTKAU.
41
Eastward from the crest,
the plateau slopes gently
in a luii,u' even iiicliiu-
down to the Mississippi
ValU'V, {orniin,i,f what i;^
known as the phiins.
On tlie westward the
general features are more
complex. The great Colo-
rado liiver of the west
heads near the crest line
of this general plateau,
and, pursuing a course
fjenerally soniewliat west
of soutli, enters the Gulf of
California at the southern
boundary of the States,
This great river, with
its long triljutaries from
either side, indicates a
great general depression
in the surface, with a
corresponding rise on the
west. This rise, which
may he considered as a
spur from the main crest,
joins it near the head of
the Colorado Iiiver. The
Wahsatch range of Utah
stands upon this summit
hue.
West of the Wahsatch
range, extending thence to
the Sierra Xevada of Cali-
fornia, is a great area of
i'l'.M
o
a
<
o
'/■•
c
I I
42
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
country known as tlie Great liasin, tlie waters of wliicli
have no coniniunication with either ocean, and consequently
no outlet save evaporation. This area has an irregularly
elliptic form, extendinj,' northward nearly to the Columbia
liiver in Northern Oregon, and southward into South-
western California. Of the details of this curious rcjijion
more will he said farther on. Near the middle of tliis
Basin there is a well-marked rise of the general level,
on a meridional Ihie, while east and west of it there is a
depression, the eastern being at the base of the AValisatch
range, and the western at the eastern foot of the Sierra
Nevada.
In the northern section, the i)lateau westward from
the crest appears to have a more unif(jrm slo])e downward.
In JJritish America the eastern line of the plateau
trends rai)idly off to the west, narrowing the plateau, and
at the same time it decreases in elevation.
The ranges which crown this plateau are many and
complex, ranging widely in height, in orographic forms,
and in mode of formation. One great generalisation, how-
ever, includes nearly all of them. Their trends, with very
few exceptions, whether of main or secondary chains, are
nearly north and south, ranging but a few degrees on either
side. The only known exceptions to this general law are
the Uintah range of Wyoming and Utah, and the Sweet-
water range of Wyoming, which trend very nearly east and
west.
We find the main streams of this region conforming
to the general slojjes, regardless of such minor obstacles
as mountain ranges, which may have arisen to dispute
their path. The branches of the jMissouri, Arkansas, and
lied Elvers flow generally east, down the long inclined
plane of the Great Plains. While the Colorado occupies
the bed of a depression, and flows nearly south, its
branches flow nearly at right angles to it and to the
ranges,
witJiotil
wcll-nii
western
course s
of I'ange
inex])lici
their w;
easier pn
explaiuet
riglit by
tenacious
longer tli
find as t
I'lateau, t
through tJ
f^t'jioi'al CO
their ineaii
inena the
f^'i'ij'her vc
stream bcL
violent cat
To o])ta
I'egion, it n
for tJie moi
ranges wliic
Startin<
States, and .
shall find t]
ariJ, and tli
westward, wl
its attendant
11
COUDILLEUAN I'LATEAU.
43
i'nn,t,'es, mnny of which arc encountcvwl and cut througli
■without dcvintiiin' from their direct courses. Another
-svell-niinked example is tlie ]Iund)ohlt liiver, in the
western jtortion of tlie Great Uasin, whicli jau'sues a
course somewliat south of west, cuttiufif across a mnnher
of ranf,'es which stand across its ])atli. This a])iiarently
inexplicable conduct of the lar^^er streams, in cutting
their way across seemin<j;ly ini])assable obstacles, when
easier paths are in niiiny places olfered to them, is simply
explained when one reflects that the rivers had the prior
ri^^-ht by possession, and that streams are extremely
tenacious of their coiu'ses, — that, in short, streams live
lonj^^er than mountains. The streams were there first,
and as the mountains were slowly evolved iYom the
plateau, the streams, like huge saws, cleft tlu'ir way
through the rising mass, preserving thus not only their
general courses, lait, in many cases, oven the details of
their meanderings. Of this class of orograjjliic i)heno-
niena the Cordilleran region affimls the physical geo-
grapher very many fine oxamjAes. Very rarely has a
stream been driven from its original course except by
violent catastrophic action.
, M
VS 'ii.
'ti
1 1
2. Climate of the Cordilleran Plateau.
To obtain a good general idea of the climate of this
region, it must be considered as a whole, disregarding,
for the moment, the local effects of the many mountain
ranges wdiich diversify its surface.
Starting at the 100th meridian, in the United
States, and ascending the gradual slope of the plains, wo
shall find the climate gradually growing more and more
arid, and the rainfall correspondingly less. Still gol rj
westward, we see this aridity continually increasing, u.-J
its attendant phenomena correspondingly being intensified
n -i
44
COMPENPIUM OF GKOGHArilY AND TIJAVKL,
until it reaches a iiifixiiimTn at tho onstorn hnsc of tlic
Sierra X(;vatla and Cascade! J'anj^i! of the l'acili(; States.
'J'liis aridity is necussaiily iiKiditied by the teinjieratinv,
■vvlu'tlier dirfereiicL'S of tlio latter be caused by latitudit or
altitude ; hence wc; liiid that points in the same loni^itude,
and ]ia\ iiig the same elevation, Imt dirierinLf in latitude,
have dillerent de;j;rees of aridity of atmosphere and soil,
dun niaiidy to the dilference in amount of evaporation.
Tlie mean annual temperature of this re.u'ion is abnormally
low, l)ut by no means as low as the elevation would
l)resu]t})0se. 1'heri! is a great range of temperature
lietween day and night, tlie maxinuim thernu)meter often
indicating 80° to 90° Fah. in the shade, while twelve
hours later ice may l)e forming. Still, owing to the
dryness of the atmosphere, there is little or no dew
deposited at night. Decomposition of animal or vegetable
remains is almost uid<nown. Dead carcases dry up.
Meat may be preserved for an indefinite time, without
the use of antise])tics, simply Ity drying in the sun
("jerking"). A large part of the snows of winter eva-
porate directly (apparently without going through the
process of melting).
The rainfall, while light, and constantly decreasing
westward, changes in character, from the long storms of
the Mississippi Valley and the Atlantic slope, to that of
sudden explosive showers, of short duration and great
violence. These characteristics of the climate have
modified the surface, through erosion, in a peculiar and
marked manner, of which more hereafter.
These are the general characteristics of the climate.
In detail it is modified by the local topography to a
marked extent. Every valley differs from its neighbour
in some respects. The two sides of a valley may differ
from one another distinctly in rainfall.
The causes of these peculiarities of climate are simple.
and ar(
i'HH' of
region
'^coan.
far fron
tlie Sie:
Hj'Wards
^\iiere tj
"f moist
TJie Coa«
the Paci
tioned ra
siderable
cold seaso
continent,
pi'overbial
eastward, i
'-i'he air ei
as dry win
tJ'cy may ;
]'as.sing (
encounter,
liioi.st chiu
crests; Mji
very few jn
or ne^-er fal
The nat
to one place(
«i'e treeless,
"lost part ti
tufted
ver3^ 1
vast lierds o
~li
COItniLF.EHAN PLATEAU.
45
and are similar to those in inniiy otlior parts of tlie sm-
i''ice of the eavtli. The prevailing air curreiilH over this
n'^iion are from the west, ])rimiirily from the racilic
Ocean. They come laden with mni.stuve, and meet, not
far from the racilic Coast, that <;i'eiit continental lian'icr,
the Sierra Nevaiia, and the Cascade ]iani,fc, FutclmI
ajtwards hy this, they reach hif^her and coldiT regions,
where they are chilled, and forced to disgorge their stores
of moisture! on the western slopes of these mountains.
Tlie Coast llanges, which, within the United States, follow
the l*aciiic Coast closely, lying west of the al)ove-men-
tioned ranges, though much lower, also ])lay no incon-
si(h'ral)]e part in inducing ])reci])itation, ('specially in the
cold season. The result is tliat the westei'ii const of the
continent, especially in the winter, is extremely — nay,
proverbially — well-watered; while the country to the
eastward, the Cordilleran Plateau, suiters in consequence.
The air currents, thus dejirived of tlu'ir moisture, blow
as dry winds over the arid regions. AVhatever moisture
they may accumulate thereafter is taken from them in
passing tlie numerous ranges Avhich they successively
encounter, ])roducing on the mountains a more or less
moist climate, esjiecially on the western side of the
crests; while the valleys, even at a distance of hut a
very few miles, may be utter deserts, wliere rain seldom
or never falls.
i
3. JSaturtil Vegetation of the Cordillemn Platenu.
The natural vegetation of this region is that peculiar
to one placed under such climatic conditions, 'i'he jdains
are treeless, except along the few water-courses. For the
most part they are covered with buffalo grass — a short,
tufted, ver}' nutritive grass, on which have i)astured the
vast herds of buit'alo which formerly ranged over this
i'i ^■m:
46
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
expanse. The more desert parts of the plains support
artemisia, cacti, and the Spanish bayonet.
Among the mountains most of the valleys are found
to be treeless, and with a vegetation similar to that of
the plains, except that artemisia predominates at the
expense of the grasses. Farther westward, in many
localities, the conditions are too arid to support artemisia.
even, and great areas of sand or of glistv3ning alkali greet
the eye. As the character and extent of the vegetation
depend upon moisture, so we find, in tlie same longitude,
that the higher the latitude the less does the country
resemble a desert.
The vegetation of the mountains illustrates this last
point very well. The higher ones are timbered from the
superior limit of timber down to their bases. The dryer
and liotter the climate, and the lower the mountains, the
more sparsely are they clothed with trees. A knowledge
of these facts, with a hypsometric sketch of the country,
would enable one to indicate with considerable certainty
the distribution of timbered regions. The Cascade liange
and Sierra Nevada are heavily timbered ; so with the
mountains of Northern Idaho, "Western Montana, and
North-western Wyoming. Most of the mountains ot
Colorado also are covered with timber, thinning out as
we proceed southward into New Mexico. The Wahsatch
IJange and the higher ranges of the Great Basin are but
sparsely timbered, while the lower ranges are covered
only with low inferior timber or bushes.
The pinii;
C'ordillorai
I'ut sliade
^ippi Vallc
■^'"pe, tow;i
rolling, tree
'" !o\\' the g
•Streams are
'-i'Jio landsc
"iidnlntioiij.
is no more
is the trave
file travellei
Ijetwcci
^vestward to
st-a-lerol at
''wt at the
0.') <•
•J •' rec't jH-r
Jiiuiiotony of
"'oinitains
fi'is outlyiiu
■^00 ih't a
;!000 frot,
"lore raj. id ra
GREAT PLAINS.
47
i J
l [ \
. i
CIIArTER V.
THE GREAT RLAINS.
%
1. Their Physical Aspect.
The plains which form the eastern slope of the great
Cunlilleran plateau have no well-defined eastern limits,
but shade imperceptibly into the prairies of the ]\Iissis-
sippi Valley. They rise gradually, with a very uniform
,^lope, towards the west. The surface is a monotonous,
rdlliufi', treeless expanse. The stream-beds are but slightly
li' low the general level, and the water-partings between the
streams are indicated only by broad swells in the surface.
The landscape resembles the ocean in its long billowy
inidulations. There are no landmarks, and the mariner
is no more deitendent upon his compass and sextant than
is the traveller upon this great expanse when away from
the travelled routes.
Between latitudes 49° and 4G°, the ]ilains extend
Avestward to longitude 112°, rising from 2000 feet above
sea-level at the mouth of the Yellowstone to about 4000
feet at the l)ase of the mountains, a mean slope of but
3'o feet per mile. Farther south, in latitude 44°, the
monotony of their surface is broken by the group of low
nioimtains known as the Black Hills. At the foot of
this outlying group, which rises to a mean height of
7000 fetit aliove sea, the plains have an elevation of
3000 feet, having risen from the Missouri Paver at the
more rai»id rate of 7 feet per mile.
: ' ■ h
M \V^
i :'
48
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
5 I'
Southward from the latitude of the Pilack Hills, the
base of tlie mountains is in approximate lonj^itude 105".
In Colorado the elevation of the western edge of the
plains rises with the Soutli Platte Piiver, from 5000 feet
at the northern boundary of the State, to 7500 at tlie
Avater-])arting between the waters of this stream and
tlie Arkansas. Thence it falls to 5000 feet at the
debouchure of the Arkansas from the mountains, and
tlience gently rises and falls with the water-partings and
valleys as far as the valley of the Canadian.
Along the line of the Platte and its north fork, the
slope of tlie plains is about 8 feet per mile ; while
along tlie Arkansas it is 10 feet, showing a marked in-
crease in rate of slope in going from the north southward.
2. The Llano Estacado.
South of the Canadian Piver, the Llano Estacado, or
Staked Phiin, forms a marked departure from this uni-
form slope. This is a great, waterless, well-grassed, table-
land, having an elevation above sea of 3000 to 5000
feet, its ureatest heiglit being on its western and northern
borders. On the west it descends by steep bluffs to the
valley of the Pecos, a branch of the Pio Grande, which
separates it from tlio mountains ; on the north it falls
with an eipially abrupt descent to the valley of the
Canadian. On the east and south the descent is less
steep, but decidedly more rapid, than the sl()])e of the
plains. Xo streams flow across it, Init in its sl()])es head
most of the streams of Texas, and many small branches
of the Canadian.
Its name is derived from the fact that the few
s]n-ings and water-holes on its surface were, in the days
of Sj)anish occupation, marked by stakes or long poles for
the uuidance of travellers.
Xortl
IJritish A
rapidly, ai
extends v(
j'liysical a
tnde, rema
Iiavc been
" 15ad 1
J western con
f lis M'ith ver
\ ^\'liite Kive
; fii'Ie 44°, tj
■ extent of c
Little Miss(
hiid)le, aryil
^'xposure to
'Ji-'^'l' ''t'd of
tJoii, irom A
sorts of arc;
"«ture from
I'csemblance
i> so great
<'>^pressing tJ
^Vesterji CoL
'"■live the resc
'ities liave h
f''«J'i. Every
those ancient
I'tei'odactyls,
GllEAT PLAINS.
49
o
The Flains in British America.
North of the boundary between tlie States and
ISritish America, the width of tlie phxins diminishes
ia}adly, and in a few degrees the low lacustrine region
extends very nearly to the base of the mountains. Their
])liysieal aspect, though modified by the increasing lati-
tude, remains much the same as the portion which we
liave been considering.
4. Bad Lands.
" l)ad lands " are found in many localities over this
western country, and some sections of the i)lains present
us with very fine exam]»les of this peculiar feature. On
AMiite liiver, a A\estern branch of the Missouri, in lati-
tude 44°, there is a large area, and another covers a great
extent of country on the l.owev Yellowstone and the
Little ]\Iissouri. The rock formation here is a soi't,
friable, argillaceous shale, which disintegrates readily on
exposure to the elements. The surface is covered with a
dee]) bed of soft powdery clay, tlu^ product of disintegra-
tion, from which rise cliffs, turrets, towers, indeed all
sorts of architectural forms, sculptured by the chisel of
nature from the soft yieldiuLr material. Indeed, the
resemblance to some half-buried city of mediaeval times
is so great tluit some localities have received names
expressing this likeness. Fur years " Goldin City," in
Western Colorado, has had a place on the nui]ts. To
make the resemblance still more striking, these old I'uined
'•ities have had their iidiabitants, who are buried with
tlieni. Everywhere we find their remains the bones of
tliose ancient tertiary inhabitants, the gigantic saurians,
Itterodactyls, etc.
m^
i
r
1
i
50
COMPENDIUiM OF GEOGEAPin' AND TIIAVEL.
5. Vegetation.
The natural productions of the plains are primarily
buffalo grass, and in the southern portion grama grass.
Tliese cover the surface everywhere, except in tlie
most barren localities. Besides these, various species of
artemisia, or " sage brush," the commonest being A. tri-
dentata, the prickly pear {Opiintia), and other species of
eactiis, and the Yucca or Spanish bayonet, are found in
some abundance in the more arid localities.
Except in narrow belts along the streams, arborescent
vegetation is almost entirely wanting in the whole region.
It is one vast pasture, which, in time gone by, lias giycu
sustenance to countless millions of buffaloes and other
wild game, and which will, in the future, supply the beef
markets of the world.
The quality of the pasturage varies greatly, however,
in different parts. Near the mountains, it is everywhere
excellent, owing to the fact that the country is well
watered by the numerous small streams. In the eastern
part uf Montana, and north-western part of Dakota, tlie
grazing is poor. The surface is mainly covered with sage
and cacti. Then there are several large areas of " Bad
Lands," as was noted above.
Again, large areas which are well grassed are rendered
useless by the scarcity of water ; this is notably the case
with the Llano Estacado of Texas and New Mexico, alsu
ou the Jornado del ]\Iuerto, in New Mexico, east of tlu'
Eio Grande, where there is practically no water Mhatevei.
►Still, there is an area of pasture land on the plains
which IS practically inexhaustible, and whicli is yet
scarcely touched, although the cattle which r-uige there
are already numbered by hundreds of thousaixds.
' I
wevev-
Avhere
well
astern
a, tlie
1 sage
Bad
udere*!
he case
CO, als^
of tlu'
liatevei.
■e plains
is yet
oe tliere
GKEAT PLAINS.
G. The Fauna — The Buffalo,
Buffalo. J
51
When we mention the plains, the buffalo is immedi-
ately suggested.
The buffalo, or more properly the American bison
[Bmn Amcricanus), formerly ranged over the larger part
of tlie Continent, being restricted on the eastward only
liy the Alleghanies, and on the north by the increasing
cold of the higher latitudes. Xow, its range is practically
restricted to the plains, and the roads and railroads inter-
secting the latter are fast limiting its home to small and
unfreqnented localities in the far north and south.
They are, as is well known, gregarious animals, and
formerly ranged over the plains in herds of almost fabul-
ous unmber. Mr. J. A. Allen, the well-known American
naturalist, in his History of the Amcvican Bison, says: —
" At times, herds have been met with of immense size,
lunubering thousands, and even millions, of individuals.
The accounts given by many veracious travellers respect-
ing their size sound almost like exaggerations. Herds
were formerly met with extending for many miles in
eveiy direction, so that the expression, ' so numerous as
to blacken the plains as far as the eye can reacli,' has
become a hackneyed description of their abundance.
Some writers speak of travelling for days together with-
out ever being out of sight of buffaloes, while it is stated
that emigrant trains were formerly sometimes detained
for hours by the passage of dense herds across their
routes. In the early history of the Kansas Pacific Rail-
way it repeatedly haj^pened that trains were stopped l:)y
tlie same cause."
Xow all this is changed. Since the railrc^ads pene-
trated the buffalo country, they have been slaughtered
wholesale for their hides only. The destruction has l)een
enormous, and, unless soon checked, the species will be-
m
i-M
III t!
52
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGItAPHY AND TRAVEL.
-1
come extinct iu a few years. Where formerly these
himiense herds ol)Structe(l the way, now only u few
scattered mdividnals are seen. A carefnl estimate from
existintf data gives us the number of tliese animals killed
between 1870 and 1875, — about two and a lialf millions
annually.
Tlie metliods of Inintin^u; this huge bovine are thus
described by Mr. Allen: — "The two modes of hunting
the bulfalo chiefly practised at present are the pursuit on
horseback and the ' still hunt.' The first-named is the
one usually chosen where sport and excitement are the
things mainly desired, the still hunt being practised when
a supply of meat or of hides is the object. The latter
method affords but little excitement, and entails, AvitJi
proper precautions, little or no risk of life or Vunh on the
part of the hunter. I'arti(.'s hunting for pleasure prefer
the chase on liorseback, shooting from the saddle with
heavy revolvers at close range, when at full gallop.
Success depends almost wholly (])rovidcd the hunter is a
good rider) upon the speed and bottom of his horse, and
is really about as noble s]M)rt as attacking a herd of
domestic cattle would be. The chase on horseback' of a
drove of Texas cattle would be iar more dangerous, and
attended probably with as much excitement, except that
in the case of the buffalo the hunter has the conscious-
ness of ]>ursuing a nominally wild animal, and hence
legitimate game. That the chase on horseliack aflbrds
the wildest excitement is an undeniable fact. The swift
pursuit of the flying mass of buffaloes, the mingling with
the terrified herd, the singling out of the victim, the rapid
shots at the huge moving bulk of bail' and ilesh, at so
close range that the game is almost within I'each of the
hand, the tottering fall or headlong tumble of the doomed
am'mal, the risk of pursuit l)y a wounded bull maddened
with pain, the general din and confusion, with the double
.^'hi'
IM-'^I
: I ■•1
•im I
'il<i/ :ll iiif
'! .:' t;l III/, ih
•3.
<
'I I
'\
•A-
il
lisk of
iM'ini*' tJ
ciin. of c
liotli to
" TJi
adojited
■stupidity
in a leva
is tlie on
is to kee
tliem the
" TJie
teams witl
•listauce t]
fatally, tiie
StO])|)ilirr tc
•-'oiupanioii
shots; tJie
paces, and
piV'strate, a
of destruct
fifteen, twei
tJie iierd b(
parlance, 'si
Elk (\va
'il^undant on
retire into ti
In tlie fi
placed by tli(
A eurioi;
I'-Jg (Cynoniy
'■^ a biiiTowi.
■squirrel, li^-ill,
tliousands of i
li
1
GRKAT PLAINS.
5^5
risk of collision Avitii tlui blind ileuing nionstiTS, or of
lj('in,u' thrown Ijy trt-iiclievous niiirniot or badger holes . . .
fiin. of course, yield only excitement of the intensest kind,
hiilii to the rider and his steed. . . .
" The still hunt is far more fatal, and is the method
adopted by the jtrofessional hunter. . . . The buffalo
beinji naturally unsuspicious and sluggish, even to
stupidity, is readily approached within easy range, even
ill a level country, where the slight herbage of the plains
is the only shelter. . . . The chief precaution necessary
is to keep to leeward of the herd, in order not to give
them the scent. . . .
" The professional hunter, when desiring to load his
teams with meat, will rarely make his first shot at a greater
distance than fifty or seventy yards. If the shot result
fatally, the herd rarely moves more than fifty yards before
stopping to look for the cause of the mishap to their fallen
companion. . . . Here others fall before the hunter's
shots ; the herd, again slightly startled, moves on a few
[laces, and again stops to gaze. The hunter, still keeping
prostrate, approaches if necessary, and continues the work
of destruction. The shots are thus often repeated, till
fifteen, twenty, or even thirty buffaloes are killed before
the herd becomes thoroughly alarmed, and, in hunter's
l)arlance, ' stampedes.' "
Elk (wapiti), antelope, and several species of deer, are
abundant on the plains from autumn to spring, when they
retire into the mountains for the summer.
In the frozen regions of the far north the buffalo is re-
placed by the musk-ox and the antelope by the reindeer.
A curious animal, popularly known as the prairie
dog (Cynomys), is very abundant all over the plains. It
is a burrowing animal, about the size of a large gray
i*t[uirrel, living in communities, some of which contain
thousands of individuals. Many of their villages cover a
■ ^
■ 1
54
(.O.MrENDlUM OF GEOGUArilY AND TRAVEL.
nuiiiLer of s(|uare miles each. The surlace resembles a
newly-planted cornfield, heing covered with little mounds
of earth, each indicating the home of a family. ( )n eai'li
mound sits a ])rairie dog ou his haiinches, like a kangaroo,
and greets the intruder with a chorus of short ]iiping
barks. They are shy little fellows, and, on a nearer
a])pr(jach, they make a dive for their holes, and, \vith a
short quick wriggle of their hinder parts, disappear.
Living with them in their villages, and tolerated pei'-
force, are rattlesnakes {Crotnlus), and a small '^))ecies of
owls who make a good diet off the young of their hosts.
lifil
m
im
i
af .''1;:
ii
7. Geologij of the Great Plains.
From Archiean time to the end of the Cretaceous
period this was a region of deep seas. In early Palieozoic
time it was covered by the ocean that spread continuously
over almost the entire region of the United States. Its
expanse was interrupted only by a few islands in the
region of the Rocky Mountains, and a few embryonic
mountain ridges in the Appalachian region.
In Mesozoic time the " Plains " M'ere covered by the
great Mediterranean Sea, which extended from the Gidf
of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. In Tertiary time the sur-
face was marked by a series of great fresh-water basins.
The fauna and iiora of the lake deposits of the plains are
of the same age as those on the west side of the liocky
]Mountains. During the IMiddle Tertiary the continental
surfaces were broad and covered with a vegetation very
nmcli like that of the present day, although the climate
was much milder than now. Over the western plains
" roved great herds of quadrupeds, rivalling in number and
variety those that have struck with wonder and suri^rise
the traveller in South Africa." The following picture of
Xorth America during the Tertiary age is drawn by Pro-
M m
I'll
Mi':' '
«fjR;.
*,:;li(:i,;iju.f, ',
'iij?;''.ii'-?i.
iJilM
I 1
ii
r
' Then j
lo the 1
I'llt tlio
iliu (•(»n(
liills uikI
iiiiy of tl
over wJiii
.'gigantic
'•ut a lev
through ];
more mii
diversified
seasons ra
moons wa:
eye was tl
<'ontrol am
fheir man}
billed Mie a
tion of til
hilt there v
tongue to t
hilt their o\
hy no sail,
\vater-fowl ;
hut tile das
tiirtt sL'iked
"Lifeai
destroyer, iia
harmony in i
="^ ^\'ar, and :
iununieraljle
hereditary en
'"id bitter t
U'ecies wore
L
GIfKAT PLAINS.
56
lasRor Xiiwberry in Mnydaus .ImiiKd Jic/iort for l.S7<» : —
" Then ii warm and gonial cliniat(! prevailed from tlio (lull"
10 the Arctic Sea; the Canadian hi<,'hlandH were lii<;hcr,
Imt tli(^ Kocky Mountains lower and less broad. Mdst of
ihe continent cxhil»ited an undnlatinL;- .snifaccv rounded
hills and broad valleys covered with forests grander than
any of the ])resent day, or wide ex])aiises of rich Siuannah,
iivcr which roamed countless herds of animals, many of
uiifantic size, of which our present meagre fauna retains
liut a few dwarfed representatives. Xoble rivers llowcd
through plains and valleys, ami sea-liUo lakes, broader and
iiKue numerous than those the continent now bears,
(liversilied the scenery. Through nnnmnbered ages the
seasons ran their ceaseless course, the sun rose and set,
moons waxed and waned over this fair land ; but no human
eye was there to mark its beauty, nor human intelltict to
(OTitrol and use its (exuberant fertility. Flowers opened
tlieir many-coloured petals on meadow and hillside, and
tilled the air with their perfumes, but only for the delecta-
tion of the wandering bee. Fruits ripened in the sun,
liut there was no hand there to pluck, nor any speaking
tongue to taste. P)irds sang in the trees, but for no ears
hut their own. The surface of lake or river was whitened
by no sail, nor furrowed by any prow but the breast of the
water-fowl ; and the far-reaching shoi'es echoed no sound
but tlie dash of the waves and the lowing of the herds
that slaked their thirst in the crystal waters.
" Life and beauty were ever;^' where, and man, the great
destroyer, had not yet come ; but not all was peace and
harmony in this Arcadia. The forces of nature are always
at war, and redundant life compels abumlant death. The
innumerable species of animals and plants had each its
hereditary enemy, and the struggle of life was so sharp
:tnd bitter that in the lapse of ages many genera and
><yecies were blotted out for ever.
I !
) i
56
(ii.MI'F.XDll'.M OK GEOGRAPHY ANJ) TK.VVKL.
vi I
Ml
" Tlio herds of liurbivoros — which iuchidetl all the
<;c'uera lutw living on the earth's surface, with niaiiv
strange forms long since extinct — formed the prey of car-
nivores commensurate to these in power and numbers.
The coo of the dove and the whistle of the quail were
answered by the scream of the eagle, and the lowing of
herds and the Ijleating of flocks come to the ear of tln^
imagination mingled with the roar of the lion, the Ikj^' I
of the W(jlf, and the despairing cry of the victim. Yield-
ing to the slow-acting but irresistible forces of nature,
each in succession of these various animal forms has dis-
ap]ieared, till all have passed aM'ay or been changed to
their modern representatives; while the country they in-
habited, by the upheaval of its mountains, the deepening
of its valleys, the filling and draining of its great lakes,
Ixas become what it is,"
1.
/•Of; p„j,j-
•Hiother SI
Is/. X
^■'lin rog:
^'^^v Alex-
in the Bj
U Th
<"'<^ its triJ
U Tl
r.'iijges.
-i^/i. Tl
^>vada, Ca,
'""^ the ext
101
It
nr So
^^I'ograpjJ
I
ni
TIIK 1UH.KV MUL'NTAIN.I.
CHATTEE VI.
TIIK KOC'KV -AIOUXTAIX.S.
1. General Divisions of the Cordillera S>jsicvh,
For purposes of description this great region may Ix-
divided into the following parts, which diller from oiii^
another suliiciently to make it a natural subdivision.
Isf. The Rocky Mountains, whicli embrace the moun-
tain region of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and
New ]\Iexico, with so nmch of the eastern range as exists
ill the British Possessions.
2(1. The plateau regions drained by the Colorado Eiver
and its tributaries.
^d. The Creat Basin, with its complex system of
ranges.
4:fh. The Pacific Coast Panges, including the Sierra
Nevada, Cascade, and Coast Ranges of the Pacific States,
and the extension of the Cascade Pange through British
(.'olumbia and Alaska.
\
i
M'
2. The Xorthcrii Seetion of the Roeky Mountains in the
United States.
( h'ographically, the Pocky ]\Iountains are divided
ir
H
l\
58
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AXl) TRAVEL.
Lj.i
'!'■;!
into two parts by a break in the system in Soutliern
Wyominp;, where, from the southern end of the Wind
Eiver Eange to the northern end of the Park Eanges,
tlie system is represented only by elevated plateaus. Tlie
characteristic of the system is that of parallel chains,
trending somewhat west of north. In Northern Montana
the Missouri Eange faces the plains from the boundary
southward to the 4Gth ])arall('l, and carries the conti-
nental water-parting. East of it the monotony of the
]'lains is broken only by a few groups of hills, which,
from their isolated position in a flat country, have been,
in some cases, honoured beyond their deserts by being
called mountains. Among them are the " Little Eocky,"'
the " Bear's Paw," etc.
West of the Missouri Eange rises Clark's Pork of the
Columbia, which pursues a devious course among the
many mountain spurs which obstruct its passage, and is
finally driven far to the nortli-west to escape from tlic
mountain maze by wdiich it is surrounded. It finally
finds a passage through the second great range of tlu!
system, the Bitter Eoot or Coeur d'Alene, in the southern
part of British Columbia. This range trends south-east-
ward, parallel to the Missouri Eange, and at the end of
the latter is connected with it by a low broad saddle,
known as the Deer Lodge Pass. Sonth of this point the
continental water-parting is carried by the Bitter Eoot
Eange to its end in latitude 44°. The depression between
these two rangci is filled with short ranges trendiiij!
parallel to them, and contains several fine large valleys,
valuable for agriculture and cattle-raisin [>•.
The Missouri and Bitter Eoot Eanges reach altitudes
in the peaks of upwards of 9000 feet, and pnjbably tlie
average height of the ranges is in the neighbourhood nf
8000 feet. They are crossed at a numlier of passes at
elevations ranging from 5o00 to 6500 feet.
^ .52.
J 1
1
™_'
i/. ';
r'
I ' < t
THE YELLOWSTONE ^VATIO^^AL PARK
- L-
^ English Slatute Miles, 10 tol Inch .
SuuiArdi l>«,ir/j».ii'
F.„Fall. Spr— Springs li .. Ot^arrs.
ffeufhts abwe the, Sea in hna'^h Feet. LoiiJoil: Rdwaitl StAnford, 55. Charillg Cross.
|M
^^"mmmm
i
no
■IV
^ /^
mro>t
fl.u4a +
,
I.M
^-<^
,^'
m^
IFt
^
. i^i
^M
'' v?^' ■*■
( y '\t'
1
^■^^
''"\^ rTt
1
^ ^■''■t
* fo t
' J -t:
■1. 1
dan +,
♦
^^i
i
■if
.W
4
^-^-^
^^"^'/i
^b . +
§*>*^^^
%j* +
i-^-i^*^ t
- 4
/^. i
f''' : *T +
■^ . t
tiUJ« i
fi?:-^-^:
> ■
3;;.. : +
%' ^
', X.^ii, J +
' . ■••; -i
^•'1
t.-.t^^"^
uo'J
rdJs (•*/.<*' /jT.i/;'
I
; Ml
1 ,K^,
M^ s i^^^ ,. »— .'-»««'3
_ 110
kfl
Jtaral
I
souri
Riverf
iiieetii
Fork
VelloM
lake, a
Jowstoii
Wyomii
Maker i
fii time
been re_f
moimtai
to-day \
evidencei
^vJiicIi an
of the ^
World — e
i'lsignificf
Until
Ji^inters a
susi^ected.
G-'^plorino-
t''is count]
Strmfuri-^ Gt"'<'
YF.LLO W.STONE NATIONAL PAEK'.
59
West of the Bitter Ixoot are several detached ranges,
soiiui of considerable extent, as the Salmon liiver Moini-
tains, which consist of a succession of two or three ranges
]i;irallel to the Bitter Eoot.
In latitude 45° 50', longitude 111° 34', the Mis-
souri liiver divides into three large streams, known
respectively as the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin
Rivers. These branches head far to the southward,
meeting there the head-waters of the Snake, or Lewis'
fork of the Columbia. In the same locality heads the
Yellowstone, a large branch of the Missouri, in a great
lake, at an elevation of 7738 feet above sea-level.
3. The Yellowstone National Park.
The country about the heads of the Madison, Yel-
lowstone, and Snake Eivers, in the north-western part of
Wyoming, seems to have been set aside by the Great
Maker for the exhibition of the action of volcanic forces.
In time past, but geologically very recent, this region has
been repeatedly covered by floods of lava ; great ranges of
mountains have been built by catastrophic action ; and
to-day we find these forces still actively at work, as
evidenced by the innumerable hot springs and geysers
which are found all over the surface. Before the geysers
of the Yellowstone ISTational Park, all others of the
world — even the celebrated ones of Iceland — sink into
insignificance.
Until a very recent period this country was a terra
hcognita, save from the vague tales of Indians and white
hunters and trappers, and these wonders were scarcely
suspected. Deterred by the difficulties of approach, many
exploring parties have passed by this region. It was not
until 1864 that any authentic account of any ])art of
this country was obtained. In that year a prospecting
! V i
M
GO
COMPENDIL'-M 0¥ ( iKOtilJAl'U V AND TKAVEL.
■' i i
pavty, uihIci' the leadcrsliip of ('iij)tain "\V. W. De Lacy,
penetrated the western edge of this region, and by accident
came to what is now known as the Lower (leyser Basin,
near the head-waters of the Madison ]iiver. Tlie acconnts
of this discovery, however, attractetl little attention ; hut
in 1870 a party was organised in Montana to test the
trntli of these stories. This party, nnder the leadership
of Creneral Was]d)urn, then the Surveyor-CJeneral of Mon-
tana, discovered most of the wonders of the region, and
YKl.LdWSTONK NATIOXAI. I'AliK.
])ublished them to the world in the pages of Scril)ner's
MoniliJji Magazine. During the two following years,
1871 and 1872, the region was thoroughly exphn-ed b,v
the ])arties of the U.S. (Geological Survey of the Terri-
tories, and the results were officially published by tlic
(tovernment; and in the winter of 1871-2 the region
embracing these wonders was set off by Congress as a
national park.
This park contains about 3500 square nrles. It is
mainly a high rolling country, covered by a dense growth
f'f CO
diver
a }\'\^
the \
elevat
an t']
\'\)v n
gi'onn(
nights.
^\inter.
Hot
""'"llnhout
'''e den.se (
^^■alls and ;
'•nid even at
;iiid river.s,-
^''^\'c built 1,
H iMiipiiBpnnqgp
mm.
I
"t cojiiferoiis tiinlicr Si
;' ''«!'. ™«S0.l, voIc,u>ic ; t ;■'" '""■'''•'■■ '"■'^"■l-
' -^ell.™,t„„„ ,,„. ,J..« ,7^;,,: '"•■•■"!;'■" "- -ate. ,„•
"lev,-, ,„„ „f t,,„ p „!,„'',;",""'■"• Tl.e avbrn.^e
;'," ^'levati,,,, «.|„<.i, ,ivo it :„""' ''"^' •■''"'™ «ea-le<;i,
.- ""Md, ,„„! frost is ji^, , '"" Knr «,ow ]i™ „„ „
'"«'"«• T]. „„,„(,, r" „tlr""' ^™" "■ -"'-".no
>ni,te. ' '"™'«=.- "S'mlly „,sl,c.R ,„ ,i„.
Hot sprino-.s iTM r i
'-e tleuse timber on 'tJu n\ '"' ^"""^^'^''^'^''t- .\j,„„..
-f-^atthe\.:Li:^^^^^
'■'"^^ ^^-^'^ at t],o summits - •"" ^""""t^^"^ «loj.e«
i^^^ve built mouutaizH as 1 An ^"''' ^^'^^'^'^^^'^ tbov
^ "' "' '^^^ ^^^"^« fountain 8pnm.s
.;(r
1
fillll;; i
62
COMrj:NDIUM OF (IllOGlJArilV AND TKAVKL
I I
ii
or liavo floored wliolo viilloys, as in tli(3 (Joyser liasins of
tlio Fireholo or Madison liivor. Tlicy aro of all sizus,
Iroiii a i'ew inches in dianii'Lur to areas oi' several acsres of
hot Avater — of all teni])eratures, from tepid to Ijoilini;'.
Associated with these springs, at a dozen or more locali-
(lEYSKR IX THK VEr.r.OW.STONK NATIOXAI. TAUK.
ties, are active geysers, throwing columns of boiling
water, in extreme cases, 200 feet in height. Altogether
thei'e are known to l)e fifty geysers within the Park.
Let us glance at a few of the principal groups of
s])riiigs and geysers.
follow
gl'Otip
Park
Tliose
which
On ap]
in hei;
^ntJi b
"ork 0]
iind poi
sides,
•sei-ios 0.
height :
^>t'auti<"ui
^^''ii'k, th{
^Vature's
with eve
'IS brilJia
I'ools or
'"■ 8 feet
deptii.
^"Il-side r
^ portion
J'ei'ature J]
''i'*Jad flat
yards ill
largest one
•^0 ieet, an
"'»e can Jo
^^le bottom.
Tile rui
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL I'AllK.
oa
5. The White Mountain Sprinrjs.
Leaving tlie settlements at IJozeman, Montana, and
following up the Yellowstone Eiver to the Park, — whi(!h,
hy the way, is the usual route to "Wonderland," — the first
group of springs which arrests attention on entering the
Park is that of White Mountain or the Mananoth Springs.
These springs are highly charged with calcareous matter,
which they deposit, on cooling, in marvellous quantity.
On approaching them the visitor beholds a hill, 200 feet
in height, of dazzling whiteness, with its sidiis stri])ed
with hands of vivid red and yellow. This hill is the
work of the si)rings, which burst forth upon its summit
and pour their waters down from basin to basin upon its
sides. The steep sides of the hill are ornamented with a
series of semicircular basins, with margins varying in
height from a few inches to 6 or 8 feet, and so
beautifully scalloped and adorned with a kind of bead-
work, that the beholder stands amazed at this marvel oi
Xature's handiwork. Add to this a snow-white ground,
with every variet}' of shade of scarlet, green, and yelhjw.
as brilliant as the brightest of our aniline dyes. The
pools or basins are of all sizes, from a few inches to 6
or 8 feet in diameter, and from 2 inches to 2 feet in
depth. As the water ilows from the spring over the
hill-side from one basin to another, it loses continually
a portion of its heat, and the bather can find any tem-
l)erature he desires. At the top of the hill there is a
l)road flat terrace, covered with these basins, 150 to 200
yards in diameter. Here are the active springs. The
largest one is near the edge of the sunnnit. It is 25 by
40 feet, and the water is so perfectly transparent that
one can look down into the blue ultramarine depth to
the bottom.
The ruins of extinct springs tell us that we see now
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WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580
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64
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY .VXD TRAVEL.
only the lingering remains of an enormous past activity.
Everywhere in the neighbourhood, for miles in all direc-
tions, are the calcareous deposits of extinct springs, some
yet naked of vegetation, but most of them covered with
soil and trees. Many cones of this formation, self-built
mausoleums of hot springs, are to be seen. The most
prominent of these is known as the " Liberty Cap," a
cone 50 feet in height, and about 20 feet in diameter at
the base.
6. Tlie Upper Geyser Basin on the Firchole Ricer.
Near the head of the Madison River, whicli here is
known as the Firehole, are two small valleys, one con-
taining a dozen, the other about twenty square miles, in
which is the greatest collection of hot springs and geysera
in the region. Of these the upper contains the greatest
number and the most active geysers. Imagine a valley
shut in by high bluft' walls, its bottom floored throughout
with a hard white glistening crust of silica, the deposit
from the almost innumerable hot springs and geysers
which dot its surface. Through the middle of the valley
flows a small river, whose water is rendered tepid by tlie
contributions of the geysers.
In this valley there are no less than eighteen true
geysers, most of which throw water to a consideralile
heiglit. Some of them are irregular in their periods,
others doubly periodic, having two or more eruptions at
short intervals, and then taking a long rest. The follow-
ing descriptions give the chief facts in regard to the
[>rincipal of these geysers. The heights given are the
maximum heights measured.
These descriptions are taken mainly from the writings
of Dr. A. C. Peale, in the Report of tlie Geological Survey
of the Territories for 1872.
r^^immt
ty.
BC-
me
ith
lilt
ost
' a
(it
13
on-
, in
jers
best
[ley
out
osit
3ers
lley
the
:ruc
ible
ods,
s at
o\v-
the
the
iiigs
rvcy
i.
V.
IJKKinVK GKVSEH.
7o /die fti(ie (').').
!!' i
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.
65
Old Faithful. — The mouth of tliis geyser slopes
inward, and measures on the outside 8 feet by 4. Its
crater is a mound of geyserite, which rises 12 feet
above the surrounding level. The eruptions of this
geyser commence with a few abortive attempts, followed
by a rapid succession of jets, which soon reach a maxi-
mum, and then gradually decrease, followed by a short
discharge of steam. The average length of an eruption
is about five minutes, and the period of inactivity one
hour and three minutes. The maximum measured height
of the column of water is 130 feet. This is one of
the finest and most regular of all the geysers of the
region.
The Beehive. — This geyser is recognisable at once
by its cone, which has the form of an old-fasiiioned bee-
hive, three feet in height and about seven in diameter at
the base. It is coated with beautifully-beaded formations,
■which have an almost j)early lustre. The eruptions are
very fine, and are peculiar to this geyser. The water and
steam issue from the orifice in a steady stream instead
of successive impulses. The greatest measured height of
the column of water is 178 feet, while the steam has
been forced 193 feet into the air. During the eruptions
the pent-up steam shakes the earth around with mighty
throbs. The period of this geyser is irregular, as is also
the duration of its eruptions.
Giantess. — This geyser has a 'au-o basin, 23 J by
32^ feet across. It is rather a great pool, which, were it
not for its rarely-occurring eruptions, would be mistaken
for a quiet hot-spring pool, of which there are many in
the basin. When in eruption it throws a great mass of
water to a small height, surging and sj)lashing in all
directions. The greatest height of the water, which was
66
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
measured, was 39 feet, while the steam was forced up
69 feet. This geyser seems to he douhly periodic,
having a succession of three eruptions at intervals of
ahout an hour, and then a rest for a long period, whose
duration has not been ascertained.
Castle. — This has the largest and most noticeable
craters in the basin. The immediate crater is on a plat-
form, 75 by 100 feet, which is 3 feet above the
surrounding level. Above this platform it rises about
12 feet. It is 120 feet in circumference at the base, and
20 feet across at the top. The orifice of the geyser tube
is circular and 3 feet in diameter, and its throat is
lined with large globular masses, of an orange colour and
beautifully beaded, as is so universally seen throughout
the Geyser Basins.
An eruption commences with jets of water, at the rate
of about twenty per minute. These last for about fifteen
minutes, and are succeeded by steam mingled with spray,
which escapes with a sort of pulsating movement. This
soon changes to a steady escape, when it seems as thougli
the water were exhausted, and steam was being forced out
as rapidly as possiljle. Tliis again changes, and steam
escapes in cloud-like masses with a roaring sound, like
the escape-steam from some vast escape-pipe. Then this
gradually dies away, and the eruption is ended, having
lasted about an hour and twenty minutes.
The maximum measured height of the water column
is 93 feet, of steam 115. The character of the period of
this geyser has not been ascertained.
Grand Geyser. — This geyser has no raised cone, only
a basin sunk below the general level, like that of a quiet
spring. It is 52 feet in diameter. In itd centre is the
geyser tube, which measures 4 feet by 2. The greatest
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.
67
measured height of an eruption was 173 feet. Its periods
seem to be irregular.
The eruption consists of three distinct periods of
action, after each of which the water sinks completely out
of sight, and water overflows from the Turban Geyser,
which is in immediate proximity, into the basin of the
Grand. The mass of water carried up is enormous ;
while through this main mass a smaller column shoots
at intervals to a much greater height.
Turban Geyser. — This neighbour of the Grand,
though one of the minor geysers, is distinguished by its
uniquely beautiful crater. Its sides and bottom are
covered with yellow globular masses, which resemble
nothing more than huge pumpkins. Its maximum height
of eruption is 25 feet.
Giant Geyser. — This geyser, which in 1871 was
one of the most active in the basin, has since, so far
as known, ceased active operations. Its crater is one of
the most noticeable in the basin. It is a high ragged
cone, 10 feet in height.
*oo'-
Grotto Geyser. — The crater of this geyser is a large
irregular mass of geyserite, 53 feet in length and 26 in
width. It has two openings, through which water is
discharged diagonally upwards, the columns from the two
openings crossing one another. Its maximum height of
eruption is about 40 feet.
There are several other beautiful geysers in this basin,
but they are not so distinguished from the above as to
merit a detailed description. Among them may be men-
tioned the Itiverside, Sawmill, Fan, Soda, Trinity, and
others.
■■T
G8
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAFIIY AND TRAVEL.
7. Lower Geyser Basin on the Firehole Hivcr.
Tliis basin, which is situated about 10 miles below
the Upper Basin, covers a much larger area than the
latter, occupying about 20 square miles. Though it con-
tains several fine geysers, still it is distinguished rather
by the size, number, and beauty of its quiet hot springs
than by the activity of its geysers. Of the latter, the
finest by far is that known as the Architectural. The
following description is from the pen of Mr. W. H. Holmes
in the lieport of the Geological Survey of the Territories for
1872, p. 144:—
" In approaching the crater of this geyser, the observer
is not at first impressed with its importance, as the outer
rim of the basin, or rather table — in the centre of which
the fissure is situated — is raised but two or three feet above
the general level. . . . The surface, formed entirely of
siliceous deposit, is diversified by an infinite number of
forms and colours. The depressed parts in some places
are so level and white and hard, that a name could be
engraven as easily and as well as upon the bark of a
beech tree. In others, there are most exquisitely-modelled
basins and pockets, with ornamented rims, and filled with
perfectly transparent water, through which thousands of
pebbles of white geyserite could be seen lying on the vel-
vety bottoms. Eising above the general level are innu-
merable little masses and nodes of cauliflower-like and
beaded silica, standing out of the shallow water like so
many islands. Those near the crater swell into very large
rounded masses. The whole surface is so solid that I
walked, stepping from one elevation to another, up to the
very brink of the fissure, where I looked down with no
little apprehension into the seething caldron, where, 12 or
15 feet below, was a mass of dark green water in a state
of constant agitation, threatening an eruption. The crater
GEYSER BASINS.
69
is aLotit 1 feet in diameter, lined with an irregular coat-
ing of beaded silica. The water soon began to rise, plung-
ing from side to side in great surges, sending up masses
of steam, and emitting angry rumbling sounds. ... An
irregular mass of water was thrown into the air in the
utmost confusion, spreading out at every angle, and whirl-
ing in every direction, some jets rising vertically to the
height of 60 or 80 feet, then separating into large glis-
tening drops, and falling back into the whirling-- nuiss of
water and steam; others shooting at an angle of 45", and
falling upon the islands and pools 30 or 40 feet from the
base. The eruptive force — for a moment — dies away, and
the water sinks back into the tube. Then, with another
tremendous effort, a second body of water is driven into
the air, but with a motion so much more simple than
before, that the whole mass assumes a more regular form,
and is like a great ^untain with a thousand jets, describ-
ing curves almost equal on all sides, and forming a sym-
metrical whole, more varied and more grand than any
similar work by man. The intermittent action continues
for nearly an hour, but is so constantly changing that at
no two moments during that time are the forms or move-
ments the same."
Of one of the hot springs in this basin Mr. Holmes
writes : " On the upper side of the spring, next to the
bank, the water — in overflowing — ran into large shallow
pools, painting whatever it touched with the colours of
the rainbow. Beds of rich creamy white and rich yel-
lows were interlaid with patches of siennas and purples,
and divided up and surrounded by the most fantastic
patterns of delicate grays and rich browns. On the side
next the creek the running water has made a network of
streams. In those where the water is still hot, the colours
are bright, varying from a creamy white to the brightest
yellows ; but as the water becomes cooler farther down, the
70
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
.
i
colours grow darker and richer, the siennas greatly pre-
dominating ; while the basins of tlie larger pools are stained
with Still darker colours, frequently of a purple tint, and
reflecting the picturesque groups of pines on their dark
surfaces."
8. The ShosTione Geyser Basin.
A third large collection of geysers and hot springs is
found at the west end of Shoshone Lake. This basin,
rarely visited by white men, contains ten geysers, besides
large numbers of hot springs. Of the geysers, the finest
is that known as the Union, so named because it combines
in one nearly all the phenomena of the species. It is
thus described by Professor Frank H. Bradley in the
Report of the Geological Survey for 1872, p. 245 : —
" It has three vents standing closely in a row, each
of whicn has built up a small mound, beautifully beaded
without and pointed within. . . . During eruptions the
west vent spouts a little water, two or three feet high, for
one or two minutes, and then yields a moderate flow of
steam. Meanwhile the centre vent is throwing a very
powerful jet from 70 to 90 feet into the air, which, after
about five minutes, gradually gives place to steam, the
mingled steam and water giving the highest jets. The
east vent, spouting 10 to 50 feet, throws a solid body of
water for about ten minutes, when the whole supply
of water seems to become exhausted, and the rush of
steam from all the vents becomes more violent, and
continues some forty or fifty minutes longer, gradu-
ally declining, however, though with many spasn'odic
renewals."
This geyser seems to be irregular in its periods.
GEYSEU BASINS.
71
9. The Minute Man.
This active little geyser has a double period, playing
at intervals of two or three minutes for several hours,
and then resting for about the same length of time. It
throws a confused mass of water 30 or 40 feet into the
air, the eruption lasting but a few seconds.
10. Red Mountain Spinngs.
On the sliores of Heart Lake, and extending for two
or three miles up a small tributary to this beautiful lake,
is a collection of fine springs, having among them several
geysers of importance.
11. Gibbon Geysers.
In the neighbourhood of the Gibbon River, a large
eastern branch of the Madison, there are a number ol"
fine geysers. Part of them are grouped in a " basin "
with a large collection of hot siliceous and sulphur
springs, while others are scattered about on the steep
mountain-sides, or hidden in the depths of the primeval
forest, where their existence would never have been sus-
pected, had they not betrayed themselves by the immense
columns of steam which they periodically send up.
12. Yclloiostone Geysers.
At the Crater Hills, on the Yellowstone, near the
great lake in which this river heads, is a fine collection
of boiling sulphur springs, and a few miles farther up
the river is a group of geysers, where boiling mud is
ejected. The principal one of these throws its muddy
waters to a height of about 40 feet. Its eruptions take
72
co.Mri:.\iuuM of GE(x;i!AriiY and ti!Avi:l.
place at iutorvals of about four and a quarter hours, the
eruption lastinj,' aliout twelve minutes.
On the west shore of Yellowstone Lake is a spring
which originally burst forth from the bed of the lake, but
has built for itself a cone, which now rears itself above
the surface of the water. Standing upon the ihit cone of
this sprin,!^, one can catch trout fnjui the lake, and, swing-
in^' th(!m into the boiUn^f caldron, he can cook them upon
the hook.
I'rom this it is known as the " Fish Spring."
13. Tlie Grand Canon and Falls of the Ycllorcstouc.
Hot springs and geysers are not the only objects of
interest in this region, for Dame Nature, ever lavish of
her treasures, has richly endowed this country. Its
mountains, waterfalls, and canons, are well worthy of a
momentary glance. The Yellowstone liiver, fiom the
lake at its head to its i)oint of exit from the Park, pre-
sents the traveller with an ever-changing panorama of
scenes. Leaving the lake, for several miles the river is
broad, flowing with a gentle current between high wooded
banks. Soon, however, rapids intervene, the river-bed
becomes narrow and broken up by huge rocks ; the river
roars tumultuously along, down a steep broken incline,
and shoots over a precipice 112 feet in height. This is
the Upper Fall, liecovering itself after this ebullition,
the great river moves quietly along its course for a half-
mile, and then suddenly rolls over a sheer precipice 300
feet in height, into the depths of the Grand Canon, down
whose sinuous course it roars and tears along, an emerald-
green band, flecked with snowy foam, between the deeply
coloured walls of the canon. Of the Lower Fall and
the Grand Canon, Dr. A. C. Peale writes as follows in
the above-quoted Report of the Geological Sarvey, p. 132:
"^ Nature
^vliirlinjT
'f>
1
^h
1'
1
b
I
YELLOWSTONE FALLS.
73
"Thfi river suddonly iiiirrows to awidtli of only 100 feet,
juul rushes over a ledge of trncliyte, falling (.'iOO feet) to
the hottoni of the canon. The water at the edge of '\n^
fall is very deep, and of a dee]) grei-n colour. . . .
When \vea])])roa(;h tlu; brink and look over into the abyss,
we I)egin to realise the littleness of man in the presence
UrrER FALLS, YELLOWSTONE RIVER.
of Xature's grand masterpieces. Dowii, down goes the
whirling mass, battling and writhing as the water dashes
iiLjainst the rocks with a noise like the discharge of artil-
.lery. Here and there a resisting rock is met with, and
the Avater rebounds, broken into myriads of drops, which
throw back to us the sunlight resoh^ed into its primitive;
colours. The bottom of the canon reached, the immense
i
.
;i
74
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
i!i
Hi;
mass of water seems to dissolve itself into spray, and then
recovering, it flows down the gorge an emerald-green
stream, dashed witli ]iatche3 of white, beating with furious
waves the rocky walls that imprison it. Taken in con-
nection with the varied tints of the canon itself — red,
yellow, orange, white — the dark green i)ines fringing the
top, and the bright green of the spray-nourished moss on
the sides of the fall, we have a picture of almost un-
equalled magnificence and grandeur. It is a scene of
which one never tires, and in the description of which
language fails."
The Grand Canon is a gorge some 20 miles in length,
cut in a volcanic plateau. It has a de])th of 1200 to
1500 feet, and a width at the top in few places exceeding
a half-mile. The walls are precipices or inclim^d at a
fef^rful angle. The river flows in the sharp notch at the
bottom. Access to the bottom of the canon is to be
found only at a very few places, and in those the climb
is not unattended with danger. On the east side of the
river a narrow crevice in the friable volcanic rock affords
a way down to the foot of the fall, where, if the visitor
desires a thorough shower-bath at Nature's hands, he can
obtain it.
Hot sulphur-springs are found in the greatest abun-
dance at the foot and on the slopes of the canon-walls,
adding the colours of their deposits to those of the bril-
liant volcanic rocks.
Half-way between the two falls a small stream, known
as Cascade Creek, enters the river. Just before reaching
the main stream, this creek makes a beautiful cascade,
about 100 feet in height, over the basaltic pillars which
border the river.
Passing around the cafion of the Yellowstone by a
circuitous trail, crossing a high pass, nearly at timber
line, in the Washburn Mountains, the visitor reaches the
YELLv, WSTONE KIVKU.
i
river again at the mouth of Tower Creek, a large western
branch. This, like most of the tril)utaries to the Yellow-
stone in this neighbourhood, flows at a much higher level
tlian the river, and readies its level by a fall. The fall
on this stream is, in itself and its surroundings, ])articu-
larly fine. Tearing along in a rapid course, it is suddenly
contracted between two tall colunnis of volcanic breccia,
whence it lea'^s over a precipice in an unbroken fall of
132 feet, into a Jeep, dark, gloomy gorge, wliere the sun-
light never penetrates. The walls of this gorge are set
with columns of breccia in bas-relief, which project above
the top in tall needle-like sj)ires.
This is a land of streams and waterfalls. On each of
the three forks of Gardiner's I\iver, on Gibbon's lliver,
and the main Madison, and on Lewis' Fork of the Snake,
are falls well worthy of the attention of the lover of
nature in her wildest moods. It is, also, a land of
lakes. From the summit of Mount Sheridan, the top-
most peak of the Ited Mountains, one overlooks a
country diversified by mountains, hills and dales, and
rolling plateaus, all densely covered with the dark black-
green of coniferoi. In this magnificent setting he sees
on every hand the deep blue-green of crystal lakes and
lakelets. North of him Yellowstone Lake stretches its
broad expanse, its long arms extending far inland, and
holding mountainous promontories in its gras]); Shoshone
and Lewis Lakes to the north-west, reflecting the rays of
the afternoon sun ; Heart Lake, a most beautiful gem, is
at his feet ; and, scattered about amid the primeval forests,
are innumerable little lakelets.
Nor are these all the beauties or wonders of the Park.
The mineralogist finds here unsurpassable treasures.
Obsidian — black, red, and banded — is found in fabulous
abundance ; nearly all the varieties of quartz are found in
profusion, and silicified wood encumbers the ground. In
76
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL.
I
f
many localities forests have been overflowed hy streams of
liquid rock, or overwhelmed by showers of volcanic ashes ;
and the forests thus covered have been gradually changed,
particle by particle, into silicified wood, crystalline quartz,
amethyst, and otlier like products. Nature, by erosion,
has exlmmed these vegetable Herculaneums, and we find
great trunks and branches of trees scattered over the
surface, or standing in place, or projecting in bas-relief
from the faces of cliff's, but all changed to stone, as
though at the sight of a Medusa's snaky locks.
At present tlie Park is not easily accessible to the
average traveller. The usual route from tlie east is vid
the Union Pacific and the Utah Northern Railroads, thence
reacliing Bozeman, IMontraia, by a long tedious stage-ride
of three days and nights. This point is the last settle-
ment, with the exception of a few ranches, and the traveller
must henceforward be self-dependent. He must buy or
hire saddle animals to carry himself and party, and pack-
animals to transport provisions, tents, mess-kit, and other
impedimenta. He must carry his provisions and rely
upon his rifle for a supply of meat. Travelling in the
Park is not unattended by difficulties. Heavy, well-
beaten trails lead to many localities of interest, but when
one leaves them he is like a mariner upon an unknown
sea. Not only is the country rugged and somewliat
mountainous, but it is so densely timbered that one may
travel for days without being able to correct his " dead
reckoning " by the sight of a single landmark. If the
sun disappear, the traveller becomes dependent upon his
compass. IMoreover, very large areas of country are
covered not only with a living growth of trees, but
apparently all the timber that has lived and died there
since the Flood has been heaped up, like huge jackstraws,
to oppose his progress. Immense extents of country are
so blocked with this fallen timber as to be totally impass-
GIJEAT FALLS OF MISSOURL
77
able. Again, there are on tlie plateaus and in the valleys
great areas of swamp, which are almost e(pially impassable.
14. The Missouri Valley.
The three forks of the Missouri are separated by short
ranges, reaching heiglits of 8000 to 9000 feet above sea-
level. About the point wliere the Missouri divides is a
large beautiful valley, extending far up its branches, and
known as the Gallatin Valley. It is well settled by a
farming population.
Following the ]\Iissouri down from its forks, we find it
meandering peacefully along in a broad bottom, its valley
now wide, now shut in by high hills, while distant snowy
mountains gleam in tlie sunlight.
15. The Great Falls of the Missouri.
Near Fort Lenton the river apparently tires of the
monotony of its course, and, after a few preliminary rapids,
it enters the series of falls and cataracts which are known
as the " Great Falls." Of these we find a very good
descrijition in the Pacific Eailroad licports. " There
are five principal cascades : the first, of 25 feet fall,
abuts three miles below the mouth of Sun Eiver; the
second nearly three miles below this, of 5 feet 11
inches ; and immediately below it the third. Here,
between high banks, a ledge, nearly as straight as if
formed by art, runs ol)liquely across the river, and over
it the waters fall 42 feet in one continuous sheet ol
470 yards in width. Half a mile below this is the
fourth, a small irregular cascade of about 12 feet
descent. The stream then hurries on, lashed and
churned by numerous rai)ids, about five miles farther,
when it precipitates itself over a precipice 76 feet
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
high. The banks are high and abrupt on both sides,
with deep ravines extending into the prairie for one
or two miles both above and below it. Below the
falls there is a succession of rapids, which become less
and less frequent, to the mouth of Highwood Creek."
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1 6. The Wind River and Yellowstone Banges.
Passing now southward again, we find on the east of
the Upper Yellowstone a high ragged range, extending
from the bend of the Yellowstone southward to South
Pass in latitude 42°. Its northern portion is known as
the Yellowstone, its southern the Wind Eiver Piange.
The latter separates the head-waters of Green Eiver, a fork
of the Colorado, from those of the Big Horn, It is
one of the most rugged ranges on the continent, its crest
being a line of spires, pinnacles, needles, and overhanging
cliffs.
Its peaks range from 13,000 to nearly 14,000 feet in
height, and many of them are totally inaccessible except
to creatures with wings. There is but one pass in the
range, which can be crossed by animals, and only during
the four summer months, as during the rest of the year
it is choked with snow.
In the year 1847, Captain J. C. Fremont, in command
of an exploring expedition, succeeded, after three days of
severe climbing, in scaling one of the highest peaks of
this chain, a mountain 13,570 feet in height. This peak
has since borne his name. Since that time the range has
been practically untouched by the many exploring expe-
ditions which have traversed the west, until the " Survey
of the Territories," under Dr. Hayden, entered this field ia
1877. During that and the following year the range
has been surveyed in detail by this organisation. It?
fastnesses have been traversed ; its innermost secrets of
SNAKE RIVER.
79
structure unfolJod. Among other new plienomena made
known to the world, the existence of living glaciers in the
Eocky IMountains of the United States was demonstrated.
Several small glaciers, hoth in this range, and in the
T(5ton Eange farther westward, were discovered. They
are the ruins of glaciers on a magnificent scale which, in
very late geologic times, this range sent down from its
snow-capped peaks far out into the Green Eiver Basin.
To-day we see their remains in the fo^-m of great lateral
and terminal moraines, running far up the mountain slopes
and skirting each canon, to a height of 3000 feet above
the plain. The streams pursue devious and tumultuous
courses through, over, and among the boulders of their
terminal moraines, and all along the base of the mountains
are beautiful crystal lakelets, whose beds were scooped
out by the ceaseless grinding of the great ice-power.
The lower slopes of the mountains are covered with
"roches-moutonnhs" whose polished surfiices -hovrno signs
of decay, and which are yet bare of soil, so recently have
they been freed from their icy load.
17. Snake River.
The Snake, or Lewis Fork of the Columbia, heads in
the Yellowstone National Park, opposite the heads of the
Madison and YelloM'stone Eivers. Its sources are in
beautiful lakes, emliosomed in heavily wooded hills.
Flowing southward it soon enters a mountainous country,
from which it receives several large tributaries — Barlow's
Fork, Buffalo Fork, Gros Ventre Creek, and Hoback Eiver.
It washes the east base of the Teton Eange, which rears
its rugged Gothic spires 7000 feet above its valley.
Turning to the west, the river cuts across the mountains
which seek to check its course, in a terrific gorge, well
nigh impassable. On the west side of these mountains it
80
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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eiiturs upon a i^ro.at fickl of basalt, a great volcanic plain,
covered with drifting sand and seamed with crevasses like
those of a glacier. This is known as the Snake Iiiver
I'lains. It crosses this plain by a southerly course, then
gradually sweei)iiig around to the westward, it hugs the
southern border of this basalt held as fur as longitude
117^ when it turns northward, then for a sliort distance
westward again to ]t;< junction with Clark's Fork, making
the mighty Columbia.
In its course ar-ross and around the l)asalt plain it is
rapid and tumultuous, boiling and seething along, its bed
broken by boulders and ledges. In several places there
are noteworthy falls. The upper of these is the American
Fall, at a point a few miles below the mouth of the Port-
neuf, where tlie " j\lad" River, as it was called in early
days, leaps over a wall of basalt 30 feet in height.
Some distance farther down is the Shoshone Fall, by
far the greatest and finest on the river. This fall was
visited in October 18G8 by Mr. Clarence King, and I
quote his fine description of it: —
" Tlie wall of the gorge opposite us, like the cliff at
our feet, sank in perpendicular bluffs nearly to the level
of the river. A horizon as level as the sea ; a circling
wall, whose sharp edges were here and there battlemented
in huge fortress-like masses ; a broad river, smooth and
unrulHed, flowing quietly into the middle of the scene, and
then plunging into a labyrinth of rocks, tumbling over a
precipice 200 feet high, and flowing westward in a still
deep current to disappear behind a black promontory.
. . . Dead barrenness is the whole sentiment of tlie
scene. . . .
" In plan the fall recurves up-stream in a deep horse-
shoe, resembling the outline of Niagara. The total
breadth is about 700 feet, and the greatest height of a
single fall about 190. . . . The whole mass of the
SNAKE RIVER PLAINS.
81
fall is one ever-varying sheet of spray. In the early
spring, when swollen by the rapidly melted snow3, the
river pours over with something of the volume of
Niagara. . . . There are no rocks at the base of the
fall. The sheet of foam plunges almost vertically into a
dark, beryl-green, lake-like expanse of the river. Im-
mense volumes of foam roll up from the cataract-base,
aiK^, ^vhirling about in the eddying winds, rise often 1000
feet into the air. . . . The incessant roar, reinforced
bv a thousand echoes, fills the canon."
18. Tlie Snake River Plains.
These great desert plains extend from the southern
extremity of the Bitter Eoot and Salmon River Eanges
southward to the Snake, and from Eastern Idaho nearly
to its western boundary. Their surface is slightly undu-
lating, broken only by crevices, and covered by drifting
sand, or, in its absence, by bare rock and boulders.
Artemisia is almost its sole vegetable product, and here
this bush attains arborescent proportions, growing to a
height of 12 to 15 feet, with trunks nearly a foot in
diameter. It has little water upon its surface. The
streams from the mountains soon disappear in crevices, to
reappear and disappear perhaps again, meantime flowing
beneath the basalt floor in subterranean channels.
Near the middle of this desert are three mountains,
standing alone and detached from one another, the
" Three Buttes." Strange objects are these mountains,
rising nearly 3000 feet above the plain. Of their struc-
ture we know nothing, as they have never been studied
by the geologist. From time immemorial they have
served as landmarks to the traveller on these pathless
wastes like lighthouses to the mariner.
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82 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
19. The Big Horn Mountains.
The Big Horn Eiver is the largest branch of the
YeUowstone, flowing into it from the south-west. Its
tributaries from the west drain tiie Yellowstone and
Wind Eiver Eanges, while those from the east drain the
Big Horn Mountains. The latter is a broad massive range,
in whose eastern slopes head the Powder, Tongue, and
other large branches of the Yellowstone. This region has
long been the home of the most warlike tribe of Indians,
the Sioux. From these rocky fastnesses they have long
repelled the invading white man. It is only within a
few years that the advancing wave of civilisation has
here acquired sufficient power to sweep the red man
away, and put the beautiful valleys and the rich mineral
deposits of this region into the hands of the whites.
We pass now southward across the broad beautiful
valleys of Wind Eiver, a branch of the Big Horn, and the
Sweetwater. These valleys have long been a border-
land, the scene of many and bloody fights between the
two contending races. The old overland road up the
valley of the Sweetwater is lined with the graves of vic-
tims of Indian atrocities, and the ruins of cabins here and
there tell a similar tale.
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20. The Continental Water-parting from South to
Bridger's Pass.
South of the Wind Eiver Eange the continental
"divide" follows a line of plateaus south-eastward to the
Park Eange of Southern Wyoming and Colorado. These
plateaus decrease in elevation on either hand, on the east
grading down into the valley of the North Platte and the
Laramie Plains, on the west to the Green Eiver Basin.
The summit of this plateau is broad, and so flat that
KOCKY MOUNTAINS.
88
for many '^iles one cannot tell whether he ia on the
Pacific or Atlantic slope. The height of the water-parting
in this section is about 8000 leet above sea-level.
21. The Southern Section of the Rochj Mountains.
The soutliern section of the Eocky Mountains com-
prised in Southern "Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico,
contains the greatest mass of elevation. Though not con-
taining the highest peaks, being excelled in that respect
by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Eange, it contains the
greatest number of high peaks. Here are ranges extend-
ing for hundreds of miles, whose crests are surmounted by
hnes of peaks exceeding 14,000 feet in height, and whose
mean elevation exceeds 13,000 feet.
Wliile the ranges trend a few degrees (20° to 25°) east
of south, the edge of the plains, i.e. the foot of the moun-
tains, trends nearly south. The result of this is an en
echelon arrangement of the ranges, the front one disappear-
ing in the plains, while that which was second in the line
comes to the front.
Proceeding westward from the western border of the
plains, we cross a succession of two, three, or more well-
defined ranges, beyond which are scattered groups of
mountains apparently without system. There is a great
contrast in this respect between the eastern and western
sides of the system. On the east the plains are bordered
by well-defined ranges, whose crests are sharply cut ; while
on the west the mountain-making forces seem to have
expended themselves in throwing up groups more or less
isolated.
22. The Colorado or Front Eangc.
From the North Platte Eiver, in Southern Wyoming,
southward to the debouchure of the Arkansas from the
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84
COMl'ENDIUM OF GKOGUAPUY AND TUAVEL.
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iiioiintains, one continuous range faces the plains. The
northern part, in Wyoming, is known as the Laramie
Iinngu. This is comparatively low, reaching a mean
height not above 9000 feet. It is crossed at Evan's Pass
(Sherman Station, Union Pacific llailroad) at an elevation
of 8209 feet. Entering Colorado, it suddenly increases
in height to 13,000 feet, while its peaks rise above
14,000 feet. Among them are Long's Peak, 14,271
feet; CJray's, 14,341; and Pike's Peak, the well-known
landmark to the pioneers of '"59," 14,147 feet. With
the latter the range ends, falling off into the plains in a
few miles. In the winter of 1803, Major Pike, with an
exploring party, made a valiant effort to reach the sum-
mit of this mountain, but was finally obliged to turn his
back upon it, sadly remarking that nothing but a bird
could reach its snowy summit. But now ladies and
children ride on horseback to the top, and the U.S.
Signal Bureau has a station there, in which men live
the year round.
The higher portion of this range, which is nearly
coincident with the part in Colorado, is known as the
Colorado or Front Eange. It is a granite range, heavy
and massive in its orographic forms, and with a broad
belt of foothills on its eastern slope.
It is cut through by the South Platte, which, heading
in South Park, seeks this exit to the plains. About the
canon of this stream the range is very much broken down
by erosive agents, but southward it rises again in the
mass of which Pike's Peak forms the centre, only to dis-
appear immediately in the plains.
23. Tlie Sangre de Crista Bange.
South of the Arkansas River the front rank is taken
by the Sangre de Cristo Eange, while a short range, known
ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
85
as the Wet or Greenhorn IMountains, occupies for a sliort
distance the position of a skirmish line. For a long dis-
tance tlie former is a beautifully-simple range, with a
sharply defined crest and a single row of peaks. In lati-
tude 37° 30' it broadens and culminates in a group of
mountains, the Sierra Blanca, whose highest peak, Blanca,
ovcrto])S everything in Colorado. Its height, from a com-
bination of barometric and trigonometric methods, has
been determined to be 14,464 feet. This is the highest
]jeak in the country, excepting Alaska and a few sunmiits
in the southern part of the Sierra Nevada. Tliis peak,
thougli diflicult and dangerous of access, has been ascended
twice l>y parties of the U.S. Geological Survey in the pro-
secution of their work.
East of this group are the Spanish Peaks, two sharp
volcanic summits rising high above the hills which sur-
round them.
Southward the range continues with a slowly de-
creasing elevation, until, in the latitude of Santa Yi', New
Mexico, it loses its continuity, being represented farther
south only by short low ranges and isolated groups, which
are scattered over the arid regions of Western Texas as
far south as the Eio Grande.
This range is not as high as the Colorado Eange by
500 to 1000 feet. It differs from it also in its smaller
breadth of foothills on the eastern slope. Its core is of
granite, while on the base, and extending some distance
up its eastern slope, lie stratified beds of the more recent
formations. In the main it is not a rugged range, but is
rather distinguished by the beauty and regularity of its
sharply-cut lines.
24. The Paris.
West of these ranges lie the Parks of Colorado, large
high mountain valleys, on the very crest of the CordiUeran
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86
COMPKNDIUM OP GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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plateau. They are four in number, and are known as the
North, Middle, and South Parks, and the San Luis Valley.
The first of these lies partly in Southern Wyoming, the
Colorado boundary passing through it near the middle. It
has an area of about 700 square miles, at a mean elevation
of about 7500 feet. Its surface is quite flat, well grassed,
and abounding in large game. On all sides rise high
mountains, forming an almost continuous wall around
the valley. It is drained by the North Platte Piver.
Nor<-h of the North I'ark, and separated from it by
high mountains, are the Plains of Laramie, lying west of
the Laramie Eange. They are fertile and grass-covered,
and afford pasturage to vast herds of cattle, and, in the
spring and fall, to countless bands of antelope.
South of North Park, separated from it by detached
peaks of volcanic origin, is the depression known as Middle
Park. It is a collection of narrow valleys, separated from
one another by high ranges, spurs from the walls of the
Park. In this depression heads the Grand Eiver, a fork
of the Colorado.
The next in this meridional series is the South Park.
This is a table-land, very imiform in surface, with the
exception of a few minor ridges, and in the southern part
numerous volcanic buttes. Its shape is nearly elliptical,
its longest axis being nearly north and south. It is about
50 miles long, by 25 in breadth. The area is about
1000 square miles. The prevailing slope is from north-
west to south-east. The elevation in the northern part is
9500 to 10,000 feet, while in the south-eastern corner it
falls to 8000 feet. Its limits are sharply defined by the
surrounding mountains, which rise abruptly on all sides
to the highest summits. It is drained by the South
Platte and its branches. Its surface is covered with the
highly nutritious bunch grass, which makes it an excellent
pasture-land.
PARKS AND VALLEYS.
87
^
r •It
Crossing the Arkansas River, where it flows in a pro-
found canon in the hills which border South Park on the
south, and rounding the north end of the Sangre de Cristo
Range, we enter the great valley of San Luis, a vast
plain which stretches southward for 140 miles, with
an average width of 35 or 40 miles. Its area is
more than 5000 square miles, and its elevation ranges
from 8000 feet at its northern end to 7400 feet in
northern New Mexico. It surface is as flat as a billiard-
table. Variations of level are very slight, and are im-
perceptible to the eye. The beds of the streams are but
slightly depressed below the general level. iMost of the
soil is sandy, and towards the eastern side tho sand is
heaped up into dunes, many hundreds of feet in height,
against the mountains.
The Rio Grande del Norte heads in the San Juan
Mountains on the west side of the valley. From the
great snow-fields and the abundant showers of these
mountains, the stream grows rapidly, and at its entrance
into the valley it is one of the largest streams of the State.
From the point of entrance into the valley, its course,
which heretofore has been nearly east, gradually turns to
south as the river slowly sweeps out into the middJe of
the valley. It has several large tributaries in the valley,
but most of the smaller streams merely reach the foot of
the mountains, where they are immediately absorbed by
the hot thirsty soil.
As in the case of the plains, the area of arable land
in this valley is measured solely by the amount of water
available for irrigation. It is estimated that, by carefully
husbanding the supply of this liquid, about one-half of
the area may be rendered productive.
Its natural products are sage, par excellence, inter-
spersed with which is considerable bunch and grama
grass, rendering it of some importance as a pasture land.
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88
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AUD TRAVEL.
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25. 77ic Pa?'7i; Range.
This forms the western wall of the three northern-
most of the Parks. In the northern part it is high, its
peaks reaching a height of more than 12,000 feet. West
of Middle Park it is depressed, harely reaching a height
of 11,000 feet, and in this part the Grand Paver has cut
a tremendous goi.;e, nearly 3000 feet deep, cleaving the
range from base to summit. Parther south it rises again,
and its peaks attain a first-class height. At the north-
west corner of South Park stands ]\Iount Lincoln, named
ill honour of the martyred President of the liepublic,
14,296 feet high; Quandary Peak, 14,269 feet; and
many others of nearly equal magnitude. Xear the lower
end of South Park the range ends abruptly in the Puffalo
Peaks, the highest of which is 13,541 feet high. Beyond,
the range is re])resented only by comparatively low hills.
West of North and Middle Parks this range ends the
system. Thence westward, a succession of plateaus, one
below another, like a gigantic staircase, carries the level
of the country down to the Green Kiver.
26. The Sawaich and Elk Ranges.
In the latitude of South Park the I*ark Pange is by
no means the end of the system. There follows, travel-
ling westward, the valley of tlie Upper Arkansas, here
trending with the ranges nearly south, across which rises
in cold solemn majesty the Sawatch Pange, the " Sierra
Madre " of the early Jesuit padres, a range which, for a
hundred miles, is crested with a continuous line, of peaks
more than 14,000 feet in height. Above its northern
end towers the mountain of the Holy Cross, 14,176 feet
ill altitude, on whose eastern face a cross of snow glitters
iu the morning sunlight. This cross is formed by the
snow
on tl
long
we p
Elberl
Mouni
MounI
feet; ]
iJamed
TJi
only 01
tile Jim
We
tlie Gu]
taries U
detachec
TJiese n
I'eaks ar
tliose of
^^'Jiite, cci
01' luaroc
forms of
•ind piiuij
i^astern i\\
tilde as
"nich low
plateaus
From
^"'Ils runs
Diass of niL
Kio San j]
KOCKY MOUNTAIN RANGES.
89
snow lying in two crevices at right angles to one another
on the almost perpendicular face of the mountain. Its
long arm is fully 1000 feet in length from top to bottom.
Following the irregular crest of the range southward,
we pass in succession Massive Mount, 14,298 feet;
Elbert Peak, 14,351 feet; La Plata Mount, 14,311 feet;
Mount Harvard, 14,375 feet; Mount Yale, 14,187 feet;
Mount Princeton, 14,196 feet; Mount Shtivano, 14,239
feet ; Mount Ouray, 14,043 feet ; besides many more vm-
named peaks nearly or quite d^ualling these in altitude.
The passes in this range are correspondingly high,
only one, and that near the southern end, being below
the limit of timber, which is at 12,000 feet above sea.
West of this range rise branches of the Grand River,
the Gunnison and lioaring Fork ; and among the tribu-
taries to these streams are several ranges, ridges, and
detached groups, known collectively as the Elk ^Mountains.
These mountains are of volcanic origin. Some of the
peaks are of volcanic material, readily distinguished from
those of sedimentary material by their light-gray, almost
white, colour, while the others are a vivid red, brown,
or maroon. In sharp contrast with the heavy massive
forms of those ranges heretofore considered are the spires
and pinnacles of these catastrophic mountains. In the
eastern members the peaks reach nearly as great an alti-
tude as in the Sawatch, but toward the west they are
nnich lower, and with their disappearance the system of
plateaus and mesas of the region of the Colorado begins.
27. The San Juan Eangc.
From the south end of the Sawatch Eange a mass of
hills runs south-westward, connecting with an enormous
mass of mountains about the heads of the Rio Grande, the
Rio San Juan, and many branches of the Gunnison.
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90
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
i4
They can be defined only as a mass, with a long spur,
of magnitude amply sufficient to entitle it to the name of
range, running southward, and forming the western wall
of the San Luis Valley.
This mass radiates drainage in all directions. To the
east flows the Eio Grande ; to the south the Animas,
Florida, Pinos, and the main San Juan ; to the west and
north the Dolores, San Miguel, Uncompahgre, and other
large tributaries to the Grand River. Within these
mountains there is no level country, practically. The
largest valley, known as Baker's Park, is but four miles
long by half a mile in width. It is unnecessary to go into
details regarding the height of this range. Suffice it to
say that it contains at least a dozen peaks exceeding
14,000 feet, and between one and two hundred above
13,000 feet.
South of this group, in New Mexico, the level of the
plateaus is broken by several ranges of greater or less
magnitude. Among them may be mentioned the Zuni
Mountains, whose peaks reach 12,000 feet; the Sierra
Magdalena, Sierra Mateo, and the Sierra de las Mimbres.
\' ff
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28. The Continental Divide.
The water-parting of the continent is borne throughout
by this system of mountains, most of the way following
the crests of ranges, but in some cases stepping down to
the broad flat surfaces of plateaus.
In the British Possessions we find it first following
the crest of the western member of the system, and, as
we trace it southward, it is seen to step eastward from
range to range, until, on entering the territory of Mon-
tana, it is found that the eastern range bears it. At the
south end of this range a western offset is made to the
Bitter Eoot Range, which it follows south-eastward to its
ROCKY MOUNTAIN DIVIDE.
91
end. Then it follows the summit-line of a broken pla-
teau-like country, in which are several excellent passes, to
the head of the Wind Eiver Eange, whose jagged crest
separates the Colorado from the Big Horn. This range,
ending abruptly, leaves only a broad plateau to divide the
waters. The Park Eange next takes up the " divide,"
carrying it to the head of North Park, where it makes a
great loop to the eastward to enclose Middle Park in the
area of Pacific drainage.
Then it sweeps far to the westward, and follows the
high summits of the Sawatch Eange to its end ; then,
pursuing a winding course in the confused mass of the
San Juan Mountains, it takes itself again to the plateaus,
and follows an ill-defined southerly line to the borders of
Mexico. Though it follows, as nearly as can be deter-
mined, the summit-line of the great general elevation, it
by no means follows that it occupies the crests of the
liighest ranges in the neighbourhood. The reverse seems
to be as frequently the case, that there are, on the right
and left, ranges which in altitude may overtop that which
separates the streams of the two oceans.
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COaiPENDlUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
CHAPTEE YIL
THE PLATEAU REGION OF THE COLORADO RIVER.
1. General View.
The country drained by tlie Colorado Eiver is a peculiar
region. It is a country of plateaus and canons, the
plateaus mainly arid and sterile, where the few streams
flow in deep gorges far below the surface.
The longest and most northern branch of the Colorado
is Green Eiver, which heads in the Wind Elver Moun-
tains, against the sources of the Big Horn and the Snake
Elvers. This stream, in its long course towards tlu;
south, receives the waters of the Uintah from the west,
and the Yampa and White Elvers from the east. Near
latitude 38° 15', and longitude 110°, it is joined by the
Grand Eiver, a stream of nearly equal size, which heads
in Middle Park, Colorado, drawing its first supplies of
water from the snow-fields of Long's Peak. The stream
below the junction of these two forks is known as the
Colorado.
Below their junction, the principal branches of tlie
Colorado from the east are the San Juan, the Colorado
Chiquito or Flax Eiver, William's Fork, and the Gila;
on the west, the " Dirty Devil," Paria, and Virgin.
This region is limited on the east, north, and north-
west by liigh mountain ranges. Its surface is nearly flat,
but by no means unbroken. There is little rolling or
undulating country. Changes of level take place by Aery
COLORADO PLATEAU.
93
gentle nniform slopes, or by abrupt precipitous steps. A
large part of the surface consists of bare rocks, with no
soil or vegetation. A part is covered with a thin sandy
soil, which supports a growth of sage and cacti, or even a
few pifion pines and cedars. The only vegetation is that
eminently characteristic of an arid country.
This aridity has modified orographic forms to an
astonishing degree. Where, under different climatic con-
ditions, there would be produced a region similar in most
respects to the prairies of tlie Mississippi Valley, we find
a country, flat indeed, or incHned at low angles, but one
whose watercourses are far beneath the general level,
deep down in canons, hundreds, thousands of feet beneath
the surface.
Great cliffs, thousands of feet in height, and extending
like huge walls for hundreds of miles, change the level
of the country at a single step.
Isolated buttes and mesas, of great height, are scat-
tered over the plateaus, indicating the former height of
the plain of which they formed parts.
" The landscape everywhere, away from the river, is
of rock — cliffs of rock, tables of rock, plateaus of rock,
terraces of rock, crags of rock, — ten thousand strangely
carved forms. Eocks everywhere, and no vegetation ; no
soil; no land. . . . When speaking of these rocks, we
must not conceive of piles of boulders, or heaps of frag-
ments, but a whole land of naked rock, with giant forms
carved on it ; cathedral-shaped buttes, towering hundreds
or thousands of feet ; cliffs that cannot be scaled, and
canon walls that shrink the river into insignificance, with
vast hollow domes and tall pinnacles, and shafts set on
the verge overhead, and all highly coloured — buff, gray,
red, brown, and chocolate ; never licliened, never moss-
covered, but bare and often polished."
The abjve description by Major J. W. Powell, who
•\\
94
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
has explored the canons of the Colorado, gives a graphic
pen-picture of the lower and more arid plateaus of this
10!
|l
.;:'
region.
Nearly every watercourse, whether perennial or not,
is a canon ; a narrow valley, with precipitous walls, often
of enormous height. In many cases these caiions are so
numerous that they cut the plateau into shreds — a mere
skeleton of a country. Of such a section, Lieutenat Ives^
who explored the course of the Lower Colorado, writes: —
" The extent and magnitude of the system of canons in
that direction is astounding. The plateau is cut into
shreds by these gigantic chasms, and resembles a vast
ruin. Belts of country, miles in width, have been swept
away, leaving only isolated mountains standing in the
gap ; fissures so profound that the eye cannot penetrate
tlieir depths are separated by walls whose thickness one
can almost span ; and slender spires, that seem tottering
on their base, shoot up a thousand feet from vaults
below."
But few of these canons contain water throughout the
year. Most of them are dry at all times excepting for a
few days in the early spring, or for a few minutes or
hours at most after a heavy shower. It is a characteristic
of western North America, as of all arid countries, that
the streams, away from their sources in the mountains,
lose water, rather than gain it, in traversing the lower
country. The dry atmosphere and the thirsty soil absorb
it, and, in very many cases, large streams entirely dis-
appear in this way. This is the case to a great extent in
the plateau country, and stiU more so in the Great Basin,
where these are the only outlets to the drainage.
A few words will suffice to sketch the manner in
which the climate has acted in producing these strange
and unique orographic effects. The great degree of aridity
of the atmosphere, and the slight rainfall, coupled with its
suddei
in amc
the su
fast, as
nearly
rains, <
diately
sandy s
little n
great bi
before t
went, cc
tlie rock
as her (
other qu
strange 1
city, has
possessio]
wliicli tl
siispensia
difference
under dis
but it is
oi-ograpliic
such that
tation, t]i(
gaps for tl
but, in pr
will tJie
canon lane
^Vliile
and there
wliatever
is that on
and its mai
■Tr
l^Ml
COLORADO RIVER.
95
sudden explosive character, render plant-life very limited
in amount. The soil, having little or no protection against
the sudden floods, is washed away as fast, or nearly as
fast, as it is formed ; or, in other words, transportation
nearly or quite keeps pace with disintegration. The
rains, coming as they always do in floods, run imme-
diately off the bare rock, or over and through the thin
sandy soil, sweeping it with them, and, collecting in the
little runs with incredible rapidity, rush down them in
great body and with great velocity, sweeping everything
before them. The waters are turbid and thick with sedi-
ment, coarse and sharp-edged from the rapid cutting of
the rocks. It is this detritus which Dame Nature uses
as her chisel in carving canons, cliffs, buttes, and the
other quaint and curious forms which one meets in this
strange land. A clear stream, whatever may be its velo-
city, has little erosive power ; but put these tools in its
possession, give it the quantity of coarse sand and gravel
which the Colorado and its tributaries always hold in
suspension, and its cutting power is enormous. Tlie
difference in climatic conditions between the district
under discussion and the plains is one of degree only,
but it is sufficient to produce very marked differences in
orographic forms. Wherever the climatic conditions are
such that soil can be formed and be covered with vege-
tation, there canons cannot be produced, other than as
gaps for the passage of streams through mountain ranges ;
but, in proportion as the climate becomes more arid, so
will the country approach, in its physical features, a
cafion land.
\Vhile every stream in this region flows in a canon —
and there are thousands of canons which contain no water
whatever — the most remarkable succession of these clefts
is tliat on the main stream of the region, the Colorado,
and its main branch the Green. The lower caiions of the
ill
mi
: ?
Tl
96
COJIPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
J!
I
li
i lifl '
l<
:*!
ii
river were explored in 1857 by Lieutenant Ives as far
as the head of the Black Carion. In 1869, Major J. W.
Powell explored the main portion of the river in boats.
He started from Green River City, in South-western
"Wyoming, and safely threaded the devious path of the
canons as far as the mouth of the Grand Wash, a distance
of 1000 miles. Throughout this distance there are but
few miles where the river is not deep in the bowels of the
earth.
2. Tlie Canons of the Colorado and Green.
The Green Eiver, on leaving the Wind Eiver Moun-
tains, traverses southward a great plain or valley, known
as the Green River Basin, at present an artemisia waste,
but capable of being reclaimed, in large part, by irrigation.
At the foot of this valley it meets the Uintah range,
trending at right angles to its course. This range it
traverses by a devious course, cutting gorges of enormous
depth.
On emerging from these canons, it enters another
valley, 'juite similar to that above, but smaller, and known
as the Uintah Basin. Traversing this, it gradually enters
a canon in sedimentary rocks. These beds, and the sur-
face of the country with them, incline at a very low angle
to the north, so that the stream in its southern progress
is constantly getting deeper below the surface, until, in
a distance of 97 miles, the walls have risen to a height
of 3300 feet above the river. At this point the walls
break off abruptly, in a direction transverse to that of the
river, leaving a small valley at the foot of the cliff.
Lower down there follow two similar caiions, but less
in height and length. These inclined plateaus, sloping
to the north and breaking off abruptly on the south,
extend east and west to the bases of the ranges which
border this region, i.e. across the plateau country. Of
I (
COLORADO CANON.
97
these Major Powell writes — " Conceive of three geo-
graphic terraces, many hundred feet lii.^h, and many
miles in width, forminrr a great stairway, from the loom-
pin Wuncar I'unmip {the land of standing rocl's) below,
to the Uintah Valley above. The lower step of this stair-
way, the Orange Cliffs, is more than 1200 feet high, anil
the step itself is two or three score miles in width. The
second step, tlie Book Cliifs, is 2000 feet high, or more,
and a score of miles in width. The third or upper step
is more than 2000 feet high. Passing along this step
for two or three score miles, we reach the valley of the
Uintali ; but this valley is not 5000 or 6000 feet higher
than the Toompin Wunear Tuweap, for the stairway is
tipped backward."
At the foot of tlie third canon, another, Stillwater
Canon, immediately commences, and extends below the
junction of the Grand and Green. The meeting of the
waters takes place in the gloomy depths of this abyss,
1300 feet below the upper surface.
A sliort distance above their junction, the surface of
llie coutitry begins to rise with a long gentle slope towards
the summit of a fold. Stillwater and Cataract Canons
are cut in this fold. The walls grow gradually higher,
but before tlie river reaches the axis of the fold it seems
to become discouraged at the prospect of the difficulties
ahead, and turning nearly at right angles, it runs, diagon-
ally to the axis, and as gradually, out of the fold, at the
mouth of the Dirty Devil Pdver. There is here a bit of
open valley, and then another, Glen Canon, succeeds. Its
greatest height is at its foot, at the mouth of the Paria,
where it is 10 00 feet.
Again the river runs into canons, as if afraid of the
sunlight. There is here another inclined plateau, sloping
toward the north, and in it the river burrows deeper and
deeper, until, at the mouth of the Colorado Chiquito, it is
H
^' f
98
COMl'KNDIUM OF GEOGUArilY AND TRAVEL.
•J
|!
'i
ri I
3800 feet below the surface. Tliis is !Miiil)lo Canon.
The river lias turned toward the west, and at the foot of
this canon or — for this is continuous with the Grand
("anon — at the foot of this portion, the general course of
the river is west. At this point it is crossed by the
I'aria fold, in which the throw is to the west, thus sud-
denly increasing tlie depth of the canon by adding to the
elevation of the country.
lAirther down the river is met another fault, which
in some places becomes a fold, running across the river's
course. It is an enormous one, with a throw of about
3000 feet, which, like the last, is to the west. This is
the eastern Kaibab fault, and the plateau produced by it,
the Kaibab (niountain-lying-down) plateau. The canon
here attains its maximum depth, which is nearly 7000
feet. This is not in a single slope from the water ; a part
of it is iu one or two benches, which stand back one, two,
or three miles from the edge of the lower cliffs. The
throw of the Paria fold has brought to the surface the
underlying granite, and the lower cliffs of the Grand
(Jauon are of this rock.
In j\Iajor Powell's story of his trip through these
canons, we find the following fine description of the
Grand Canon; — "The walls now are more than a mile
in height, a vertical distance dillicult to appreciate. . . .
A thousand feet of this is up through granite crags, then
steep slopes and perpendicular cliffs rise, one above an-
other, to the summit. The gorge is black and narrow
below, red and gray and flaring above, with crags and
angular projections on the walls, which, cut in many
places by side canons, seem to be a vast wilderness of
rocks. Down in these grand gloomy depths we glide,
ever listening, for the mad waters keep up their roar;
ever watching, ever peering ahead, for the narrow canon
is winding, and the river is closed in, so that we can see
f.'J
COLO U ADO CANON".
99
l)ut a few hundred yards, and wlmt there may be helow
we know not ; hut we listen for falls, and watch for rocks,
or stop now and then, in the hay of a recess, to admire
the gigantic scenery. And ever as wo go there is some
new pinnacle or tower, some crag or peak, some distant
view of the upper plateau, some strange-shaped rock, or
some deep narrow side canon. Then we come to another
broken fall, which appears more ditlicult than the one we
ran this morning.
" Clouds are playing in the canon to-day. Sometimes
they roll dovA'n in great masses, filling the gorge with
gloom; sometimes they hang above, from wall to wall,
and cover the canon with a roof of impending storm ; and
we can peer long distances up and down this canon
corridor, with its cloud-roof overhead, its walls of black
granite, and its river bright with the sheen of broken
waters. Then i* gust of wind sweeps down a side gulch,
and, making a rift in the clouds, reveals the blue heavens,
and a stream of sunlight pours in. Then the clouds drift
away into distance, and hang around crags and peaks, and
pinnacles and towers and walls, and cover them with a
mantle that lifts from time to time and sets them all in
sharp relief. Then baby clouds creep out of side canons,
glide around points, and creep back again into more
distant gorges. Then, clouds set in strata across the
canon, with intervening vista-views to cliffs and rocks
beyond. The clouds are children of the heavens, and
when they play among the rocks they lift them to the
region above. , . .
" The varying depths of this canon, due to the varying
altitudes of the plateaus through wliich it runs, can only
be seen from above. As we wind about in the gloomy
depths below, the difference between 4000 and GO 00
feet is not discerned, but the characteristics of the canon
— the scenic features — change abruptly with the change
'f I
I
:!>l
I M
i >'■
I I
i
100
COMPENDIUM OF GKoOUAniY AND TltAVn,.
ill the altitudo of tlio walls as tliu falls aro jnissod. In
ruiiiiiii;^' tlio cliaiitiel M'liich divides tlio twin ])lalc'aus, wu
pass round the lirst great southern bend. In the very
dejiths of the canon we have hlack granite, with a narnnv
cleft through which a great river ])lunges. This granite
])ortion of the walls is carved with deep gulches, and
embossed with pinnacles and towers. Above are broken,
ragged, nonconforniable rocks, in many places sloping
l)ack at a low angle. Clambering over these, we reach
rocks lying in horizontal beds. Some are soft ; many
very hard ; the softer strata are washed out ; the harder
remain as shelves. Everywhere there are side gulches
and canons, so that these gulches are set about ten
thousand dark gloomy alcoves. One might imagine that
this was intended for the library of the gods ; and it was.
The shelves are not for books, but form the stony leaves
of one great book. He who would read the language of
the universe may dig out letters here and there, and with
them spell the words, and read, in a slow and imperfect
way, but still so as to understand a little, the story of
creation." — Exploration of the Colorado River of the West:
Washington, 1875, pp. 83, 85, 193-4.
3. Running a Rapid.
The dangers of the navigation in rivers, like the
Colorado, winding through a series of canons are natu-
rally often of a very formidable character. The writer
just quoted, who ran many risks in his exploration of
these regions, had on one occasion to navigate a rapid
in the Grand Canon at the imminent peril of his life.
"About eleven o'clock," he writes, " we hear a great roar
ahead, and approach it very cautiously. The sound grows
louder and louder as we run, and at last we find ourselves
above a long, broken fall, with ledges and pinnacles of
COLORADO RIVKR.
101
rock obstruct inj? the river. There is a (h'scent of per-
haps 75 or 80 feet in a tliird of a mile, and the rushing'
waters hreak into great waves on the rocks, and hish
themselves into a mad white foam. We can land jnst
above, hnt there is no foothold on either side by which
we can make a portage. It is nearly 1000 feet to the
top of the granite, so it will be impossible to carry our
boats around, though we can climb to the sumndt up a
side gulch, and, passing along a mile or two, can descend
to the river. This we find on examination, hut such a
portage would he impracticable for us, and we must run
the rapid or abandon the river. There is no hesitation.
We step into our boats, push off, and away we go ;
[irst on smooth hut swift water, then we strike a glassy
wave and ride to its top, down again into the trough, U])
again on a higher wave, and down and up on waves
higher and still higher, until we strike one just as it
curls back, and a breaker roUs over our little boat. Still,
on we speed; shooting past projecting rocks, till the little
boat is caught in a whirlpool, and spun roi nd several
times. At last we pull out again into tlie stream, and
now the other boats have passed us. The open com-
partment of the ' Emma Dean' is filled with water, and
every breaker rolls over us. Hurled back from a rock
— now on this side, now on that — we are carried into an
eddy, in which we struggle for a few minutes, and are
then out again, the breakers still rolling over us. Our
boat is unmanageal)le, but she cannot sink, and we drift
down another hundred yards through breakers — how, we
scarcely know. We find the other boats have turned
into an eddy at the foot of the fall, and are waiting to
catch us as we come, for the men have seen that our
boat is swamped. They push out as we come near, and
pull us in against the wall. We bail our boat, and on
we go again" {op. cit. pp. 82-3).
■; )
I i
102
COMPENDIUM OF GKOGKArilY AND TItAVKL.
• mi
11
i!
i
!
1 ifi
, 1
|i'
ii
The walls of the Grand Cafiou and the level of the
plateau descend by a succession of great steps, ])roduced
by faults, until the level of the river is reached at tlie
mouth of the OrandAVash; and thus ends tlie Grand Ganon.
Below the Grand Wash, a dry stream bed whicli
enters the Golorado from the north, the river turns soutli
again and enters the Black Canon of Lieutenant Ives'
rejiort — a cafion which would be a remarkable feature
were it not brought into such close juxtaposition with
that described above.
Below it the river runs in narrow valleys and low
canons to its moutlu
4. Fauna and Flora of the Plateau Region,
This region is not all a desert. The high plateaus
must be excepted from the general condemnation, but as
these are in the immediate vicinity of the mountains, and
are of very limited extent, they can scarcely be considered
as belonging to tlie plateau region. On these tlie fauna
and flora of the mountain region are found in abundance,
dependent in large measure upon the elevation. As wo
go down into the true canon country, the scene changes.
Aspens give place to pinon pine and cedar; the grasses,
fruits, and flowers, to sage, caeti, and bare rock ; the
streams become confined in rocky canons, turn muddy
and warm, and gradually disappear. The game changes,
— deer and elk are re])laced by the coyote, while rattle-
snakes and centi]iedes assert their projn-ietorship. Of
the fauiui Afajor Bowell writes — "Among the buttes on
the lower terraces, rattlesnakes crawl, lizards glide over
the rocks, tarantulas stagger about, and red ants build
their playhouse mountains. Sometimes rabbits are seen,
and wolves prowl in their quest ; but the desert has no
bird of sweet song and no beast of noble mien."
I'KTWEE
lies a <)
•'III area
broad vj
<lown to
■in of th(
01' How h
<Jiy atmo
On t]
the ^^\
►Sierra JV'(
limits ar(
^" wost c;
On tli(
from tlie p
^"nown as
reach near
^^ tlie ran;
Sleight.
Tlie ra:
^leadinn- i^
IT
o
GREAT BASIN.
103
CIIArTEE YIII.
THE GREAT BASIN.
1. Its General Aiipairancc.
Between tlie Walisatcli !KaTi"e and the Sierra Nevada
lies a great area, whicli lias no outlet to cither oeean —
an area containing many great ranges of nionntains, 'tvith
broad valleys at their bases; but the niountiiins send
down to the plains few permanent streams, and nearly
all of these are absorbed by the thirsty soil ininiodiately,
or flow into salt lakes, to feed the increasing thirst of the
dry atmosphere.
On the east this region is tolerably well defined by
the AVahsatch and other ranges, on the west by the
Sierra Nevada. On the north and south, however, its
limits are not sharply defined, the water-partings being,
in most cases, mere swells in otherwise Hat valleys.
2. The Walisatch Bangc.
On the west side of the basin, scjiarating it in part
from the plateau region, is a high and im])ortant range,
known as the Walisatch Eange. Its extreme summits
reach nearly to 13,000 feet, but in the greater part
of the range they are from 10,000 to 11,000 feet in
height.
The range is traversed by several streams whicli,
heading iu its eastern foothills, flow westward, cutting
.!u
'/'
104
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
I : 1
V' >,
m
terrific gorges through its centre. Of such are tlie Provo
(formerly knowu as the Timpaiiogos), the Weber, Ogdeii,
aud several hranches of the Bear, a tributary to the
Great Salt Lake.
3. The Basin Ranges.
The Basin is traversed by a large number of ranges
of mountains, trending nearly parallel to a meridian, but
varying slightly from that course to the north-east in the
eastern part of the region, and to the north-west in the
western part. These ranges are distributed over this
area with tolerable regularity. They are mainly simple
in structure ; some are short, others extend over several
degrees of latitude, and are of heights ranging from 5000
to 10,000 feet above sea-level.
Between them are valleys of considerable breadth,
floored by the detritus from the mountains, which buries
deeply their bases, leaving to the imagination alone to
picture the full magnitude of these ranges, of which
the summits only appear above the surface.
These ranges are composed of sedimentary rocks, un-
altered or metamorphosed ; granite and cognate rocks,
and volcanic rocks.
Most of these valleys are utter deserts. There is
absolutely no water in them from one end of the year to
the other. In the spring tiny rills may run down from
the little snow in the mountains, but they sink imme-
diately on reaching the plain, and for nearly all the year
these even are dry. The only source of supply to the
traveller over these arid wastes is from the springs which
are found occasionally at the bases of the mountains.
A few of the valleys are watered in part by small
streams which flow through them, and, in such cases, the
soil is found to be of marvellous fertility.
T]
Humb
in tJie
valley
m \\
GREAT BASIN.
105
The HumLoldt Eiver, wliicli takes its rise in the
Ilumboklt Eange and flows south-westward, to disappear
in the Humboldt Sink, waters a narrow belt in each
valley wliicL it crosses.
The Sevier liiver, too, though a small stream, waters
a long narrow belt along its sinuous course, and deposits
its remaining waters in Sevier Lake.
The following general description of the features of
the Great Basin is found in the Report of the U.S. Geo-
hxjiral Survey for 1870 : —
" Let us for a moment take a bird's-eye view of the
great inland basin of which Salt Lake Valley forms only
a part. We shall find that M'hat is termed the Great
Basin of the West comprises the vast area enclosed by
the Wahsatch Mountains on the east and the Sierra
Xevada ou the west ; the crest or water-divide of the
Columbia on the north, and that of the Colorado on the
south. We shall also observe that this great region has
uo visible outlet ; that it is composed of a multitude of
smaller basins or valleys, each of which has its little
Likes, springs, and watercourses, their surplus water
either evaporating or sinking beneath the surface. If
we examine the elevations in this region, we observe a
wondei'ful uniformity in the surface of the valleys, and
find that none of them are much above the level of the
waters of Great Salt Lake. ... I infer that a fresh-
water lake once occupied all this immense basin ; that
the smaller ranges of mountains were scattered over it as
isolated islands, their summits projecting above the sur-
face ; that the waters have gradually and slowly passed
away by evaporation, and the terraces are left to reveal
certain oscillations of level and the steps of progress
towards the present order of things ; and that the briny
waters have concentrated in those lake-basins which
have no outlet."
I«
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106
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
^
r
■
ill
E-
l-I
E-
■H
[d
PS
O
g
The Great Basin is a col-
lection of smaller basins ;
each, in cases where it has
any drainage whatever,
with its own stream or
streams ; its sink, which,
in cases where snfficient
water is brought in, de-
velops into lakes, marsliy
swamps, and the like.
Those lakes which have
no outlet are salt ; those
which communicate with
others lower down are of
course fresh.
The lakes of the Basin
are mainly disjDOsed in
tliree groups, one on the
east and west sides of the
Basin respectively, under
the shadow of the limiting
ranges, and one in the
northern part.
4. Gi-caf Salt Lahc.
The principal member
of the eastern group is tlie
Great Salt Lake, which
receives most of the drain-
age from the "VVahsatcli
Mountains. It is almost
an inland, sea, having an
area at present of 23 GO
square miles. It is very
sliallo'
fathon
fatlioir
As
were i
I'egion.
change
fiiy; ai
clianges
it is e.\
present
of the J
40 per
decided
this is d
question.
The^
human b
the time
Water co:
present
In 18G9
the solid
Ii50 parts
Magi
Linie
Soda
Potas
Snip
Chloi
Lc
i
GREAT BASIN.
107
shallow, having a mean depth of Lnt fonr or five
fathoms, while in its deepest part it reaches but eight
fathoms.
As it has no outlet, its waters would rapidly rise
were it not for the enormous evaporation in this dry
region. The level of its waters is constantly subject to
change with the character of the seasons, whether wet or
dry ; and it is therefore a very sensitive indicator of
changes in the climate, particularly as the country around
it is extremely level, and but very slightly above the
present surface of the lake. Since 1849-50 the surface
of the lake has risen 11 feet, and its present area is
40 per cent greater than at that time, indicating a
decided increase in moisture of the climate. AVhether
this is due to the settlement of the country is an open
question.
The water of the lake is very strongly saline. The
human body floats almost entirely on the surface. At
the time of Captain Stansbury's survey in 1850, the
water contained 2 2 '4 per cent of solid matter. At
present the percentage of solid matter is much less.
In 18G9 it was reduced to 14*8. An analysis of
the solid matter by the survey of the 40th parallel
{vide BcjJt. Sur. 4:0th Far,, vol. ii. p. 433) gave in
loO parts
Magnesia
Lime .
Soda .
Potassa
Sulphuric acid ,
Chlorine
G-301
0-357
GG-978
2-901
8-215
83-946
168-698
Less oxygen of soda and magnesia . 18-758
149-940
I'll
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■;
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'^
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1
i y.
It
TfT
108
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAniY AND TEAVEL.
if
'f
or, in other words —
Chloride of sodium
Cliloride of magnesium
Sulphate of soda
Sulphate of potassa
Sulphate of lime
Excess of chlorine
7911
9-95
6-22
3-58
0-57
0-57
100-00
The elevation of the lake ahove sea-level is 4218 feet.
Great Salt Lake is bat the ruin of a much grander
lake, which, in ages past, covered a large part of the area
of the Great Basin. The shore-line of this great lake, for
which the name of Bonneville has been proposed, is yet
distinctly marked high up on the slopes of the Wahsatch
and other ranges in this part of the Basin, 970 feet
above its present surface. At that time it had an outlet,
draining northward into the Snake or Lewis Fork of the
Columbia. During the process of desiccation of tlie
country, caused by the rise of the Sierra Nevada, the
lake receded, but its recession was checked for greater or
less intervals, which are indicated by minor beach-lines,
which form a succession of steps upon the mountain side.
6. Death Valley.
There are within tlie Great Basin two valleys which
are remarkable as lying below the level of the sea. One
of these, in Eastern California, is known as Death Valley,
from the number of persons who have miserably perished
there from thirst. Parts of this valley are 150 feet
below the sea-level.
It is a desert valley, lying between two of the charac-
teristic ranges of the Basin, known as the Amargoza and
the Panamint Eanges, which rise 7000 feet above its
GREAT BASIN.
109
level. There is no water in the whole extent of this
valley, — nothing but bare rock and shifting sand, if we
except a few cacti and a little stunted sage. In the
summer, the sun's rays, pouring down on the bare rocks,
make the heat intolerably intense, and increase the pangs
of thirst to the unfortunate traveller. Few persons have
succeeded in crossing this terrible place, though many
have attempted it.
The second locality is in South-western California,
and is known as Soda Lake. The lowest parts of this
valley range from 100 to 200 feet below the sea. A
very low water-parting separates it from the Gulf of
California and the Colorado Eiver ; and at times of hiiih
water in this river it overflows the water-parting and
forms a shallow lake here, which, however, disappears
by evaporation during the hot summer months.
i I
i
It
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11:
t
I
THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS.
CHAPTER IX.
THE PACIFIC RANGES.
1. In General.
From Alaska to the point of the peninsula of Southern
California stretches almost continuously a great system
of mountains, parallel to the Pacific coast. Parts of it
are known respectively as the Cascade L'ange, the Sierra
Nevada, the Coast lianges, etc. The range divides in
Washington Territory, a minor branch extending south-
ward along the coast through Oregon and California,
while the principal range trends parallel to it and the
coast, hut farther to the eastward. P)etween them is a
succession of hroad valleys — those of the AVillamette in
Oregon, and of the Sacramento and San Joaquin in Cali-
fornia, being the prhicipal ones.
2. The Cascade lianjc.
Tlie northern part of the eastern and principal range,
from Mount Shasta in Northern California northwards
through Oregon, Wasliington Territory, the Pritish Pos-
sessions, and Alaska, is geologically quite distinct from
the southern portion, and differs markedly i'rom it in its
to]-)ogrnj
as tJiu C
of tlie I
J 1 arrow «.
Oregon,
tliat of ;
v(»leanic
i'lir north
AVashin<rt
to Iiave e
of lava
"tory, is ;
same terr
'Sliasta, Ca
small liot
Many
tions. Th
in Alaska,
Tlie m
Oregon an
'leen repe;
still exist
comes no
eniinenco
to Mount
'jy Alphons
tliejii fount
tinil^er were
of vegetatio]
tlie same n
atmosplieric
officer. Lieu
rAClFIC RANGES.
Ill
topouTfipliical featuvos. Tliis part of the system is known
as the Cascade liaii<i;e, a name derived from the cascades
of the Colnml)ia lliver, where it cuts a passage, hy a
narrow jiorLi,e, tln'ou;j;h these mountains. Its character in
Orej^on, Washington Territory, and liritish Columhia, is
that of a broad low range, surmounteil Ly many high
volcanic peaks, A few of these peaks, especially in the
far nortli, are still active volcanoes. jNIount St. Helens,
Washington Territory, is reported, upon good authority,
to have erupted in February 1842, sending down streams
of lava over its sides. Mount Baker, "Washington Ter-
ritory, is said to l)e still smoking ; Mount Ifainier, in the
same territory, still gives off steam; while in Mount
Shasta, Cidifornia, the only sign of volcanic activity is a
small hot spring near the sunmrit.
Many of these peaks reach very considerable eleva-
tions. The highest is unquestionably Mount St. Elias,
ill Alaska, whose height is about 14,970 feet.
miie,
[anls
Pos-
ifroiu
in its
3. Ecsults of the latest Surveys.
The most ])rominent crests of the Cascade TJange in
Oregon and Washington Territory have of late years
been repeatedly scaled, yet considerable discrei^ancies
still exist respecting their elevations. Hence it be-
comes no easy matter to decide the question of pre-
eminence amongst these peaks. It was long awarded
to Mount Hood, on August 20th, ISO*), ascended
by Alphonso Wood and the liev. Mr. Atlcinson, and by
them found to be 17,430 feet high. The limits of
thuber were fixed by these observers at 8970, and those
of vegetation at 10,900 feet. But on August 23d, 18G7,
the same mountain was scaled, under very favourable
atmospheric conditions, by the United States engineer
ofticer, Lieutenant- Colonel Williamson, who conducted
m
W.
m
u
'/Ifi
112
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TPAVEL.
his observations with very reliahle instruments, and
found its liGiji,ht to bo only 11,225 foot. With this
agrees tolerably well the trigonometrical survey carried
out by Professor Whitney in Oregon during the summer
of 18(')7, a rough calculation showing about 11,700 feet
for jNIount IIoikI, and about 1000 feet less for ^Mounts
St. Helens and Adams.
Similar discrepancies exist respecting Mount leaker,
whose height has been variously given at 10,700, 10,650,
and 10,500 feet, — this last l)y Coleman, who scaUid it on
August 17tli, 18G8, and who found the neigiibouring
Sherman I*eak to bo about the same heigiit. He l)elieve(l
the suow-line might here be fixed at 5100 feet, which is
unquestionaljly too low. The summit, a steep icy cone,
which could l)e reached only by hewing ste])s in the ice,
presents a Hat surface 1300 feet in diameter, its snowy
mantle unrulUed by a single rocky protuberance.
At the foot of Sherman Peak, distant some 1500
feet from ]\lount Baker, lies the crater, 900 feet broad,
its blackened walls here and there coloured by sulphur.
Through a fissure in the side of this crater prodigious
masses of lava have been poured forth, the suli)hurous
odour, combined with th'^ smoke and absence of snow,
clearly showing that the lires still slumber in the bosom
of the mountain.
4. Muunt Eainicr — Glaciers.
On the other hand, the height of ]\rount Tfainier or
Taclioma has been definitely settled by Professor Davidson
at 14,444 feet. Hence it is four feet higher than Mount
Shasta, and consequently the most elevated point in the
Cascade Eange of the States. It has a glacier ten miles
in length by five broad, many others of a like character
being elsewhere found in this range. That glaciers
really exist in the giant mountains of the Pacific States
had i
von ]
to sea
gliiciej
same
I'rofes.'
extensi
TJie
in the
^^evada,
l^'roken i
main pl{]
the sea,
enormous
h'ne of t\
grouped J
e^er, pass
great
peal
partly oveJ
ever direct)
is the great
peak, its stl
o^ts Javaf
far above
til
tl
IS
^mposi]j
^^y other
Moil
Amer
Emm
rancli
dcs^
int
'lean
ons, Fj
man J I
cribes tlic
Quoted fror
PACIFIC RANGES.
113
had already been ascertained by the hite Lieutenant A.
von Kantz some twenty years aL;o, when, on attempting
to scale Mount liainier, he found his way barred by large
glaciers. Stephens and Van Trump, who ascended the
same mountain in the summer of 1870, as well as
Professor Davidson, have all determined the presence of
extensive glaciers on its slopes.
5. Mount Shasta.
The land east of the Scott >tounta.ins, consequently
in the direction of the northern spurs of the Sierra
Xevada, comprises a broad volcanic plain, here and there
broken by considerable mountain chains. Above the
main plain itself, at an elevation of 14,440 feet above
the sea, towers Mount Shasta, the solitary cone of an
enormous extinct volcano, lying almost exactly in the
line of the axis of the Sierra Nevada. At its foot are
grouped hundreds of little volcanic hills, which, how-
ever, pass almost unnoticed beneath the shadow of the
great peak. The volcanic plain is partly wooded and
partly overgrown with grass and wild sage. But in what-
ever direction we go, the one central point in the landscape
is the great cone of Mount Shasta. Its solid snow-capped
peak, its stupendous elevation, the pale gray or rosy tints
of its lava fields, and the dark wooded belt encircling it
far above the numerous satellites at its base, impart to
this imposing mountain a grandeur scarcely equalled by
any other elevation in tlie New World.
Mount Shasta was scaled in the year 1870 by the
American geologist Clarence King, accompanied by S. F.
Emmons, Fred. A. Clark, A. B. Clark, and Sisson, a
ranchman living at the base of the mountain. King
describes the ascent as follows : — ^
^ Quoted from the Atlantic Monthly of December 1871, i)p. 710-720.
I
j.
rj
1
'
^iii
1 :
'
1
:
' ■
■ ■
j
^'
■f
.!
:!l
rl
! 1
liH (^
fill
I'l
ij
r
1
1 it
il
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II
11
II
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9 ^
1
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114
COMI'KNDIUM OF (JKOCUAI'IIY AND TltAVKF,.
" Septeinlier 11th found tlit! climbora of otir i)Jii'ty
mounted on our nmles hoading for the crater-cone over
rou<,'h rocks, and union^ the stunted firs and pines whicli
mark the u[)per limit of forest growth. The morning
was cool and clear, with a fresh north wind sweepini;
around the voh;ano, and briugiiif^ in its descent the
invigoratiu}^ cold of the snow region. When we had
gone as far as our mules could carry us, threading their
diflicult way among piles of lava, we dismounted and
made up our packs of beds, instruments, food, and fuel
..'M '111 J ^^S"
■ ■■ •■ I . ' ' tt' '«^-''^(Mva>!*'^9^«w^app»c«<*P«WM
-^B.■ ^ ^^> ^ -;
y'^»^ ■*»■■" ^
MOUNT SHASTA.
for a three days' tri]) . . . and with Sisson, who was to
accompany us up the first ascent, struck out on foot.
Already above vegetation, we looked out over all tiie
valley south and west, oljserving its arabesque of forest,
meadow, and chaparral, the files of pines wliicli strugi^kMl
up almost to our feet, and just below us the volcauie
slope, strewn with red and broMni wreck, and patches of
shrunken snow-drift.
" Our climb up tlie steep western crater-slope was
slow and tiresome, quite without risk or excitement.
The ff
W(iy J)
n])on 1
scone c
bowl, n
feet dv
sliattert
fields ol
"W
came to
blade ol
edge, u
mis-stej)
blocks w
" Pai
find from
into a <r
v.'indiiig I
sliarp do
blue ho]
their bril
"Lai
small (ic
"111, and
closely.
" ^y^,
thing bu
finding tl
''^"d uudei
ill that
thoughts
" TJie
still air f
blue the
Slurried dc
FIC RANGES.
115
Tlie footinjT, ultnrjetlicr of lodgoil debiis, at times f^ave
way provoking;!}', and tlircw us out of balance. Once
uj)on the spiry ])innack'S which crown tlio crater-rim, a
scene of wihl power l»roke upon us. The round crater-
howl, about a mile in diameter and nearly a thousand
feet deep, liiy beneath us, its stc^c]) shelvinfj; sides of
shattered lava mantled in places to the very b(jttoni by
fields of snow.
" We clambered alonj:? the edj^c toward Shasta, and
came to a place where for a thousand feet it was a mere
l)la(lo of ice, sharpened by the snow into a thin frail
edge, upon which we walked in cautious balance, a
mis-step likely to hurl us down into the chaos of lava
blocks within the crater.
" I'assing tiii.3, we reached the north edge of the rim,
and from a rugged mound ot shattered rock looked down
into a gorge between us and the main Shasta. There,
\.'inding its huge body along, lay a glacier, riven with
sharp deep crevasses, yawning 50 to GO feet wide, the
blue hollows of their shattered depth contrasting with
their brilliant surfiices of ice. . . .
"Later we met for bivouac, s])rcad our beds upon
small debris under the lee of a mass of rock on the
rim, and built a little camp-fire, around which m'c sat
closely. . . .
" AVe turned in. Upon cold stone our bed was any-
tliing but comfortable, angular fragments of trachyte
finding their way with great directness among our ribs
and under our shoulder-blades, keeping us almost awake
in that desj^airing semi-consciousness when dreams and
thoughts tangle in tiresome confusion. . . .
" The next day was brilliant and cloudless, the cold
still air full of life and inspiration. Through its clear
blue the Shasta peak seemed illusively near, and we
hurried down to the saddle which connects our cone with
! !
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116
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
I
ii ,1
«:}i :
H,
,
I
the peak, and across the head of a small tributary glacier,
and up over the first deln-is slopes. It was a slow tedious
three hours' climb over stones which lay as steeply as
loose material possibly can, up to the base of a red tra-
chyte spur ; tlien on up a gorge, and out upon a level
mountain shoulder, where were considerable flats covered
with deep ice. . . .
" The farther ascent lies up a long scoria ridge of loose
red pumaceous rock for seven or eight hundred feet, then
across another level step covered with rugged ice, and up
into a sort of corridor between two steep, much broken,
and stained ridges. Here in the hollow are boiling
sulphurous springs and hot earth. . . .
" A short rapid climb brought us to tlie top ; four
hours and thirty minutes from our crater bivouac.
" There is no reason why any one of sound wind and
limb should not, after a little mountaineering practice, be
able to make the Shasta climb. There is nowhere the
shadow of danger, and never a real piece of mountain
climbing, — climbing, I mean, with hands and feet; nn
scaling of walls, or labour involving other qualities than
simple muscular endurance." . . .
6. The Sierra Nevada.
The Sierra Nevada extends along the eastern border
of the State of California, from Tejon Pass nortliward to
Lassen's Peak, a distance of about 450 miles. South of
Tejon Pass the rauge decreases in height, joins the Coast
Range, and becomes topographically identified with it.
North of Lassen's Peak tlie metamorphic rocks which
make up the Sierra disappear beneath a volcanic plateau
which stretches northward to Mount Shasta, forming the
link connecting the Sierra with the volcanic Cascade
Eange. Tlie average breadth of the Sierra Nevada is
about
up wi
range i
is 400
Th
about 1
from 1
abruptl
decreas(
We
of this
scription
iiey, in t
"Th
State (C
tween th
over 70
area aboi
mile in -vi
depth be]
may be r
the moui
trend. .
several re
as it wen
easterly d
we arrive
n'glit angl(
through e
gigantic si
the Sierra,
scend stre
ii:
m
SIERRA NEVADA.
117
about 80 miles, of which by far tlie greater part is taken
up with the western slope. The western foot of the
range is but little above sea-level, while its eastern base
is 4000 to 5000 feet above tide-water.
The highest and most rugged portion of this range is
about latitude 36° 30', where the peaks range in height
from 14,000 to 15,000 feet. South of this, it falls
abruptly to Tejon Pass, while northward its elevation
decreases gradually but uniformly to its northern end.
7. Tlie Yoscmite Valley.
"We cannot do better, in order to give a general idea
of this remarkable natural feature, than quote the de-
scription of this valley written by Professor J. D. Whit-
ney, in the Guide Book to the Yoscmite, p. 84 c< seq.
" The Yosemite Valley is nearly in the centre of the
State (California) north and south, and just midway be-
tween the east and west bases of the Sierra, here a little
over 70 miles wide. .. . . The valley is a nearly level
area about 6 miles in length, and from half a mile to a
mile in width, and sunken almost a mile in perpendicular
depth below the general level of the adjacent region. It
may be roughly likened to a gigantic trough hollowed in
the mountains, nearly at right angles to their regular
trend. . . . This trough ... is quite irregular, having
several re-entering angles and square recesses, let back,
as it were, into its sides ; still a general north-east by
easterly direction is maintained in the depression, until
we arrive near its upper end, where it turns sharply, at
right angles almost, and soon divides into three branches,
through either of which we may, going up a scries of
gigantic steps, as it were, ascend to the general level of
the Sierra. Down each of these branches, or canons, de-
scend streams, forks of the Merced, coming down the
i'^
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W'li
K/1
118
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
.l-i'-^
steps in a series of stu-
pendous waterfalls. At its
lower end, the valley con-
tracts into a narrow gorge
or canon, with steeply in-
clined walls, and not hav-
ing the U - shape of the
Yusemite, but the usual
V-forni of CiJifornian val-
leys.
" The principal feattn-es
of the Yosemite, and tliose
by M'hich it is distiu-
YOSEMITK VALLEY, CAUFORNIA.
guislied
near aj
great 1
witli th
very sni
gigantic
tlie Yosi
tliese, tl
features
l>e surpa,'
in the W(
Yosemite
cient in j
far and w
of the Yo
known an(
nimoticed
ol'jects of
The
without a :
1st, the gr
to 4000
wonderful
its granite
falls by V,-
the valley,
These dese
them is th
2600 feet,
ieap from t
of cascades
makes a se
Jh-idal Veil
beautiful,
is swayed
SIERRA NEVADA.
11&
guislied from all other known valleys, are — first, the
near approach to verticjility of its walls ; second, their
<i;reat height, not only absolutely, but as compared
with the width of the valley itself ; and finally, the
very small amount of talus or debris at the base of these
gigantic cliffs, Tliese are the great characteristics of
the Yosemite throughout its whole length, but, besides
these, there are many other striking peculiarities, pnd
features both of sublimity and beauty, which can hardly
be surpassed, if equalled, by those of any mountain valley
in the world. Either the domes or the waterfalls of the
Yosemite, or any single one of them even, would be suffi-
cient in any European country to attract travellers from
far and wide in all directions. Waterfalls in the vicinity
of the Yosemite, surpassing in beauty many of those best
known and most visited in Eiirope, are actually left entirely
unnoticed by travellers because there are so many other
ol'jects of interest."
The objects of interest in this valley, which render it
without a rival in scenic effects in the known world, are —
1st, the great cliffs and crags which border it, risnig 3000
to 4000 feet in vertical height above its level; 2d, the
wonderful bas-relief of columns, spires, and arches upon
its granite walls ; and 3d, the grand and beautiful water-
falls by which the many tributaries to the Merced enter
the valley, leaping over its walls from great heights.
These deserve a more particular mention. Chief among
them is the Yosemite Fall. This has a total height of
2 GOO feet, the upper 1500 feet of which is in a clear
leap from the top of the cliff. Then follows a succession
of cascades of GOO or 700 feet, below which the stream
makes a second fall to the l)ottom of the valley. The
Bridal Veil Fall, though carrying much less water, is very
beautiful. In its leap of 630 feet, the column of water
is swayed hither and thither by the wind, and nearly
i
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120
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
! i
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'J.
dissolved into spray, which makes its fanciful name by
no means inappropriate. Other notable falls are the
Vernal, 400 feet, and the Nevada Fall, 600 feut in height.
8. The Coast Ranges.
This sub-system extends along the coast, in most places
closely hugging it, and nowhere far from it. It com-
mences in Washington Territory, and, with many breaks,
it runs to the southern end of the peninsula of California.
It is made up of a great number of short ranges, in many
eases but slightly connected with one another except by
juxtaposition. In Washington Territory these ranges are
not clearly defined, topographically, from the Cascade
Eange. In Oregon, however, the great valley of the
Willamette separates them ; but in the southern part of
this State and in Northern California they again become
confused, large heavy spurs from the Cascades connecting
them. Again they separate, this time having the broad
fertile valley of the Sacramento and San Joaquin between
them ; and when they again come together, it is with what
is left of the main range of the Sierra Nevada that the
Coast system joins in the southern part of California.
In point of elevation the parts of this system vary
widely. From 3000 to 4000 feet above the sea in
mean height in North-western Oregon, it rises southward,
until in the southern part of this State, and in California
nearly as far as the Bay of San Francisco, it has a mean
height not less than 6000 feet. The Bay of San Fran-
cisco lies in a great gap, just in the trend of this system.
South of it the ranges have much less height, reaching
only 2000 to 3000 feet above the sea. One of the most
prominent peaks is Monte Diable, rising right up from the
bay to a height of 3860 feet, and commanding a most
beautiful view of one of the finest harbours in the world,
whicli
away
is reve
the Sie
An
valleys
At
there is
the sys
become
tinues tl
of Lowej
9.
This
between i
a great fl
the forme
coast regi
graphic k
The forme
While in
Territory i
season, so
the rainfa
wards. St
sufficiently
out irrigat:
part of Ca
t^us great ^
would be st
distributed
If one ride,
he finds evi
! !f
PACIFIC COAST RANGES.
121
which lies spread out at its base ; while to the west,
away across the yellow plain of the Sacramento Valley,
is revealed the splendid panorama of the snowy crests of
the Sierra Nevada.
Among these ranges are many of the most fertile
valleys of this most fertile State.
At the junction of the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges
there is another decided rise in elevation, while, tracing
the system southward, it is seen to decrease again, and
become more and more broken, while a single range con-
tinues the system in arid rocky hills down the peninsula
of Lower California^
9. TJie Sacramento and San Joaquin Valley.
This great valley, the granary of California, lies
between the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Eanges. It is
a great flat expanse, watered by numerous streams from
the former range. It has, in common with all the Pacific
coast region, a peculiar climate, depending upon its topo-
graphic relations, an alternation of wet and dry seasons.
The former is the winter, the latter the summer season.
WTiile in British Columbia and Western "Washington
Territory it rains or snows almost constantly in the winter
season, so that the inhabitants are known as " Webfeet,"
the rainfall diminishes markedly on proceeding south-
wards. Still, in the Willamette Valley, in Oregon, it is
sufficiently great to enable farming to be carried on with-
out irrigation ; indeed, this ia the case in the northern
part of California. But throughout the greaiv. part of
tliis great valley of California, while the annual rainfall
would be sufficient to support most crops, it is so unevenly
distributed that, practically, irrigation is found necessary.
If one rides over the San Joaquin Valley in February,
he finds everything green and flourishing ; the country
i ! ■
I !
I
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it. 1 il
,''■' f
;' ■ '
111
122
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
resembles tlie prairies of the Mississippi St 'tes in the late
spring. Pass over the same ground in July or August,
and mark the change. The ground is bare ; the grass,
which before was so green and flourishing, is dry and
burned to powder by the sun's ardent rays. The very
eartli is cracked, as though by an eartliquake. The
cattle, which before were browsing in the luxuriant
herbage, have been driven to the foothills, to avoid
starvation, and the numerous bovine skeletons by the
wayside show how imminent was the danger.
10. Tlt^ Vegetation of the Sierra.
Leaving the beauties of the Golden Gate and the
picturesque chasms of the Coast Eanges, and turning our
faces eastward, we cross at first the broad, yellow, naked
plains of the Sacramento, baking in the intense heat of
a midsummer sun. The harvests are all gathered, and
tlie stacks of grain in the fields everywhere, and the
loaded grain-cars at every station, attest the abundance of
the harvest. Here and there the monotony of the plain
is broken by a patch of the evergreen oak, but it is not
until we reach the slopes of the Sierra that true tree
vegetation is met witli.
On the foothills of the range are found in scattered
groups the digger pine (P. sahlntana) and the black oak
(Q. sohomenis). The pale-bluish tint of the pine contrnsts
finely with the dark green of the oak, and both stand out
in fine relief against the yellow background of the soil.
Farther up the mountain-side we reach a moister region,
wliere trees grow more densely, and are more finely
developed. Here abound the pitch pine {P. pondcrosa),
the sugar pine {P. Lamhertiana), the white cedar {Liho-
cedrus decurrens), and the Douglas spruce (Abies Doucjlnfisl).
This is the true forest belt of the Sierra, and it is in
this belt that the " Big Trees " are found.
Kex
and till
at 700
above i
middle
and abo
find yet
acterised
Jlexllis^ 5
tlie wind
an exist(
Juountain
11. The
Tlie grc
Trees {Seq,
aie limite
J'liical rau!
>^<>iitally a
"i'liere are
?>'oves knn
'Tid theyai
^i'titudu 80'
^^'. and be
and 7000
vation.
The Gala
i-< tlie one
'>ad best kjL
on the westc
f'le Sierra, h
^'ounty. It
'irea 3200 ft
'"00 feet bro
SIERRA VEGETATION.
123
Next in our ascent we reach the region of the firs,
and the tamarack pine,
at 7000 to 9000 feet
above the sea, in the
middle oi the State ;
and above tliis belt we
find yet another, char-
acterised by the Pinus
Jlcxilis, struggling with
the winds and frosts for
an existence on these
muuntaiu heights.
11. The "Big Trees."
The groves of the Bi->
Trees (Sequoia gifjcmten
ai'e limited in geogri!-
jdiical range, both hori-
zontally and vertically.
There are eiglit distim-,
groves known to exist.
and they are all betweei'
latitude 36° 00' and 8 S
15', and between 5000
and 7000 feet in ele-
vation.
The Calaveras Grov.'
i.^ the one most visited
and best known. It is
OR the western slo})e oi'
the Sierra, in Calavenis
I'uuuty. It occupies an
urea 3200 feet long by
700 feet broad. There
GIANT TREES.
:
I
ilil
i
i
I
ii
¥i:i
n
'
hi
H 1 ■' I 'f
it H
PI i lil
I
|i| ' lil
1
t
i
124
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
are between ninety and one hundred trees of large size in
the grove, besides many smaller ones. One of the largest
and finest has been cut down by vandals ; its greatest
rival has had the bark peeled from it so as to destroy it.
Thirty-one of the trees in this grove have been
measured. The highest is 15 feet in diameter at 6 feet
from the ground, and 325 feet in height. Others, though
not as high, exceed this in diameter ; the " Mother of the
Forest " being, without the bark, 2 feet through. The
smallest of the thirty-one trees measured is 10 feet in
diameter and 231 feet in heights
12. AgrimUural Besources of the Cordilleran Bcgion.
Throughout this vast region, extending over 20° of
longitude, the rainfall is so slight, and the aridity and
consequent evaporation so great, that agriculture cannot
be carried on, except in a few isolated spots, without arti-
ficial irrigation. It is almost as much a matter of course
with the farmers of this sparsely settled region as the
sowing of the seed. The soil of the plains, plateaus, and
mountain valleys of this great region is almost everywhere
extremely, fertile, and the one thing needed to transform
a seeming Sahara into ai land of plenty is water.
The supj)ly of water for irrigation, which the streams
of this country afford, is by no means sufficient to render
productive all the land which is otherwise suitable, but
by careful management a large part of it may be brought
under cultivation. In the Great Plains the amount of
arable land is measured directly by the quantity of water
brought to them by the streams, as there is undoubtedly
far more land, suitably situated in other respects, than the
streams can water. In the mountains, while in some of
the larger valleys, and especially in the Great Basin, this
holds good, yet in the smaller valleys some streams will
nnquesl
otlierwi
too rigo
has beer
may be
i" appea
" Latter
^vater lia
world.
L>ame Nf
over tlie '
tliough t]
indication
naturally
tliat tliese
try becaus
duce usefi
expect a t:
Beside
sheep-raisi
or more \\
and corrali
of logs set
togetlier.
tlie year ro
mingled wi
giiislied froi
once a year
" round-ups.
Jnne these
employed, a
tions — are c
stirring, live
called, on th
CORDILLERAS.
125
I ,1
unc[uestiona1)ly rim to waste. Anain, many large areas,
otherwise well situated, are so high that the st-asons become
too rigorous for agricultural pursuits to succeed.
Numberless proofs of the fact that the soil of what
has been called a desert is rich in the elements of fertility
may be adduced. Salt Lake Valley was as unpromising
in appearance as the "Great American Desert" before the
" Latter Day Saints " attacked it, but the application of
water has made it one of the most fertile regions in the
Avorld. At St. George, in Southern Utah, the victory over
Dame Nature hap been even more complete. So it is all
over the West. The natural products of the country, even
though they be artcmisia, grease-wood, and cactus, are no
indication of the barrenness of the soil. Because a soil
naturally produces these only, it by no means follows
that these only can be produced. To condemn the coun-
try because, under its natural conditions, it does not pro-
duce useful grasses, timber, etc., is as unreasonable as to
expect a tract of dry land to produce cranberries.
Besides agriculture, a very large interest is cattle and
sheep-raising. The cattle ranch consists generally of one
or more houses built of logs, near which are log stables
and corrals — yards enclosed by strong high fences, built
of logs set firmly on end in the ground and placed close
together. The cattle belonging to the ranch range wild,
the year round, on the neighbouring plains in great herds,
mingled with those of other ranches, and to be distin-
guished from them only by the hrand of the owner. Only
once a year does the owner see his cattle — at the annual
"round-ups." In the latter part of May and early in
June these take place. A large number of herders are
employed, and all the cattle — for many miles in all direc-
tions — are collected and run into a great corral. It is a
stirring, lively scene, — the " cow boys," as the herders are
called, on their half- wild Indian ponies driving in the great
: y
1
I
\\
■'\
12G
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
I
i'^
%!''
:
Lands of wild cattle, wluch are constantly breaking and
running in all directions, pursued by the herders. Horses
and men alike enter into the spirit of the scene.
Once gathered together, the cattle of each ranch-man
are placed by themselves,, and the calves born that s])ring,
and whicli still run with their mothers, are marked with
the brand of the owner. Such as are destined for im-
mediate sale are taken out, and the rest are turned loose
together on the range again.
Through most of the year the life at a cattle ranch is
easy, but at certain times there is call for high powers of
courage and physical endurance. There are few invest-
ments of money which pay more surely or more largely
than tills, but it involves a solitary semi-barbarous life,
with many privations.
The Great Plains form one vast cattle range. From
Texas to JVIontana we find them dotted over with the huts
of the ranch-men, and covered with herds of cattle. They
follow closely the retreating steps of the bufl'alo. So, in
the great valleys of the mountain region, the Paries of
Colorado, the Laramie Plains, the Gallatin and Bitter llout
and other valleys of Montana, the great valley of Cali-
fornia, and those of Oregon, — indeed, wlierever grass grows
and hostile Indians are not too plentiful, — there we find
herds of cattle. Some of the cattlemen are very wealthy,
numbering their cattle by hundreds of thousands.
The gcn(
of tlie ]\1]
given by
Mountain
Tliey divi
Plains ; s
the I'acifi
Valley, an
Washingt(
The CJ
to tlie east
Tlie 15;
slopes of t
^^'ard into
TJie 8i
ffifirgiii alo
wlhcli wore
of the intei'
The Pa
the monnta
fornia Valle
of the niouL
The out
1 1
mil l!
COKDILLERAN GEOLOGY.
127
CHAPTER X.
GEOLOGY OF THE COUDILLERAN PLATEAU.
1. General licvievj.
The ji^enoral elmracter of the geolojry of the region west
of the jMississippi, extending to tlie racilio coast, has heen
given by two great lines of elevation, viz, the liocky
jVIonntain holt, and the Sierra Nevada anil Coast IJanges.
They divide tlie conntry into three helts — first, the Great
Plains; second, the Basin and PlatciHi Region; third,
the I'acific Coast trongh, which includes the California
Valley, and the Columbia Valley region in Oregou and
Wa.shi ngt( m 'J'erri tory.
The Creat Plains extend from the Mississippi Valley
to the east base of the Rocky jMountains.
The Basin Region stretches westward fi'oni the M'cstern
slopes of the Rocky Mountains to the Sierra, and soutli-
ward into ]\Iexico as a high table-land.
The Sierra, with the Coast Ranges, form a raised
margin along the Pacific Coast, and are cnt by gorges,
which were the gateways throngh which a large portion
of the interior region was drained.
The Pacific Coast trongh is a narrow region between
the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. North of the Cali-
fornia Valley it is nearly obliterated by the encroachment
of the mountains.
2. Rocky Mountains.
The outlines of the western part of the North Ameri-
!
i
:w
1
M
'/if
f
128
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL,
can continent have been approximately the same from the
earliest Paliieozoic time, and the Eocky Mountains existed
in embryo as islands of greater or less extent in tlie
ral.x'ozoic seas. As tlie ages progressed it is |.vobab]e
that the islands, some of which nuist have had continental
proportions, grew smaller and smaller, initil some of them
disappeared beneath the surface of the ocean; for the whole
Rocky Mountain region was affected by a gradual and
progressive subsidence which continued into Tertiary time,
when the mountains were uplifted to assume almost the
shape they have at present. Since their elevation, how-
ever, they have been enormously eroded. They are
divided into numerous sub-ranges, as the Colorado Eange,
I'ark liange, ]\Iedicine Bow Mountains, Wind IJiver Range,
Yellowstone Range, and IMissouri Range. These extend
north-westward into British America. In these sub-ranges
the nuclei are the Archccan rocks, from which the Paheo-
zoic, Mesozoic, and even Tertiary strata dip away in all
directions. These nuclei represent the original Archaean
islands, which, as Newberry has remarked, have been " the
hinges upon which the great plates of the continent have
turned — lines of weakness where the changes of level
experienced by the continent have been most sensibly felt."
Colorado, wliich has the highest mass of the Rocky
IMountains, has probably always been highest above the
I'alteozoic and Mesozoic seas. Seen from the east, the
Colorado Range presents a rugged front, and from its
gorges come the streams which form the South Plntte and
Arkansas Rivers, which have for ages been carrying the
products of erosion from the mountains towards the Mis-
sissippi River.
3. The Plateau Region.
The Plateau Region may be described as the region
reaching from the Rocky Mountains westward to the
Walisat(
tion of
reserved
IS frequc
River is
t*t;
sontliern po:
region, and m
^vitli the Rot
''en's Annval
tliat tliis liigl
iuudred niih
CORDILLERAN GEOLOGY.
129
"Wahsatcli ^roimtaiiia, and sonthwanl to Mexico. A por-
tion of the (Ircat Bnsin is also included, bnt that i^
rcservod for sciiiirato consideration, ilio IMatean l{e<'ion
is fre(jucntly caHed tla; Colorado Tlateau, as the Colorado
Itiver is the i)nncii)al stream draining it. It is tho
TIIK AUAVAYPA Ca5?0N IN ARIZONA.
southern portion of the great central tahle-land or basin
region, and was ]irohalily contemporaneous in its elevation
with the lioeky Monntains. Xe-svberry, in one of llay-
den's Annval TicpnrU, thus describes it : — " It is apparent
that this high plateau, "whicli stretches away for several
hundred miles west of the Eocky Mountains, was once a
K
!
11
1,1^
:l
130
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
h' utiful anil fertile district. The Colorado, di-aining then
as now the western ranges of the Rocky ]\lountains,
spread over the snrface of this plateau, enriching and
vivifying all parts of it." The canons of tlie Colorado
liave been well described by Professor Powell. The
total length of the gorge or chasm is nearly 1000 miles,
and it is from 3000 to 6000 feet in dej)th, cut tlirougli
the entire series of sedimentary rocks, from the Tertiary
to the granite, and even 600 or 800 feet into tlie latter.
" Just in proportion as the Colorado deepened its cliannel,
the region bordering it became more dry, until ultimately
the drainage from the mountains passed through it, in
what may be termed nndergronnd channels, and contri-
buted almost nothing to the moisture of the surrounding
country. The reason why the walls of this canon stand
up in such awful precipices of thousands of feet is tliiit
the perennial flow of the stream is derived in far distant
mountains. Almost no rain falLs upon its banks ; and
when any portion of the bordering clitf has jiassed bey(ind
the reach of the stream, it stands almost unaffected by
atmospheric influences." — (Xewberry).
Scattered throughout the Colorado Plateau are several
grou]is of mountains, which rise like islands above the
general surface. They are evidently eruptive in their
origin, and were comparatively rapid in their growth.
They were, however, not volcanic, for the rocks which form
them have not spread beyond the centres, M'here they have
lifted dome-like masses of the sedimentary rocks, which
frequently are but slightly broken.
Such mountains are the Sierra la Sal, the San Fran-
cisco Mountains, the Henry jMountains, the Sierra Abajo,
Sierra el Late, and Sierra Carriso.
4, The Basin Region.
The Great Basin of the West comprises the vast area
tliat sti
U'alisat(
smaller
sj 'rings,
Tliis
waters hi
Ever
^ portior
oscillatioj
Scatt(
isolated n
puts deso]
like island
says, they
south tren
tleep syncl
nary detrit
The no
times distu
craters, mai
came showi
'^'id filled t]
'lumbers of
sti'ata, whic
i'» thicknesi
still more ;
wlncli form
extent, pene
liieir bottom
clysms liad
covered tlie
t^Jc. waters, a
'Accumulated
lava."— (Nev
It is ob\
COKDILLEHAN GEOLOCiV.
131
tliat stretches eastward from the Sierra Nevada to the
Wahsatch Mountains. It is composed of a multitude of
smaller basins or valleys, each of wliich lias its lakes,
spvin'is, and watercourses.
This liigh table-land is a hydrographic basin, whose
waters have no visible outlet to the ocean.
Ever since Carboniferous time this region has formed
a portion of the continent, although subject to many
oscillations.
Scattered over it is a series of remarkable short
isolated mountain ranges, separated by valleys whose soil
puts desolation in a stronger light. These mountains rise
like islands above the desert plains. As Clarence King
says, they lie traced across tlie desert with a north and
south trend, and are ordinarily the tops of folds whose
deep synclinal valleys are filled with Tertiary and Quater-
nary detritus.
The northern portion of this central ])lateau was at
times disturbed by the most violent volcanic action from
craters, many of which can still be seen. " From th<^se
came showers of ashes, which must have covered the land
and filled the waters of the lakes so as to destroy immense
lumibers of the inhabitants of both. Th(!se ashes formed
strata, which were, in some instances, ten or twenty feet
in thickness. At other times the volcanic action was
still more intense, and floods of lava were poured out,
which formed continuous sheets hundreds of miles hi
extent, penetrating far into the lake basins, and giving to
llieir bottoms floors of solid basalt. When these cata-
clysms had passed, quiet was again restored, forests again
covered the land, herds dotted its pastures, fishes peopled
the waters, and fine sediments, abounding in forms of life,
accumulated in new sheets above the strata of cooled
lava." — (Newberry).
It is obvious that this Great Basin region was once
to Wi
J_i_-_L
'
132
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGUAniY AND TIJAVEL.
It
|i
Ijll
ill
ill
occupied by Vcist fresh--vvater lakes, wliich were separated
by areas of dry land, on which a luxuriant vegetation
flourished, and over which herds of great mammals
roamed.
The smaller ranges of mountains were scattered over
these lakes as islands, their summits projecting above the
surface. The Klamath Lakes, Salt Lake, and Pyramid
Lake, are the remnants of these vast Ijodies. In the
northern portion of the basin the th-ainage effected by
the Columbia River was so complete that in many places
the sediments which accumulated in the lakes have been
cut to a depth of two thousand feet.
In the central portion, liowever, the waters gradually
and slowly passed away by eva])oration, and the briny
waters have concentrated in the lake basins which have
no outlet. Of tliese Great Salt Lake is a typical speci-
men. As a salt lake it is of comparatively recent origin.
Several times the valley must have been filled high up
on the mountain-sides with Avater — water, too, with very
little of the saline character that it now possesses. The
complete drainage of the northern and soutliern portions
of the plateau so reduced the water surface of the
area, that the moisture in the atmosphere was so mnch
diminished that the dry hot air licked up the water
from the undrained lakes, and gradually reduced them
to their present dimensions. Althougli many streams
have for ages been pouring a vast volume of water into
Salt Lake, the evaporation is so rapid that it is not in-
creased in size, but has g^-adually diminished. Many of
the lakes of the Great Basin are marked only by alkaline
plains or " salt flats," while others exist only during a
portion of the year, and in the dry season are glittering
sheets of salt. Those that remain as lakes are only huge
evax^orating pans for the drainage from the mountains.
5. .2
The ,
coast, anc
of 14,89^
''inits of 1
It is
("onst. It
'^'I'etaceous, a
i^'Jt'vation thai
it is con
^ntli A\-liic"Ii a
^"niiii Snvvvy
■'liUes are tru\
wiiieli are th
'-''ihYoniiii so
'i-'he Sierra
'(I
CORDILLEBAN GEOLOGY.
133
liliue
huge
5. The Sierra Nevada, Coast, and Cascade Ranges.
The Sierra Nevada is the loftiest range on tlie Pacific
coast, and in Mount AYhitney, which reaches an elevation
of 1 4,89 8 feet, has the highest mountain peak within tlie
^iuiits of the United States excepting Alaska.
It is also tlie oldest of the ranges on tlie Pacific
coast. It formed the barrier to the ocean in Jurassic,
VIKW OF THB SIKHU.V NEVADA.
Cretaceous, and Tertiary tiuu, aUhuugh with a much less
elevation that it now has.
It is composed mainly " of granitic roi'ks, associated
with which are metamor})hic slates proved hy the Cali-
fornia Survey to he of Triassic and Jurassic age. These
sliites are traversed in many localities hy A'eins of quartz,
^\ilic■h are the repositories of the gold that has made
California so famous among the mining districts of the
M-orld."
The Sierra Nevada extends from about latitude N. 41°
i
!
f'f
I
1 5iil
t a!
134
COMrENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TK.VVKL.
I
I:
ii
in Northern California to about N. 30" in tlie sontliern
part of the State. It is partly vulcanic in the nortliern
portion, and its axis is continued northward in the Cas-
cade I\ange, which is almost entirely volcanic.
The Coast Kange is the most modern of tlie tln-ee,
and is composed mainly of Cretaceous rocks, with Tertiary
occupying the valleys between its numerous sub-ranges.
" It forms a raised margin along the western edge of the
continent, and has produced that ' iron-bound coast,'
described by all tliose who have navigated that portion
of the Pacific," which washes the shores of the United
States.
Between the Coast Range and the Sierra Nevada lies
the California Valley, and the same structure reappears in
Oregon and in Washington Territory; wdiile, between, the
structure is partially obliterated by the encroachment of
the mountains.
G. Mineral Resources of the Cordilleras.
The region of the Cordilleras produces nearly all the
metals known to commerce, and its mineral resources are
as varied as those of any part of the world.
Gold and silver are found in greater or less abundance
in nearly every State and Territory in the mountain region
and along the coast.
California and Nevada stand at the head of the gold-
producing States, the latter also rivalling Mexico in its
silver yield. In addition to gold, California yields copper,
mercury, tin, iron, salt, and petroleum. Mercury is foniul
at a number of localities in the Coast Eange, especially at
New Almaden and New Idria, two places named after
the two most productive European localities.
The production of these mines, from 1850 to 1868
inclusive, was nearly 500,000 flasks. In 1878 the pro-
duct c
about
found
gold 1
neglecl
wliicli
export.
W]
Soutlie]
it -vvou]
price oi
with th
of tran;
Calilbrn
wells, a
where it
from th
naphtlia!
made frc
Bon
Nevada
that it
importan
of borax
1875 \\i
item in tl
also abur
acid. Tl
America
and in tl
dered int
resources
,i?old and
Utah
other reoi
MINERAL RESOUKCES.
135
duct of California was G 2,479 flasks. New Almaden is
about 58 miles south of San Francisco. Copper was
found near Los Angeles in 1840, but in the search for
gold the copper resources of the I'acific coast were
neglected, and remained undeveloped until 1860, since
which time copper has been an im])ortant article of
export.
When the petroleum of Santa Barbara County in
Soutliern California first attracted attention it was thought
it would exceed in quantity that of Pennsylvania. The
price of the Pennsylvania oil fell so low that, together
with the high price of labour in California and ditHculty
of transportation, it rendered the development of the
California oil-fields unprofitable. There are no flowing
wells, and the oil is collected from the surface of jjits
where it collects as a scum. The petroleum is different
from the Pennsylvania oil, being devoid of the ligliter
naphthas, and containing no parafhn. The burning oil
made from it has also a higher density.
Borax is found in the waters of several lakes botli in
Nevada and California, but it is only in the Coast Eange
that it is found in a crystalline form. It is now an
important manufacture in California, and the importation
of borax has almost entirely ceased. The production in
1875 was 5,000,000 pounds. Salt forms an important
item in the economical resources of Nevada, and sulphur is
also abundant, being used in the manufacture of sulphuric
acid. The discovery of the gold-fields of British North
America drew thousands of adventurers from California,
and in their search for new fields of wealth they wan-
dered into Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, developing the
resources of those territories, which are principally in
gold and silver.
Utah has not been as well developed as some of the
other regions on account of the hostility of the Mormons
I
v. iij
i!|
4
h
Kl
136
CO.Ml'ENDIUM OF GEOGKArilY AND TKAVEL.
to mininf]j enterprises. In Arizona and New Mexico the
apathy of the inhabitants, who are hir<;ely of Si)anish and
Alexican descent, and the hostility of the various Indian
tribes, has ])revented the development of the mineral
resources of a rich mining region. Tlie Sj^aniards, in their
conquest of New Mexico, mined for gold, silver, and
coi)per, but the valuable mines have all been abandoned.
The want of transportation has also operated against the
pursuit of profitable mining.
Colorado is rich, not only in gold and silver, but in her
coal-fields, which is also the case M'itli Wyoming and
Utah. The coal is known as bituminous lignite, and
is found widely distributed and in great quantity. No
anthracite is found except in small deposits, wliere it has
been metamorphosed by local volcanic aeticni. Geologically
this coal belongs to the debatable ground tliat lies between
the Cretaceous and the Tertiary formations. To the vast
ireeless plateaus and valleys of the mountain region these
coal deposits are of incalculable value.
The yield of gold and silver for the year from July
1st, 1877, to July 1st, 1878, in the several States and
Territories, is given by the Director of the United States
]\Iint as follows : —
Gold.
Silver.
Total.
California
. $15,260,676
$2,373,389
$17,634,068
Nevada .
10,546,513
28,130,350
47,676,863
Montana
2,260,511
1,669,635
3,930,146
Idaho .
1,150,000
2,200,000
1,350,000
Utah .
382,000
5,208,000
5,600,000
Arizona .
500,000
3,000,000
3^500,000
New Mexico .
175,000
500,000
675,000
Oregon .
1,000,000
100,000
1,100,000
Washington .
300,000
25,000
325,000
Dakota .
3,000,000
none
3,000,000
Colorado
3,366,404
5,394,940
8,761,344
$46,951,107
$46,601,314
$93,552,421
MLNi:UAL UESOUItCliS.
137
The total product from all other portions of the United
States for the same period was $400,000, the j^okl ju-iu-
cipally from North Carolina and Georgia, and the silver
from the Lake Superior region.
The following Table gives the production of the pre-
cious metals in the United States uj) to 1875 : —
1848 to 1858 indusiv
1859
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
Total
Prior to 1861 Californ
$555,550,000
50,100,000
46,150,000
45,000,000
43,700,000
48,500,0(10
57,100,000
64,475,000
63,500,000
65,225,000
6(»,0()0,0()0
62,500,000
66,000,000
65,500,000
61,750,000
72,500,000
73,000,000
74,817,596
.$1,575,367,596
a stood at the head of the
States, but since that time the bullion product of Nevada
has exceeded it.
i
I
i
ill
m
7. Gold.
Gold is found widely distributed throughout tlie
Cordilleran region. The placers, which contain it in
its native state, disseminated in sand and gravel, are the
richest and most profitable sources of the metal. Placers
liave been found of greater or less extent in every State
and Territory of the mountain region. The first dis-
if'
Ifl
li
u
h
in
i
138
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
coveries in a gokl-miiiinj:!; rej^'ion are naturally in nearly
all cases of this class. They yield the auriferous product
easily, and are rapidly exhausted. Enormous amounts of
j^okl have been taken from them. The placers of Cali-
fornia yielded, in the four years from 185U to 1854, in-
clusive, $201,000,0U0, and Alder Gulch in Montana has
alone produced more than $30,000,000. Following the
exhaustion of the placers comes the search for the sources
of the gold in the surrounding mountains, where the per-
manent wealth of the region lies. The range of the vein
deposits is equally extensive with the placers. Gold
occurs free in quartz veins ; in combination with various
sulphurets such as pyrites, and associated with silver as
in the ores of Nevada. In California the gold found
in place is chiefly free ; in Colorado it is fuuTid in co[)])er
and iron pyrites in ores that are difficult of treatment ;
and in Nevada it occurs not only native, but associated
with silver in sulphurets and tellurids.
In California it was as placer deposits that the first
discoveries of gold w^ere made. Its existence in the region
was known long before the date commonly ascribed to
its discovery. The Mexicans, at various times from 1775
to 1828, found small placer deposits near the Colorado
Eiver, but carried on no profitalde mining.
In 1838 the placers of San Franciscpiita were dis-
covered, and worked thereafter steadily for twenty
years. James D. Dana, who visited the coast in 1841
with Wilkes's exploring expedition, discovered gold in the
Sacramento Valley and in Southern Oregon.
The discovery of the rich fields, of the Sacramento
Basin at the west base of the Sierra Nevada was acci-
dental.
While engaged in digging a race for a sawmill at
Coloma on the American River in January 1848, James
JMarshall found pieces of a yellow metal which he sup-
posed
•'I doul
iJiill ai
Tlie ru
the Ca
said — '
Angeles
^'evuda,
Gold/ V
l^nilt, ai
I>icks an(
spot wJic
eight dolJ
and the
diem."
% J
American
$30,000
five milJio
In tJie
the World
extensive
hody huni
cliants, pro
worst elem
for gold. .
iiuaiters of
from the S,
h'oni tlie I
"lontlis bet
of January
'•trnved in (
Phiius, and
during tlie si
t^ie hardsliip
ift'
MINERAL 11ES0UKCK8.
139
posed was gold. When the fact was demonstrated beyond
a doubt in the following March, the men at work on the
mill abandoned everything else iu the search for gold.
The rumour of the discovery spread, and on jMay 2'Jili
the Californian news])aper published in San Francisco
said — " TJie wliole country from San Francisco to Los
Angeles, and from the seashore to the base of the Sieira
Nevada, resounds with the sordid cry of Gold ! Gold !
Gold ! wliile the field is left half planted, the house half
built, and everything neglected but the manufacture of
picks and shovels, and the means of transportation to the
spot where one man obtained one hundred and twenty-
eight dollars' worth of the real stuff in one day's washing,
and the average for all concerned is twenty dollars per
diem."
]>y July the number of persons emi)loyed on the
American liiver was 40 00, who were ol)taining from
$30,000 to $40,000 a day, and by November four or
five millions of dollars had been extracted.
In the spring of 1849 a stampede from all parts of
the world to the Golden State began. It was the most
extensive emigration the world has ever seen. Every-
body hurried to the New Eldorado. Mechanics, mer-
chants, professional men, with a large admixture of the
worst elements of mankind — all mingled in a mad rush
for gold. Adventurers poured into California from all
quarters of the globe : from Mexico, Chili, and Peru ;
from the Sandwich Islands, China, and New Holland ;
from the United States and Europe. During the six
months between the 1st of July 1849 and the 1st
of January 1850, it is estimated that 90,000 persons
arrived in California from the east bv sea or across the
plains, and that one-fifth of them perished by disease
during the six mouths following their arrival, such were
the hardships they had endured, and the privations to
i
i
1
. li
i
i
140
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPIIY AND THAVEL.
1/
lil
i
l\
! .1
which they were suhjci^ted From the troops which were
stationed iu the State, Imudreds — officers as well as
privates — deserted and went to the mines. Mining was
the universal occn])ation, and it was almost impossible;
to get or keej) servants. The western slope of tlie Sierra
Nevada was covered with explorers, and every ravine or
gulch where there was a cliance of finding the precious
metal was prospected. IMining towns sprang into exist-
ence with incredible activity, and presented scenes of
busy life. The currency in common use was gold dust.
When payments were to be made, if scales were at hand,
amounts were M'eighed out ; if not, tlicy were guessed
at, or measured in a spoon. All W(ire ricli — a gold-
dust aristocracy. Tlie conmiunity was a peculiar one.
Gathered IVom all classes of society and from all civilised
nations with extraordinary rapidity, it would have been
strange had it not been so. At iirst law and order 'were
unknown, lu'erybody was too busy in getting ricli to
provide protection to his riches other than he could afibrd
himself witli revolver and knife. The bad elements
revelled in this state of society, and for a long time lie
who was quickest with liis six-shooter, and surest in his
aim, ruled the camp, and ordered things according to his
own will. This primitive but barbarous simplicity could
not long continue. The civil authorities were too weak,
or were indisposed to cope with the " roughs ; " and at
last the law-abiding citizens were obliged for mutual pro-
tection to combine and take the law into their own hands.
Contiicts, more or less Lloody, ensued hetween the " A igi-
lantes " and the " roughs." Scores of the latter were
killed ; some shot ; others, after a form of trial, hung ;
while the rest, dismayed by the fate of their conu'ades,
fled from the country to participate in like scenes else-
where ; so, Anally, the community was purged of its
most violent elements.
Th
Iiandcd
autliori
constiti
made n:
at the 1
best tlir
Tlii,
has bee
every m
In
665,00C
since. '
then beo'
taken ph
Men
day be for
they M'erc
new field
be believe
miles froi
Ibrmed, ;i
searchin'"
any possil
In li
I'eru in sc
In 18
to Fraser ;
of the yea]
the silver
followed I
also the Pi
rado, whiU
18G2-64.
The Sc
MINKRAL RESOURCES.
141
The " Vigilantes," fiiidiiiLf their mission ended,
liandi'd their p(j\vei' over to the hiwfully-constituted civil
iiuthorities, and disbandiMh j\Iany blamed these selt'-
constitiited dispensers of justice, and luidouhtedly they
made mistakes — undoubtedly innocent men sulfered ; but
at the time, and under the circumstances, they did the
best that could be done.
This picture of the early miniuff days in California
has Leen repeated, on a greater or less scale, in nearly
every mining locality in the West.
In 1851 the yield of gold in California was
$65,000,000, which is greater than it has ever been
since. The placer diggings Avere soon exhausted, and
then began the " rushes," or sudden migrations, that have
taken place periodically ever since.
Men wIkj had never earned more than a dollar a
day before they went to California M-ere dissatisfied when
they were making twenty, and M-ere jtrepared to go to any
new field of excitement. jS'cj story was too extravagant to
be believed. Tracts in the inidst of sage-covered deserts,
miles from mineral-bearing veins, were located, companies
formed, and consideralde sums of money expended in
searching for mines in places where they could not by
any possibility exist.
In 1853-54 there was a rush to Australia and
Peru in search of placers that were never found.
In 1858 eighteen thousand men went Irom California
to Fraser Iliver, in British Columbia ; but before the end
of the year five-sixths of them had returned, and in 18(30
the silver excitement spread tbruugh California, and was
followed by the rush to Nevada. In 1859 and 18 GO
also the Pike's Peak excitement drew thousands to Colo-
rado, while Montana and Idaho were the new fields in
1862-64.
The San Juan region of Colorado attracted a large
i|
m '.
142
COMI'KNDITM OF GKOGHAI'llY AND TRAVEL.
share of attention in 1873-74, to be followed in 1875-70
l>y the Ulaok Hills excitement.
The latest rush has been that to LeaJville, Colorado,
which lie;i;an in 1877.
Gold was discovered in Colorado in 1858, and in
1859 California (Julcli, the richest ever worked in Colo-
rado, was discovered, and in 18G0 it swarmed with
placer miners. Tn the first four years after the discovery
of gold in Colorado, $30,000,000 were shipped mostly
from placers. Tiie total product to 1878, inclusive, has
been estimated at $80,000,000. The discovery of pre-
cious metals in Idaho and Montana was made in 1802,
and in 18 04 Alder Gulch in Montana was throni>od with
miners, and yieldin;^ almost fabulous amounts f)f gold.
Tlie gulch has been worked over and over again, and is
still profitable. It has been only within a few years
that quartz mining has begun to supersede the placer
mining in this portion of the country.
The Black Hills lie partly in AV^yoming Territory and
partly in Dakota, two thirds of the area lying within the
latter. It has long been known that they contahied rich
deposits of gold, but it was not until 1874 that the
richness and extent were practically tested by expeditions
sent out by tlie United States Government. The Indians
claimed the region, and would not sell it. "When defi-
nite information in regard to the resources reached the
east, a grand rush began. At first the Government tried
to keep the miners out, but their efforts were unsuc-
cessful. A western newspaper correspondent gives the
following account of Deedwood, the principal town, in
1877:—
" Here was a mountain crowded city of five or six
thousand iidiabitants, extending several miles up two
narrow defiles, intruding upon other similar cities, and
making as much fuss and bluster as eastern towns of a
centiir\
every
solidly,
fares in
file cliii
•^tructur
rcminde
iaisiiicss
'louses V
tliree bui
1 louses, V
ago the
swearing
die in Uu
fn\(i i\mm
The veter
'"•f amus(>i;
lie wiel(lc'(
^viien it ^
.i^idch, ])oii
made good
So gre
in regard
predicted f
t-ii'ly tla}-s
tioiis Were
i't;gulations
and dispute
The to
fi'om 1847
^vhich $98
yield of Cal
it was $65
in 1861,
decreased st
MiNKUAL i{i:suuuci;s.
143
coiitnvy's fjrmvtli. Tliei'c weiv. hv^ cabins and frames in
every eonccnvablc! altitude, tents on tlie liill-sidi;, and
S()lidly-1)nilt business hloeks alonff the narrow tliorouuli-
liires in the ^fulelicfs, and tlio Iiills were fairly rin,uin«;' M'ith
the elanj^' of the haninier and saw on the dozens of new
structures j;"oin;^' u]). The ilin of dozens of stani])-niills
reminded one of the old districts of Colorado, and the
laisiness done by over two Inmdred sho])S and mercantile
houses was sim])ly marvellous. Three daily newspapers,
three bankinjj; houses, and some thirty liotels and eatin*>;-
liouses, were here crowded with business, where two years
a^o the amiable Sioux was readinj^' bis title clear and
swearing he would have $80,000,000 for the country or
(lie in the last ditch. Two or three variety theatres, and
one furnishing the legithnate drama, were crowded nightly.
The veteran actor, Jack Langrislie, was running the ])lace
of amusement last referred to. When business grew dull,
he wielded a graceful editorial quill on the Pioneer, and
when it grew duller in winter, he went down into the
uulch, boiled water to thaw out the frozen ground, and
made good ' pay ' from his claim."
So great was the frenzy that seemed to seize people
in regard to the Dlack Hills, that all sorts of evils were
predicted for the region, but, unlike the condition in the
early days in California, good order prevailed. Organisa-
tions were effected in nearly every camp, and stringent
regulations adopted as soon as claims were staked off,
and disjMites as a rule were amicably settled.
The total production of gold in the United States,
from 1847 to 1873, inclusive, was 81,239,750,000, of
which $986,800,000 came from California. The gold
yield of California reached its culmination in 1853, when
it was $65,000,000. It gradually fell to $40,000,000
in 1861, when Nevada began to yield; and it has
decreased steadily year by year since that time.
Hf
:i
if I
144 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGIiArilY AND TUAVEL,
8. Methods of Gold Minivff.
The first mining operations were simple, each miner
(lepending for his profits on tlie jjan and tlie rocker. In
tlie former lie dissolves the frold-beariny dirt, j)ickin<]j ont
tlie stones with his hand. When all the dirt ap])ears to
he dissolved, so tliat the gold falls by its weight to the
bottom of the pan, he tilts it a little so that the thhi nnid
and light sand run ont. This is repeated until all except
the metal has heen washed out.
CHINESE GOI.D-WASII I.H.
The "TJocker" is something like a child's cradle. Cm
the n])per end is a riddle witli a sheet-iron bottom which
is punched with holes. In this riddle the auriferous dirt
is placed, and a man rocks it with one hand, while with
the other he [)ours in Avater. The water, liy the agitation,
dissolves tlie clay, and carries it v ''h the gold into tlin
floor of tht; rocker, M'here the metui, which is heavy, is
caught hy transverse elects, while the nniddy water and
sand run olf at the lower end of the rocker which is open.
New and moro expeditious methods soon l)ecnnie
necessary, and w.'iter was su])j)lied by ditches and Humes,
and the " torn " which had been used in CJeorgia for years
was introduced.
It
deep, ]
ibot.
inch h
lower ('
Ml do\\
over tJi(
into a ij
^I'e to Oil
JDto the
men, avJij
through t
t"in the J
•''■^solved.'
Tlie t<
^ hoard tr
^^■if'i trans
t^'t) goia, V
tlescent of
t^'e sluice
the clay ai
simply thi
the goid.
'^ ''(forwards
f'^-' gold wa
f'evise somo
fiLster, and i
^ stream of
•'i.^^'iiiist a ha.
^"•'tli tini.s t
^^"ite, and tj
^^i« sluice alo
"1 a day; ,yit
•^1' even ouf;
r.
if
MINERAL RESOURCES.
lio
It consists of "a trou,i:>;li about 12 foet long, 8 inches
deep, 15 inclios wide at the head, and 30 iuelies at tht;
IVxjt. A riddle of sheet-iron puncliiid with holes half an
inch in dianieter forms the l)ottoni of the torn at tlic
lower end, so jJaced that all the water and tlie mud shall
fall down throuuli the holes of the riddhi, and none ])a:<s
over the sides or end. The water falls I'rom the riddle
into a flat 1)ox Mith transverse elects or rillles, and these
are to catcli the ^^o\d.
" A stream of water runs constantly through tlie toni,
into the head of which the pay 'Urt is thrown hy several
men, while one throws out tlie stones too large to pass
through tlie riddle, and throM's liack to th(i head of the
tom the lumps of clay which reach the foot without being
dissolveil."
The tom was soon superseded by the sluice, which is
a board trough from a hundred to a thousand feet long,
with transverse elects at the lower end. These catch
the gold, which sinks on account of its weight. AVitli a
descent of one foot in twenty, the ■\^■ater rushes '^>rough
the sluice in a torrent, l)earing down stones and tearini;-
the clay and earth to pieces. At the head, the miners
simply throw in the dirt, and at regular times take out
the gold. At first the sluice was made short, but it was
al'terwards lengthened to a mile or more, especially avIicu
the gold was in line jjarticles. It was found desirable to
devise some method by which the earth could be supplied
faster, and the hydraulic process was invented, by which
a stream of water was directed under licavy pressure
against a bank or hill-side containing placer gold. The
earth thus torn down was carried by the water into the
sluice, and the expense of shovelling saved. While with
the sluice alone four cubic yards of earth could be washed
ill a day; with the hydraulic and sluice combined, fifty,
or even ono hundred and fifty, could be washed.
L
■'A
!
1
!
1
ll
■
J
1
9 1
146
COMI'KNDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
i'<:
'ii!
iwHi I
I
III
Tlie auriferous clay was sometimes liard, and often
required to l)e loosened liy the powder hlast. llii^li liills
of gravel could now be attackeil, and river mining soon
became un})rotitable to any except Chinamen, who worked
for lower pay than white men M'ould ac(e])t.
As tlie placer diggings became exhausted, it was
natural tliat the rocky veins from which the ])lacer gold
came should Ite searched for, and in hundreds of instances
the gold was traced from the placers to the quartz lodes
HYUHAULIC CiOLD-DlCGiNcJ,
in tlie hill-;?ides, growing coarser as the sour(^(! was
approached. Such discoveries Avere made in lM,"i(), niid
companies were soon formed by whidi niillJDns of dolliii's
were invested in machinery to work (piarl/; mills. Su]ht-
inter'dents with the Avildest ideas were sent to erect tlicui,
and in most cases the machinery was useless, the sujtcr-
intendents incom[tetent, and the ventures complete failures.
For many years the mill-castings weu olijects of ridiculu
on the wliaives of San Francisco.
The de\elopment of quartz mining, mdike that of the
placer;
subjeci
Th
introdii
stone p
■'li arw]
^vJu'cJi (
wJiich f
^^'hen fin
fition wii
The
cmphyeQ]
to select
every fou:
however,
nsed; in'si
in cut, tJiej
concentrate
"itrochiced
'^'^ mineral
^^'e "Great
Tile fin
I'lacers. T
sfector is
-Divide: - '
"The o-(j
"lines exist
^'■c'lnentJy (
^'•""»in.g ton
^'"'"e; Jeadin.
('"Jiioinin^g to'
^''"'^ed, a cre(>
^"'"<'y tJirou.-l
""■'fs, nnd
''^'^'eives the a
MINERAL RESOUECES.
147
t^^
placers, has been slow, and, unlike tliem also, has not been
subject to siidden decline.
The first successful quartz miners were IMexicans, who
introduced the orrastra, which consists of a small circular
stone pavement, in the centre of wliich stands a post with
an arm extending from it. To this is hitched a mule
whicli drags around a heavy piece of granite, between
wliich and the pavement the quartz is pulverised, and
when fine the gold is separated by washing and amalgam-
ation with mercury.
The Americans at first erected costly steam-mills and
employed a multitude of labourers ; and not knowing how
to select the rich from the poor quartz, alxjut three out of
every four quartz enterprises was a failure. Gradually,
however, improvements were made ; iron stamps were
used ; instead of falling with a simple downward move-
ment, they were made to come down with a twist ; the
concentration and chlorination of sul])hurets has been
introduced ; and at present quartz mining forms a source
of mineral wealth to nearly every State and Territory of
the " Great West " of the United States.
The first discoveries are made by prospectors and in
filacers. The following excellent description of a pro-
spector is given by the Earl of Dunraven in llie Great
Divide : —
" The general character of the country where placer
mines exist may be said to be a series of deep gulches,
fi'cfiuently dry in tlie height of summer, but carrying
foaming torrents after heavy rains and in snow-melting
time ; leading at right angles into a principal valley, and
eomnining to form a little river, or, as it would be locally
called, a creek. This princi]ial stream courses in a broad
valley through the mountains for, perl laps, GO, 80, or 100
iiiiles, and at every two or thrive miles of its progress
receives the waters of a little tributary torrent, tearing
I 1 J
148
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TKAVEL.
I-
\m
w
'n '
1
1
rV:
tlirougli Uk! strata in deep canons for ten or twelve miles,
and searching tlie very vitals of the hills. ])own these
,H'nlches, canons, and valleys are carried the yellow specks
torn from their qnartz and feldsjxir cradles, hnrried down-
ward hy the melting snow, and hattered into powder hy fall-
ing bonlders and grinding rocks, till they sink in beds of
worlldess sand and mnd, there to lie in peace for ag ^s
amid the solitndes of primeval forest and eternal snow.
Some fine day there comes along a dirty, dishevelled,
tobacco-cliewing fellow — 'fossicker' as they wonld say in
Anstralia ; ' prospector ' as he wonld he called in the
States. Impelled by a love of adventnre, a passion for
excitement, a hatred of ' the town and its narrow ways,'
and of all and any of the steady wage-getting occnpations
of life, he braves summer's heat and winter's cold, thirst
and starvation, hostile Indians and jealous whites ; per-
haps paddling a tiny birch-bark canoe OA'er nnmapped
unheard-of lakes, away to the far and misty North ; or
driving before him over the plains and prairies of a ^nore
genial clime his donkey or Indian pony, laden with the
few necessaries that supply all the wants of his precarious
life — a little Hour, some tea and sugar tied up in a rag,
a battered frying-pan and tin cup, a shovel, axe, and
rusty gun. Through untrodden wastes he wanders, self-
dependent and alone, thinking of the great spree he had
the last time he was in ' settlements,' and dreaming of
what a good time he will enjoy when he gets back rich
with the value of some lucky find, till chance directs him
to tlie gulch. After a rapid luit keen survey he thinks it
is a likely-looking place, capsizes the pack off his pony,
leans lazily upon his shovel, spits, and finally concludes
to take a sample of the dirt. Listlessly, but with what
delica(;y of manipulation he handles the shovel, spilliii,::^'
over its edges the water and lighter mud ! See the look
of interest that wakens up liis emotioidess face as the
Sil
lerau
at prest
yields
United
^"evada
^vorld.
to 187
fd)out t
^-ft'xico,
lo4o.
Ther
in one 3
i'mn one
in 1874
sold and
■\!S
! i!
MINERAL RESOURCES SILVER.
149
residue of sediment becomes less and less ! Still niore
tenderly he moves tlie circling pan, stooping anxiously to
scan tlie few remaining grains of fine sand. A minute
si)eek of yellow glitters in the sun ; with anotlier dexterous
turn of the wrist two or three more golden grains arc
exposed to view. lie catclies his breath ; his eyes glisten ;
his heart beats. Hurrah ! He has found the colour !
' and a d — d good colour too.' It is all over Avith
your primeval forest now ; not all the Indians this side of
Halifax or the other place could keep men out ot that
gulch. Li a short time claims are staked, tents erected,
slianties built, and ' Itoaring Camp ' is in full blast, with
all its rowdyism, its shooting, gambling, drinking, and
blaspheming, and its under-current of cliarity, whi(,'h never
will be credited by those Avho value substance less than
shadows, and think more of words than deeds."
9. Silver.
Silver is as widely distributed through the Cordil-
leran region as gold. Nevada, Colorado, and Utah are
at present the principal silver-producing States, Nevada
yields more than one-half of the silver protluct of the
United States. The Comstock Lode at Virginia City,
Xevada, is probably the richest deposit of silver in the
world. The estimated product of the lode from 1861
to 1874, inclusive, was more than $169,000,000, or
about the same as that of the score ol veins at Potosi,
]\Iexico, for the first fifteen years after cheir discovery in
1545.
There is no other authentic record of the extraction
in one year of nearly $23,000,000 in gold and silver
from one lode, which was the product of the Comstock
in 1874. The bullion has one -third of its value in
gold and two -thirds in silver. Xevada ranks hidi as a
'. '
?!
11.-'
fJiiM
150
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVKL.
gold -producing State. In 1878 it yielded more gold
than California. When gold was first (lisco\ ed in
Nevada by Mormon emigrants in 1850, the presence of
silver was not suspected. The ores were not recognised
when seen, hut considered as interfering with tlie mining
of the gold.
The silver is found mainly in coml)ination, althougli
deposits of native silver are not rare. The commonest ore
is galena, which is generally rich in silver, unlike that
of the Mississippi Vallty. It also occurs as sul]>huret,
chloride, and telluride, especially in Nevada. At Lead-
ville, Colorado, it occurs with carbonate of lead, and tlie
ore resembles yellow sand in its appearance. Tlie follow-
ing Table shows the production of silver from
1848 to 1858,
1859
18G0
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
nclusive
Total
$550,000
100,000
150,000
2,000,000
4,500,000
8,500,000
11,000,000
11,250,000
10,000,000
13,500,000
12,000,000
13,000,000
16,000,000
22,000,000
25,750,000
36,500,000
35,681,411
41,080,287
39,885,916
45,846,109
36,151,396
$385,445,119
Si
City ii
outcro
locator
PatricJ
site of
ricJi SI
reservo
below.
imncis
sold for
In
James ;
Virginia
Conistoc
as " Old
that he (
lie pure]
succeeds
tracted t
niore tlia
the worl(
Imnii
"nparalle
ft'om a le
picture of
" One
streets, tli
corralled {
I have ne
tlie earlie:
tliey so de
11
IMi
COMSTOCK SILVER LODE. 151
10. The ComstocJc Lode and Virginia City.
Silver was first discovered in the rej^n'on of Virginia
City in 1857, 1»nt it was not nntil 1859 that the surface
outcroppings of the Comstock Lode were found. The first
locators who discovered silver were Peter O'Reilly and
Patrick jM'Laugldin, who staked a claim on the present
site of the Ophir mine. The ore they discovered was a
rich sulphuret of silver, in an excavation made for a
reservoir to collect water to wash for gold in the ravine
below. Some of the dark gray stone was taken to San
Francisco, where it was assayed, and a ton and a half
sold for 83000 a ton.
In 1858 a clahn had been located on the lode 1)V
James Fennimore or Finney, who was known as Old
Virginia, and from whom Virginia City derived its name.
Comstock was a character familiar in the neighbourhood
as " Old I'ancake." He demanded a share for the reason
that he owned the water privilege. It is said also that
he purchased the claim from Finney. At any rate, he
succeeded in attaching his name to the lod(», which at-
tracted thousands of miners, and has since 1860 yielded
more than one-tenth of all the silver produced throughout
the world.
Immediately the lode was claimed for miles, and an
unparalleled excitement followed. The following extract
from a letter, written at Virginia iii 1860, gives a vivid
picture of the excitement : —
" One cannot help thinking, as lie passes through the
streets, that all the insane geologists extant have been
corralled at this place. Most vehement is the excitement.
1 have never seen men act thus elsewhere. Not even in
the earlier stages of the California gold movement were
they so delirious about the business of metalliferous dis-
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152
CO.MPHXDH'M OF r;r,OG]!AriIY AND TltAVKL.
ii:
[I '
cnvery, Ilundieds and tlionsaiids are now here, wlio,
reeling- that they may never liave another cliance to make
a speedy fortune, arc resolved this shall not ]i:iss nnim-
]>roV(nl. They act with all the concentrated eneruy of
those having- the issues of life and death liefore them.
They demean themselves not like ratioiud Lein^s any
more. Even the common modes of salutation arc chiin,^ed.
]\It'n on meeting do not inquire after each other's heahh,
hnt after their claims. They do not remark about tlie
Meather, had as it is, but about outcroppings, assays, sul-
phurets, etc. They do not extend their hands in token of
friendship on approaching, but pluck from their well-filled
]iockets a bit of rock, and, presenting it, nnitually in(juire
what they think of its looks. During the day they stand
apart, talking in couples, pointing mysteriously hitlier and
yon : and during the night mutter in their slee]) of claims
and dips and strikes, showing that their broken thoughts
are still occupied with the all-absorljing subject. I shall
be able to convey to your readers some idea of the inten-
sity of this mining mania, when I assure tlieni that this
portion of the American people do not even ask after
newspapers, nor engage in the discussion of politics.
Little care they whom you choose President ; conventions
and elections, wars and rumours of wars, are nothing to
them. They have their own world here. Here, bounded
by the Sierra and the mountains of Utah, spread over the
foothills and the deserts, is a theatre beyond which their
thoughts are not permitted to roam ; to this their aspira-
tions and aims are all confined. Whatever of energy,
ambition, and desire are elsewhere expended on love, war,
politics, and religion, are here all devoted to this single
]iursuit of finding, buying, selling, and trading in mines
of silver and gold. Everybody makes haste to be rich;
and so great is the mental tension in this direction, that
it may well be questioned whether, if a sweeping disap-
pointi
duccd
A\'
nearly
J'assed
them i
hceoniG
mining
is at tJ
city of ;
of tJie C
is 52 m
Pacific ;
Truckee
I'resent
tained ai
of 2;U5
one roon
and slee J
and tlie h
atlvertisin
Laws
tiu-ers wIk
^vJlic]l wi
legal verb
voluminou
^age. Tiid
Jirescribed
laeiit.
Tlie p
Nearly one-
^iidirns in
Mouses, bri
"^any other
COMSTOCK SILVER LODK.
153
pointinent should ovurtiike tlieni, many will not lie va-
duct'd to a condition of absolute lunacy."
AVitliin a i'ew months after the discovery of silver,
nearly all the valuable claims on the Comstock li/d,ne had
jiiissed from the hands of the ori,^inal locators, leaving
tliem in general poor, while they migiit so easily have
become nullionaires. This is the usual history in all
nnnnig regions.
Virginia City, which is situated on the Comstock Lode,
is at the east loot of ^Mount Davidson, and is the chief
city of Nevada. It was founded soon after the discovery
of the Comstock, and is laid out on a precipitous site. It
is o2 miles from IJeno, one of the stations on the Union
raeilic IJailroad, at tlie terminus of the Vii'ginia and
Truekee Iiailroad. It is unattracti\'e in appearance. 1'he
present population is about 25,000. In 18G0 it con-
tained an hotel and a newspaper office, with a population
of 2o45. The newspaper oflice consisted of a shed ami
one room. The former was used as a cooking, dining,
and sleeping place by editors, reporters, and comjiositors,
and the latter answered as an editorial, typographical, and
ad\ertising de[)artment combined.
Laws were necessary to control the lawless adven-
turers who Hocked to the city, and a code was adopted,
which was brief, practical, and unencundjered with
legal verbiage. Any municipality which finds its own
voluminous statutes inadecpiate might try it to advan-
tage. There was no prison, and the two punishments
prescribed for all offences were hanging and banish-
ment.
The population of Virginia City is cosmopolitan.
Xearly one-half is probably foreign. " Piute and AVashoe
Indians in picturesque rags, Chinamen in blue and bh'ck
blouses, brawny Cornishmen, vehement Mexicans, and
many other people from far-apart countries, mingle and
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154
COMPENDIUM OF GKOGUAniY AND TUAVKf,.
surge along in the stream " that is constantly rushing
through the ])rincipal thoroughfare.
"While night falls on the visihle town, " the invisiltle
town underground is glimmering with a thousand lights,
just as it has heen glimmering through all the summer
days and all the winter nights that have lowered ever
since the Comstock Lode was first penetrated by a shaft.
There is no repose in that mysterious region ; none of thi^
endless changes and renewal of seasons that sweeten
existence on the earth; no relapse of day into night, or
night into day ; no sunnner, no winter, and no Sunday.
Nearly one-fourth of the whole population is hidden in
the mines ; and when we see how overcrowded the su])er-
ficial area is, and realise how many more streets and peo])le
are out of sight ; how the crest of the mountain is the roof
of a seventeen-story building which is constantly sinking
deeper into the earth, we are prepared to agree with the
proud citizen who assures us that Virginia is a pretty
considerable place."
The Comstock Lode has been traced over 27,000 feet
on the surface, and has been actually explored 19,000
feet, within which sjmce the principal mines are located.
A depth of over 2G00 feet has been reached (in 1879).
It is situated in a heavy belt consisting principally of
metamorphic rocks. In the middle of its course it occu-
pies the line of separation of prophylite, a volcanic rock,
and syenite. The former makes up both walls of the lode
at other places. The main geological characteristics are
the same that mark the greatest silver-bearing veins of
Spanish America, and its general features are like those of
other great argentiferous veins. Its ores are rich beyoud
any depth which miners can reach.
In 1859 the yield of bullion was $50,000 ; in 1860,
$100,000. In 1868 it was $16,800,000, after which it
diminished to $7,528,000 in 1869. In 1874 the yield
was $2
iind in
$40,00C
^'irginia
"Jn
made th.
nacular.
long beei
^vas ill fir
hut it has
expected
tliesis is I
adversity.'
Anion
(^'ityin 18
with the
He concei\
vein at a t
l^egun in ;
to 11 feel
tance of 1 1
work is ca
when comp:
not only d:
but also ob^
I'atus, as t]i(
i'ed action m-
plorations ti
humense po
service of th
Althoug
saving by iu
Mfe
COMSTOCK 8ILVEK LODK.
.00
was 822,400,000; in 1875 it was over $22,000,000 ;
and in 1870 tliu total yield of thu Statu was over
$40,000,000, a large proi)oitiou of which came from
^'ir^■illia City.
" Jn tlie winter of 1874-75 the ^reat discoveries v.'cre
made tluit aihled the Spaiiisli word honimxa to tlie ver-
iiacidar. The technical meaning of tlie word, which has
long been in use among American miners, to whom it
was introduced by Mexicans, is a largo rich body of ore ;
Itut it has found wider acceptance in the sense of an un-
expected and brilliant stroke of good luck. Its anti-
tluisis is horrasca, which means barren rock, bad luck, or
adversity."
Among the early prospectors who went to Virginia
City in 1859 was Mr. Adolpli Sutro, who was inqiresscd
with the magnitude and importance of the discovery.
He conceived the idea of running a tunnel to drain the
vein at a depth of 2000 feet below the surface. It was
begun in 18G9, and has been driven at the rate of 7
to 11 feet per day, and will roach the vein at a dis-
tance of 19,790 feet from the mouth of the tunnel. The
work is carried on by the Sutro Tunnel Company, and,
when completed, will have cost about $4,500,000. It will
not only drain and improve the ventilation of the mine,
but also obviate the use of the expensive hoisting appa-
ratus, as the ore will be taken out through the tunnel to
reduction works at the mouth. It will also enable ex-
plorations to be carried to a much greater depth, as the
immense power of the hydraulic column will be at the
service of the miner.
Although the expense of the tunnel is great, the
saving by its use will be far greater.
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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11. Utah, Iclalio, and Colorado.
Althousli silver ores were discovered in Utah as lonct
ago as 1863, the policy of the Mormon authorities was
opposed to mining by their people, and it was not until
the summer of 1870 that the development of the Emma
Mine gave an impetus to the mining enterprises of the
Territory. In 187G ninety districts had been opened.
The ores are mainly argentiferous galena and carbonate
of lead. Brigham Young, President of the Mormon
Churcli, said in 1868, "What we used to call lead, and
dig and melt up into bullets, these fellows call silver
now ! But if anybody is fool enough to come and mhie
for it, he may do so, and welcome i" They did come
and mine, and the bullion product of the Territory for
187-1 was over $5,000,000, mostly in silver. Utah
has never been subject to the excitement that usually
cliaracterises new mining districts, and it is probably due
to the fact that capital is necessary for the development
of the mines of the Territory.
The Emma and Flagstaff Mines, both operated by
English capital, have been the most famous mines of
Utah, but for several years have been involved in litiga-
tion, so that their productive working has been interfered
with. The following shows the silver yield of Utah up
to 1875:—
1870
. $1,000,000
1871
2,079,000
1872
2,345,279
1873
3,725,776
1874
3,819,508
1875
2,955,923
$15,925,485
The first mining operations in Montana and Idaho,
as in all the Territories, were in gold placers, but lately
SILVER MINES.
157
silver mining has become equally prominent, and will
assume still greater importance in tlie future.
The discovery of silver in Colorado dates back to
that of gold in 1859, It is found in all the gold
mining districts of the State, and extends through the
mountain region in extensive belts. The ores are argenti-
ferous galena and carbonates, black sulphurets, antimonial
silver, chlorides, ruby silver, and native silver.
Silver mining began to assume importance in 1866-
67. The first mine opened was in Summit County, at
the head of Snake Eiver, a tributary of the great liio
Colorado. Discoveries were also made in Clear Creek
County, and for a long time Georgetown Avas the centre
of the most productive silver mining. In 1871 rich
deposits of silver were found on Mount Lincoln and
Mount Bross at the north-west corner of South Park,
and in a few years were producing large quantities of
silver ore.
In 1873 the San Juan region began to claim atten-
tion. Its remoteness from the settled portions of the
State, with the dithculty of transportation, has retarded
the development of tliis region ; but it promises to be
one of the l)est mining regions in the State. Many of
the ores are of low giade, but the lodes are frequently of
huge dimensions. 1874 was the first year in which the
production of silver exceeded that of gold in Colorado.
The total production of silver in Colorado, from 1800 to
1872, inclusive, was $l,114,54o; since then it has been
largely increased, as the following Table shows : —
1873 .... $839,000
1874 .... 3,08(5,023
1875 .... 3,012,1)02
This increased proiluction has been maintained since
1875, and will probably be increased when the Leadville
mines become fully developed.
M
W
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158 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
12. Leadville, Colorado,
Leadville, Colorado, is the scene of the latest mining
excitement, and people flocked to it in great numbers in
1879. It is situated in California Gulch, a tributary
of the Arkansas River, on the west side of the Park
Range of mountains. It was discovered in 1859, and
worked for gold in 18 GO. For several years afterwards
it was peopled by from eight to ten thousand miners,
who were strung along the creek washing for gold. In
1873 the entire population of the gulch was scarcely a
hundred, and the old houses left by the former inhabit-
ants were in ruins. In 1876 a poor miner discovered
what has since become the famous Camp Bird Mine, and
the gulch has again become the site of flourishing towns.
As a silver-producing region it bids fair to excel its gold-
producing record, and it was the richest gold-producing
gulch in Colorado. The ore is principally argentiferous
carbonate of lead, which is found beneath a layer of
trachyte. The Carbonate mine, in six months, produced
.$05,000 worth of ore from a shaft 45 feet in depth,
with three levels, the longest of which was not over 25
feet. Some of the ore yields from 240 to 270 ounces
of silver to the ton, and lies like a coalbauk between
the trachyte and limestone. The ore resembles yellow
sand, and can be taken out simply with the j)ick and
shovel — powder is scarcely ever used ; and the average
cost of mining is said to be under $5 per ton.
Railroads are being rapidly built to reach the Lead-
ville region, and when completed will render profitable
many other mines in the vicinity that do not at present
pay. Colorado has therefore the prospect of some day
rivalling Nevada in the production of silver.
II
11;
MINERAL KESOURCES COAL.
159
13. Coal.
The coal deposits of the Cordilleran re<:»ion are ex-
tensive and numerous. It is probable that no party of
emigrants ever crossed the Eocky Mountains without
iiuding outcrops of coal at some point on their line of
march. All the early (ixplortrs mention its occurrence.
The first mention of the formation in which it is found
is made in the reports of the expedition of Lewis and
Clarke to the Rocky Mountains in 1804.
The coal-beds are generally of great size, and are for
tlie most part free from impurities. The coal is usually
called lignite, although it is in reality a bituminous coal,
containing a large proportion of water, which detracts
from its calorific power. On exposure to weather it
crumbles readily, and it has therefore to be protected.
For locomotives and domestic purposes it is well adapted,
and tlie scarcity of timber in most of the regions where
it occurs renders it of almost incalculal)le \'alue.
The extent of the coal areas cannot bo estimated at
present. They may be conveniently divided into live
l»iisins or areas — viz. the Northern, the Colorado, tlie Xew
]\lexico basins, the Union Pacitic deposits and I'acilic
Coast deposits.
Tlie Xorthern basin includes the region of the Upper
^lissouri liiver, where the deposits of lignite were tii-st
found. This basin is almost entirely undeveloi>ed. The
Colorado basin lies mainly along the eastern edge of the
mountains, extending from Canon City northward towards
Cheyenne, Wyoming. Canon City, Liolden City, and the
Boukh'r Valley are the principal localities of coal-mining
operations.
In the western and south-western portions of the
State coal occurs abundantly, and in the Elk ^lountains
anthracite has been discovered in limited areas. It is
i
160
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
11
1
not true anthracite, but is a bituminous coal from
wbich tlie volatile constituents have been driven by
the heat attending the eruption of trachytic rocks, in
connection ^vith which it is found. Similar anthracite
has lieen found in New IMexico. Coking coal has lately
been found in Colorado and Utah.
The Xew Mexican basin is as extensive as that of
Colorado, although n(jt so well developed. Coal is found
along both sides of the Eio Grande, in the Pecos Valley,
at the riaciere IMoiintains, and south of the Eaton Hills.
The three principal coal localities in "Wyoming Ter-
ritory, along the line of the Union Pacific IJailroad, are at
Carbon, llock Springs, and Evanston. Of tliese, Evanston
is the most important. The miners at the latter are
mainly Chinese, and in 1872 the average amount of coal
mined was about 1000 tons daily. This has since been
increased. Coalville in Utah has long been a source of
supply for Salt Lake City and other ]\Iormon settlements.
From all these localities the coal is approximately of the
same cliaracter, the percentage of carbon ranging from
44 per cent to 54 per cent.
The coal deposits of the Pacific coast are divided by
Mr. Gabb, a geologist who investigated them, into two
distinct groups geologically : the one, including all the
workable coals of California and Washington Territory,
is Cretaceous ; and the other, which is Tertiary, con-
tains coal at numerous localities from Alaska to Cape
San Lucas.
P>ellingham P>ay, in the extreme north-western corner
of "Washington Territory, is the site of one of the largest
and best coal-mines on the Pacific coast. The bed is
about fourteen feet thick, nine feet being available for
mining. The coal is of fair quality, the only impurity
being a small quantity of sulphur. The mouth of the
mine is only about a quarter of a mile from the harbour,
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MINERAL RESOURCES COAL
161
where the coal is shipped on vessels. At Nanaimo,
Vancouver's Island, is another mine tliat has been
oxtensively worked. It was owned and worke«l originally
1)y the Hudson Iky Fur Company. The coal from this
mine commands a good price at San Francisco.
Other localities are Challam, Washington Territory,
Coos Bay in Oregon, and New Idria and Monte Diablo
in California. At the latter place there are a number of
mines which furnish a large part of the coal supply of
San Francisco.
This, like all the coal from the later geological
formations, is soft and more or less friable, breaking
readily with much handling. All contain a considerable
proportion of water.
The amount of these coals brought to San Francisco
annually is between 200,000 and 300,000 tons.
II
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162
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRArHY AND TRAVEL.
CHAPTER XI.
HISTORICAL SUR\EY.
1. General Discovery and First Settlement.
Of tlie two political regions whose leading physical
features liave been sketched in the foregoing chapters,
the great republic of the United States is undoubtedly
the most important. Compared with British North
America, it is more highly favoured, by reason of its
more southern position, which, combined with its seem-
ingly inexhaustible natural resources, unites all the con-
ditions required for the development of a prosperous and
well-ordered community, especially allowing for the growth
of population, the first and most indispensable basis of
all social culture. There has here been developed a com-
plicated federal system of States, in many respects without
a parallel in the history of human progress. The United
States of America, which in 1876 celebrated the first
centenary of its political existence, presents the singular
spectacle of a nation, composed not of one, but o:' many
peoples, presenting the only genuine example known to
history of the application of republican principles to a
numerous and varied population. From this point of
view alone it may be well to bestow a cursory glance on
the origin and growth of the United States.
When and by whom the first discovery of America
was made is wrapped in obscurity. It is quite well
established that in very early ages the Northmen, coming
HISTORICAL SUiiVEY.
163
from Scandinavia or Iceland, discovered the shores of
Labrador and of New England ; but they did not people
the country, and the traces of their occupancy are very
scanty, and tell little of the history of their voyages.
On June 24, 1499, the continent was rediscovered
by John Cabot, a Venetian, then in the service of Eng-
land and was named the " Tierra de Prima Vista." The
northern regions of the i\.merican continent at first found
little favour with the Spaniards, being by them described
as worthless lands ("tierras de ninguu provecho"), be-
cause they apparently yielded none of the precious metals.
This one condition had, even before the discovery of
America, largely determined the course of Spanish settle-
ment, since they were almost exclusively attracted by the
glitter of gold and silver. On this thirst for gold, dis-
played by the Spaniard, many moral sermons have been
preached. At the same time, it should be remembered
that but for it few settlements could have been formed
beyond the Atlantic towards the close of the fifteenth
century. All agricultural colonies attempted to be formed
by the English and the French on the eastern seaboard
during the sixteenth century were literally starved out.
Cut off from the home country, where a distribution of
labour had been made, the settlers, after consuming the
provisions which they had brought with them, nuist have
necessarily sunken to the social condition of the natives,
unless constantly supplied with stocks of manufactured
goods from the old world. But such supplies were
attended with a great advance in price, owing to the
many risks at that time inseparable from a voyage across
the ocean. Nor could the prices be covered by the pro-
duce of the land, for this, even if obtained for nothincr,
■would not yet pay the cost of the homeward trip.
i
lG-4 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
I 'I
i \
!
IF.
2. Eise of the English and French Settlements.
Hence it was that Virginia, the first purely agri-
cultural colony, did not begin to thrive till the opening
of the seventeenth century, when a profitable return
freight was at last found in tobacco. Thus it is mainly
owing to tobacco, and perhaps also to the fur trade, that
the present population of North America is of Anglo-
Saxon origin. The fact that Canada was formerly purely
French, and is still half French, is also due to another
natural product of those regions. Round about New-
foundland lie incredibly rich cod -fishing grounds, and
even so early as the beginning of the sixteenth century a
return cargo of stock fish was found to pay, because even
in medioeval times it had to be brought from Iceland.
Since the year 1503 Newfoundland was yearly visited
by Breton fishermen from the north of France, who have
given their name to Cape Breton.
Sailing from those well-known waters, Jacques Cartier
discovered the St. Lawrence, and following in his wake
the French found their way to Canada. To blossom into
fruit, a first settlement must above all be able to supply
a profitable return cargo ; but once it has struck root,
it grows like the mustard seed of the gospel parable
(Peschel, Volkerkunde, p. 219).
In this masterly sketch the whole historical develop-
ment of the North American colonies is shadowed forth
in few but bold strokes. We feel how they must have
had to contend at first with cruel misadventure, but once
the conditions of their existence secured, how they could
not fail to enter on an almost iinchequered career of pro-
gress. And so it came to pass. Merely for the purpose
of completing the picture, it may here be mentioned that
it was Sir Walter Ealeigh who in 1585 led the first
colony to the shores of Chesapeake Bay. It was by him
("i
HISTORICAL SURVEY.
165
named Virginia in homage to the maiden state of liis
sovereign mistress, Queen Elizabeth of England, whose
fame the " Poets' Poet " was even then preparing chival-
rously to sing as the
" Goddesse heavenly bright,
Mirror of grace and Majestie divine,
Great Ladie of the greatest Isle, whose light.
Like Phoebus' Lamp, throughout the world doth shine."
3. S^tread of the English Power.
But this first attempt came to naught, nor was it till
about the year 1607, in the reign of James I., that the
English settlements in the lands lying between the 34th
and 45th parallels began to acquire a firm footing. They
were soon followed by the Dutch and the Swedes, who
took possession of isolated strips along the coast, the
first founding the settlement of Now Netherland, with
its capital New Amsterdam, the present New York, the
latter settling first in Delaware and afterwards in New
Jersey, but ultimately giving way to the Dutch. But
before the close of the seventeenth century Dutch and
Swede alike had passed under the rule of England, which
was thus enabled to impart a certain stamp of uniformity
on all her colonies on the eastern seaboard.
The English now found themselves face to face with
the Spanish domain on the south, and the more thriving
French dominions on the north. The European contests,
mostly fanned by the ambition of the Bourbon monarchs,
to become masters in the Old, caused the flames of war to
extend to the New, World. The long struggles that ensued
resulted in the total expulsion of the French from the
Northern Continent, where England henceforth reigned
supreme. Of their former power in these regions the
French have retained nothing but certain fishing rights
in the Newfoundland waters.
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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4. Democratic and Xtcligioiis Character of the Early EwjUsh
Settlements.
Religious and pcjlitical oppression at home had driven
most of the early English colonists to found those first
settlements on the eastern shores of North America.
Thus the northern colonies of New Hampshire, Massachu-
setts, and Rhode Island were estahlished bv religious
enthusiasts between the years 1G21 and 1G38, all four
being united in 1643 under the name of New England.
In the same way, the Catholic Lord Baltimore in 1G28
founded for his co-religionists the settlements of Maryland,
with the town named after him. on Chesapeake Bay.
Thither were attracted the persecuted Catholics in Europe,
especially the Irish and Germans from tiie Palatinate.
In 1G81 the Quaker William Penn, with many of his
adherents, settled in Pennsylvania, and built Philadelphia,
the "city of brotherly love."
All these British North American colonists enjoyed
from the first large democratic liberties, for the Puritans,
constituting by far the greater number of the immigrants,
had succeeded in carrying out a political and social
system based on the strictest republican principles. It
was of course easier to accomplish this in America than
it would have been in a country like Europe, which wns
occupied from time immemorial by a dense population
cultivating almost every square acre of land. In the
New World, the ground, with all its natural fertility, had
first to be cleared, and was in the meantime called upon
to support but a very scanty population. At that time
the total area of the settled districts may have been some
320,000 square miles, with not more than 1,400,000
inhabitants in 1749, and in 1775 about 2,803,000,—
that is to say, nine Europeans to every square mile.
lu such extensive districts where vast distances sepa-
IIISTOKICAL SUltVEY.
167
rated neighbour from neighbour, the personality of each
individual is naturally brought into play far more than
could be the case in crowded communities, nor is anyone
powerful enough to impose an arbitrary yoke on the un-
willing necks of men living so much apart. lu the early
English colonies the only law unreluctantly submitted to
was that of the Church, which, resting on the broadest
possible basis, thus accpiired paramount and undue infhi-
ence in temporal matters. Not only was the whole poli-
tical organisation of the several colonies subordinate to
it, but became in its hands a mere instrument for the
acquisition of those higher aims that happened to consti-
tute the essence of true Christianity in the eyes of the
various sects for the time being in the ascendant. Every-
tlung became subject to its sway, while towards noncon-
formists each predominant sect displayed an unrelenting
spirit of the most crushing intolerance. And not only
could this despotic oppression fully reconcile itself with
the principles of the most unfettered political freedom,
but, as a faithful expression of the unrestricted will of
the people, acquired an irresistible power from those very
principles themselves.^
m
5. Political Enfranchisement and Adoption of BcpuUican
Principilcs.
Accustomed to act in the most arbitrary manner to-
wards the native Eedskins, now slowly retiring beyond
the mountains before each successive wave of immigration
throughout the eighteenth century, — encircled by wide do-
mains, a circumstance of itself favourable to the ideas of
freedom, and thrown upon their own resources in their
struggles with stubborn nature, — the New Euglanders
could not fail to cherish and develop those maxims of liberty
* John H. Becker, Die hundcrtjiihrige Ecpublik.
mi
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168
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
and equality they had inherited from their forefathers.
Hence the refusal of the Home Government to allow them
a voice in voting the taxes they had to pay became a
sufficient motive for the War of Independence, and when
the thirteen Federal States proclaimed their political free-
dom on July 4th, 1776, the only form of government
they could possibly adopt was that of a commonwealth.
This need not therefore be regarded as the triumph of any
abstract principle, but rather as a simple matter of neces-
sity, according, as it fully did, with the other social
conditions of the colonists at that time. Nor did the
new order of things involve any fresh step in the develop-
ment of human progress, but flowed rather from the
tenacious spirit of conservatism by which the American
people were still animated. Hence, in asserting their
political freedom, they proclaimed no new theories, but
merely retained the old institutions and sentiments of
personal liberty which are the heirloom of the Anglo-
Saxon race, and which from the first found a genial home
in that portion of the New World settled by them.
European champions of freedom, such as Lafayette
and Kosciusko, finding the progress of events in America
to harmonise with their political views, were induced to
take an active part in the struggle, which, after a pro-
tracted warfare of eight years, resulted in England's fully
recognising the independence of the united provinces at
the Treaty of Versailles, in 1783. The leading men in
the contest were Benjamin Franklin, who succeeded in
securing many influential friends for the young republic
in Europe, and above all, George Washington, no less
wise in council than valiant in the field. Washington
(born 2 2d February 1732, in the county of Westmore-
land, Virginia, died 14th December 1799, at Mount
Vernon) must be regarded as the true founder and sus-
tainer of the new State. After his death, a federal city,
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HISTOUICAL AND rOLITICAL.
1G9
iiln'iidy founded in 17'.) 1, was Imilt almost in the centru
of tlio rrpuhlic Jis then constituted, and lu'in^' destine(l as
the seat of Congress, received the appropriate name of
Washington.
('). Fcilrml Union — Vrogrcsn of Events.
Congress liad liitlierto represented the united provinces
in all foreign mattei-s, but each ]»rovinee now became a
se])arate State, retaining its own original constitution.
They had already concluded a recijirocal treaty of union
amongst thenistdves in 1 787, referring to a central con-
1,'ress the chargii of all general all'airs. At the head of
the feilt'iatjon was a ])resident chosen by vote, autl en-
trusted with the executive. This ollice was limited to
four years, but witli the option of re-election, and Cleorge
WashingtiMi was naturally the lirst ap})ointed to fill it in
the year 17S9.
Under the tirst three ])residents the finances of the
country were organised, the jniblic debt ])artly li(iuidated,
partly funded and guaranteed, the saviige Indian trilies
cither reduced to ])eace or semi-civilised, agricultuji; greatly
encouraged, commerce developed to an extraordinary ex-
lent, the jiojtulation increased beyond all precedent, and
the territory of the Union considerably enlarged by the
ac([uisition of extensive regions. This ra])i(l increase of
power and prosperity suffered a brief interruption throuj^h
the war with JMigland in 1.S12, whi''h, liowever, was
brought to a conclusion the ni'xt year. Since then,
although various complications frecpiently threatened to
involve the Union in fresli wars, it continued to en joy the
profoundest ])eace till the year 184(j, M'iien it engaged
in a successful war against the nei'dibourinLr Mexican
Piepublic.
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170
COMrKNDir.M OF C.EOClUArilY AND TKWKL.
1
V. S/iirmf of fhr Union to the l\icifu:
^rciintinu', as cryatiils radiiite round ji ^'ivcn centre,
ono rejjjiou alter iinotluT Imd been attriictcil to tlic rnion
duiin,!,' tlio lirst til'ty years df its cxistcni-c Sj)rfadin^
with extradrdinary rajiidity i'roni the Atlantic seaboard
over the AHe^^lianieH to the hanks of tlie Mississipjii, and
theiKC still westwards to the lloeky Mountains, it at last
I'ound its natural iiinilstiii tlu^ shores of the I'acilic Oei-an.
Like an irresistihle Hood, the Anylo-Saxon race an<l all its
satellites swe]»t over the almost uninhahited re;,'ions of tju!
AVest, establish in;;; itself there with a rajiidity of which
history oilers no second exanijile.
8. The Cicil War — Its Caused and liesults.
At present the States seem to liavo reached the ronsnn-
able limits of their expansion, thou^^h many, blindly over-
looking^ the actual possibilities, would seiMU to anticijtate
the day when the whole westein hemisphere will aci|uies('e
in the sujireinacy of the Ameiican Kaule. 'i'he brill-ant
pro^'ress already achieved might to some extent justify
such a dream, for the nation had hitherto ])assed from one
triumj>h to another. The Miixican campaign had ended
with the acquisition of fresh territory, and as there now
remained no dangerous rivals to overcome, the nation
began to entertain a too complacent conviction of its own
invincible power and 8U])erIative excellence. T.ut the
hitiierto almost unche([uered career of victory received a
heavy blow in the great civil war that ragcul from 1801 to
1805, presenting to contemporaries the sad spectacle of a
free peojile tearing itself to jueces in a fratricidal contest
eiitailing greater sacrifices of life and jiroperty than any
other war recorded in the annals of the Morld.
The causes of this colossal struggle, ending in at Ica.'it
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HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL.
171
5«T
a seemiijg victory for the Union, lay deeply rooted in the
natural conditions of the land itself, and must be traced
back to the earliest years of the confederation. Tliey flow,
in fact, in the last instance, from the essential antithesis
of agricultural States to those in which the land is occu-
pied with plantations. The Northern States alone are
adapted to the exclusive cultivation of cereals ; lience here
alone communities could spring up under conditions similar
to those of the temperate zone, to which Europe mainly
belongs. On the other hand, these regions are incapable
of yielding products restricted by nature to the tropical
and sub-tropical lands, but which have yet become indis-
pensable requirements of human culture, and consequently
form the most important articles of international trade.
Foremost amongst these is cotton, and farther south sugar
and coffee, all of which flourish in hot climates alone, and
must be raised on plantations.
But one of the best attested, though often readily
(werlooked, principles of ethnology clearly teaches that
the physical no less than the moral and intellectual
development of individual races is bound up with definite
climatic conditions, tliat cannot be disregarded with im-
punity. Thus the white-skinned European has been
moulded in the more temperate regions, and the Teuton
especially thrives but indifferently in warmer latitudes.
Where he does to some extent succeed, it is only on the
condition of exemption from all heavy manual labour.
Indeed, it may be confidently asserted that, as a rule, the
European is incapable of hard work in the tropics.
But of the above-mentioned products of the soil, cotton
and sugar are cultivated in the Southern States alone, and
require an amount of physical exertion of which the white
settlers were and still are incapable in that climate.
Hence arose the necessity of procuring more suitable
labour, and so eaily as 1619 the Dutch introduced the
li:
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172
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
■
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first negro slaves into North America. For the negro is
unquestionably the most enduring worker in the hot
regions, which are as indispensable to his development as
are the temperate lands for the European.
But the African at the same time confirms another
ethnological lesson, to the effect that no savage race will
ever be induced, except by necessity, to undergo serious
exertion. The negro was consequently reduced to the
condition of a slave, and the States of the Union were,
according to their geographical position, from the first
divided into two great classes — the Slave and the Free
States.
The whole interior life of the Union has hitherto
turned upon these conflicting elements. Under the influ-
ence of the philanthropic ideas of the last century there
arose, but of course in the Northern or Free States only,
numerous opponents of slavery, aiming at first at the sup-
pression of the slave trade, and then at the abolition of
the detested institution itself. So early as April 6, 1*776,
Congress forbade the further introduction of slaves. But
all the more rapidly did the negroes increase in the
Southern States themselves. At the same time there was
now also developed that sharp contrast between those
States which on moral grounds condemned slavery, further
declaring it unnecessary according to the teachings of poli-
tical economy, and those which laid greater stress on the
inherent difference in the races of mankind, while pro-
nouncing slave labour indispensable to prevent vast regions
hitherto yielding the most lucrative returns from again
lapsing into wildernesses.
It is unquestionably true that with the institution were
associated a series of abuses, leading to much cruelty and
harsh treatment of the negroes — abuses which found expres-
sion even in the legislative enactments of individual Slave
States. At the same time, unprejudiced historical inquiiy,
\%
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL.
173
I m
as contrasting with such passionate representations as
those of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, has shown that in
general the treatment of the negro was not barbarous,
and that many seemingly cruel laws were urgently needed
as measures of self protection on the part of the whites.
But not only was a yawning gulf opened by the slave
question between North and South, but in the South itself
the gap was widened between the white and black man.
Miscegenation resulted in every variety of half breeds, who
inherited not only the physical beauty of their parents,
but many of the higher qualities of their fathers. All
those of mixed blood, however little they might be tainted
by the negro element, were held as slaves. Indeed, many
men held their own children in this degraded condition,
nay, even sold their own daughters, knowing what fate
might be in store for them. The sharply-drawn lines of
aristocracy of blood rigorously excluded those in the least
tainted with negro blood from society.
The aversion which races of different blood entertain
one for the other is not the result of prejudice, as many
suppose, and as many philanthropists assert, but is rather
a feeling deeply planted in human nature, everywhere and
at all times revealing itself in many ways. Equally incon-
testible is the pre-eminence, both intellectual and moral,
of the white race, which thus forms a natural aristocracy
in the truest sense of the word. But in the Southern Slave
States this natural aristocracy was soon converted into
an actual one, which, in the possession of slaves and in the
produce of slave labour, found the means of acquiring vast
wealth. But this was again counterbalanced by the defect
inlierent in all aristocracies, here enhanced by the demoral-
ising influences produced by slavery itself on the slave-
holder. The cotton-planters, sprung most of them from
the best blood of England, developed into a chivalrous
and hospitable race, enjoying the higher culture of the
!r»
I IJi
ll;i
174
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL.
European universities, but having solely in view the main-
tenance and defence of their own exclusive rights. As,
on the other hand, influence never fails to follow in the
wake of wealth, the South inevitably gained the ascend-
ancy over the North, and became the leading power in the
body politic.
In the Free States of the North the process of deve-
lopment had been essentially different, and, on the whole,
much more in accordance with the European standard.
Here society stood, fortunately, in no need of slavery, and
here consequently arose no aristocracy of colour exempt
itself from the necessity of labour, but, on the contrary,
living on the sweat of the black man. Here all were
equal, every man could work, and prosperity became uni-
versally diffused throughout all classes. The stream of
European immigration was — by the climatic conditions —
directed rather towards the north than the south, where
there would have been no alternative between physical
extinction or the renunciation of the prevailing love of
enterprise. The immigrants further contributed a cumu-
lative amount of intelligence, together with an accession
of numbers, soon causing the population of the Northern
States to surpass that of the South.
Thus it came to pass that in the field of politics the
Northern majority was governed by the Southern minority,
a relation which must, sooner or later, inevitably lead to
an open rupture. The situation became still more critical
with the constant accession of fresh territory, whose geo-
graphical position did not call for a corresponding exten-
sion of slavery, and consequently tended to increase tlie
material superiority of the North over the South. The
smouldering embers of mutual ill-feeling began for the
first time to be violently stirred up in 1820, on the ques-
tion wliether Missouri was to be a Free or a Slave State.
But the matter was for a time set at rest by the so-called
•n:|i
HISTOiilCAL AND POLITICAL.
175
II
I\Iissouri compromise. According to this famous agree-
ment Missouri was admitted as a Slave State, while slavery
was forbidden in any States thereafter to be formed north
of latitude 36° 30'.
This compromise preserved peace between the sec-
tions until 1850, when the discovery of gold in California,
and the consequent rapid settlement of that territory, en-
tailed the necessity of adding it to the Union as a State.
Again party spirit ran high, and open threats of dissolu-
tion of the Union, unless California was made a Slave
State, were uttered. Another compromise again prevented
a rupture. This, known as the " Omnibus Bill," admitted
California as a Free State, forbade the slave trade in the
District of Columbia, and required the arrest and return of
escaped slaves by the Northern States.
But no compromise could satisfy party spirit for any
length of time, but tended rather, more and more, to whet
the appetite for the coming struggle. In the North there
arose the party of the Abolitionists, frankly demanding
the total and unconditional suppression of slavery, and
rallying under its banners all who pretended to be regarded
as liberals in the country. To them were opposed the
Democrats, including all the Southern politicians in whose
hands the chief power was at that time concentrated.
With the increasing bitterness of party feeling the arro-
gance of the South became all the more intensified, the
cry went forth that " Cotton was Ki ig," and that his
power should be recognised as supreme in the land.
]\Iatters became further complicated by the promin-
ence assumed in the year 1854 by the so-called " Know-
nothings," who would have nothing to do with the old
political factions, but proclaimed the doctrine of union
at all costs. But tliis party soon disappeared from the
arena.
In the contest raised by this burning question of the
PI ; ,'
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176
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGPAPHY AND TKAVEL.
abolition of slavery, all the civilised world was naturally
arrayed on the side of the North. During the interval
between December 1860 and May 1861, the Southern
States of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, and North
Carolina, withdrew from the Union, constituted themselves
into a confederacy under a rival president, and boldly
accepted battle from the far more powerful Northern
States. During the protracted and sanguinary civil war that
ensued, fortune inclined at first towards the South, which,
though fewer in numbers, had the advantage of a dis-
ciplined army commanded by skilful leaders. The struggle
was fought out to the bitter end, and the South yielded
only when its resources were completely exhausted, and
when it had no more troops to send into the field.
During this war, slavery, the one bone of contention,
was abolished by a proclamation from President Lincoln,
as a necessary war measure. Thus the South, in their
vain attempt to protect their "peculiar institution,"
afforded its opponents the opportunity and the power
to free the country from this foul stain.
9. Reconstruction of the Union.
The Southern States having been conquered and thus
restored to the Union, there remained the difficult task
of rebuilding the States and of reconciling the white popu-
lation to the situation of affairs. An almost universal
amnesty was declared, both whites and blacks were given
the right of suffrage, and the recently rebellious States
were readmitted to the Union. In spite of this generous
treatment on the part of the Government, the rebellious
spirit still exists, and only awaits opportunity to break
forth again. By putting the ballot into the hands of the
ignorant negroes, the situation was very much complicated.
!''
£R
r
HISTOIUCAL AND POLITICAL.
177
For several years after the war these people, led by white
immigrants from the north, many of whom were unscru-
pulous demagogues, or worse, held the controlling power
ill most of these States, and ignorant government and the
grossest corruption ran riot in the South, already impo-
verished by the war. Finally, the whites, driven almost
to desperation by this course of misrule, accomplished by
force and terrorising what they could not do by the ballot,
and su(!ceeded in getting control of the State governments,
whicli they now hold to the benefit of the whites and the
injury of the blacks.
Meanwhile the whole country has gone through a
great industrial collapse, from which it is but now emerg-
iiig,-^a collapse the causes of which are easily traceable to
tlie late war. This war, producing an enormous market,
stimidated production to an unprecedented degree, — a
production which went on at an accelerated pace after the
war was ended, and the market which it afforded was
closed. The great rise in prices, attendant on the war,
was not succeeded at its close by a corresponding fall
consequently the Americans could not compete in foreign
markets. Hence arose a condition of over-production and
glutted markets, which could only be relieved by one of
two things : a reduction of production, or an opening of
new markets. That the former method of cure is now
unconsciously being resorted to, the armies of unemployed
workmen testify; and the large and rapidly increasing
balance of trade, in favour of the United States, shows
that the latter is also assisting in its cure. That this
method of treatment is correct, is shown by the gradual
and steady revival of business in all parts of the
country.
As is natural, the depression in business leaving many,
especially of the lower labouring classes, without means
of earning their bread, has afibrded unscrupulous and
N
m
178
COMrKNDIUM OF GEOGIIAPHY AND TRAVEL.
r
ij,Miorant demagogues opportunity to play upon the pas-
sions of the lower classes, hy charging niisgovernment,
political corruption, etc., upon the party in power. This
cry was quickly taken up by the democrats, who have
used it persistently in their struggle to regain control of
the Government, which they have not had since 1801.
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179
ifi
I
CHAPTEPt XII.
EXTENT ASD POPULATION.
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1. Boundaries and Extent.
The domain of the United States lies between the 'J5tli
and 49tli parallels, and stretches right across tlie northern
continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific seaboard. It
is bounded northward by British Columbia, Saskatchewan,
Manitoba, Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, the
Eiver St. Lawrence, and the l^rovince of Quebec ; east-
ward by New Brunswick and the Atlantic Ocean ; on
the south by Florida Channel, the Gulf of Mexico, and
the Mexican Eepublic ; on the west by the Pacific Ocean.
The border or frontier lines are about 8700, that of tlie
lakes about 870, and of the coast 5100 miles in extent;
while the greatest distance, north and south, is about
1560; east and west, 2850 miles.
The Union consists at present of thirty-eight States,
eight Territories, and the District of Columbia, wliose
political organisation will engage our attention farther
on. The general physical aspect of this vast domain lias
already been described in the chapters devoted to the
physical geography of North America. The more im-
portant details respecting the several States are reserved
for the tables appended to this section.
2. Population.
Within the limits of the Union there resided a popu-
■i
180
COMPENDIUM OF GKOORAI'IIY AND TRAVEL.
11
latioii of 50,155,783 souls in tlu; year 1880. An
ollicial census is taken every ten years, which presents
the only data that can be depencUnl upon. Since the
year 1700, when the first census was taken, tlie popula-
tion <•(■ the Union showed such a striking and uniform
rate of increase as to excite universal astonishment, while
sanjfuino calculators prophesied that the number would
amount to 100,000,000 in the year 1900. But these
exaggerated anticipations have been reduced to more
modest estimates by the last census, taken, as stated,
in 1870.
3. Distribution of the Population.
This population is very unevenly distributed over
the territory of the Union. It is naturally most dense
in the eastern Atlantic States, which were the fir.st to be
settled by Europeans. Advancing westward, it diminishes
steadily in density, though important centres of popu-
lation have here and there been formed along the
Mississippi, and still farther westward. The most popu-
lous city is New York, which has a present population of
nearly one million ; the next largest cities being I'liila-
delphia, Baltimore, and Boston in the east ; Chicago,
Cincinnati, St Louis, and New Orleans in the Mississippi
basin ; and lastly San Francisco, on the Pacific coast.
4. American Cities.
Owing in part, at least, to the circumstance that this is
a new country, and that land is abundant and cheap outside
of the cities, is the fact that in the United States it is tlio
country, the aggregate of the smaller settlements, that holds
the balance of power, whether social or political. While,
in more than one sense, London is England and Paris is
France, a similar proposition is not true of the United
States. Boston is not New England, nor is New York
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AVERAGE DENSITY OF THE POPULATION of THE UNITED i STATFS I
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STATISTICS.
181
City a fair epitome of New York State, or Philadelphia
of Pennsylvania. But though the larger cities have not
absorbed the country, they were making rapid strides
towards such an undesirable consummation when the
financial crash of 1873 came. This turned the tide in
the opposite direction, and since then the labouring
classes have everywhere been driven from the cities, and
forced to return to the culture of the soil.
The principal cities of the Union may almost be
counted on one's fingers. They are : — Boston, in Massa-
chusetts — population, 362,535 ; New York, in New York
State, 1,206,590 ; Brooklyn, in the same State, 566,689 ;
Philadelphia, Pa., 846,984; Baltimore, Md., 332,190;
Washington, District of Columbia, 147,307 ; New Orleans,
Louisiana, 216,140; St. Louis, Missouri, 350,522 ; Chi-
cago, 111., 503,304 ; Cincinnati, Ohio, 255,708; and San
Francisco, Cula., 233,956.
The older cities, including those on the Atlantic
coast, were not at first laid out. They simply grew by a
process of spontaneous generation. In the case of Boston,
the streets of the older part of the city, it is said, were
laid out by the cows returning from pasture, and cer-
tainly the narrow winding streets give colour to this
ludicrous origin. The more recent parts of these cities,
with the entirety of those in the interior, were 1)uilt in
accordance with plans — in regular sc[uares, with lu'oader
streets intersecting at right angles, resembling, as has
Iteen often said, gigantic chess-boards. In many cities
the streets are designated by numbers and letters of the
alphabet ; and in some, one hundred numbers are allowed
to each scpiare, the next square commencing with a new
liundred. These arrangements are of the utmost con-
venience in finding one's way in strange cities, however
much of the aesthetic may be lost in conseq\ienco.
In the names of the cities one notes a certain pijvertv.
[ i
II
182 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAYKL.
]\Iaiiy are taken from well-known cities of the Old World
— thus we meet with London and New London, Paris,
St. Peterslmrg, etc. The classics are not neglected, foi-
Troy, Utica, Alexandria, Carthage, and others have been
^ I resurrected on this western continent. The names of
great men are very numerously immortalised. Washing-
ton appears in nearly every State in the Union, and in
many of them a number of times, causin^ great confusion.
In Iowa there are 44, in Ohio 39, in Pennsylvania ID,
and in other States several each.
In the newer parts of the country, especially in the
Western States and Territories, there are few self-styled
villages. The sanguine American mind sees in every
new settlement a future metropolis, and, like Minerva,
it springs into being, a full-grown city. Every straggling
settlement on the frontier — built, it may be, of logs — is a
" city ; " and the speculator in corner lots confidently pre-
dicts for it a vast future. The first building of these
to-be cities is — not a church or schoolhouse — but a hotel,
if a log-cabin of one room can be so-called consistently.
Next, a saloon appears, and then a small proportion of
dwelling-houses. When the town has passed its lawless
stages, — wlien it has sown its wild oats and has settled
down into a law-abiding community, — then churches and
schoolhouses appear, and the religious and educational
elements are ministered to. This is the general history
of growth of settlements on the Western frontier.
Again, many of these incipient towns die prematurely.
Mining excitements give birth to numberless " cities "
which perish when the mines become exhausted, or, from
one reason or another, work on them is stopped. Thi'
oil regions of Pennsylvania contain many of these mush-
room towns which, from the failure of the oil-wells, arc
now in a state of decay. All over the West are deserted
towns, monuments of departed placer diggings, or "played-
III
IB 'E
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11
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NEW YOllK CITY.
183
I, 'I
oat" quartz leads. Tlie railroads, too, contribute their
tniotu t)t' receut ruins. Every important railroad, during
i'.s construction, carries at its end a town — even a city
in some cases. As the end of the road moves on, the
town follows it. It is a city upon wheels. The houses
are UKule of the thinnest and lightest materials, and are
often carried bodily in sections from one sto])])ing-place to
another. The Union Pacific liailroad, during its construc-
tion, carried a town of several thousand inhabitants upon
its end. As may be supposed, the people of this town
were not of the most desirable sort. Besides the em-
ployes of the road, it consisted mainly of gamblers,
despei'adoes, and loose women of the baser sort. Law
and order were unknown, save as administered by "Judge
Lynch." Shooting was a pastime freely indulged in by
both sexes and all classes. The revolver was king over
the community.
5. New York Citi/.
This, the chief commercial city of the country, is
situated at the mouth of the Hudson Eiver, on the island
of Manhattan. It was originally peopled by the Dutch,
and by them named Xew Amsterdam. It is by far the
largest and most important city in the country, and has
a magnificent harbour, excelled by none in the world.
Tlie older part of the city, situated at the southern
end of the island, is more or less irregular in plan. But
the general scheme of the city is that of long streets
running north and south, lengthwise of the island, and
mainly known as avenues, with cross-streets from one side
to the other. The latter are numbered, commencing near
Luion Park, at the upper end of the old part of the city.
The southern portion of the city is devoted to business,
the northern portion mainly to dwellings. Broadway,
though not, as implied by its namCj a broad street, is the
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184
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TllAVEL.
principal among the business streets. It runs down the
island in a southerly direction to its lower end.
The city contains, besides vast numbers of maoniiicent
dwellings, many fine public buildings and Inisiness
edifices. Of the public buildings, one of the most noted
is the City Hall, a graceful and elegant structure, Avitli a
white marble facade ; another is the new Court-House,
notorious as the means whereby many were enriched from
the city treasury. Tlie Custom-House is an immense and
massive structure of Quincy granite. The national Sub-
mg
BROADWAY.
treasury occupies the old Custom-House, a l)eautiful and
spacious building of white marble. Tlie new I'ost-OHice
building is the finest public structure in the city, and is
admirably adapted for its purpose.
With parks, the breathing-places of cities, this metro-
polis is well provided. The largest of these is Central
I'ark, in the northern part of the city. It is two miles
and a half long, by half a mile in width, of a rectangular
shape. It is divided into two unequal parts by the
Croton reservoir, whence water is supplied to the city.
The surface of tlie park is undulating, just sufficiently to
PRINCIPAL CITIES.
185
give an agreeable diversity to the scenery. Nature had
(lone little for it, but art has beautified it until it is one
of the finest parks in the world. It is embellished with
fine groves of trees and shrubbery, ponds and fountains,
statuary, etc, etc.
Besides Central Park, the cit)'- contains several other
open places. Among these are the Battery, Bowling
Green, the City Hall Park, Union Square, and others,
amounting altogether to more than a thousand acres.
The commerce of the city is enormous. Nearly 60
per cent of the foreign trade of the country passes through
this port. In manufactures its importance is proportional.
It contains 59 banks, representing a capital of 85 millions
of dollars.
As regards means of education, the city is well
provided. There are 287 grammar and primary schools,
with an average attendance of about 117,000. There
are several schools of higher grade, commonly known as
academies, and supported in whole or in part by religious
denominations. There are two colleges, Columbia, and
the University of New York, both of which are flourish-
iii" institutions. There are also several schools of
medicine and surgery. The city also contains no less
than 23 public libraries.
The public improvements of the city are by no means
all that could be desired. Most of the pavements are in
bad condition. The main business streets are paved with
cobble stones, than which scarcely anything could be
worse, although they are being gradually replaced by
Belgian blocks. Wood pavements have been tried, but
there, as everywhere, they have soon decayed, leaving tlie
streets in a shocking condition. Although the city is
admirably situated for carrying out a perfect sewage
system, it is yet in a bad condition. The market-houses,
too, are unworthy of the great city.
li?
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180
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND THAVEL.
The population is very mixed. Most of tlie lines of
European steamers have this as their western port, and
bring to it thousands upon tliousands of immigrants from
the Old World, and the worst elements of this throng of
immigration remain to curse tlie city. Tlie larger propor-
tion of these are Irish, from the lower classes, and they
are taken up by the Democratic party of the city, and in
turn assist it in kee]nng political control. The result is
that the city is mainly ruled, or has been in past time,
by its worst, lowest elements, and a systematic pillaging
of the public treasury was carried on for years with
impunity, llecently, however, better men have regained
control of power, and the reign of Tammany, it is to he
hoped, is over.
6. Philadelphia.
Philadelphia, the " Quaker City," the chief city of the
State of Pennsylvania, is the largest in territorial area, and
the second in population, within the limits of the United
States. It is situated on the west side of the Delaware
River in the south-eastern part of Pennsylvania, and
extends N.N.E. along the river to a point 22 miles from
the mouth of the Schuylkill Eiver, reaching 5 to 1 miles
westward from the Delaware. The site was discovered
in 1623 by the Dutch of New York, who soon located
there. The Swedes settled along the river within the
I ndary of the city in 1638. By the treaty between
England and Holland in 1674, the settlements of the
Delaware fell under Englisli authority, and in 1681-82
Philadelphia was laid out by William Penn. The present
city has an area of 82,603 acres, and includes the entire
county, which was consolidated in 1854. Previously it
included only a strip a mile in width, which reached west-
ward from the Delaware to the Schuylkill Eiver, a
distance of two nules. The portion west of the latter
ruiNciP.vL crn^.s.
187
stream is ikiw known as West I'hiladolphia, and other parts
of the city are frecpiently called by the names which
they have retained from the time when they were under
independent mnnicipal <rovernment, snch as Kensington,
liichmond, and Southwark ; wliile the outlyin<f villages,
such as ]\Ianayiink, Germantown, and Frankford, arc still
suburban althongh under the city government. 'I'lie
streets of the city were origiiudly laid out to run
west from the Delaware, with intersecting streets running
north and south. This plan has generally been carried
out wherever practicable, and almost everywhere tlie
streets cross at right angles. The east and west streets
are named, and the north and south streets nund)ered.
On the former the buildings are numbered toward the
west, all between Front or 1st Street having numbers
between 100 and 200, and all between '2d and 3d
Streets between 200 and 300, and so on. The buildings
on the south side have the even numbers, as 102, 104,
202, 204, etc., and those on the north side the odd
numbers. On the north and south streets the buildings
are numliered in either direction from Market Street,
which is the central street, certain streets being designated
as the boundaries of the hundreds. 14tli Street or Jiroad
Street is the central north and south street, and is built
for six miles. The city nearer the Delaware is built upon
for a greater distance north and south than Broad Street.
The line of street lights extends along the Delaware for
about thirteen miles.
Chestnut Street is the fashionable thoroughfare, and
has many fine buildings of granite, marble, and brick.
Brick has been always principally used for ])uildings, and
the city is noted for its uniform rows of briclc buildings,
with white marble facirn"s and steps. In the more fashion-
able and wealthy poi iis of the city, brownstone and
marble are largely used.
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188
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
Philadelphia is conspicuous for the imniber and neat-
ness as well as durability of its dwellings. The buildings
of all kinds number about 150,000, and the tenement
system so connnon in New York is almost unknown.
The average of persons to a dwelling-house is about 6"01.
This fact has gained for Philadelphia the pleasant appel-
lation of " the city of homes." In the number of its
dwelling-houses it is probal)ly orly surpassed by the
British Metropolis. The population in 1880 was
846,984, and about 200,000 of this will represent the
foreign element, which is largely German.
The city is surrounded by a rich agricultural country,
and the food supply is abundant and varied. There are
about thirty-five market-houses, some of which are large,
costly, and imposing in appearance.
The supply of water and illuminating gas is good, and
the drainage system excellent.
The jjublic buildings are numerous ; many of them
are rich and elaborate. Among them is the City Hall,
which is in process of erection. It is of granite and
marble, to be four stories in height, covering 470 feet by
48 G^ feet, and surmounted by a tower 450 feet in height.
The Masonic Temple is of granite, built in Norman style.
The University of Pennsylvania, which dates its founda-
tion from 1749, has the largest and most conveniently
arranged college structures in the country, built of gxeen
serpentine rock and greystone. The principal place of
amusement is the Academy of Music, which has a seating
capacity for 2900 persons. The Schuylkill Kiver is
crossed by fourteen bridges.
There are two parks and thirteen public squares be-
longing to the city. The principal one is Fairmount Park,
best known for its being the site of the International Exhi-
bition of 1876. It contains 2740 acres, and (next to
Epping and Windsor Forest in England, and the Prater of
m..
PRINCIPAL CITIES.
189
Venice) is the largest park in tlie world. It is situated
on both sides of tlie Scliuylkill, comiuouciiig at Fairmouut,
an elevation from which it derives its name, and extend-
ing for more than 7 miles along the river, and along the
hanks of the Wissahicken to Chestnut Hill, the total
li'iigth being about 13 miles. It extends westward about
4^^ miles, and possesses much natural beauty, being well
wooded and having a great variety of surface. The pro-
j)erty was originally composed of country seats, among
which were many shaded glens, ravines, ar.d valleys.
The fine old forest trees have been preserved with great
care, and as the river is in view from nearly all the roads
in the eastern and western portions, the diversity is
charming. In Fairmount Park is also the first established
American Zoological Gardens, which, although only first
opened to the public in 1874, has the air and general
appearance of long established similar institutions in
Europe.
Philadelphia is the first manufacturing city in the
Union, exceeding all others in the extent and variety
of manufactures and the number of persons employed.
New York exceeds Philadelphia only in the value of
articles manufactured. This pre-eminence of Phila-
delphia is due to the plentifulness of water and the
proximity of the coal-fields, together with the breadth
of the space available for manufacturing establishments,
and the comfort which mechanics may enjoy with their
families.
The exports from the city consist mainly of bread-
stuffs and petroleum. The trade has been much facili-
tated by the establishment of new lines of steam-ships
between the city and Europe. The Pennsylvania Eail-
road Company carries the freight directly to the ships'
sides. One of the grain elevators on the Delaware has a
storage capacity of 500,000 bushels, and can load three
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190
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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vessels at once; and another, on the Sclmylkill, has a
capacity of 800,000 bushels, and can load six vessels at
one time.
In 1875, the value of petroleum exported \vas
$7,927,399. The coal shipments, generally for Ameri-
can use, are very large.
The steamships of the American line are of the lirst-
class, built of iron at Philadelphia, and are the only
steamships plying between America and Europe which
fly the American flag. There are six main lines of steam
railroad radiating from the city, besides numerous local
roads.
Philadelphia was the seat of the Federal Government
from 1790 to 1800, when Washington became the
capital.
7. Baltimore, the Monumental City.
Baltimore, the principal city of Maryland, is situated
at the head of navigation of the Patapsco River, near the
Chesapeake Bay. In 1870 it had a population of about
267,000.
The city is mainly laid out at right angles, the build-
ings being princijially of brick, with some of granite and
iron. It contains many fine public buildings, among
them the City Hall, built of white marble, and costing
$3,000,000. It has excellent graded schools, in which
about 40,000 children are instructed. It lias several
academies or minor colleges, and one, known as the John
Hopkin's University, which has just been instituted on a
liberal endowment, and promises to become one of tlie first
institutions of learning in the land.
The city has many breathing places, in the form of
small parks, and besides these, Patterson Park, in tlie
north-eastern section of the city, which contains 54 acres.
But the park is known as iJruid Hill I'ark, which is
TKINCIPAL CITIES,
191
situated just beyond the north-west section of the city.
This contains 704 acres of land, beautifully undulating
in surface, and embellished by all that landscape art can
supply, making it one of the most enchanting spots to be
found in the neighbourhood of our large cities.
8. Washington.
Washington, in the District of Columbia, the capital
city of the United States, is situated on the left bank of
the Potomac Iliver, about 100 miles above its mouth.
Though but a few years ago a straggling, dirty, unhealthy
village, it is now the finest and healthiest of American
cities. Its plan is one of great beauty and symmetry.
The city is laid out from the Capitol as a centre, in four
sections, North-west, South-west, North-east, and South-
east. The streets running north and south are numbered,
starting from the Capitol ; thus we have 1st Street East
iind 1st Street West, etc. Those running east and west are
denominated by the letters of the alphabet, and we have,
ill similar manner, A Street North, A Street South, etc.
Those streets which radiate from the Capitol towards the
four cardinal points are known respectively as North,
South, East, and West Capitol Streets. Besides those
streets, which divide the city into rectangles, there is a
system of avenues which cut the streets at angles of 30°
and 60°. These avenues are named from the States of the
Union, as Massachusetts Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue,
etc. The streets and avenues are wider than those of
any other city of the world, ranging in width from 70 to
100 feet. The crossnigs of streets and avenues have, in
very many places, presented opportunities for small tri-
aiigidar or circular parks, wliich serve to beautify and
adorn the city, as well as to increase its salubrity. Be-
sides these, there are many larger parks scattered about
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COMPENDIU]M OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
the city, such as the Capitol Grounds, wliich comprise 52
acres; the grounds about the Wliite House (the Presi-
dent's Mansion), containing 20 acres ; those of the Smith-
sonian Institution, the Public Garden, the Agricultural
Bureau, and the Washington Monument, in all about 100
acres ; and many others, each comprising a square or two
of land. The combined area of streets and public parks
is slightly in excess of that held as private property ; that
is, more than half the area of the city is in streets and
parks.
WliUe tlie city contains very many fine private resi-
dences, its public buildings far overshadow all others, by
their magnitude and their architectural effect. First
among these is the Capitol, whose great white dome is,
from all directions, the first object in the city to attract
the eye. Its general plan is that of a central building,
surmounted by a dome, and flanked by two wings. Its
entire length, from north to south, is 751 feet, with a
breadth of from 121 to 324 feet in its different portions.
The building covers nearly 3^ acres. The total cost of
the building has been about $13,000,000. The height
of the wings is 70 feet, while that of the dome, from
the ground to the Goddess of Liberty upon the summit, is
285-J feet. The material of the main building is free-
stone ; that of the wings is white marble, while the dome
is of iron.
The rotunda, occupying the central portion of the
main building, is one of the principal attractions of the
Capitol. It is a circular hall, 96 feet in diameter, by 180
feet in height to the top of the canopy above. On thi-
spherical concave is painted a nuimmoth fresco by l^rii-
midi, representing allegorical and historical subjects. The
panels which surround the rotunda, nearly on a level with
the spectator, are adorned with historical paintings.
The Senate chamber occupies most of the north wing,
It
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PRINCIPAL CITIES.
193
It is 113 by 81 feet, and accommoflates seventy-six
senators, while the galleries have a seating capacity for
a thousand spectators. This room is without artistic
decorations, with the exception of the glass panels of
the ceiling, which have symbolic designs. On either
side of the Senate chamber are the Senate committee
rooms, most of Avhich are richly frescoed. Other rooms
in tliis wing are richly finished in Italian and Tennessee
marbles. The staircases, also, are of white and Tennessee
marble.
The south wing is occupied by the Hall of Represent-
atives and the numerous committee rooms. The hall is
the largest legislative room in the world, being 139 by 93
feet, atfording space for 300 members, while the galleries
will seat 1500 spectators.
The Library of Congress occupies the western projec-
tion of the central building. This library comprises over
310,000 volumes, for which the space is entirely inade-
quate, and measures are on foot for a new library building,
with increased acconmiodations.
The Supreme Court of the United States has its room
in the central building of the Capitol.
The interior of the building is finished throughout in
marbles, with floors of stone or tiles. The walls and
ceilings are beautifully frescoed. It contains very many
works of art, statuary, paintings, and syinljolic frescoes.
The building of the Treasury Department is a vast
and imposing edifice in the Ionic style of architecture,
and is built of freestone and granite. The building has
a length of 4G8 feet, with a l)readth of 264, and contains
195 rooms. It cost $0,000,000.
The great building of the State, War, and Navy De-
partments, now in process of construction, will, when
finished, be one of the finest in the city. It is in the
Italian Iienaissance style, and is built of granite. The
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGHAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
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dimensions of the edifice will be 567 by 471 feet, and
it will cost about $7,000,000.
The building of the Interior Department, which covers
two entire squares of the city, is in the Doric style, and
is of sim])le but massive proportions. It is of freestone,
marble, and r;ranite.
Opposite the latter is the building of the Post-Office
Department, occupying an entire square. The order of
architecture is Corinthian.
The President's mansion, known popularly as the
White House, is situated between the Treasury and the
new State Department building, fronting on Pennsylvania
Avenue. It is a plain stone edifice, surrounded by
extensive grounds, adorned with shrubbery, trues, and
fountains.
Otiier public buildings are those of the Department of
Agriculture, which is of brick, with brown stone trim-
mings, and situated in the midst of large grounds ; that
of the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum,
built of red sandstone ; that of the Army Medical Museum,
which occupies the building formerly known as Ford's
Theatre, in which President Lincoln was assassinated ;
the Naval Observatory, the Navy Yard, Arsenal, and
Government Printing-Ofiice.
Within the city and in its suburbs are many charitable
institutions, su])ported in Mdiole or in part by the Govern-
ment. Tlie Soldier's Home, for the support of aged and
invalid soldiers, is situated a short distance outside tlie
city, on the bluffs which surround it. It occupies a tract
of about 400 acres, which, with its beautiful buildings,
works of art, groves, fountains, and smooth lawns, forms
a most attractive park, and is a favourite resort during
the heated season. It was establislied by the Govern-
ment, and is kept up by a small tax levied upon the pay
of the soldiers of the regular army.
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PRINCIPAL CITIES.
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Tlie Deaf .and Dumb Asylum, situated just beyoud
tlio limits of the city, deserves mention. It occupies 100
acres, comprises a number of buildings in semi-Gothic
style, and accommodates 100 pupils.
Among others are the Xaval Hospital, the Soldiers'
and Sailors' Orphans' Home, and the "Washington Orphan
iVsylum, besides several others, supported entirely by
private subscriptions.
In matters of primary education, "Washington is not
behind other large cities. Its schools are excelled by
none, save perha])S those of Boston, Massachusetts. But
in the higher grades of learning it is sadly deficient.
True, it boasts several so-called colleges, among them
Georgetown College, Columbia College, and Howard
University; l)ut, in point of fact, these do not rank higher
than an average Xew England high school.
The society of the city is very cosmopolitan. Gathered
as it is not only from all parts of the country indiscrimi-
nately, but from all countries of the world, and from all
grades of society, it would be strange if it were not so.
It is also extremely democratic ; such things as sects in
this society cannot exist. While it has long been a
political centre, it is rapidly growing to be a soientiHc and
literary centre. The great number of scientific and literary
experts employed by the Government in various capa-
cities give a tone to the society ; while the unexam]iled
advantages to the litterateur, artist, and scientist, all'orded
by the vast libraries, museums, and works of art, are daily
attracting to tlie national capital more and more of this
class of population.
Commercially, the city is nothing. Its business re -
lates simply to supplying the employes of the Govern-
ment, who necessarily form a large part of the popu-
lation.
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CoMrENDIUM OF GEUGKAPIIY AND TKAVKL.
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9. BaffaJo, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburg, Cincinnati
Of the towns ill tlie interior a lew only call fdi'
speciiil mention. In the West, amon,n;st the chief cities
are BnffUlo, Cleveland, and Toledo, the iirst iuid third
heing great centres of the corn and cattle trade. The
second is especially famous for its extensive petroleum
refineries, rivalling those of Pittshurg, as well as for its
lumber-yards, ironfoundries, smitheries, and shi])l)uild-
ing-yards, and has one of the most fre(|Uented jKjits on
the (freat Lakes.
Detroit is a city of the second rank. Here are con-
centrated the smelting-works where the excellent copper-
ores of Lake Superior are smelted, and large quantities of
bacon are also cured in this place. It has not yet for-
gotten its French origin, many French Canadians residing
there, and the French lan'>-uage beinii; still used to some
extent.
Mention should also be made of Fittsburg in Fenu-
sylvania, originally the Fort Ducjuesne of the Freneli,
now famous lor its smelting-works, petroleum-refineries,
coal-mines, glass -M'orks, and manufactories of every sort.
In a word, it may be regarded as the .Manchester ami
lUi'minghaiu of the Xew AVorld. Xor should we overlook
Cincinnati on the Ohio, the " Queen <'ity," or " I'oi'ko-
polis," as it is frequently called, on ,iecr)unt of its im-
mense trade in ])ork. Wine is also here ])roduced in
large quantities, its champagnes, hocks, and es|iecially its
sparkling Catawba, in the opinion of the natives, rivallin.u'
in flavour the corresponding i)roduce of the European
vineyards.
10. St. Louis and Cliveujo.
r>ut the two great rival cities in the "West are un-
doubtedly St. Louis on the Mississippi, in the Stale of
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PRINCIPAL CITIES.
197
]\Iissouri, and Chicago on Lake ^Michigan, in Illinois.
Tliere are few cities in America so favourably situated as
HARBOUR, ST. LOUIS.
St. Louis In the centre of the Mississippi Valley, ^*' 'ies
midway between the extreme western point of the
lakes and the Gulf of Mexico on the one hand and tno
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
Atlantic seaLoaid and the slopes of the Eocky IMountains
on the other. It is further situated in a region capahle
of nnliniitud expansion, all which advantages give it some
claims to be regarded as the possible future capital of
the great republic. Hence it is not surprising that the
qnestion of the transfer of the seat of government from
Washington to St. Louis has already been frequently
discussed.
The growth of this city has been astounding, the popu-
lation increasing from 75,000 in 1850 and 100,000 in
1860 to 310,000 in 1870, thus doubling itself in each
successive decade. In 1880 the number was 350,522.
This rapid growth has therefore received a very decided
check, but a further great development is so confidently
relied upon that in all public establishments every provi-
sion is made to meet it beforehand. No city in the Union
presents such a charndng pros])ect as does St. Louis seen
from the neighbourhood, washed as it is by the great
river, whose mighty waters tiow majestically by, and
whose shores are now connected by a really gigantic
bridge, high enough to allow the largest Mississippi
steamers to pass freely beneath its colossal arches. Of
this magnificent tubular railway bridge Professor Mlincli,
writing in 1875, declares that it remains, so far, without
a rival in the Old or the New World.
Still more rapid has been the growth of Chicago. In
the decade between 1839 and 1849 its population rose
from 3200 to 23,047, amounting in 1859 to 90,000,
and in 1870 to 298,977. Notwithstanding the fearful
fire of 1871, it increased from 304,000 in that year to
334,000 in the next, and the population, calculated by
the Chamber of Commerce at 430,000 in 1873, is now
(1880) 503,304. Chicago is the chief port on the great
lakes, by which it is connected with the St. Lawrence
and Canada, as well as through the Erie Canal with the
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rUINCIPAL CITIES.
199
Hudson and New York. About twelve railway lines
radiate from this place, which has justly been called
the dau,yliter of New York.
To its enormous import and export trade have already
been added various branches ot" local industries. The
si^lits of the place may easily bo seen in the course of a
day, though in the midst of all this bustle and trallic one
is apt to forget that he is in a new world, where nature
must necessarily for along time present greater sources of
U'sthetic enjoyment than the most po2)ulous of cities born
but yesterday.
11. San Francisco.
Tliis sketch of the more important cities of tlie Union
would be incomplete without some reference to San Fran-
cisco, the " Na])les of America." Like most of the other
towns in the New World, the Californian capital is laid out
in regular squares. But the straight streets here ascend
such steep inclines over the sand dunes that it becomes
at times impossible to follow them to the end. It often
lia])i)ens that after the street has been laid out and built
upon, more recent improvements, by effecting deep cut-
tings through the crests of the ridges, have left the houses
suspended like frowning bastions high above the final level
of the roadway. Had the first plan been better adapted
to the lay of the land than the straight lines here imprac-
ticable, a really beautiful city might have arisen on these
picturesque slopes.
But notwithstanding this drawback, San Francisco
still remains unquestionably the finest city in the Union.
New York alone might perhaps compete with it in this
respect, but any one long resident in both places, if un-
swayed by partial feelings, will unhesitatingly award the
palm to San Francisco. It is charmingly situated on a
hilly site almost completely encircled by the waters of
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGliAl'IIY AND TIIAVEL.
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tlie racific. In liis Gmifrr Brituin, Sii' ('liai'U;H W.
Dilko .s])eiiks thus of the " (jioldun City," us it is now
often called : —
" Siin Francisco is ill-placed, so far as mere biiildiii;:,'
facilities are concerned. When tlu; first houses were
built in 1845 and 1840, they stood on a strip of Ijeaeh
surrounding the sheltered cove of Yerha Buena, and at
the foot of the steep and lofty sand-hills. Dunes and
cove have disa]»])eared together; the hills have been shot
bodily into the bay, and the former harbour is now the
business quarter of the city. Not a street can be Iniilt
without cutting down a hill or filling up a glen. Never
was a great town l)uilt under heavier dilliculties ; but trade
requires it to be exactly where it is, and there it will
remain and grow. Its former rivals, Vallejo and llenicia,
are gxass-grown villages, in spite of their having had the
advantage of a ' perfect situation.' While the s])ot on
which the CJ olden City stands was still occupied by the
struggling village of Yerba Buena, Francisca was a rising
city, where corner lots were worth thirteen or twenty
thousand dollars. When the gold rush came the village,
shooting to the front, voted itself the name of its great
Ijay, and Francisca had to change its title to Benicia, in
order not to be thought a mere suburb of San Francisco.
The mouth of the Columbia was once looked to as the
future haven of Western America, and point of conver-
gence of the railroad lines ; but the ' centre of the
universe ' has not more completely removed from Inde-
pendence to Fort Eiley than Astoria has yielded to San
Francisco the claim to be the port of the Pacific. ... In
my walks through the city I found its climate agreeable
rather for work than idleness. Sauntering or lounging is
as little possible as it is in London. The summer is not
yet ended ; and in the summer at San Francisco it is cold
after eleven in the day — strangely cold for the latitude of
I'RINCirAL (;ITIK8.
201
Athens. Tlie ficvco sun senrchcs uj) the vallcvs of tlio
San Joaquin aud tlio SacranuiUto in the early niorniu,Lf ;
and the heated air, risiuf^ from off the ground, h'avcs
its place to be filled by the cold breeze from the I'acitic;.
Tiie Contra Costa llanj^e is unlirokcn exce])t by the siii.yle
ga]) of the (lolden (Jate, and throii^nh this ojxMiiiiu' tliccold
winds rush in in a never-ceasinj^' gale, sjtrciiding fan-like
as soon as they have passed th(^ narrows. Jlfiu'c it is that
the G(dden Gate is called the ' Keyhoh;,' and the wind
the ' Keyhole Jjree/e.' U]) country they make it raise
the water for irrigation. In winter there is a calm, and
then the city is as sunny as the rest of California.
"So purely local is the bitter gale that at IJenicia, ten
miles from San Francisco, the mean temjR'raturc is ten
degrees higher for the year, and nearly twenty for the
suuuner. I have stood on the shore at ])eiucia when the
thermometer was at a hundred in the shade, and seen the
clouds pouring in from the Pacific and hiding San Tran-
ciseo in a murky ])all, while the temperature there was
under 70 degrees. This fog retarded by a hundred years
the discovery of San Francisco Bay. The entrance t(j the
Ciolden Gate is narrow, and the mists hang there all day.
Cabrillo, Drake, Viscaino sailed past it without seeing that
there was a bay, and the great land-locked sea was first
beheld by white men when the missionaries came upon
its arms and creeks far away inland.
" The peculiarity of climate carries with it great advan-
tages. It is never too hot, never too cold, to work — a
fact which of itself secures a grand future for San Fran-
cisco. The effect upon national type is marked. At a
San Franciscan ball you see English faces, not American.
Even the lean Western men and hungry Yankees become
l)lump and rosy in this temple of the winds. The high
metallic ring of the New England voice is not found in
San Francisco. As for old men California must have been
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAl'IIY AND TRAVEL.
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that fabled province of Catliay, the virtues of which were
such that, whatever a man's a^e wlien he entered it, he
never grew older by a day. To dogs and strangers there
are drawbacks in the absence of winter : dogs are muzzled
all the year round, and mosquitoes are perennial upon the
coast.
" San Francisco is inhn^ ited, as all American cities bid
fair to be, by a mixed throng of men of all lands beneath
the sun. New Englanders and Englishmen predominate
in energy. Tlie French and Italians are stronger here than
in any other city in tlie States ; and the brown-skinned
Mexicans, wlio own the land, supjily the market peo])le
and a sniall portion of the townsfolk. Australians, Poly-
nesians, and Cliilians are numerous ; the Germans and
Scandinavians alone are few ; tliey prefer to go where
they have already friends — to I'hiladclphia or ]\Iilwaukee.
In this city — already a microcosm of the world — the
]'jiglish and American are in possession, have distanced
the Irish, beaten down the Chinese by ibrce, and are
destined to physically preponderate in the cross-brcetl, and
give the tone, political and monU, to the Pacific shore.
New York is Irish, Ph'' lelphia German, Milwaukee
Norwegian, Chicago Canaman, Sault St. Marie French ;
but in San Francisco, where all the foreign races are
strong, none is dominant, whence the singular result
that Caliiornia, the most mixed in population, is also
the most EngUsn of the States" (ii. pp. 247-254).
POPULATION.
203
CHAPTER XIII.
THE POPULATION AND ITS VARIOUS ELEJIEXTS.
1. Statistics of the Native and Foreign Elements.
Apart from the Aboriji-inal Indians and tlie men of
coloui', whether jnire negroes or half-castes, of whom we
sliall have to speak farther on, the white po] dilation of
tlie United States belongs mainly to <"^'e Britisli, or rather
to the Anglo-Saxon stock. An estimate for the year
1 8 G 8 distributes it in the following projwrtions, according
to the various nationalities whence it is descended : —
English, Scotch, Irish, and Welsh, 15 ; Germans, Scandi-
navians, and Dutch, 10; Spaniards and Erencli (Latins),
5; Africans, 4 ; Native Indians and South Americans,
1. The census returns for 1870 gave 32,1)89,437
natives and i",56G,r>G4 immigrants, — tliat is in the pro-
])ortion of one to seven. Of the natives, both ])arents
of 9,734,845 were foreigners, 10,521,2;)3 were the oil-
spring of a foreign father and an American mother, while
10,105,G2G were descended from a foreign mother and
an American father; strange to say, the census includes
the first over agnin in the last two numbers. There were,
tlicn, about 16,000,000 immigrants or their children.
2. Native Americans.
By this t^rm is meant tliose Caucasians who were
born and bred on American soil, wliatever their origimil
derivation. They are found to dilfer widely in ditlerent
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sections of the Union. This is natural, as tlie innnij^rants
to dill'erent sections were of diiferent nationahties, aial
were, and are, subjected to different social and climatic
conditions. Tlie idea that one new race is in process of
Ibriuation on tliis continent is manifestly incorrect, not
only in fact, hut in theory, as all the conditions Avliich
tend to modify the human type differ extremely in
different parts of tlie country.
New England was originally settled hy Turitau
English, a people who lived a hard aiistere life. They
were honest, conscientious, and intellectual, hut luirrdw
and bigoted. A cold, hleak, damp climate and poor soil
are the gilts of Dame N^ature to New England, and the
history of the settlers has been one of poverty and hard-
shi}). Such a hist(.)ry cannot fail to leave its mark u])Oii
the offspring of this ])eo])le, and we find them, as a class,
lean, tough, and wiry, with little development of muscle,
but capable of great physical endurance. The face is
narrow, with sharp features and high cheek-bones. The
sockets of the eyes are deeply suidcen, and are compara-
tivel}^ near to one another.
While the ])hysiognomy of the Xew Englander has
these peculiarities, his demeanour betrays a nervous, rest-
less spirit, which contrasts strongly with the quiet and
sober l)earing of his English kinsman. He is always
busy about something, always in a Irarry. A state of
inaction is almost mdvnown to him. The cause of this
peculiar temperament, though possibly in a measure due
to peculiarities of climate, is mainly owing to the fact
that this has been, and is yet, a new country, where
nuich and ra])id work is required to subdue nature,
reclaim and settle it ; that life in it is full of change
and excitement, and has not yet settled down to the
monotonous existence of most European countries. As
one proceeds westward to the newly -settled regions, he
POPULATION.
205
finds this restless spirit greatly intensified, and in a newly-
discovered mining district it amounts to a delirium.
The New Englanders, as a whole, contrast favourably
with their fellow-countrymen elsewhere, by their especial
attachment to the home country, by tiie interest they
take in its moral and intellectual life, as well as by the
retention of mar.y good old Englisli customs, es]iecially
shown hi their love of agriculture, and in the construction
and internal arrangement of their dwellings. Their pre-
eminent mental qualities are clearly perceptilde in their
very features, and in the extraordinary inlhience exercised
hy them over society throughout the Union. Although
not numliering more tiian a tenth of the whole population,
yet on an average more than half of all important national
undertakings are due to tliem, while most of the Xorth-
American writers and tliiiikers,- — men like Franklin,
Longfellow, .Parker, Emerson, Ifawtliorne, and many
utJK'rs, — are iS'ew Englanders.
o
71ic Gcrmcm Element.
The other two main elements of tlie pr)])ulation are the
ri^sult of more recent, and still active, migratory movements
of the European nations westwards. These immigrants
are either crowded together in tlu> largo sea])orts and
comniercial marts, and in the centres oi' industry and the
inining districts of the east, or else follow the main line
of railways through the inland States, s])re!idiiig somewhat
iinit'orinly owr the more thickly ]ii'n|ilcd regions of the
West, Avhile still shoM'ing a seeming jn'cfercnce for the
iieighboui'hood of tin; great lakes and ri\eis. They {ire
divided into two great classes, the Germans and the Irish.
Under the generic name German may here be con-
veniently included all the iteojjles of Teutonic blood
except the Anglo-Saxons or English. It will thus com-
prise, besides the High and Low Germans, the Dutch,
1
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206
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL.
the Flemings, the Swiss, the Eusso-Germans, and the
Scandinavian Danes, Swedes, and iSTorwegia is. Tliese
liave settk^d mainly in tlie north- western States of Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin,
althongli Pennsylvania has drawn a large quota to its
mining regions. Some sections of these States are
peopled very largely with Germans, the American ele-
ment being decidedly in the minority.
]\Iost of the Germans who emigrate to America are
from the labouring classes, and from them the ranks of
miners, labourers in iron-work, and farmers, are laro'elv
recruited. As a class they are sober and industrious,
but very clannish, preserving the associations of race for
generations. Ow4ng to the present policy of the German
Government in regard to Socialism, very many of the
adherents of this dangerous doctrine have sought asylums
on these shores, where they have made many proselytes.
This work has been aided by the industrial collapse under
which the country is suffering, and will probably disap-
pear with the revival of material interests. I'lie Germau
element is, however, a dangerous one in tlie body ])olitic.
According to the statistical returns, there are at
present 1,090,533 Germans in the United States, dis-
tributed amongst the various States as below : —
Alabitma
2,482
Midiigan . (14,443
Vermont
370
Arkansas
l.\')(i3
.Miniu'sota . 41,3(54
Virginia
4,050
California
2'.».10()
Mississippi . 2,9(50
AVest Virginia
(J, 232
Connei'tieut .
12,743
]\[issonri . 113,(518
AViseonsin
11)2,314
Dulaware
1,142
Nebraska . 10,954
Arizona .
379
Florida .
.''lO?
Nevada . 2,181
Colorado
1,456
(Jcorgia .
2,7(!1
New irampshiro 730
Dakota .
563
Illinois .
2ti:5,7r)S
New Jersey . 94,000
Distiiet of
Indiana .
78,000
North Carolina 904
Columbia
4,920
Iowa
(1<',102
(^hio . . 182,897
Llaho
3S8
Kansas .
12,775
Oregon . 1,875
Montana
1,233
Ki-ntncky
30,318
Pennsylvania 160,1 4(i
New ]\Iexico
582
Louisifuia
18,933
IMiode Island 1,202
ITtidi .
858
Jlaino .
508
Sonth Carolina 2,751
Washing ton
645
Jlarylaml
47,045
Tennessee . 4,539
Wyoming
652
Massaclmsutts
13,072
Te.vas . . 23,985
UJip
POPULATION.
207
Of the larger cities, Cincinnati contains 31,000, St.
Lonis 40,000, Chicago 50,000, Philadelphia 60,000, and
New York as many as 200,000 Germans. Some years
ago ofiicial statistics of the immigration during the pre-
vious fifty-one years gave a grand total of 7,448,922, of
which 3,820,040 were accredited to Great Britain and
Ireland, and 2,350,000 to Germany, including 101,000
from Prussia, The German emigration attained its
greatest proportions with 200,000 in the year 1854, after
which it fell below 100,000, but rose in 18G6 to
110,440, and in 18G9 to 124,766, and again fell to
74,490 in 1870. Since then it has continued to de-
cline, coming almost entirely to a standstill in 1874,
the gloomy agricultural prospects at that time causing
even a considerable counter -stream of migration to set
in, especially towards Germany.
The deep national divoic^ betM'een Xorth and South
Germany, intensified as it is by the religious element of
Protestantism in the one and Catholicism in the other, is
also kept alive in America, even after the ]»olitieal union
of the people in Europe resulting from the Franco-l'rus-
siau war. Put since that war the German element has
begun to take a more promiaent part in jiublic affairs,
at first rallying under the flag of one or the other of the
great political parties, and then gradually forming an inde-
pendent power with which the other conflicting elements
may in future have to deal.
4. The Irish Element.
The third main element of the population is tliaf of
the Irish, mainly Poman Catholics. According to the
last census, they number 1,858,82 7, and in proportion
to its actual ])()])u]ation, Ireland lias contributed well-nigh
ten times more to the peopling of Korth America than
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
the whole of CJermany, in its widest sense. The returns
show a total immigration of 2,377,391 from Ireland be-
tween May 1, 1851, and I)cceml)er 31, 1875. The tide
of emigration rose highest in 1852, when no less than
100,322 forsook the shores of the Emerald Isle. Since
then, while subject to great fluctuations, it has still
steadily subsided, sinking in 1875 to no more than
51,462. By far the greater number proceeded to the
United States, where they have become a sort of " social
evil." Ethnically speaking, they contributed to a serious
deterioration of the breed, while socially acquiring a de-
cided predominance in the State through their compact
organisation and blind obedience to their self-elected
political leaders. They show a marked jireference for the
Atlantic States, where they form the mass of the artisans
and of the menial element in the large towns. For agri-
cultural pursuits they seem to possess little taste, not
more than 138,000 altogether being devoted to the cul-
tivation of the land. On the other hand, there are more
Irishmen in Xew York alone than in Dublin. There they
numlicr no less than 340,000, one-third of the whole
])Opulation, — through their decided majority and spirit of
clanship deciding all the municipal elections in the
Empire city. Their vote elects the mayor, the magistrates,
and the police. Hence the jiolitical parties must ev^ery-
where make large concessions or " bids " f<jr the Irish vote
in this city.
They were especially the chief supporters of the in-
famous " Tammany King." They are mainly uneduciited,
coarse, brutal, steL'[H'(l in superstition, and contribute a
large part to the statistics of crime. An Irish politician
disputing with an American on the importance of the
Irish element in the States, began to exclaim enthusiastic-
ally, " Who built the New York City Hall ? The Irish !
Who built the liospital on Ward's Island? The Irish!
POPULATION.
209
Who built the Gaol on Blackwells' Island ? The Irish ! "
" And who fill its cells ? " suddenly asked the American.
" The Irish, of course ! " replied Pat, carried away by his
great zeal for the glory of his country.
5. Tlte Whites of the Southern States.
In the Southern States all the recent European immi-
gration is of but little account. Here the great mass of
the white population is English, but not of the strict Puri-
tanical type, being mostly descendants of the old Cavaliers,
with perhaps here and there a dash of Huguenot blood.
Here, also, there has been developed a peculiar type, dis-
tinguished especially for large physical proportions, while
at the same time retaining something of the florid Euro-
pean complexion. Altogether the Southern type is much
less sharply defined than that of New England (Becker).
The non-European elements will best be considered
separately, taking first the blacks and half-castes, as
decidedly the most important of all.
6. The Negro.
Unrpiestionably, tlie gradual extinction of the slave
system, so injurious not only to the blacks, but still more
so to the slaveliolders, and to the good name of that
Government which had declared that " all men are created
free and equal," woidd have been far preferable in every
respect to tlie catastrophic manner in which it was
effected. But the action of the slave-holding States in
precipitating a war upon the country rendered this
measure an absolute necessity as a means of inflicting
u crippling blow upon the enemy.
The blacks unquestionably, as a class, have been
since the war in a worse condition physically, and per-
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
haps morally, than when held as cattle. Immediately
upon being freed they stopped working, and, in obedience
to their naturally lazy instincts, they work now only
enough to earn a scanty liveliliood. They ilocked to tlie
neighbourhood of cities, leaving the farms and plantations,
and, driven by necessity, or kleptomania (for the negi'o is
the true kleptomaniac), the police courts and jails were
soon tilled to overllowing with them. In the Southern
States nearly all the petty crimes are committed by
blacks. It was at one time very difficult to get men to
work on the pliintations, and for years a large part of
them Mere uncultivated from this cause.
"VVe liave already seen what use they made of tlie
ballot, which was prematurely put into their hands. It
not only produced tlie worst form of misgovernment for a
time, but since the whites obtained possession of the civil
power again in tlie Southern States, it has entailed much
suffering among the blacks, from persecution by the domi-
nant classes.
This reaction was but a natural result of their sudden
and radical cliange of condition, and is now being followed
by a gradual and slow, but sure, improvement. Cheap
reliable negro labour is now easily obtained in the country,
and the plantations are again under cultivation.
Everywhere schools have been established for tlieir
instruction, and they are well attended, not only by
children, but by adults, though it must be confessed that
they do not malce very apt pupils.
They are, of course, a very religious people, being
strongly emotional in their nature, and belong chietly either
to tlie Methodist or IJaptist denomination, which are the
ones that appeal most strongly to the feelings in their
worship.
These children of Ham are natural musicians, both
vocal and instrumental. Fine voices are the rule rather
Of
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POPULATION.
211
than the exception, tliouf^h anything like musical culture
is almost unknown to them.
AVitli the political equality, the social harriers which
liad separated the white from the hlack race gave way —
at least as far as the law could l)reak them down. The
Civil Rights Bill, of which Mr. Charles Sumner was the
principal champion, secured to tliem the same rights which
appertain to the whites, so that the ditlerence in colour
no longer stands in the way of tlie ambitious negro, to
wliom the presidential chair is possible. They have
already had representatives in both Houses of Congress,
and these representatives have been men who have not
disgraced their high positions.
That the negro can be educated and brought up to the
grade of good citizenship, the many examples before us
abundantly prove. But it is not the work of a moment —
rather that of sensrations.
7. The Chinese in the States — Tlieir Good Qualities.
Of late years considerable numbers of Chinese have
emiorated from the south of China to the Pacific States of
the Union, where they find in the warm western seaboard
a climate similar to that of their own country. These
" celestials " undoubtedly possess a number of excellent
qualities. They are not only quiet, harmless, peaceful,
docile, and extremely modest in their pretensions, but are,
moreover, unusually quick and skilful imitators, and withal
active, industrious, and persevering in the work assigned
tliem, even wlien left to themselves witho it any special
superintendence. Although mostly small and squat, and
rarely endowed with the athletic frames so common
amongst the negroes, they still show great capacity for
such heavy field work as requires the joint action of a
large number of hands. And though they may not be
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGIJAl'IIY AND TKAVEL.
al)le to perforin it in so short a time as an equal nunil»er
of more robust wliites or l)lacks, tliey will make U]) for
this drawback by more steady and persevering habour.
conscientious application, and uniform workmanship.
They will, moreover, condescend to the lowest occu-
])ations, such as scavenoering, rag gathering, and the lik(.<
])ursuits, far too degrading for the European or American
whites. But they also Uike readily to agricultural, mining,
and railway work ; while in San Francisco they aspire
even to the dignity of merchants and physicians, or at
least quacks. At the same time, their Avants are ex-
tremely limited ; and the little that they do require is
mostly procured from China itself by means of the " Six
Great Companies." Hence, however valuable the Cliina-
uiau is as a producer, he is next to useless as a consumer.
8. Dcfiraded Habits and Vices of the " Celestials!'
But their many good qualities are balanced, or more
than balanced, by others of a very different stani]),
that are quite sufficient to account for the ill favour in
which they are everywhere held. Not only is their
general standard of culture so low that they have not the
remotest idea of the nature of the institutions of the
country where they hay)peu to be residing, but they live,
moreover, in complete seclusion from the rest of the com-
munity, forming a caste for themselves, a State within the
State. Both for the purposes of society and anmsemeut
they resort to their own gathering-places, so that their
intercourse with the whites becomes restricted to matters
of the most absolute necessity.
Their habits are also indescribably filthy, the dens
occupied by them reeking with unsavoury odours, and
swarming M-ith vermin. The Chinaman is, moreover, a
born smuggler, esj)ecially in the matter of his beloved
jit
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rOPULATION.
213
dpi urn. IIo is l>y nature suspicions, and loses no chance
of circumventing the white man in all their nnitual deal-
ings. He soon learns to apply his artistic skill to forging;
lience enjoys no credit with his neigldtour, and is coni-
])clled to pay ready money for everything. He is, at tlie
same time, a passionate gambler, and is inca]ial)le of any
sentiment of ])ersonal attachment. However long he may
have served his master, he will leave him at a moment's
notice, as soon as he hears that more remunerative work
is to be had elsewhere, though it may amount to no more
than an extra half-dollar a month.
Of the meaning, importance, and sanctity of an oath,
or, in fact, of the virtue of truthfulness in any form, he
has not the remotest conception. Hence he almost excels
the ]\Ialay of Java in the utterly unscru]ndous way in
which he will produce false witnesses, or allow himself to
be suborned in the courts of justice. It has been made
abundantly evident that a Chinaman will unhesitatingly
swear to anytliing required of him, in return for a few
coins of trifling value. The natural consequence is, that
tlie Chinese everywhere find it a very difficult matter to
get justice, even when in the right, and this is especially
the case in their disputes with the whites when the deci-
sion depends npon hard cross-swearing. In fact, their
notions of right and law are altogether highly distor' '1.
9. Social State of the Californian Chinese.
Amongst the Californian Chinese there is simply no
such thing as family life, owing to the extreme scarcity of
women of any sort, and especially those whose reputation
would bear the least inspection. The few that are found
amongst them have been imported simply to supply the
dens of infani}' in the Chinese quarters of San Francisco.
They are nothing but slaves, treated like so many heads
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214 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
of cattle. The whole of Califor-
nia has set its face against this
nefarious traffic, the most de-
graded outcasts of the hunrnu
race being regarded as angels of
purity when compared with tlie
Chinese women, who are handled
in their own country like cheaj)
or desi)ical)le wares ; hence have
never acquired the least idea of
decency, morality, or woman-
hood. The local papers are
accustomed to say that " a horde
of Chinese women is worse than
the cholera."
The 'majority of the immi-
grants from Hong Kong seem
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THK CHINK8K QUAKTKH, SAN FRANCISCO,
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POPULATION.
215
to belong to the scum of society, wliich the authorities
of that colony make every efl'ort to get rid of in this
way. This may also, perhaps, help partly to account for
the great discrepancies often met with in the pictures of
Chinese habits and customs as described by various im-
partial writers. But that the " heathen Chinee " is at
times able to give the Christian himself a sharp lesson icj
shown by an anecdote related to Hepworth Dixon by an
indignant " Christian citizen " of San Francisco. It oc-
curred during the rainy season, when the mud lay fifteen
inches deep in the streets. A Chinese, gaily dressed in
violet satin, was picking his steps daintily over a plank at
a crossing, a sight which so irritated a looker-on, that he
advanced from the opposite direction and jostled the
" celestial " into the mud. The manoeuvre and the spec-
tacle of the Chinaman floundering in the mire greatly
delighted the gaping crowd. But on recovering his foot-
ing, and shaking the dirt from his satin robe, he made a
curtsey to his tormentors " like a young girl," looked
mildly round, and withdrew with the remark, loud enough
to be heard by all : " You Christian, me heathen : good-
bye."
The same writer gives the following account of the
Chinese element in the Pacific States of the Union : —
" The yellow man, generally a Chinese, often a Malay,
sometimes a Djak, has been drawn into the Pacific
States from Asia and from the Eastern Archipelago by
the hot demand for labour, any kind of which comes to
him as a boon. From digging in the mine to cooking an
omelette and ironing a shirt, he is equal to everything by
which dollars can be obtained. Of these yellow people
there are now 60,000 in California, Utah, and Montana;
they come and go, but many more of them come than go.
As yet, these harmless crowds are weak and useful. Hop
Chang keeps a laundry, Chi Hi goes out as cook, Cum
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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Thing is a maid-of-all-work. They are in no man's way,
and they labour for a crust of bread ; carrying the hod
when Mike has run away to the diggings, and scrubbing
the floor when Biddy has made some wretch the happiest
of liis sex. Supple and patient, these yellow men, thougli
far from strong, are eager for any kind of work ; but they
prefer the employments of women to those of men,
delighting in an engagement to wash clothes, to nurse
babies, and to wait on guests. They make very good
butlers and chambermaids. Loo Sing, a jolly old girl in
pigtail, washes your shirts, starching and ironing them
very neatly, except that you cannot persuade him to re-
frain from spitting on your cuffs and fronts. To him
spitting on linen is the same as damping it with drops
of water ; and the habits of his life prevent him, even
though you should catch him by the pigtail and rub his
tiny bit of nose on the burning iron, from seeing that it
is not the same to you. To-day these yellow men are
60,000 weak, in a few years they may be 600,000
strong. They will ask for votes. They will hold the
balance of parties. In some districts they will make a
majority — selecting the judges, forming the juries, inter-
preting the laws. Those yellow men are Buddhists, pro-
fessing polygamy, practising infanticide. Next year is
not more sure to come in its own season than a great
society of Asiatics to dwell on the Pacific slopes. A
Buddhist Church, fronting the Buddhist Churches in
China and Ceylon, will rise in California, Oregon, and
Nevada. More than all, a war of labour will commence
between the races which feed on beef and the races
which thrive on rice — one of those wars in which the
victory is not necessarily with the strong " {New America,
voL ii. pp. 17-19).
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POPULATION.
217
i
10. The Japanese in California.
While on this subject, it may be mentioned that, be-
sides the Chinese, a Japanese colony has also been settled
in California since about the year 1860. A German
named Schnell, resident for some years in Japan, came
to San Francisco to establish a Japanese settlement in
California on the co-operative system, the object being
to introduce the cultivation of the tea and olive plants,
the wax and nmlbcrry trees, and develop the silk trade
generally. Schnell procured a considerable tract of land
in the county of Eldorado, and the seedlings he at once
planted here have succeeded remarkably well, not except-
ing the tea plants, although for these the season was any-
thing but favourable. The very next year a small crop
of tea was sufficient to allow of an opinion being hazarded
on the quality of the new product. Schnell has come to
the conclusion that the climate of California, with its
hilly grounds, is far more favourable for the growth of
the tea plant than is Japan itself. The three-year-old
mulberry saplings on the same occasion brought from
Japan soon struck root, and the introduction of rice
plantations began to be talked of in 1870. But since
then no further reports have been received regarding
the condition of the young Japanese colony in Cali-
fornia.
II
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218
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE INDIANS.
l'\' '!■
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:
1. Statistics of the Settled and Nomad Tribes.
In the last census 66,407 only of all the Indians re-
siding in the United States Territory are accounted for.
No official estimate could be made of those still living in
open hostility to the Government any more than of those
confined to the territory of Alaska, who have been calcu-
lated at 75,000. But according to the last report of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the total number of
Indians in the United States is 255,938, exclusive of
Alaska. This, however, can be accepted only as a toler-
ably correct estimate, as there is absolutely no way of
arriving at the truth.
In speaking of the Indians two categories must be
distinguished, — the settled and agricultural Indians, and
those living on the produce of tlie chase. Of the first
class, also, there are two divisions, — those who were ori-
ginally and of their own motion settled in towns, and
those who liave been induced to give up their nomadic
life and settle down to agricultural pursuits by the efforts
of the whites.
The first of these latter divisions comprises the Pueblo
and Moqui Indians, who are known as town-buildiug
Indians. Their home is in New Mexico and Arizona.
They are really a semi-civilised people, and are plainly
to be distinguished from the rest of the aboriginal popu-
J.
INDIANS.
219
lation of America, from whom they differ in origin, mode
of life, customs, and affiliations. They are probably re-
lated, more or less closely, to the Aztecs or Toltecs of
Mexico.
2. Puehlos.
The Pueblos constitute several tribes, with different
languaj^es. Some of them have become extinct since the
occupation of the country by the Spanish, but those now
existing are the Zunis, in the town of Zuni ; the Toltos,
in Taos, with whom are classed the people of Picuris,
Sandia, and Isleta ; the Tiguas in San Juan, Santa Clara,
Xambe, San Ildefonso, Pojuaque, and Tesuque ; the Queres
iu Cocliite, San Domingo, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Zia,
Laguiia, and Acoma ; and the Jemez, in the Pueblo of the
same name. In the nineteen Pueblos named there are
estimated to be 8400 people, the most populous being
Zuni, with some 1500 souls; and the least, Pojuaque,
with but thirty or forty persons.
At the time of the first Spanish conquest they were
as far advanced as now, raising grain, vegetables, and
cotton, and manufactming fine blankets. Their houses
are sometimes built of stone, but generally of adobe,
and are usually several stories in height, each one
receding from the one below, leaving a terrace or walk.
The general plan is a hollow square, circle, or irregular
ellipse ; although in some cases they are built in a solid
mass, like a pyramid, six or eight stories in height. In
each pueblo there are large rooms, sometimes underground,
for religious observances or councils, or for l)oth purposes,
which are called in Spanish estiifas. The towns are some-
times built upon the summits of high terraces or mesas,
extremely difficult of approach.
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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This tribe of semi -civilised Indians live in seven
villages on the plateau between the San Juan and the
Colorado Chiquito rivers, in North-eastern Arizona. Their
villages are perched upon the summits of mesas, 400 to
600 feet above the surrounding level. Tlie houses are
built of stone, laid in adobe mortar, in terrace form, seldom
exceeding three stories in height, and are reached only by
ladders. The people have the reputation of being ex-
tremely kind-hearted and hospitable. Their pursuits
are agricultural, raising maize, squashes, pumpkins, and
peaches. They also have large herds of sheep and goats.
The women knit, spin, and weave, making tine blankets,
women's robes, and other like articles. They use no
intoxicating drink ; and are, men and women, industrious
and virtuous. The men have adopted the usual Mexican
dress, while the women wear a woven tunic, and a small
blanket, fastened over the shoulders. Before marriage
the hair of the women is worn in two large rosettes, one
on each side of the head, and after marriage it is worn
loose down the back, or rolled up on the back of the head.
By a census taken in 1877, the population of these
seven towns was 1604 souls. When they first came
under the jurisdiction of the United States, they were
estimated to contain 8000 persons, but the ravages of
smallpox in 1855 and 1857, and a famine in 1867,
reduced their number enormously.
4. The Nomadic Tribes.
Under this head will be treated all the rest of the
aboriginal population of the United States, including those
who have been induced to give up their wild life and
settle on reservations.
INDIANS.
221
An ethDological distribution of the various tribes
presents so many and such serious ditiiculties that no
thorouj^ddy satisfactory scheme has hitherto been proposed.
In the Appendix will be found a comprehensive scheme of
classification, based mainly on languages, which is believed
to be in the main correct. For details connected with the
history and former range of these tribes the reader is
referred to this Appendix.
5. Characteristic Traits of the Indian.
The Indian is a savage, with all that the name implies.
He is cruel and treacherous in the extreme, and naturally
so, as war and hunting are almost his sole occupations.
He has the reputation of being extremely taciturn and
reserved, and so he is when among the whites, but when
at home he is quite the reverse. He is possessed of
immense power of enduring fatigue and exposure, and no
amount of physical pain will draw from him a groan. He
has the utmost cunning and perseverance, qualities which
his occupations develop to a remarkable degree. Possessed
of much animal courage, so as to love war for its own
sake, he has little of that higher mental courage which is
governed by the will, and which enables a man to brave
death without flinching. In war he seldom engages in a
pitched battle ; ambuscades and surprises, where he takes
little or no risk, are his methods of waging war. He fights
behind trees and rocks ; he creeps up, and stabs you in the
back, or " jumps " your camp at midnight, when all are
asleep. He is a capital horseman ; not unfrequently one
sees boys of eight or ten riding, without saddle or bridle,
save a bit of raw hide, their half-broken ponies on the
racecourse. Horses are his wealth, and many Indians are
very wealthy. They are used in war, in hunting, and in
travelling, to carry not only the Indian and his family,
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
but all his household goods, and a moving Indian village
makes a large cavalcade.
At home, the Indian stoops to none of the menial
duties connected with housekeeping. His squaw must
take the loads off the pack-ponies, put up the lodge, bring
wood and water, and coolc, while her lord and master
reclines on the ground and smokes. The squaws are,
like women in most barbarous tribes, little better than
slaves.
The practice of scalping, which is almost peculiar to
Indians, is not, as some suppose, a method of torturing
their victims, as is shown at once by the fact that it is
performed only on those supposed to be dead. The scalp
— that is, the skin of the top of the head, with the hair
— is taken simply to prove the killing, as the hunter
is required to show the ears of the wolf in order to claim
the bounty.
The following spicy description of the Indian is taken
from the Earl of Dunraven's book, entitled The Great
Divide : —
" The sole end and object of his existence, the point
on which all his thoughts and energies are concentrated,
is to appear formidable to his enemies, and attractive to
the women. If he can scare his foes by the hideousness
of his war-paint and the ferocity of his appearance, he is
delighted, because he may, perhaps without risk to him-
self, shoot one of them in the back while running away ;
and having done so, he and his friends would scalp the
body, and kick it, and dance around it, and stamp upon it,
and abuse it, and stick it full of knives and arrows, and
have a ' gay old time generally,* and then go home and be
afraid of the dead man's ghost. At any rate, he would
argue that, even if he killed no one, he would not be killed
himself, which would be a highly satisfactory reflection to
his selfish mind. And if he sees that the bright vermilion
bow ;
shining
sins Jie
left ha:
I]
INDIANS.
223
partings of his hair, and the carefully designed and artfully
painted 8tri])es and patclies on his face and chest, are
making an impression ; if shy glances of approval note the
swing of his guy hlanket and the style of his leggings, and
if soft eyes brighten at the sight of his shell earrings, and
the silver plates in his back hair, he is also delighted,
because — well, for the same reason anybody else
would be.
" In short, he is the greatest coxcomb on the face of
tlie earth, not to be surpassed even in London for inordi-
nate vanity, stupendous egotism, and love of self. His
features may not be strictly classical, according to our
standard of beauty. His clieek-bones might be considered
somewhat too prominent, and his paint certainly is inad-
missible with us ; but, to do him justice, I must allow that
he is not a biad-looking fellow in his way. Take, as an
example, a young warrior of the Bannacks whom I saw
riding througli a street in Virginia city from their camp
in the neighbourhood. Smooth and easy as a hawk's
flight he sweeps along, sitting his foam-tiecked mustang
with the yielding gracefulness of a willow bending to the
breeze ; swaying his lithe body with every bound of the
animal beneath him. Before him, across the pommel of
his saddle, he bears his rifle in embroidered elk-skin
cover, adorned with long fringes, which, mingling with the
horse's mane, and the tags and tassels of his gay leggings,
spread out behind him on either side. His long black
hair, plaited and tied with knots of scarlet ribbon, streams
out in the wind, and, uniting with tlie horse's tail, seems
almost to touch the dust.
" Slung across his back are the lion-skin quiver and
bow ; by his side hangs a revolver, silver-mounted, and
shining in the sun. With the toes of his beaded mocca-
sins he touches the loops that serve him for stirrups ; his
left hand lightly holds the bridle; and from liis right
l>
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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wrist hangs by a thonrr his buckhorn-hnndled quirt or
whip. As he giilloijs down the street, all his gay trap-
lyings fly out in disorder behind him ; and when, with a
jmll at the cruel Spanish ])it, he steadies into a walk, the
folds of his scarlet blanket settle down, and hang grace-
fully from liis shoulders, and he passes, an embodiment of
savage life, full of wild beauty and bright colour, and no
doubt attractive to the female eye ; glancing with supreme
and undisguised contempt upon the plug hat, black store
coat, and pants of some newly-arrived representative of
civilisation."
6. A7X the Indians dying out 1
It has long been accepted as a self-evident proposition
that the red race was rapidly disappearing before the ad-
vancing strides of civilisation ; that, in the struggle for
existence on this continent, barbarism is giving way,
not so much by the advance of culture as by want
of vitality of the lower race ; and this example has
been used to point many a sermon on the inlluence of
civilised on barbaric races. But lately it has been boldly
stated — and the idea has found many and able supporters
— that the Indians are not dying out, but that they are
holding their own, — yes, even increasing in number. If
this be true, then the question inunediately recurs with
redoubled force, Can the Indian be civilised and made a
valuable member of society ? and in seeking an answer
to this question, it is necessary first to examine the
policy of the United States towards this race, and its
probable influence upon the red man, in the way of civi-
lising him, in order properly to weigh the results thus
far accomplished. It may and should, however, be pre-
mised that the word policy in this connection is mislead-
ing, as the United States have never had any settled
course of treatment of the Indians. The history of
INDIANS.
225
our whole intercourse witli tliem has heen simply
tliat of a scries of makeshifts, each to suit a sepa-
rate emergency. However, all tliese makesliifts have
one feature in common. They recognise the tribes as
sovereignties, and treat with them as such. In the
early colonial days this stand was perfectly consistent ;
but now, when the United States claim possession of the
wliole country, the absurdity of its position, in treating as
with a foreign power a people who dwell within and sub-
l)ossess its own land, is apparent enough. They make
treaties with them, effect offensive and defensive alliances,
purchase land from them (and then fail to pay them the
jiurchase money in many cases), then, suddenly forgetting
that they are foreign powers, they imprison them on re-
servations. On one pretext or another, in payment for
land, or for the purchase of peace, the Government feeds
and clothes nearly all the tribes whicli will accept dona-
tions of food and clothing ; and as the Indian is at least
no more inclined to work for a living than the average
white man, most of the tribes have availed themselves of
the munificence of the Government. And not only does
" Uncle Sam " supply them with food and raiment, but
with the best of breech-loading rifles and fixed ammuni-
tion, which are, in very many cases, put to use by our
red brother in depopulating the border settlements and in
resisting the army. This policy of supplying the Indian
with all necessaries of life is what is known as the
"peace policy" It is a beautiful policy. Let us see how
it works. The average Indian immediately jumps to the
very rational conclusion that the Government is afraid
of him, or it would not purchase a peace, and he is very
apt to act accordingly. If things are not to his mind — if
provisions, blankets, or ammunition are not forthcoming
when and in such quantities as he wishes — he dons the
war-paint, and a disastrous war is the result. The upshot
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAI'IIY AND TRAVKI,.
of the war probably is, that he gets what lie fought for,
ami he is confirmed in his belief that to get what he
wants he has only to demand it under threat of war,
Tlie theory is, that the Indian, kept (juiet on reserva-
tions, and supported there, may be in time educated to
civilised pursuits. But it is a pertinent question whether,
under such circumstances, the average white would labour
to support himself. If all his wants were supplied, what
incentive would there be to labour ? And if, under such
circumstances, the wliite man would prefer a life of
inglorious ease, how nuich less would the red man be
disposed to exertion, — the noble red nuin who regards
all manual labour as degrading, and as worthy only of
S(piaws. Under such circumstances, it is strange that
any success wliatever has attended the project of civihs-
ing the Indians, and it would seem to be rather in spite
of this system than in accordance with it that any con-
siderable portion of this people have ado])ted civilised
ways. Yet such is the cnse, and it shows that they cau
be civilised, and that if managed properly they might bo
made into good citizens with conjparative rapidity.
In Indian Territory, where many of the tribes have
been congregated on reservations, there has been consider-
nble advance towards civilisation. The Cherokee, Choc-
w, Seminole, Creek, and Chickasaw tril)os, numbering
altogether about 5G,000, have adopted civilised dress,
liv^e in houses, cultivate tlie land, and su])port large
schools. The Pawnees, Pottawotamies, and other tribes,
contain a large percentage who have adopted civilisation.
The Omahas, on a reservation in Nebraska, have of late
made rapid strides in the same direction. In Arizona,
the Pimo, Mojave, and Maricopa Indians are all engaged
in the cultivation of the soil. The Sioux of Dakota,
heretofore regarded as one of the most untamable of
tribes, are beginning their career as farmers and stock-
snow
skin
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Imnsit
Indian;
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IiNDIANS.
227
raisers. Tlie Navajoes of New Mexico have long ciilti-
\ated the soil, having learned this art from tlieir sen>.i-
civilised noiglihours, the Moquis. Many otlier tribes, not
mentioned here, have made more or less advance towards
self-support, so that it can no longer be said that the
Indian is untamable.
There are, however, several tribes which as yet have
not shown the iniluenco of civilisation. Among them
may be mentioned ])rominently the Apaches of Arizona,
the Iltes of Colorado, the Bannacks of Ichdio, the Crows
and Blackfeet of ]\lontana, and several bands of the great
Sioux nation, with their allies, the Cheyennes and Ara-
pahoes. The Comanches of Texas, too, continue to be the
same lawless, plundering, wild tribe that they have ever
been.
7. TIic rredatory Tribes of the IFcst.
A few little forts occupied by slight garrisons in
those inunense i)lains rolling from the ]\[ipsouri west-
wards to the Iiocky ^Mountains, and beyond them to the
snowy Sierra, are totally insuflicient to keep the red-
skin in check, and })rotect the main highways of traltic
leading to tlie racilic sea-board. On these highways,
stretching right across the continent, there occur those re-
peated acts of violence which so greatly impede the safe
transit of goods and passengers bound westward. The
Indians roaming over these regions are amply i'urnished
witli ]irovisions, ponies, bulfalo meat, and furs. They
follow the herds of bisons grazing on the jirairies in
summer northwards to the lands between the White
Ivivcr and Yellowstone, in winter southwards to tl\o
Kepublican Fink and Arkansas Itivers, thus crossing the
vast uplands and the great overland routes. It is when
they come upon these post-roads that they fall upon
emigrants, traders, trappers, and squatters, firing the
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
ranches, stealin|:^ cattle, mules, and horses, and even laying
vaste the stage stations. These Indians belong mostly to
the united hordes of the Sioux, Kiowas, Cheyennes, Ara-
pahoes. Crows, and Comanches, — cruel, treacherous, and
savage marauders, that have ever heen hostile to the
[)ale-faces, and may continue to be so till the last of
their race has breathed his last breath.
Since the conclusion of the civil war, those red-skins
have become more formidable than ever, and especially
when some few years ago they went on the war-path and
committed many nameless horrors without any provoca-
tion on the part of the whites, brutally murdering whole
families, falling upon emigrant parties, and repeatedly
plundering and destroying the United States mails.
" Peace Commissioners," says Sir Charles W. Dilke,
" are yearly sent from "Washington to treat with hostile
tribes upon the plains. The Indians invariably continue
to fight and rob till winter is at hand ; but when the
snow appears, they send in runners to announce that they
are prepared to make sulmiission. The Commissioners
appoint a place, and the tribe, their relations, allies, and
friends come down thousands strong, and enter upon
debates which are purposely prolonged till spring. All
this time the Indians are kept in food and drink ;
whisky even is illegally provided them, with the cognis-
ance of the authorities, under the name of ' hatchets.'
Blankets, and, it is said, powder and revolvers, are
supplied to tliem as necessary to their existence on the
j^lains ; but when the first of the spring llowers begin to
peep up through the snow on the prairies, they take
their leave, and in a few weeks are out again upon the
war-path, plundering and scalping " {Greater Briiabi, vol.
i. p. 129).
Quite recently, however, several thousand Sioux
and other fierce marauders are reported to have given
INDIANS.
229
in their submission to the United States Govern-
ment. Others seem to liave crossed the border, and
EMIGRANTS ATTACKED BY INDIANS.
will, doubtless, be taken care of by the authorities in
the Dominion of Canada.
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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8. Indian Territory.
In the year 1825 Congress passed a measure in
virtue of which all the tribes still remaining on the east
of the Mississippi were to be gradually driven beyond the
western border of the States, and induced to settle
permanently in the present Indian Territory and north of
it, the maintenance of the various treaties concluded to
this effect being at the same time intrusted to special
agents and commissioners.
The Indians yielded, some of them willingly, others
through compulsion, the action of the Government in
some instances resulting in sanguinary conflicts. A fresh
measure was passed on June 30, 1851, creating a spe-
cial Indian Oftice under a " Commissioner of the Indian
Affairs," with four superintendents for the Northern,
Central, Southern, and Minnesota Superintendencies, as
they were named. In 1867 yet another commission was
appointed by Congress, and the President for the manage-
ment of the Indian affairs. Its chief object was to make
choice of a district hitherto unoccupied by the whites, and
remote from any of the various railway lines, but large
enough to accommodate all the tribes of the Far West.
This region was to remain for ever their exclusive posses-
sion, accessible to the Government officials, but to no other
whites without their permission. For the first few years
the tribes, as they come in, are to be there supported at
the cost of the States, and the Commission is instructed to
use every means to induce them to settle willingly there,
and to encourage a taste for agriculture and other peace-
ful pursuits among them, and otherwise assist them in
every possible way by supplying them with spinning
wheels, machinery, agricultural implements, and the like.
The question that presented itself before all others was,
whether the tribes could live peacefully together, — whether
squaA
" Cor
custo
TJie
few (
and M
Ijirth,
with
their
conscil
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INDIANS.
231
it would be possible to obviate intestine wars, or prevent
depredations between them and their white neighbours,
which could not fail to lead to reprisals. Notwith-
standing these forebodings the project was carried out,
and according to more recent reports the Indians are
busily engaged in organising their internal affairs, so that
the best hopes are entertained by many that the scheme
may be attended with favourable results.
irt
li
9. Half-Breeds.
It seems as if the actual European element, wherever
it has fused with the Indian, assumes the ascendant.
At least the results of these alliances are very different in
the west and south, where Spanish blood mostly prevails,
from those in the north and east, settled chiefly by Anglo-
Saxon and other Teuton races.
From time immemorial the practice of selling their
squaws was universal amongst the Indians, and the
" Conquistadors " soon accommodated themselves to the
custom, only as a ride preferring stealing to bartering.
The union of white and red skins produced the Mestigoes,
few of whom have got as far in their education as reading
and writing. Scarcely one in ten can boast of legitimate
birth, the whites scorning to contract lawful alliances
with their squaws. What little knowledge has penetrated
their brains is completely warped by superstition. In the
consciousness of being neither white nor red, and of
having no place in the Indian tribes, they despise the
race of their mother as profoundly as they hate and detest
that of the father. In them are intensified the vices of
both races — the pride and cruelty of their Spanish fathers,
the indolence and wantonness of their Indian mothers.
The northern half-breeds differ very much among
themselves in their characteristics, depending upon the
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232
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
nationalities o," their parents. The French half-breeds are
indolent, gay, and careless, resembling in many respects
the Spanish half-breeds just referred to, and, like them,
though ill less degree, showing a want of vitality. The
English and Scotch half-breeds are, on the contrary, hard-
working and industrious, of good disposition, and show a
vitality which predicts for them a perpetuation of the race.
But this mixture of white and Indian blood is very
limited in the United States ; it forms an element of
population of no importance whatever. Half-breeds are
very rarely seen. In Manitoba and other parts of Canada
they are found in some abundance.
Mi
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10. The Unwritten History of America,
Though the written history of this continent goes
back into the past but a very few centuries, its unwritten
history, as expressed to us to-day by the monuments of a
people who have long since disappeared, carries our know-
ledge back many thousands, perhaps millions of years.
People after people have lived and died here and have
left no trace behind, other than their mounds, burial-
places, and such signs. We find traces of ancient
inhabitants in almost aU parts of the country.
I 'i
11. The Mound-Builders.
The so-called Mound-Builders formerly occupied the
whole of the Mississippi Valley, the coast of the Gulf of
Mexico, and the region of the Great Lakes. Their works
consist mainly of tumuli symmetrically raised, and often
enclosed in mathematical figures, such as the square, the
octagon or circle, with long lines of circumvallation ; of
pits in the solid rock, and rubbish heaps formed in the
prosecution of their mining operations ; and of a variety
\
PREHISTORIC.
233
the
of
rks
ten
the
of
the
iety
of tools and utensils, wrought in stone or copper, or moulded
m clay. Wliile the character of these structures, as traced
over wide areas, differs in minor particulars, still there is
a general uniformity which shows them all to he the work
of a single people.
They are usually found overgrown by forests, and in
the living and decaying vegetation is found the record of
their disuse for at least a thousand years. The people
who built them were evidently a settled people, very
different from the wild tribes who inhabited the country
when the whites made their appearance. These people
obtained copper from the mines at Lake Superior, lead
from mines near Lexington, Kentucky, and oil from
Canada and Pennsylvania.
Their remains are found spread over a vast extent of
country. At the sources of the Alleghany Eiver, in
Western New York, and in nearly all the IVIississippi
Valley States, their remains are found. They exist far
up the Missouri River; they line the shores of the Gulf
of Mexico from Texas to Florida, thence into Georgia,
Alabama, and South Carolina. Many of their works are
evidently for defence or for watch-towers ; others, and by
far the greater number, as burial-places, and others as
temples or places of sacrifice.
The northernmost traces of this people, so far as ob-
served, are at Isle Royale and the shores of Lake Superior.
They do not appear to have resided permanently so far
north, but only to have resorted there for the purpose of
mining copper.
The mounds of Wisconsin differ widely from those
found in other parts of the country, yet not so as to imply
a different origin. These differences consist in the fact
that instead of being circular, pyramidal, or following any
other simple geometrical figure, the ground-plans consist
of rude imitations of animals, characteristic of the region,
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
as the buffalo, bear, wolf, lizard, turtle, etc. etc. These
animal mounds attain no great elevation, being raised
above the surrounding prairie but one to six feet. Their
surface dimensions are, in some cases, enormous. The
" Turtle " mound at Waukesha has a total length of up-
wards of 300 feet; a man-like figure has a length of 214
feet ; while one representing a night-hawk has a spread of
wings of 240 feet.
The site of St. Louis, Missouri, was so thickly studded
with mounds as to give it the name of the " Mound City."
On the east side of the Mississippi Eiver there is a vast
collection of these works, probably nearly 200, of a great
variety of forms. Between Alton and East St. Louis
there were about sixty such structures, including the
celebrated one known as the Cakokia Mound, the greatest
in the country. Unfortunately, the march of modern
improvement decreed its destruction, and it was swei)t
away. It had tlie form of a parallelogram with sides,
which, at its base, were respectively 500 and 700 feet
in length, with a height of 90 feet. On the south-west
there was a terrace 160 by 300 feet, which was reached
by a graded way, and the summit was truncated, affording
a platform 200 by 450 feet. From this platform rose a
mound 1 feet high, which, on exploration, yielded human
bones, funeral vases, and various implements of stone. It
is probable that upon this platform was reared a capacious
temple within whose walls the high priests, gathered from
different quarters at stated seasons, celebrated their mystic
rites, whilst the swarming multitude below looked up with
mute adoration.
The entire area occupied by this mound comprised
about 6 acres, and in close proximity were four elevated
platforms, varying from 250 to 300 feet in diameter.
These subordinate mounds were rich in relics (Foster's
Prehistoric JRaces of the United States).
high
PREHISTORIC.
235
12. Ruins in tlce South ■Wi'stcrn Territories.
In the territories bordering upon the Colorado drain-
age system are found ruins and other remains of a people
evidently more or less distinct fom the mound builders,
and, probably, much more, closely related to the Aztecs
of Mexico. All over Arizona, the western half of New
Mexico, the south-western portion of Colorado, the southern
l)art of Utah and Nevada, with the south-eastern portion
of California, are found the ruins of structures raised by
this people. They resemble in many important particu-
lars the towns and houses of the Moquis and Pueblo Indians
of the present day which are described elsewhere in this
volume, and are, probably, the last remnants of a once
great race which covered this region at one time with
a dense population.
These ruins, in their locations and characters, serve to
sketch in rough outline the history of this people, their
peaceful, quiet, pastoral, and agiicultural lives ; then the
rude onslaught upon them by the barbarous tribes from
the north, who drove them from their indefensible agri-
cultural towns, first, to take shelter upon the summits of
high mesas, and then, as they became weaker and less al)le
to cope with their formidable enemies, to the clefts and
crannies of the rocks, to the most inaccessible places whicli
Nature had provided. So we can easily distinguish two
entirely different classes of structures, — first, the agricul-
tural settlements ; and second, those used as fortresses or
retreats in time of war.
Those of the first class were built in the fertile river
bottoms, close to water and arable land. The houses were
mainly communal, several stories high, similar to the
Pueblos of the present day. They were made of stone,
laid in more or less regular courses in mortar, or of adobe
(sun-dried brick). In their ground-plan these communal
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23G
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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houses are rectangular, circular, or elliptical, or, more
rarely, of irregular form. They are usually built around,
or nearly around, a rectangular or circular court, into
which the houses open ; while on the outside the structure
l)resents a blank wall, broken only by small ai)ertures
which served as windows.
In every town has been found at least one estiifa, or
sweat-house, as it is called, for the sake of a name. This
building or room is rectangular or circular, and much more
commonly the latter. In some cases, however, it is an
underground apartment. However built, it is always
with very great care, and oftentimes with a view to archi-
tectural ell'ect. It is usually the most pretentious build-
ing in the settlement. A very common form is that of a
tower, usually with a double wall, the annular space be-
tween the two walls being subdivided into rooms. Ontj
of these having a triple wall has been found. It is prob-
able that this building was used as a place of worshiji,
or was in some way connected with their religion. It
may also have been used as the council-house, where the
grave affairs of State were discussed.
At a locality in South-western Colorado, known as
Aztec Spring, is situated one of the largest of these towns.
The mass of ruins — for the town is in a very ruinous
state — cover an area of about 480,000 square feet, and
is about three to four feet in depth, making 1,500,000
cubic feet of masonry. The stone used is from a clilf
fully a mile away.
At Ojos Calientes, New Mexico, are the ruins of an-
other large town. It is placed upon a high terrace near
Caliente Creek. It was built chietly of adobe, and con-
sisted of rows of rooms built around central courts.
On the Kios San Juan, Chaco, and De Chelle are
found a number of other towns, more or less similar.
The second class of structures, those built mainly for
i'(
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rKKIIISTOUIC.
237
purposes of dofetice, are in general in a much better state
of preservation, owing in part to their more sheltered
])Osition, but mainly, undoubtedly, to the fact that they
are of a somewhat more recent date, as indicating a later
chapter in tlie history of tliis people. Some of them, and
perhaps the more elaborate structures, are built upon the
sunnnits of almost inaccessible mesns, as are the IMoquis
towns of the present day. Here are found round towers
of consideralde height, serving not only as fortresses but
as watch-towers. But the cave -dwellings, as they are
called, are by far the more numerous and interesting.
This country, as was stated in the geographical descrip-
tion, is very arid. There are but few streams, and most
of these traverse the country deep down below the surface
iu canons, with rocky precipitous walls. Different strata
in these canon- walls have been eroded in different degrees,
so that one finds horizontal caves in the walls, where one
of the horizontal beds has weathered back a few feet far-
ther than the harder beds above and below it. In many
cases where these caves have occurred part way up a cliff,
these people — sore beset by their enemies — have built
places of refuge, secure from attack from above by reason
of the overhanging cliff, and nearly so from below, as
the occupants had to depend upon ladders or steps cut
in the nearly perpendicular face of the rock. Travelling
down the canon of the Rio Mancos in South-western
Colorado, one sees everywhere on the walls which encom-
pass him on either hand these structures, like swallows'
nests, in the clefts and crannies of the rocks. In some
cases there are quite large groups of houses, well built, of
stone, even two stories in height. In others, a simple wall
lias been tin-own up across the front of a crevice.
Other traces of this ancient people are not wanting.
Great areas, — hundreds of square miles, indeed, — are so
thickly strewn with fragments of pottery that one may
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
ride for days, and at every step his horse's hoofs will
strike tlu'in. Few whole vessels Imve heen found in the
ruins. They have been thoroughly exidorcd by the
Indians, who liave taken almost everything of value to
them. The pottery resembles very closely, in material
and in the designs painted upon it, that of the Moquis
and Pueblo people of the present, but in ([uality it is
superior to the latter. Again, in many localities, ar-
rowheads of chalcedony and obsidian have been found
in abundance, indicating the scenes of many a bloody
conflict.
As to the age of these ruins little is known. It is
certain that they date back several centuries, undoubtedly
before tho first Spanish conquest, and a few facts point to
a very great antiquity. That they may have been a
colony of the Aztecs, founded by them in their southward
migration to the table-lands of Mexico, is not improb-
able. But few facts are known on which to base a
theory.
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SOCIETY.
2aa
CHAPTER XV.
SOCIAL RELATIONS.
1. Classes of Soridy.
While there is, in the United States, no such thinp; as
nominal rank, or an aristocratic chiss, still Society, here
as everywhere else, lias arranj^ed itself in classes of hi;^dier
and lower j^a-ades, depending here not on titles of nohility,
hut on wealth, position, education, etc. The lines sepa-
rating these classes, however, are not hard and fast, but
are easily broken down. There is also a self-made aris-
tocracy of birth, which, of all the classes, is tlie most
exclusive. Such are the descendants of the New Eng-
land Pilgrims, who comprise tlie " blue bloods " of Massa-
chusetts ; the descendants of the early Dutch settlers
of New York, those of the Virginia cavaliers, etc. It is
an old saying that in Boston, the literary centre of
the Union, the criterion of the best society is brains ;
in New York, the commercial metropolis, it is money ;
while in Phihidelphia it is " family." In the new cities
of the "West, money rather than brains buys an entrance
into Society.
The young of the different sexes are allowed much
more freedom of intercourse than in European countries,
particularly those of the Continent. Be it day or even-
ing, no duenna mars their enjoyment of one another's
presence and conversation. As a result of this freedom
there is much less crime, and fewer unfortunates ; while
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
American girls acquire greater freedom and self-depend-
«"ice. In sliort, they learn to take care of themselves.
IViarriages are much more frequently contracted from love,
and less jjour convenance, than on the Continent. The
young man ordinarily first pays his addresses to his
inamorata, and her consent having been gained, he has
secured a powerful ally in his subsequent suit with the
jmrents.
American women have not, as a class, the robust
])hysi(pie of their English cousins. They are more deli-
cate in face and form. Their normal condition, liowever,
is by no means that of ill health, as some ill-informed
Avritert' would have the world believe.
Wliile in tliis country woman is regarded as the equal
and complement of man, there is a class of the sex who,
not recognising the fundamental difterences between tlie
sexes, wish to put woman in man's place, wish to give
her a direct share in the government, an opening into all
professions and trades. This subject of " Woman's Rights"
is kept in a continual state of agitation by a few leading
female minds, but little or no progress has yet been made
in the direction which they desire.
In the new and sparsely-settled territory of "Wyoming
the experiment of giving the ballot to woman has been
tried, bnt witli very indillerent success. It was soon
fonnd that the better class of wonicn refrained from taking
any part in the elections, leaving their sex to be repre-
sented only by the scum of the population, the prostitutes
and other bad characters.
2. Fuhlic Instrvdion — Tlic Schools.
Next to religion, the educational standard is one of
tlie best tests of national culture. The state of educa-
tion in America, with all its undoubtedly adnnrable fca-
r
PUBLIC INSPECTION.
241
tures, still Lctvays several shortcomiugs. Foroinost ainoiijr
its better features must be reckoued its system of free
schools, and their princely endowments. In no other
country are the public schools so handsomely endowed, or
public instruction so freely and universally diifused. No
sooner does a new State spring up in the wilderness than
a central i)lot of 6 sipuire miles is set apart in every
township of 3G square miles for the school fund. Every
State and every Territory, when surveyed, is })arcelled out
into townships of this size ; and in each township, besides
the above-mentioned central i)lot, the 3Gth allotment,
making altogether 12 square miles, is set aj)art by s])ecial
act of Congress for the same ]nirpose. In tliis way the
educational establishments of the country already ])ossess
a landed estate larger than the total area of the British
Isles. This liberality of the fidministration rests on the
princi])le that a Eejiubliean form of Goveriniient must
iind its chief mainstay in the education and enlighten-
ment of the peojde.
The yearly expenditure for public instruction is said
to amount to no less than £18,000,000, a ])ortion of
which is voted by the Central Government. lUit by far
the largest jiart is raised by the educational tax freely
ini])osed u])on tliemselves by the citizens in proportion to
their means, and to which every one Avillingly contributes
liis mite. Thus there was approi)riated the sum oi
£2,301,530 for educational pur])oses in the year 1873.
Tlie schools of every descri})tiou in the towns show, by
their number, size, and excellent arrangements, how care-
fully the instruction of the people is attended to. In
the large cities there is never wanting a public ]il)rary,
founded either by some private benefai'tor or by the cor-
poration, but universally accessible to all.
The instruction imparted in the schools comjnises all
the subjects taught iu the German normal and " real "
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242
COJIPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TIUVEL.
schools and gymnasiums. From the lowest class, where
the primer is the only text-book, the pupil passes ou
step by step to the grammar school and the higli school,
in both of wdiich the curriculum embraces the classics,
history, :^oology, literature, geometry, algebra, chemistry,
and tlie physical sciences generally. In all these subjects
the girls take part very frequently in common with the
beys, though ou this point tliere are no definite rules or
prescriptions. Each community adopts whatever course
seems best, the general tendency, however, being towards
mixed education.
3. Drfccts of the System.
The shortcomings of the system have reference prin-
cipally to the method of teaching. Until within a few
years the almost universal method of teaching was by the
method of " cranmiing," i.e. learning by heart from the
text-book, a method by which the mind was overloaded
with undigested facts, while its development was entirely
neglected. While this method is still in use largely in
the sparsely settled portions of the country, it is entirely
superseded in the cities by more rational methods.
4. CoUojrs and Universities.
The highest of die public schools, the high schools, or
academies, as they are called, fit young men and w^onieu
for college.
Many of the colleges and universities are deficient in
thorough scientitic instruction.. Until within a few years
most of them had no provision for teaching these branches,
while they were almost wholly devoted to huigua;j;es,
mathematics, theology, etc. A cause for tliis is the I'act
that very many, probably most, of the American colleges
nismsr
1l
INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING.
243
wsre founded and are now maintained liy religious sects,
many of which are very narrow and bigoted. The larger
and older of the universities, as Harvard and Yale, have
long ago broken away from sectarianism, and, as one result,
are now able to offer general and special instruction in
science of a very high grade. Several of the youngest
colleges, too, like Cornell, are entirely free from the per-
nicious and narrowing influence of sectarianism.
With most of the larger universities are connected
professional schools, as at Harvard, where, in addition to
the college proper, or " undergraduate department," there
are two schools of theology, one each of medicine, of
dentistry, of law, and engineering, besides tlie Agassiz
Museum of Natural History, the Observatory, etc.
Besides the polytechnic and mining schools connected
with the universities, there are several other excellent
schools of these sorts. Among them may be mentioned
the Eensellaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York ;
the Steven's Institute at Hoboken, New Jersey; and
many others.
Nor is the General Government backward in recog-
nising the claims of science. For many years it has
supported a Coast Survey which, in accuracy and detail
of work, has not its superior in the globe ; a survey of
the north-western lakes ; and very extensive explorations
and surveys of the territories of the West. It has liber-
ally fostered Arctic explorations. It supports, at an an«
luial expense of fully half a million of dollars, a meteoro-
logical bureau. The Naval Observatory at Washington
is supported by the Government, and, to further the
interests of astronomical science, it has defrayed the
expenses of many expeditious to observe solar eclipses
and tlie late transit of Venus.
The Smitlisonian Institution and National Museum
at Washington which is supported in part by the beipiest
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
of Mr. Smithson, its founder, and in part by the Govern-
ment, contains a very large museum, mainly illustrative
of natural history and ethnology.
Congress has recently appropriated $250,000 for the
erection of additional buildings for the magnificent collec-
tions of this museum.
In institutions for instruction in art this country
is not as highly favoured. In this respect it is yet
in its infancy. There are, however, schools for instruc-
tion in art in Boston, Massachusetts, New York, New
Haven, Connecticut, in connection with Yale College, in
Philadelphia, and several other places. The growth of
this branch of education is very rapid at present.
The following description of Cornell University iu
Ithaca, New York, one of the youngest of American
colleges, is given as illustrating the best type of American
institutions of learning.
Among the founders of chairs are represented Quakers,
]\Iethodists, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, and Free-
thinkers of all grades and degrees, while even the IsraeUtes
have contributed £4100 to establish a professorship of
Hebrew and Oriental History and Literature, showing
that this institution is not affected by any sectarian
prejudices.
According to the plans of Mr. Cornell and the other
founders, the students are required to provide for their
own support and instruction by manual labour, at least
so far as they may be unable otherwise to do so out of
their private resources. The students thus working
simultaneously with head and hand receive an allotment
of 300 acres, the produce of which goes to supply the
academical refectory. Here corn, vegetables, and fruits
of ; all sorts are grown ; while the live-stock yield flesh,
milk, butter, and cheese. In a factory furnished with
a steam engine of 25 horse-power, the students learu to
INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING.
245
make tlieir own tools, and structures are now in course of
erection where tliey will be able to learn the building
trade, while, at the same time, getting an opportun-
ity of laying out and keeping in good order highways
and gardens. For their labour, which is directed by
skilled trainers and professors, they are paid according to
the current rate of wages.
The great aim of rendering work as attractive, instruc-
tive, and invigorating as possible, is never for a moment
lost sight of. The capital invested by Mr. Cornell is
amply sufficient, besides this bodily training, to procure
for the students every means of the highest intellectual
development.
The founder's object has been that any one earnestly
desirous of securing a thorough education shall find it
easy to gratify his wish in Cornell University.
5. Sectarian S;pirit of the Private Scholastic Foundations.
The sectarian spirit of all churches, in dealing with
their educational institutions, necessarily tends to crush
free inquiry and scientific culture. Orthodox geology must
be taught, or none at all. According to the census of
1870, as many as 360 so-called universities and colleges
are still under the control of these sects, many of which
hold in leading-strings and enervate the most effective
teaching of even really learned masters. Hence, few of
these institutions take a really higli place among scholastic
establishments, most of them breathing a narrow sectarian
spirit.
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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CHAPTER XVI.
EELIGION.
II
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1. The Christian Religion.
Entire freedom in all questions of religious faith is
established by the laws of the United States, although
the origin and subsequent history of the nation proclaim
its essentially Christian character.
While it is true that no mention of a Supreme Being,
nor of the Christian rehgion, occurs in the Constitution,
it must be inferred that its framers regarded these as
established facts, as the General Government and the
Governments of the several States distinctly recognise in
their official acts Christianity in its various forms as the
religion of the country.
The laws for the obsei-vance of the Sabbath, the
appointment of chaplains in various departments of the
Government, and the oath in courts of law, may be cited
as evidences of this.
The religious bodies are divided into numerous sects,
known as evangelical and unevangelical. Among the
Evangelical Protestants the distinctions are unimportant,
the principle " in essentials, unity ; in non-essentials,
liberty," obtaining by universal consent. Episcopalians,
Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Congregationalists,
rank as evangelical ; while Unitarians, Universalists, and
Swedenborgians may be classed as unevangelical. The
latter are found especially in New England, where Con-
gregationalism is also a large and influential element.
KELIGIOUS SECTS.
247
Owing to the large influx of foreign population within
the past fifty years, especially from Ireland, Ilomanisni
lias increased rapidly, and is making itself prominent as a
political force, although its converts are principally among
the uneducated classes. The ratio of increase during the
last decade has been about 35 per cent, and at present,
in a population of 40,000,000, the Eomish Church in-
cludes within her pale 4,500,000 people and 23,000
priests. Her strength lies principally in the large cities
of the north, whither the tide of emigration flows. In
the Southern States, the Baptists and Methodists are most
largely represented, especially the latter; and the lower
Middle States still retain the character given them by
their settlers, who were adherents of the English Church,
or, in some few localities, of the Eoman Church.
In the newly-settled portions of the " great West," all
possible shades of religious opinion are represented, at-
tended by tlie crudeness always characteristic of society
'u its formative state. Owing to the freedom of tlie reli-
uious atmosphere, and the great activity of mind prevailing
in a new country, there is an abundant opportunity for
any M'ho wish to establisli new theories, or for enthusiasts
or religious quacks who wish to obtain a following. Hence
the communities known as Mormons, Spiritualists, etc.,
the ranks of the former being recruited principally from
the dregs and offscourings of European society. Tlie
churches of the East, however, have not been slow in
following the tide of emigration to the West, and for the
past fifty years missionary agencies have been actively at
work, and churches have been planted in all portions of
the West.
To speak comprehensively, the United States ranks
ap^ong the Protestant Christian nations of the world, and
is Am country of all others where religious liberty finds
its fullest and most perfect development. As a result of
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tliis, tlio puLlic mind is ever in an attitude of inquiry; and
any truth, whether scientific, moral, or religious, must hear
the test of close and severe scrutiny, and must he weighed
and sifted in the scales of puhlic opinion, before it can tind
acceptance to any great extent.
2. Eccentric Forms of Bcligmis Development.
Amongst the sects that Protestantism has given hirtli
to, some call for more special consideration, as character-
istic of the social and religious life in the Transatlantic
States. Mediaeval history has preserved a record of some
peculiar moral epidemics. The " black death " that raged
in the fourteenth century gave rise to the sect of the
" Flagellants." All Gemiany, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia,
Silesia, and Flanders, contributed their quota to this
mania. At the end of the same century there broke
out a dancing rage, the rapid spread of which gave rise
to serious apprehensions.
The Jumpers, Shakers, and Spiritualists of the present
day are the direct descendants of those mediieval dancers.
lii
ii
3. The Sliahcrs : Tlieir History and Constitution.
The sect of the Shakers, founded by the Englishwomen
-Tane "VVardlaw and Ann Lee, has thriven for nearly a
century on American soil. " Mother Ann," the daughter
of a poor Manchester blacksmith, could neither read nor
write, but while still a child was favoured by " heavenly
visions," or, as her mother thought, was a prey to hysteria
and convulsions from her birth. In the hope of effecting
a cure, her mother married her at a very early age to
Abraham Stanley, a young blacksmith, by whom she had
four children, who died young. With Stanley she lived
so unhappily that he gladly gave her permission to join
RELIGIOUS SECTS.
249
the sect of Jane Wardlaw, known afterwanls by tlic name
of " Shakers." She soon became their leader nnder the
desiji-nation " Mother Ann."
Their funchimental doctrines required a community of
•foods, celibacy, love of peace, and the 8e})aration of Church
and State. Ann proclaimed, throu<^di the revelations slie
was vouchsafed, that Adam's sin consisted in his marryiny;
Eve, thus peopling the world with a lawless posterity.
She further announced that for this posterity the time had
come to sacrifice themselves, at least that the chosen few
should show by their abstinence from earthly love how
the world was to be regenerated. Hence her fixed idea
was that botli she and her followers were calLnl upon to
make eternal war against the flesh. But she does not
seem, like her later disciples, to have taught that Ciod
possessed a double nature, male and female, and that
Christ was the incarnation of the one, and she herself of
the other. She rested satisfied with inculcating the duty
of celibacy, and as in this way the sect would soon die out,
they were instructed to seek for new ])roselytes. This has
always succeeded best on the occasion of the so-called
" revivals," spasmodic fits of religious frenzy, which give
us a deep insight into the aberrations of the human mind.
On the other hand, Shakerism presents a more agree-
able side, which it would be unfair to overlook. There are
at present eighteen communities in America, numbering
altogether 2400 members ; nor can it be denied that they
liave given practical application to certain communistic
principles with remarkable success. Each neophyte is
required to consign all his effects to the community for
a period of one year, after which term of probation, or
sooner if he so desires, he may withdraw from the union,
but without receiving interest for his capital, or wages for
his work. Once accepted, he is bound to perform all the
work imposed on him, receives a separate dwelling, takes
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COMPKNDIUM OF ^.EOGRArilY AND TRAVEL.
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his meals in common witli the rest, has his clothes from a
common store, but never touches money unless he is one
of the few chosen to transact the necessary business with
the outer worhl.
The American Shakers are mostly devoted to afrricul-
tural pursuits, and to such tratHc with the neighbourinf,'
places as may be recpiired to sui)ply all their more urj^ent
wants. They make their own clothes, and are altooether
in the jiosition of being able to satisfy, at the least pos-
sible outlay, all their necessities, reduced as these are to a
niininuim. They eat but little meat, and limit their drink
to weak tea and coffee. Bread and milk, fruit and ve<;e-
tables raised by themselves, form their chief nutriment.
Celibacy is strictly enforced, men and women scarcely
ever meeting except at the common meals and the frequent
religious exercises. Tlie sexes meet also at their dancing
parties, on which occasions, when too sorely vexed by the
sj)irit, they are apt to fall into a sort of ecstasy, or delirium,
or what vidgar peojde would perhaps call hysteria. But
these ecstatic exercises are not of very frequent occurrence.
Younger members, after a few years, generally withdraw
from the union (Charles Nordhoff, The (Jomiimmstic
Societies of the United States, etc., 1875). The moral
character of tliese " peculiar people " is said to be above
the shaft of censure.
-i i'
4. The Ins2nrationist, Perfectionist, etc.
On the fruitful soil of the United States sects spring
up like mushrooms, and those, in one form or another,
doing homage to the principles of communism are but
a small fraction of the innumerable little communities
spread over the wide domain of the reformed Church.
Amongst the communistic sects may be mentioned the
llappists, or the Harmouia, now dying out ; the Inspira-
1
RELIGIOUS SECTS.
251
)i I
tioniata, and the Oneida Perfectionists, interesting accounts
of which may be seen in Hepworth Dixon's Kcw America
and Spiritual Wives. Some years a<fO there were no
more than 283 Perfectionists, yet they would seem to
share with the Shakers the greatest amount of vitality.
They aim at the improvement of the human race without
condemning it to an act of self-innnolation. Hence they
do not go so far as to destroy marriage, contenting them-
selves with rejecting as sinful all the nobler instincts of
love and devotion, which in the eyes of civilised men
impart its hallowed character to the state of wedlock.
5, Tlte Jehovah Pcojile.
Probably the very newest sect in America is that of
the so-called Jehovah People. They are settled at
Mocopin in New Jersey, and their religious gynniastics
forcibly recall the already-mentioned Flagellants of medi-
aival times. They sing and dance together, dislocate
their joints, indulge in frantic capers, and altogether
demean themselves like maniacs. They arose in this
wise : — Their present " prophet," the rustic Nathaniel
Merril, dreamt, as he lay beneath a tree, that he could
lly. Taking this for a revelation, he climbed the tree,
stretched himself out, flapped his arms like wings, and
soared down, alighting on some soft mould without break-
ing any of his bones. Encouraged by this success, he
returned to his perch, again flew down, and again escaped
unhurt. Having repeated the expLjit for a third time,
Nathaniel looked upon himself as a work of Providence.
He hastened to the village, began to run and skip about
and turn head-over-heels, shouting and dancing and cry-
ing out that the Holy Ghost had taken up His abode in
him. Thereupon the epidemic broke out in Mocopin.
Every one took to jumping and tumbling and kicking up
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COMPENDIUM OF CKOGUAl'IIY AND TRAVEL.
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his heels, nnd next Sunday tlio minister could scarcely
believe his eyes when in the middle of tlie sermon his
conj^regation bej,'au to repeat these antics. Jiut from that
day the Jehovah people were duly established, and set
about acquiring; proselytes. They are the strictest Sab-
batarians, allowinj^' neither fire nor cooking on the Lord's
Day, but every one is at full liberty to lea)) and dance
and caper alxtut to his heart'a content {Ik^iadcrcr, of
July 21), 1872).
G. Mormonism,
But the most important of these communists, both
socially and politically, is uncpiestionaltly that of the
Mormons, or "Latter- Day Saints," settled on the shores
of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, where they have con-
verted the wilderness into a smiling garden, and set uj) a
State within the State. Fanatical enthusiasm for a pal-
pable fraud, theocratic combined with democratic institu-
tions, polygamy not merely permitted but openly i)reaclu!d,
gross materialism side by side with belief in the lUble,
very remarkable successes wherever they have settled,
while the leaders themselves are animated by purely self-
ish motives, — all these circumstances have long attracted
to the young State rising by the Salt Lake amidst the
Corililleras the earnest attention of all interested in the
affairs of the New World.
It is quite a mistake to suppose that the Mormons
lead a disorderly or dissolute life. On the contrary, there
prevails the greatest order amongst them ; neither mendi-
cants nor " loafers" are anywhere to be met, and what
was a dreary waste so recently as the year 1847 has now
become in their hands a highly-cultivated region. The
people seem to be quiet, peaceful, and industrious. Women,
young and old, lose their cheerfulness, and assume a sad
and earnest expression ; and the men, though producing a
ItKLIUlOUS SECTS.
253
more jtlcasin^ impression, ji^enerally hetray a lack of intcUi-
gencL*. We soon l»c|j[in to feel that society has here l>een de-
veloped very did'erently from that in th.e rest of the United
States, haviiij^ acqiiiretl an or<,'anic character anythin<^ hut
republican in its main features. Some 80, 000 or 1 00,000
sober, industrioius men, and even devout after their fashion,
permit theii- leaders to indulj^'e iu the most nnbridled
licentiousness ; and the tribute they lay at the feet of
their rulers they .sjjeak of as sacrifices oll'eretl to (lod.
I'TAU, WITH THE MOUJIONS' TABEUNACLK.
7. Joseph Smith — "The Booh of Mormon"
Joseph Smith, founder of ^Mormonism, Avas the son of
a farmer of Sharon, AVindsor County, Vermont. He was
born on Se}>tember 23, 1805, and some forty-six years ago
began to surroimd himself witli followers, who gave out
that he was a pro])het sent of God, or rather a second
Messiah. In order to sup]iort his pretensions with the
necessary mystifications, he produced certain golden plates
engraven "in Egyptian characters," and })rofessing to
contain the laws and records directly dictated by God
Himself. He further pretended that he had been enabled
to decipher these records by means of an instrument
I
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254
COMI'KNDIUM OF GEOr.UArilY AND TUAVKL
Ml
'Mill m[
imn
n'U
vi'ViMilcd to him in a visiuii, iiiul dcHcriluul by him as a
" ('.urious iiiMdiinii'iit, whii-h the uiicit'iits oulh'd Uriin and
'rhimmiini, which coMsislcd of two lnins|tan'nt atones Hi't
in tho I'ini, on a bow las((Mit'd to a breast phittv" The.
jdalcs wcro siiid to liavc been written soon alter tho
dt'strnt'tion o[' .li^'nsah'ni by Mormon, a .lowish proithct,
and by liim bronijht to Anuirica, whcn^ they wow. al'tcr-
wards buried. Smith retained the Old Testament, nmti-
hiti'd the New% and supphMiiented all the obscure ])oiut3
of tJio Christian rebt;ion, especially those turning' upon
(he I'utuni states In ISoO he publishi^l the Jiook of
Munnoii, ])rol'essin<,' to be translated from tlu^ plates by
means of the above-described instrument, and embodyiiijj;
his new doctrines. This work his followers hold in tlm
same veneration, and look n[>on as possessin<^ the same
authority, as the J>ible itself.
Smith selecti'd twelve ajtostles, and by means of
miracles and many fresh revelations soon attracted a
larni' luimber of the curious, many of whom became be-
lievers, his convenient positive tenets suitini;' the tastes
of a certain tyju' of weak-headed doubters.
8. N'aiiroo.
Drix'cn from (he State of Ohio, the Mormons pitched
their tents in (he, at that, time, still imcultivated district
«)f Nauvoo, " the beautiful," on the banks of tlui Missis-
si]»|ti, in Illinois. llert> tlu'V increased rapidly, and even
bej^an to erect a vast temple, \iw;^o. enou_i!,h to I'ontiiin
(he whole people. Meantime Smith (hniscd a political
constitution, ^iviui;- him the fullest autocratic, powers, and
although at that time he pi'cacluMl and wrote, aiiaiiist
]n)ly,namy, this doctrine was already laid to (he cliaijj,e of
his adherents, (ouelher ^\ith many other unpopular insti-
tutions, exciting the ill-feidinj;' and anli[»athy «il' the peo[ilo
IJKMtilors Sl'.CTS.
'2:>r>
oil 1h)(1i .sides of ihc l\lississi|i|>i. ilost'itli lu'ciuno con-
sliuitly (Mubi'oilt'd with the luitlioritics, Naiivoo \viis iit-
(lU'koil, llu> ]»r()i»li('(. iincsti'd. lodj^cd in Ciirtliaui* jiul, luid
soon idler nnirdered hy (he rioters, loj;t'tlier \villi his
lirotlier lliiiim, who had also been coidiiied in the same
lirisou. This occurred on tliiiie 7, IHI 1.
}'
0. 7>i'!i/fi(nii Vdinn/, " 7'/ir Liou of the Lonl" — Ihsrirf.
A Mormon named l»i_i;'doin now became rresiih-id,
but was soon rephiccd by a certain Ihii^liam \'ouni;', " the
Lion of the Lord," who be^an forthwith to h»ol< out. lor
a hind wliere he mit;ht. <j;overn his peoph^ alter his own
jiK'Hsure, without daiiu'er of i'urtlier iiiterrerciie(> on tlie
part. oF " thi> (ieiilih's." llt^ lirst, of all led his followers
to the wi'stein limit, of civilisation, boldly crossiii«,' the
ice-bound Mississippi in the month of i'"ebruary, ami
scttliiij;' ItMUporarily in tlll^ west, of Iowa. I'Voiii this
]Miiiit Ih'i^ham made reconnaissances beyond the bNu'ky
Mountains, and at last, maih^ choice of the desert, shore
of the (1 real. Salt Lake in I'tah, at that time beloiiniii"^
to Mexico, in the h()pe of thus for e\'er escapiii<;' from tin'
(iovernmeiit and jteople of the I'nitcd Slates. Thither
the " MoriiKaiites " migrated in IS47, eiicoiiiiterin^' in-
credible ditliciillies aiiil prixations in this journey tliroiii;h
the wild regions still occupied by .saxa-^'e Indian tribes.
The jtlace, liy llicm named Peseret, in the Territory n\'
Utah, was the wvv next, year ceded by .Mexico to the
United Slates, and twenty years later its isolation was
iiL:;aiii disturiied by the (Ircal Tacilic b'ailway crossing
ilic I'litire con! iiieiit. from ocean to ocean. Mormonism
was (aice iiua'e broui^ht into eollisi(ai with the outer
World, and became, as it still remains, a. public scamlal
luid eye-sm'e in the I'niled Slates.
After proclaiming himself tl'o successor of tloseph
• I .1
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1
256
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
Smith, Young assumed the office of "projihet." Accord-
ing to his teacliing God spoke through him, as througli
an oracle, to His chosen people. He claimed to be the
successor of Christ Himself, and by the great body of his
B-vmsM OF A (new) mokmojj con\t:rt.
adherents was looked upon ns being as powerful and
glorious as the liedeemer. Christ, they say, was the
first, Joseph Smith the second, and Ih'igham Young the
third ^[essiah. They rely more on the Old than on the
New Testament, and Abraham and David are the greatest
of the
in the
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Mohar
Yo
polygai
dogma
But his
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withdre
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secures t
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and of t
aud what
RELIGIOUS SECTS.
257
of the patriarchs. Although baptism is still performed
ill the name of the Saviour, still Mormouism resembles
Christianity on the whole perhaps rather less than does
Mohammedanism.
10. rohjgamy.
Young strengthened his own position, and made
polygamy a doctrine of the Church, declaring that this
dogma had been revealed to Joseph nine years previously.
But his wife Emma and other members of Smith's family
deny this, and have caused a schism in the church. The
recalcitrant Josephites were persecuted, and in 1864-.5
withdrew mostly to Iowa. Another schism, occasioned
by a certain Joseph Morris in 1866, was stamped out
with bloodshed, a few families escaping with their lives
to Idaho.
According to Brigham's teaching, the men have divers
ranks in heaven. The more numerous his wives and
children, the greater his earthly merits and the higher
his heavenly dignity after death. The women enter
heaven only through their husbands ; hence it becomes all-
important for every girl to get married. If her husband
lias other wives, and if she has to endure many trials
and humiliations on earth, the more glorious will be her
position in the heavenly kingdom. Accordingly young
women on their deathbed get married, or " sealed " to a
man — where possible to a minister of the Church — as she
secures through him a higher rank in heaven.
;;»
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1.
11. Constitution of Mormonism — Schism — Prospects.
Young controlled everything. He was the supreme
judge, and also the recipient of the bulk of the revenue
and of the tithes. He alone decided what was his
and what belonged to the Church ; he had the best of
B
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258
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
everything, the best workshops, farms, mines, and so
on. He distributed office, and to the twelve apostles
he added the council of seventy, in whose number are
the bishops and elders. Besides their official duties
these men carry on the most profitable industries in
the country, some being merchants, others manufacturers
and hotel-keepers, and as they enjoy the largest incomes,
they possess also the greatest number of wives.
The needy Mormon has one wife only, their number
increasing with his worldly prosperity. Occasionally the
wives support by their work not only their cliildren, but
their husbands also ; but it is a mistake to suppose that the
women alone are bound to labour while the men look on.
Generally speaking, the whole sect is distinguished by
extremely industrious habits, the so-called elders setting
an excellent example in this respect. Tliese elders were
well schooled by Brigham ; they instruct the people, con-
firm them in the faith, and provide at once for the
spiritual and national welfare. Their office carries no
direct remuneration with it, but their position is other-
wise so good that they can very well afford to dispense
with this.
Recently a fresh schism has disturbed the harmony
of " the Saints." The I'rophet has hitherto in vain at-
tempted to suppress it by sentence of banishment and
expulsion from the community, and the latest returns
sliow as many as from 5000 to 10,000 "dissenters"
rejecting the doctrhie of polygamy in a total population
of 150,000 in the State of Deseret. But a still more
formidable foe to the community is the Congi-ess of the
United States, wliero the " jMormon Question " now con-
stantly crops up, and must continue to do so till finally
set at rest. The Cullom Bill of 1870, aiming at " the
suppression of polygamy," was tabled, but next year
the Gr"ernment decided to take summary proceedings
EELIGIOUS SECTS.
259
against the Mormons, though nothing could he done in
consequence of the unsatisfactory state of the laws
affecting such matters.
In 1873 Brigham entertained the project of abandon-
ing Salt Lake City, and removing with the greater part
of the saints to Arizona, but tlie unfavourable reports of
the Mormon pioneers in that region compelled him to
give up this plan. In June 1874 the iirst serious blow
was struck at polygamy, when tlie Lower House accepted
the principle of the Poland Bill, declaring that polygamist
judges and juries were incompetent to conduct civil and
criminal trials and prosecutions of polygamists. The
object of this measure is to protect the Mormon women
by ensuring to them a fair share of the family effects in
case of divorce, — in a word, to alleviate the hard lot of
those who have come to be regarded as female slaves.
Meantime the Mormon women themselves seem to be
auytliing but grateful to the Government for its efforts on
their behalf. In the beginning of 1876 a petition was
presented to Congress, signed by 22,626 Mormon wives
and daughters, praying for tlie rejection of the law against
polygamy, and for the admittance of Utah as a State of
the Union. These female advocates of polygamy declare
that no force or other unfair means have been employed
to secure their signatures, and that no girls under twelve
have been allowed to sign the document.
Since the year 1870 the largest accessions to their
numbers have come from Denmark and Sweden, and
quite recently they have been joined by many energetic
East Prussians, possessed of considerable means. The
Latin races, such as the French, Spaniards, Portuguese,
and Italians, seem to be utterly opposed to Mormonism,
and we are assured that not a single Frenchwoman is
found in their seraglios. The great majority belong to
the Anglo-Scandinavian races, though the Indian tribes
I.
260
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
I'T
! I
between California and Utah are also said to become
Mormonised very rapidly.
On the other hand in the community itself a tendency
is continually showing itself to revert to European views
of morality and social habits. This is attributed by
Hepworth Dixon not so much to moral motives as to
the inherent feminine weakness for vanity, love of finery
and dress. But the destruction of Mormonism will prob-
ably be ultimately due mainly to the Pacific Railway.
Through it the hitherto unknown extravagance of the
female fashions has penetrated into Great Salt Lake
City, and if a man finds it difficult to indulge the taste
of one wife for such things, most of them must shrink
from the prospect of having to provide for the caprices of
a numerous harem. Not every one is endowed with the
colossal wealth of a Brigham Young, which alone could
enable them to indulge in such a luxury, and the con-
viction is slowly gaining ground that from the economical
point of view polygamy is a mistake. This idea once
thoroughly established, it must gradually die out.
fl
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RAIN -MAP OF THE UNITED STATES and OF PART
JS^ ?£? liS" English Miles.
Loadon; E*»»^ '^♦"*«'<i, 55 Charing Cro.
5 AND OF PART OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA.
)()• »0' 80* 70' 60' ~ _~~
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AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.
261
CHAPTEE XVII.
MATERIAL PROGRESS.
* '1
1. Agriculture.
Until recently agriculture formed by far the most import-
ant occupation of the Americans, giving employment to
22 per cent of the entire male population. The number
of farmers possessing an average of 80 acres of land
amounted in 1874 to some 3,000,000, and there is
altogether as much as 734,000 s^^uare miles parcelled
out in small allotments already under cultivation. A
free grant of 160 acres is made to all immigrants willing
to settle in the vast public lands of the Far "West.
The entire arable area of the United States, exclusive
of Alaska, is estimated at about a million and a quarter
square miles, but it varies exceedingly in the nature of its
products and the manner of its cultivation in the various
States. There may, on the whole, be distinguished a
northern corn-growing country, a central cotton, and a
southern sugar, region. But the chief contrast is presented
by North and South, roughly separated by the 37th
parallel. In the Northern States, producing wheat, rye,
barley, oats, buckwheat, and potatoes, we find the usual
agricultural methods carried on by free labourers.
Of late years wheat especially has been grown to such
an extent that America may yet enter the European
market as the most formidable future rival of Eussia,
although under existing circumstances still unable to com-
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262
COMPENDIUM OF GEOUltAl'IIY AND TIJAVEL.
pete witli that country, and far less witli ITiin^ury and
the Danubian ]»rincipalities. Tn all the Slates of the
Union, exccipt T(ixas, Nel)mska, and ]\Iiniit!sota, whieh
allowed a fallin^'oll', the area of land under wheat has been
eidar}];ed. The best wheat -j^frowin^f States are New ^'ork,
I'ennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Michii,'an, and tlie northern
parts of Illinois ; but it flourishes also in IVIissouri, Indiana,
parts of Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and lastly
in California.
2. Maize, Oats, Potatoes, etc.
Rye grows mainly in Pennsylvania, New York, and
New Jersey ; barley in New York. A very inipijrtant
grain is undoubtedly maize or Indian corn, or simply
corn, as it is usually called.
In all the States it forms a very important article of
produce, but above all in tlie central zone, comprising
Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Illinois, besides
the Atlantic States of Delaware and New Jersey. In the
year 1866 the maize crop was estimated at tlie enormous
amount of more than 100,000,000 bushels.
The cultivation of oats in a large wjiy is limited to
the Central, Western, and Northern States, while buck-
wheat is grown mainly in New York and Pennsylvania.
The potato, originally indigenous in South America, is
grown extensively in the Northern, Central, and AVestern
States only ; while vegetables flourish best in the North-
east, where also " orcharding " has been most highly
developed.
Of late years the cultivation of the nettle has been
successfully introduced into Louisiana and Texas, and in
California efforts have been made to grow it on an exten-
sive scale. By using it as the warp English manufacturers
have produced a new and elegant tissue of the fibres of
this plant combined with cotton. Samples of tliis material
"I
AdUICULTUUAL KESOUUCES.
263
were sent to Sun Friincisco, where an nj^ency lins l)een
oiicneil ibr its sale. It is renmikalile tor j^reat durability,
and the ])lant, which lieion^^s to the tliistli; family, is easily
])n)i»ajfated by cuttinj^s. It is i)erennial, yielding yt^U'ly
from three to four crops, averiitfinj,' about 3000 lbs. to the
acre, and at present worth £21 : 10s. a ton. The thread
is lon;^er and more silky than cotton, nuxed with either
cotton or wool produces a very fine tissue, and unmixed
is capable of being woven into a texture resembling Lyons
silk.
3. Wine and Tobacco.
Amonrjst the useful products of the northern and
central zones there remain to be mentioned wine and
tobacco. Vine culture proved a success as soon as the
attention of cultivators was turned from the foreign to the
native growths, and vineyards now llourish in Ohio, Cali-
fornia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina, and I^lis-
souri. The city of Los Angeles in California claims to
possess the most extensive tract of vine-growing land in
Xorth America, and about thirty miles from this i)lace is
Anaheim, a German hamlet scarcely fourteen years old,
but already the centre of an important vine district.
Tobacco, forming a very important staple of export,
although growing in most of the States of the Union,
flourishes principally in Maryland, Kentucky, Virghiia,
Tennessee, Connecticut, North Carolina, Missouri, and
Ohio.
4. The Plantations — Cotton and Svgar.
In the Southern States the so-called plantation system
is greatly in the ascendant, producing the staples of trade
elsewhere usually met with in the tropics, and generally
known as " colonial produce." Hitherto cotton has been
of paramount importance. In the twelve Southern States
Vi
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264
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
there were at one time as many as 77,000 plantations,
previous to the civil war, worked by slave labour. In
1784 there were exported to Europe 8 bales, in 1821
about 425,000, and before the war broke out as many as
3,500,000.
During the period of the war from 1861 to 1865
there were of course no returns, but the largest crop ever
raised was in 1859-1860, amounting to 4,861,292 bales.
The war for the time ruined this industry, and in 1868
the yield was only 2,519,554 bales. Since then, favoured
by many exceptional circumstances, it again rose to about
4,000,000, but since 1870 has once more somewhat
fallen off. At the same time, in all the Cotton States,
except Florida, the area under cultivation has been reduced,
the reduction in 1871 averaging from 14 to 15 per cent
as compared with the previous year, since when it has
continued to decline. A report of the Memphis Agricul-
tural Bureau, covering half of the cotton crop, calculates
the diminution in 1874 at 6| per cent as compared with
1873. The report of the crop for the year 1878 shows
it to have been the largest yet raised.
The cultivation of the sugar-cane is restricted to the
extreme south, being most extensively pursued in Louis-
iana, and next to it in Alabama and Texas. Maple sugar
is produced principally in New York, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, and Ohio. Southern fruits, such as the melon,
oranges, and figs, llourish chiefly in California and along
the southern seaboard.
5. Cattle- Breeding — Farm Stocl\
The breeding of horses is restricted mostly to the
North, being replaced by that of mules and asses in the
Southern States. In the East and the Mississippi Valley
the horses are of good size. Fine breeds of heavy
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.
265
animals for draught purposes are raised, while the trotting
and running stock are deservedly celebrated all over the
world. In the West, though generally of small size and
rather indifferent appearance, the native horses are strong,
and display great staying powers.
Horned cattle are raised in vast numbers in all parts
of the country, and especially in Texas, on the plains, and
in the Pacific States. Sheep, also, have a great range,
practically coincident with that of cattle ; and sheep-
raising is at present a very profitable industry. Tlie
raising of hogs is a very great industry in the Miss-
issippi Valley States. The management of bees has
proved most profitable in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York,
North and South Carolina, and recently some very choice
California honey has found its way into the English
market. The birds principally reared on the farms are
poultry, turkeys, guinea-fowl, geese, ducks, and pigeons.
6. Timber — Ilecldcss Destruction of the Forest — Runtinrj
and Fishing.
Notwithstanding the extraordinary wealth and variety
of forest timber, especially in the inland States between
the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, including tlie maho-
gany, cedar, oak, maple, etc., forestry itself has been
strangely neglected. The clearances ha/e been conse-
(piently effected with such astounding rapidity that the
time has already come to impose some check on the reck-
less destruction of timber. No less than 8,000,000 acres
are yearly consumed, w^iile not more than about 10,000
are freshly planted. Chicago alone requires a.i annual
supply of 19,000 acres of timber; and in a period
of ten years as much as 12,000,000 acres of forests
were burned down, merely in order to clear the land the
more rapidly. In Wisconsin 50,000 acres are annu-
-jiZ.
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266
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
ally felled to meet the requirements of Nebraska and
Kansas.
Hunting, especially in the North-\vest, is directed
principally against the daily diminishing fur-bearing
animals. The lake and river fisheries, though of con-
siderable importance, cannot be compared with the cod,
whale, and seal fishing, carried on chiefly by the Northern
States in the neighbouring waters, but more especially in
the South Pacific.
7. Manufactures.
Previous to the year 1870 manufactures of every
sort had received such an enormous expansion that the
people of the United States began to turn from the field to
the factory. Apart from the mines, there were 252,148
manufactories, with an invested capital of upwards of
£4,200,000,000, yielding yearly returns valued at
£9,250,000, and paying wages to the amount of
£15,887,000.
As regards the agricultural interests, it cannot l)e
denied that, under the present wasteful system of culti-
vation, much of the old soil is well-nigh exhausted, so
that fresh and virgin soil must constantly be opened, and
this in part explains the great nigration of farmers to
the arid and semi-arid regions o\ the Great Plains and
the valleys of the Cordilleras, where agriculture is impos-
sible without irrigation. Another natural consequence is,
that the people turn to more profitable pursuits, such as
are offered to them in the workshops of the manufacturer.
Nor can there be any doubt that the industries would
have been still more developed but for the obstacles pre-
sented on the one hand by the high rate of wages occa-
sioned by the scarcity of labour, and on the other by
the cheapness of imported English goods. To meet this
second difficulty the American political economists had
widely
T„
MANUFACTURES.
267
recourse to a high protection tariff, pressing heavily on
the people themselves, and causing many branches of
industry actually to decline. The well-established prin-
ciples of free trade have been thus once more abundantly
vindicated in the New as they have so often been in the
Old World.
'1 ',(
8. Mercantile Interests — Decline of the American
Carrying Trade.
The American carrying trade was ruined by Southern
privateers during the civil war, and the American vessels,
whose flag fluttered in every harbour in the world, have
well-nigh disappeared from the high seas. While the
mercantile marine of England numbers 22,870 ships of
9,136,916 tons burden, tliat of the United States is
reduced to 7312 ships of 2,387,376 tons, besides 578
steamers of 692,576 tons. Yet fifteen years ago the
American flag eclipsed that of Great Britain.
Of the many lines of steamers plying between Europe
and America but one is owned in the States. The foreign
trade reached the enormous figure of £260,494,525 in
1873, but the exports amounted only to £124,453,017,
against £136,041,515 of imports. Since that year the
balance of trade has turned in favour of the United
States, and now the exports are largely in excess of the
imports, and rapidly increasing.
9. Inland Trade — Bailways and Canals.
The inland trade has been enormously developed, and
is greatly facilitated by the grand natural water highways,
numerous canals, and railways. A country where expedi-
tion is of the last importance could not dispense with a
widely ramifying network of railway lines. There are
ITf'
im
268
COMrENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
A
upwards of a hundred canals, amongst which are the
Pennsylvania Canal, connecting the Susquehanna and
Ohio, and the Erie connecting New York with the Cana-
dian Lakes. The latter is 378 miles long, has eighty-
five locks, is carried by aqueducts — some of them very
imposing — over more than thirty rivers, is connected by
means of branches with the Mississippi Eiver system, and
is navigable for steamers.
On all these natural and artificial water highways there
ply upwards of 4000 steamers, the total tonnage of all vessels
engaged in the lake, river, and coasting trade amounting
to 3,101,000. And yet these vast means of transit are
far below the actual requirements of the local traffic.
Tiie railway system has also already grown to colossal
proportions, notwithstanding its comparatively recent ori-
gin. The first company was formed in Baltimore in the
year 1827, under the name of the "Baltimore and Ohio
Kailway Company." The first line was opened by this
company on July 4, 1828, as far as tlie borders of Mary-
land ; but it was at first worked by horse-power, the first
locomotive not making its appearance in the States till the
year 1830. This engine, which was of English manufacture,
ran between Mohawk aijd the Hudson, but was only 6 -ton
weight, and soon proved insutticient for the traffic. It
was replaced by one weighing only 3 tons from the
Cold Spring Works in New York. Lines now began to
be laid down so rapidly that there was a total length of
1100 miles in 1835 and 0192 in 1848. They received
a fresh impulse through the discovery of the Californian
gold-fields, attaining a total length of 81,840 miles in tlie
year 1879. The carriages are well fitted up, often in u
sumptuous manner, as, for instance, the " Silver Palace "
Cars on the Central Pacific, and " Pullman's Palace Saloon
and Sleeping Cars." Hence the comfort of railway travel-
ling in the States far surpasses anything of the kind in
NATIONAL WEALTH.
2G9
Europe. Unfortunately the indifferent construction of the
lines themselves, combined with the reckless management,
often leads to fearful catastrophes. In 1873 there wero
thus sacrificed as many as 576 lives, besides 1112 more
or less seriously injured.
On the other hand, wonders of engineering skill have
been achieved in their construction — such, for instance, as
the Pacific line, with its steep grades over the Sierra
Nevada, or the tunnel through Mount Hoosac in Massa-
chusetts, giving Boston direct railway comnmnication with
the Hudson and the "West. This work was completed on
November 27, 1873, and can be compared in extent only
with the Mont Cenis Tunnel, which, however, it sur-
passes in the amount of labour, cost, and time expended
on its construction. It is a worthy rival of the Sutro
Tunnel in Nevada.
10. National Wealth and JJahilitics.
The prosperity of the people of the United States, as
estimated by the value of the movable and immovable
property of the country, was represented in the census of
1870 by the sum of £6,150,000,000. Since then the
national patrimony has been on the one hand greatly
augmented by the dis ^very of fresh natural resources,
and on the other dimiuisued by the commercial crisis of
1873, the consequences of which still continue to be felt.
Nor can it be denied that a heavy burden is imposed on
the people by the national debt of £390,000,000, the
legacy of the great civil war, and by the liabilities of the
various States, counties, and municipalities, amounting
altogether to about £126,000,000. Still it is to be
hoped that better management and more careful measures
may enable the country, with its incalculable natural
resources of every sort, to recover from these evils.
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
CHAPTEE XVIII.
POLITICAL ADMINISTEATIOX.
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1. The Federal Constihdion.
The fundamental law of the land is based on the consti-
tution of September 17, 1787, with the amendments of
the years 1791, 1798, and 1804. The Union hereby
forms a league of democratic and sovereign free States,
each of them absolutely independent, with the reservation
of certain rights and of all matters affecting the general
weal of all the Union. These imperial interests are
referred to a central administration. The constitution
recognises a legislative, an executive, and a judicial power,
the legislature being exercised by a National Congress,
assembling at least once a year, and consisting of two
chambers — the Senate and the House of Eepresentatives.
All the laws must be submitted to the deliberation of
Congress and passed by a majority of votes. To it nlso
are referred all questions of peace and war, treaties with
foreign powers, augmentation of the land and sea forces,
all imports, excise and customs dues, the coinage, weights
and measures, privileges and patents, admission of new
States, and so on.
2. Congress.
The Senate is composed of two senators from each
State, chosen for six years by the local legislatures, and
in such a way that one-third of the body are elected afresh
ruLITICAL ADMINISTUATIOX.
271
every two years. Each senator has one vote, must be
thirty years old, eight years a citizen of the Union, and
at the time of his election a resident of the State he has
been chosen to represent. The Vice-president of the
United States is ex officio President of the Senate.
The House of Eepresentatives consists of members of
the various States, and delegates of the Territories, the
latter of whom may take part in the deliberations, but
possess no votes. The Members of Congress are elected
for two years by the people of the various States according
to the methods of election peculiar to each of them. Every
representative must be twenty-five years of age, seven years
a United States citizen, and at the time of his election
resident in the State electing him. The Lower House
chooses its own Speaker and other officers, and possesses
the exclusive power of impeaching them, as well as the
President and Vice-president, and all other civil function-
aries, for violations of their public duties.
All the public taxes are voted by the House of Ee-
presentatives, but other measures may be initiated by the
Senate. Before becoming law every Act must be pre-
sented to the President of the Union for his ?\j,iiature ;
but sliould he refuse to sign it the measure is again sub-
mitted to Congress, and then becomes law if carried by a
majority of two-thirds of both Houses.
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3. lite Executive — the President.
The Executive is entrusted to the President, who, like
the Vice-president, is chosen by electors specially appointed
for the purjiose by the people of the several States. He
holds office for four years. Both President and Vice-
President must be native Americans, resident in the
country for fourteen years, and thirty-five years of age. The
presidential rights and duties are much the same as those
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COMPENDIUM OF GKOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
of a constitutional monarch, witli the limitation that Con-
gress alone can declare peace and wiir, Avhile the President
can conclude treaties only with the consent of two-thirds
of the Senate. His nomination of the civil and diploma-
tic functionaries is also dependent on the apju'oval of the
Senate, and he is further enabled to exercise only a
limited veto on the measures submitted to him lor his
acceptance by the Congress. Ijefore assuming office he
takes an oath to abide by the Constitution. His person
is inviolable, but he is removable. On the other hand, he
is re-eligible to office, and is ex officio commander-in-chief
of the land and sea forces.
4. The Judiciary.
Justice is administered by a Supreme Court consisting
of a chief justice and eight judges, besides whatever lower
courts Congress may from time to time see fit to consti-
tute. The Circuit Courts hold their assizes twice a yenr
in every State under the presidency of a judge of the
Supreme Court and of a Circuit judge alternately. In
all the States there are district courts, — in the district of
Coliimbia one, and in the larger States two or three. All
criminal cases, except those referred to the Senate, must
be tried by a jury, whose verdict, to carry conviction, must
be unanimous. Judges are appointed for life by the Pre-
sident, and can be impeached and removed by Congress
alone.
5. Constitution of the States and Territories.
The democratic constitution of the several States is
framed mainly on the model of the central administration.
In all that concerns their internal aft'airs their authority
is to a great extent supreme, while everything effecting the
common weal and the general securitv of the Union is
rOLITICAL ADMINISTRATION.
27
entrusted to the Federal Government. The provincial
legislative bodies are also divided into a Senate and a
House of Representatives, whose joint co-operation is
usually required for the enactment of laws. The Execu-
tive in all the States is intrusted to a governor elected
by the qualified voters. The tenure of office of these
governors, senators, and representatives, and the number
of the two latter bodies, vary in the several States.
Each State is complete in itself, and is divided into
counties, and then the counties into townships, frequently
consisting of a single city, but often comprising several
centres of population. The capitals, often situated in a
central position, are scarcely ever the largest towns in the
States, but always the seat of the local government ; nor
can the practical wisdom with which these bodies have
been thus withdrawn from the influence of populous cities
be sufficiently admired.
Similar to the constitution of the States are those of
the Territories, which are regarded as the common pro-
perty of the Union. Here the Executive is intrusted to
a Governor, appointed for four years by the President,
with the approval of the Senate. The Legislative
Assembly consists of a Senate and House of Representa-
tives elected by all tliose entitled to vote ; but its legis-
lative power is so far limited that all measures passed by
it must be submitted to Congress for ratification. The
admittance of Territories into the Union is conceded by
Congress as soon as the number of the inhabitants has
reached a certain figure, varying with the increasing jDopu-
lation of the Union.
The District of Columbia is placed under the
immediate control of the Federal Government.
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274 COMl'ENDIUM OF GEOGUAniY AND TllAVEL.
G. The Cabinet .
Tlie rjonoral Inisinoss of the Administration is conducted
by tlio Cal»inet, residing at Was]iin«;t(tn, tlie ca])ital of the
Union, and consists of seven members bearint,' the title
of secretaries — the Secretary of State or Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and those of War, the Navy, the Treasury,
tlie General Post-Ollice, Attorney-General, and Home
Department, or Department of the Interior. They are
appointed by the President, with the advice and sanction
of the Senate, but are liable to be dismissed by the Presi-
dent at any moment. The President is not bound to
adopt the policy of his Cabinet ; nor are its members, on
the other hand, responsible for his doings.
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7. Revenue and Uj^penditure — Zand and Sea Forces.
The lievenue for the financial year ending June 30,
1880, amounted to £06,700,000. The Expenditure for
the same year amounted to £53,500,000, leaving an
excess of I'evenue over Expenditure of £13,200,000.
The land forces of the United States consist of the
regular army and the militia of the several States, in
which, with certain exceptions, is enrolled every citizen
capable of bearing arms between his eighteenth and forty-
fifth year. The regular or standing army amounts at
present to no more than about 25,000 men, and to keep
it on this footing there require to be annually enlisted
about GOO recruits. The yearly outlay involved is about
£7,600,000. The active list comprises a general, a lieu-
tenant-general, four major-generals, and four l;)rigadiers.
The army includes a corps of engineers, an artillery and
a signal corps, besides ten cavalry, five artillery, and
twenty-five infantry regiments, the staff of the military
academy, and an Indian corps of observation.
rOLITICAL ADMINISTRATION.
275
On January 1, 1872, the fleet comprised 51 iron-
clads of various classes, mounting 127 cannon ; 58 screw-
steamers, with 865 cannon; 10 paddle-steamers, with
72 cannon; 20 sailing-vessels, with 215 cannon; 28
steam-tugs, with 11 cannon, 3 store-ships with 12, and
6 revenue-cutters with 88 cannon — making a total of
176 vessels and 1390 cannon. The naval commissioned
officers numbered 1360.
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COiVU'ENDlUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TllAVEL.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE TEKRITORY OF ALASKA.
1. riiysiral At,j)cct of the Country.
The extreme north-west of America formed a Russian
possession till June 21, 18()7, when the whole of what
was known as Russian America was ceded to the United
States. This region, some 680,000 square miles in ex-
tent, consists mainly of the north-western spurs of the
Rocky Mountains, is full of lofty snow-clad mountains
and volcanoes, but thickly wooded in the valleys and tlie
bays of the coast ranges. The west coast is deeply in-
dented with fiords, off which lie the archipelagoes of the
Prince of Wales and George III.
The straits separating Asia and America were first
discovered by the Cossack Dschenew (read J^neu) in the
year 1728, and again eighty years later more carefully
explored by Bering, after whom they are now named.
Some of the volcanoes are very high, and the streams
numerous, though still but little known. The climate
varieb much, but is far milder than that of the eastern
seaboards of America and Asia under the same parallels.
The north-west coast, as far as Alaska, enjoys a coast
climate, with mild winters, cool summers, a copious rain-
fall, very favourable to the growth of timber, but prevent-
ing the further spread of fruit trees.
The Cascade Range, which, extending northward from
the United States, hugs the western coast through British
ALASKA.
277
Columbia, here preserves its position as tlio coast raiiso,
exteudiii|^' iiortli-weHtwurd in a series cjf volcanic peaks,
several of wliich are active volcanoes, as far as the penin-
sula of Alaska. Near lonijitude 142" it loses its distinc-
tive character as a mountain chain, and mcrtjics with tho
van^^•e8 fruni the north and east, beyond which [xiint it is
known as the Alaskan Kan.ne.
In this Cascade, or iSt. Elias lian«i,e, are many very
liiyh peaks, rivallin;^ in altitude the famous volcanoes of
Mexico. Anions' them are Mount St. Klias, 14,070 feet;
Mount Fairweather, ]\Iount Criliou, and many others nf
nearly ecpial heiglit.
Between the Cascade Eange and the I'ocky ]\Ioun-
tains, in British Amenca, are several ranues of hills,
trendin,y parallel to these mountain systems. Beyond tlu'm
are the li(jcky Mountains, trending at lirst nearly nortli-
west, then turning Avest and even somewhat south of west,
following the trend of the coast-lhie as that bends towards
the peninsula of Alaska, and joins with the Cascade
Bange to form the Alaskan liange. The Yukon, the
largest stream of the Territory, and one of the great rivers
of the world, rises in British Columbia between the
Cascade and Bocky Mountains, cutting through the latter
of these in its western course to Bering's Sea.
North of the Bocky Mountains, the country, though
broken and rough, contains nothing worthy to be called
mountains, except the liomanzof Mountains.
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2. Inhahitants — Indians, Eshimos.
Amongst the 70,500 inhabitants of Alaska there are
scarcely 700 Bussians, consequently not more than 1 to
the 100. There are about 1500 so-called Creoles — that
is, half-caste Bu-ssians and Indians. Of the 42,000 pure-
blood Indians, some 15,000 only have been subdued, all
278
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGUAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
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the rest leading a free and nomad life. On the east
coast dwell the Eskimos, about 20,800 in niuuber; and
on the western islands 2500 Aleutians. New AnOi-
anj>el, the former seat of the Ilussian (Jovcrnment, wliieli
liad searcely a population of 850 twenty-live years ago,
now numbers as nuiny as 2200. After they had estab-
lished themselves on the Anuu', tlie Jtussians were able to
utilise the wealtb of the land in tind)er and furs, but it
was in otlier respects rather a burden than a source of
power to them.
3. Agriculfnral rroqwds.
It is otherwise with the Americans, although tlH>
re])ort of General George II. Thomas on the condition ol'
Alaska in IBGi) held out no immediate pros]H>ct of
colonisation, nor, indeed, has anything since been heard of
any such ])roject. While the climate is extremely cold,
there is far too much rain and too little sun for agri-
cultural operations. At most of tiu; si'Atlements there
are ganhuis ))i'oducing radishes, turnips, lettuces, other
wat(uy vegc^tables, and excellent ])otatoes. But they last
only a veiy short time, the humidity being so great that
V(!getables grow well enough, but do not ripen or run to
seed. The same dilliculty is experienced in cultivating
barley, oats, or wheat. The stalk shoots up and remains
green, the grain never fully rii)ening. 'Jliere is relativ(dy
but little arable land, the best district, both as regards
climate and soil, being the plateau on the east side of
Cook's Inlet, stretching from Kenai to Ghugachik Hay.
Here we iind a sandy alluvial loam, very rich and deep ;
still, though ])leasant while it lasts, the summer is too
short to allow of liold operations being carried on success-
fully.
ALASKA.
279
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4. Ndtural Jicsoiarcs.
Al(li(>iit;li timber of the finest ([uulity and well snitcd
for liuildinn' ])ni'|)oses grows in fuvonred districts, still
Oregon, Wiishington, and JJritisii Columbia ])ro(lnee it in
equal abundance!, and in ])lact's where it is I'ar more con-
venient to tiie market. Tiie lisheiies on the banks ot" the
north-east coast of the Aleutian ]K!iunsulaand ai'chipeliigo
are very extensive and ])ro(lu(^tive, and salmon is met with
in all the rivers, ]>esi(k's i\u\ coal on Chugachik Jiay,
s(!veral beds tire known to exist elsewhere, as in Kout-
/nou Haven, in the Iskmd of Ivou, at Kassaan (»n Prince
of Wales Jshind, and at Katniai in Alaska. r>ut what
has been said of the timber is (uiually a|>i>iical)U! to the
coal-lields in the neighbourhood of J'uget Sound. (In
the whol(!, the most important pursuit of tiie people is seal-
lisliing.
n. T/ic Fur Tnn/r.
The following iiotcis on the fur-scid and fur ti'ade :ire
taken min'nly from Mr. Dall's aibiiirable book on A/as/.v
1(11(1 i/s Jicsdiirccs, published in ISTO.
Tlu! fur ti'ade of Alaska has betui widely known for a
century, and its history is almost a history of the country.
The furs were the ])rincipal if not the only objects which
led to its exploration and settlement, and the trade in
them is tlu; only branch of industry which has heeii fully
develojied in the Territory, all otluu's being Ibrgotteii in
the enormous ja'oHts which have attended its suc(;(!ssful
])roseeution. The sea oiivr, the fox, marten, beaver, and
other animals, all furnish fur, but the fur-seal is tlu; gn^al-
source of the trade. It is at ])rc!si'nt obtained almost
exclusively on the islands of St. Taul and St. (Jeorgo
ill the Jlering Sea. From 1741 to 180'J nut less than
0,U 00,000 of skins were obtained.
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
The seal arrive at the islands about the middle of
June, and leave generally aljout the last of October. They
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OTTER-HU>'T IN THK ALIIUTIAN ISLANDS.
are thought to spend the winter in the open sea south of
the Aleutian Islands. The pups are born about the
ALASKA.
281
middle or end of June. They are covered, when born,
with fine black hair without down. The latter appears
when they are about three months old, and about six
months later the black hair is replaced by a stronger hair
tipped witli white or brown. They appear to feed on
lish, and sleep in the water on their sides, with the u])per
nippers out of water. " They have three cries — a kind
of roar, like that of a young calf, which indicates anger ;
a milder cry, which they use in calling to one another ;
and a kind of piping whistle when tliey are hot or tired.
Tliey come up in droves of many thousands on tlie hill-
sides near the shore, and literally blacken the islands with
their numbers. The rocks, which tliey have scrambled
over for ages, are polished and rounded." The ground
which they frequent is destitute of herbage, and the
vicinity has a strong and disagreeable odour. " They
fight desperately among themselves, each bull having five
or six females which he defends with the greatest courage,
while they look on complacently, or enc(juvage him with
their cries. The male has a mane and a longer tail than
the female."
The manner of conducting the fi.shery is as follows ;- —
A number of xVleuts go along the water's edge, and, gee-
ting between the animals and the water, shout and wave
their sticks. The seal are very timid, and always follow
each other like sheep ; yet, if brought to bay, they will
fight bravely, A body of four or five hundred having
been sei)arated as above from the main assembly, they can
be driven very slowly by two men into the interior of the
island, exactly as a shepherd would drive his sheep. Their
docility de})ends on circumstances. If the sun is out and
the grass dry, they cannot be driven at all. If the day
is wet and the grass sutficiently moist, they may be driven
several miles. Every two or three minutes they must be
allowed to rest. Those who become tired are killed and
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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skinned on the spot by the drivers, as it is of no use to
attempt to drive them. They would at once attack the
driver, and perhaps seriously injure him. When the seal
have been brought to a suitable place, they are left with
some one to watch them until it is desired to kill them.
The skins of old males are so thick as to be useless. The
liussians restricted the killing solely to young males less
than five years and more than one year old.
No females, pups, or old bulls were ever killed. This
was a necessary provision to prevent their extermination.
The seal are killed by a blow on the back of the head witli
a heavy sharp-edged club. This fractures the skull, which
is very thin, and lays them out stiff instantly. The Aleut
then plunges his sharp knife into the heart, and with won-
derful dexterity, by a few sweeps of his long weapon,
separates the skin from the blubber to which it is attached.
The nose and wrists are cut around, and the ears and tail
left attached to the skiu. When the operation is over
the skin is of an oval shape, with four holes where the
extremities protruded. These skins are then taken and
laid in a large pile, with layers of salt between them.
After becoming thoroughly salted, they are done up — two
together — in square bundles and tied up with twine.
They are then packed for transportation to London, where
all the fur-seal skins are dressed. The skin is shaved very
thin by a machine which cuts the roots of the stiff hairs,
and leaves the down which does not penetrate to any
distance. The former are brushed away, and the down is
dyed black or a rich brown, and we have the skins then
in the shape in which we see them at the furriers. In
18G8 the Aleuts received thirty- five cents each for the
skins, the salt being furnished them ; and in New York,
at oae time, they were delivered by the Russian American
Company for $2-50 each. In 1870 the skins in the
London market were worth about $5 '00 each in gold.
ALASKA.
283
The price of the salt and the freiglit deducted leaves
a large margin for the trader after paying the Aleut his
thirty-five cents.
The fur-seal were killed in immense numbers by the
Russians. At one time 300,000 skins were destroyed
in order that the market might not be overstocked. It
was only when their numbers M'ere very greatly reduced
that the number annually killed was diminished and re-
strictions imposed.
The estimate by the Fur Company of the peltry fur-
nished by Alaska in the seventy-six years from 1786
to 1862 is over 6,000,000 skins, which is unquestion-
ably below the truth, as they systematically underrate
their profits and the amount of annual production from
motives of policy.
6. Geology and Mineral Resources.
The geological features of Alaska are but imperfectly
known. The rocks belong mainly to the Cretaceous and
Tertiary formations, although there are a few localities
from Mdiich Carboniferous and Jurassic fossils have been
obtained. Volcanic rocks also abound, and tliere is a very
good record of volcanic phenomena, beginning with the
year 1690. '
During the glacial period Alaska was covered with a
continuous sheet of ice, and now almost every deep gorge
of considerable size between the high mountains has at
its head a glacier, or the remains of one. Some of them
are of extraordinary size and grandeur, and the American
student of glacial phenomena needs no longer to turn to
the Alps for a field of study.
"At the commencement of the cold period, huge
animals, covered with hair to resist the severe tempera-
ture, sprung into being. The elephant roamed over the
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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tunclri of North America and Asia. Later, the reindeer
and musk-ox followed the arctic vegetation as it spread
southward" (Dall).
Hot springs, mud craters, and solfataras, are abundant
in many parts of the Territory. Coal is the most valuable
of the mineral productions, and is found at numerous
localities. Fine Carboniferous coal is found, although
most of it is Cretaceous in age. Anthracite lias been
reported, and is due probably to local metauiorphism
through the agency of volcanic intrusions.
Next to coal, sulphur is probably the most valuable
mineral product of Alaska. It is found in many of the
hot and mineral springs, and near the craters of a number
of volcanoes. Kitre also occurs. Petroleum is found on
the surface of a lake near the Day of Katmai.
Gold, silver, and copper occur in limited quantities,
ami white marble of excellent quality is obtained near
Sitka.
Lead, iron, graphite, and kaolin, are other minerals
known to occur in small quantities. Mr. Dall says,^
" Wild and exaggerated stories have found a place, even
in official documents, in regard to fossil ivory. This is
not uncommon in many parts of the valleys of the Yukon
and Ivuskoquim. It is usually found on the surface, not
buried, as in Siberia ; and all that I have seen has been
S(^ much injured by the weather, that it was of little
commercial value. It is usually blackened, split, and
so fragile as to break readily in pieces. A lake near
Nushagak, the Inglutiilik liiver, and the Kotto liiver, are
noted localities for this ivory. It has also been found on
the shores of the Kotzebue Sound and the Arctic coast.
" Ice has long been an article of trade with the
Ilussian American Company. . . . The first cargo was
sold for $75 a ton. It was soon found that it was ini-
^ Alaska and its Resources, p. 479.
ALASKA.
285
possible to procure ice of good quality or in sufficient
quantities in the latitude of Sitka. The establishments
were therefore removed to a small island near Kadiak,
where they still remain. At various times vessels have
loaded with ice from several of the glaciers to the south-
ward. The value of the ice imported into California in
1868 was $28,000. The demand for it has not greatly
increased of late years, yet it seems as if, when once
introduced into Mexican, South American, and Asiatic
ports, that a profitable trade might be carried on. At
present ice is taken from New England to India and
China, a much greater distance, requiring a longer voyage
through hot latitudes, and of course necessitating a large
waste while on the way."
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TEMPERATURE MAP of the UNITED S
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PART II.
THE DOMINION OF CANADA
AND
NEWFOUNDLAND.
BY
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THE DOMINION OF CANADA
AND
NEWFOUNDLAND.
' !1
CHAPTER I.
THE COASTS.
1, Boundaries and Area.
The Dominion of Canada embraces all that part of North
America lying between the Atlantic, I'acific, .md Arctic
Oceans, north of the United States of America, except
Alaska, and all the islands off these coasts, except New-
foundland, which has not yet entered the confederation,
and the small islands of St. Pierre, Miquelon, and Lang-
ley, lying south of Newfoundland, the sole possession of
Prance in North America.
It extends from the 53d to the 141st meridians, and
from the 4 2d to the 70th parallels, north latitude.
The superficial area is, in round numbers, 3,500,000
square miles, out of which seven provinces have been con-
stituted, rej)resenting about one-third of the whole, one
district, Keewatin, covering 395,000 square miles; the
remainder is still held as Territories. These divisions and
Territories are as follows : —
U
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290
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TUAVKL.
ProvincoH.l
1. Nova S(;otia
2. New MrmiHwick
3. rrinct! Edwiiiil Isliuul
4. C^uobec
r>. Ontiirio
(5. Miiiiitobii .
7. Hritish Columbia
Territories —
1. North -Wi'st Tcrri-
tork's, iiicliidinf,' Lub-
nidor, Distriutot' Ki'c-
watiii, and Great
I'lairie Territory to
Kocky Mountains
2. Islands in tho Arctic j
Oi!(!iin, and in llud- |
son Hay . . .J
3. Newfoundland*
Total area
Suiit'illi'ii's In
•Siiuiiru MiliiH.
20,007
27,174
2,i:5:J
188,t)S8
101,7:):}
12:5, '^00
a4i,au5
2,373,490
310,000
42,000
3,530,630
Pdimlatinn, CVnsuH 1881.
AliorlRincM.
Other Rncea.
1,401
2,12')
281
7,r.i5
ir.,;j25
ti,7»)7
25,001
45,472
4,000
None.
108,547
Total
Population
440,572
;i2i,2:i;}
108,891
1, :)-.!), 0-J7
l,lt:i:(,228
05,954
49,451
56,446
140,536»
4,471,3:18
108,547
4,579,885
Since the aliovo was in t.v]ie, four Districts have
lipon estalilislicd in tlic I'niirio Hcction, t)y
Order in Council of 8tli May ISSl', as fol- _
lows : —
1. AssiNinoiA, containing about OS, 000 square miles, is bounded on tbo soutli by
the international boundary, on tlie east l»y tlii^ western l)omidaiy of Manitoba, on
tlie nortli by tlie Otli correction line, Dominion I^jiiids (System "surveys, near 5L'd
jiarallel ; on tlie west by a line dividing tlie lOlh and Utli raiij^es townships,
nuinl)ered from tlie ttli initial meridian, Dominion Lands System.
2. Saskatchewan, eontaiiiiiiK 114,000 s(inare miles, is bounded on the soutli by
Assiniboia, on the east liy Lake Winniiicg and Nelson Hirer, on the north by the
IMh cjrrection line, suivey system, and on the west by a continuatiou northward
of the western lioundary oi' Assinilioia.
;t. Ai.HEiiTA, about 100,000 scinaro miles, is bounded on the south by the inter-
national bouiKlary, on the east by Assiniboia and Saskatidiewan, on tlie west by
Ihitish Columbia, and on the north by the IStli correctional line, near the iStli
liarallel.
4. AriiAnASOA, coiitainiiif,' about 122,000 square miles, is bounded on the south
by Allierta, on the west by ilritlsh Columbia, on the east by a line between the 10th
and lltli ranges tiiwiishi|is, already mentioned, until that iiiteiseets Athabasca
Uiver, then by that river and Athabasca Laki' mid Xlave l.ake to the :!2d correction
line, which forms the northern lioundary of the district and is near the tiOth ii:iral!el.
Saskatchewan district includes nearly the whole main Saskatclii'wan and a jiart
of South Saskatchewan, and contains such well-known jilaces as liattlcfonl, t'arle-
ton, and I'rincv Albert. The forks of the Saskalidiewan, wlnre the Press Colonisa-
tion Coiii|iaiiy is lueated, are almost exactly in the centre of the district.
Assinilioia iiiclmles Qu'A]iiielle, South Saskatchewan, and Souris Rivers, and
contains Fort I'elly, Fort F.Uicc, Touchwood Hills, etc.
Alberta includes the liattle, l!ow, and IJclly River countries.
Athabasca takes in the celebrated Peace River district.
1 These statistics are taken from the oflleial returns of the Census for 1881.
'•i Here stated for reference as u part of British North Aiiierica, allliouyh not united
to the Dominion. 3 Census, 1809.
TIIK CJHKAT WATKRSIIKDS.
291
Tlic iifitiuiil ^'cnrrrtqiliiciil divisions, according to tho
basins of tho river systems, are : —
1. The Northern or Arctic coast, with its archipelago
of ishinds.
2. The Eastern, or St. Lawrence Basin, covering tho
provinces of(l) Nova Scotia, (2) New lininswick, (3)
I'rince Kdward Island, (4) (^nclxH;, (5) Ontario.
3. Tlie Central, or Hudson l>ay IJasin, end)racing (1)
the East Main, (2) the District of Keewatin, (.'5) tho
Province of Manitoba, (4) Tlu; Prairie section, with rivers
draining eastward to ]Iudson Pay.
4. The North-AVestern, or Mackenzie River Pasin,
north of G0° N. latitude.
5 The Western, or I'acific coast, represented by the
Province of liritish Columbia, with Vancouver and Queen
Charlotte Islands.
This vast territory, occupying nearly one-half of the
continent, and second only to liussia in area, is bounded
on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, Davis Strait, and
Baffni Pay ; on tlie west by the formerly Russian but
now United States Territory of Alaska, and by the Pacific
Ocean ; on the north by the Arctic Ocean, and on the
south by the United States of America.
This latter boundary, starting from the Atlantic sea-
board, commences at the inouth of tho St. Croix River,
which empties into the Pay of Fundy, then follows this
river and Lake Chiputentic '", and passes due north
until it strikes the St. Jolm River ; thence by that river
and one of its westemi branches it reaches the watershed
between the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic, which it
follows by a very tortuous south-westerly course to the
45th parallel of north latitude, in longitude 71° 30' west;
thence by this parallel it i)asses westward to the St.
Lawrence, and along mid-channel of that river, and of
the Laknjs Ontario, Erie, Huron, and the main portion of
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COMPKNDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
Superior, to the mouth of Pigeon River ; thence by it and
Eainy liiver it gains the north-west angle of the Lake of
the Woods; thence it follows the 49th parallel of north
latitude to the Gulf of Georgia, and thence passes by the
Strait of Fuca to the Pacific Ocean. The length of this
frontier line from ocean to ocean is 3000 geographical
miles, 1400 miles being a water line, by river, lake, and
sea, and 1600 miles a boundary by land.
In looking at a map of North America the first im-
pression produced on the mind of a geographer respecting
the area embraced within the above-described boundaries
would be, that a territory as large as Europe, embraced
between the same parallels of latitude, warmed by the
same sun, and similarly situated with respect to the
oceans, must possess vast tracts of land valuable for
agricultural purposes, — must, in lact, be not much unlike
Europe in climate and soil. The geographer would
picture to himself great rivers and lakes of the purest
waters, frequent summer showers, extended forests, and
prairies of luxuriant grasses, because he is accustomed to
find these in similar positions on the eastern continent,
and his impressions would he fully supported by the facts.
The forests and grassy prairies are the fruits of the heat
and humidity of tlie summers, as the desert areas to the
south between the Mississippi and the Pacific are the
result of the normal conditions of climate and the absence
of summer rains. And though large areas of the north-
ern and north -eastern Territories of tlie Dominion are
sterile, through the cold, yet the prolific fisheries off the
coasts of these sterile portions are to a great extent a
compensation for the barrenness of the soil, as this broad
ocean border is more valuable than the most fertile lauds.
Its annually self-raised crops, independent of the vicissi-
tudes of climate, need only to be liarvosted ; while on
and around the desert areas of the United States, minerals
CLIMATE.
293
constitute the only redeeming feature, in which the barren
northern lands of the Dominion are in all probability
equally rich.^
In 1881 Sir Alexander Gait, G.C.M.G., High Com-
missioner for Canada, stated before the Colonial Insti-
tute, in the following eloquent manner, the extent of
the Dominion : — " Let me now very briefly endeavour to
convey to you some partial idea of the magnitude of the
trust that has been assumed by Canadians in undertaking
the colonisation and Government of the northern half of
the continent of North America. Picture to yourselves
a domain nearly as large as Europe, stretching from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, with its southern extremity
in the same latitude as the south of France, and its
northern boundary along the shores of the Arctic Ocean.
Possessing the finest forests in the world, widely-spread
coal - fields, most extensive and productive fislieries,
watered by the most remarka1)le natural distribution of
lakes and rivers, enriched with all varieties of minerals, and
now known to possess an enormous area of fertile prairie-
lands destined to become the future granary of England,
— this vast country reaches, as the crow flies, from ocean
to ocean, 4000 miles, with an area south of the latitude
of St. Petersburg of at least 2,000,000 of square miles
capable of cultivation, and of which fully one-half pro-
duces every crop grown in Great Britain. Tlie Dominion
of Canada, thus roughly sketched, is naturally divided
into three great divisions — the Atlantic, the Central, and
the Pacific. The Atlantic division is that which com-
prehends the older settled provinces of Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, and
Ontario. It contains almost the entire present popula-
tion of the Dominion, about 4,000,000, and has, until
very recently, been the only part of the British posses-
^ Climate, etc., of Canada, by J. B. Iliirlbert, M.A., LL.D. 1872.
294
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
sions in North America to which emigration has been
directed. It may be described as the forest section of
Canada, and stretches from tlie Atlantic to the head-
waters of the great river St. Lawrence, west of Lake
Superior. The Central, or prairie division, containing
the new Province of Manitoba, extends from the densely-
wooded Atlantic region to the Rocky Mountains. Com-
mencing with the valley of the Eed Eiver, of unsurpassed
fertility, the prairie extends westward over a gently
undulating country, clothed with the most luxuriant
grasses and beautiful flora, for a distance of 1000 miles
to the base of the Rocky Mountains, by a varying width
of from 400 to 600 miles. This magnificent district,
watered and rendered accessible in its eastern section by
the great Winnipeg and Manitoba lakes, is in its central
and western portion traversed by the mighty river
Saskatchewan, with 1500 miles of steamboat navigation,
and fertilised by many beautiful tributaries issuing from
the recesses of the mountains. With some compara-
tively insignificant exceptions, the prairie division of the
Dominion contains probably the largest continuous tract
of country in the world adapted to the growth of wheat
and other cereals, and peculiarly fitted also for cattle-
raising, especially on the western plateau, where cool
and abundant water is combined with an exceptionally
moderate climate. The Pacific section, known as British
Columbia, comprehends the volcanic region west of the
Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, with the magnifi-
cent Island of Vancouver. Possessed of a climate mucli
more temperate than that of Canada proper, British
Columbia has a large extent of land fitted for agri-
culture ; while the mountain ranges which traverse the
country are replete with minerals of every variety, and
are no doubt quite as rich as the similar districts of
California and New Mexico. Gold to the value of
THE ATLANTIC COAST. 295
eight millions sterling has already been extracted from
the gravel washing alone, without the introduction of
scientific mining. Vancouver Island has by far the
larger part of the coal trade of the Pacific coast, from
Bering Strait to Cape Horn ; her coal-fields are inex-
haustible in extent, and the quality of the coal excellent.
This must make British Columbia the future emporium
of the China and India trade ; while its importance in
connection with the )iaval supremacy of England in the
Pacific Ocean can scarcely be exaizgerated."
The several coasts may now be described.
2. The Atlantic Coast.
From the mouth of the St. Croix River, latitude 45°,
longitude 67°, to Cape Chudleigh, 60° 14' north latitude,
65° 25' west longitude, at the entrance of Hudson
Strait, the Atlantic seaboard of the Dominion abounds
in deep indentations, forming magnificent harbours and
sheltered bays, teeming with the finest description of
fishes, and presenting a shore line of probably more than
10,000 miles in length. The Bay of Fundy, 170 miles
long, and from 30 to 50 miles wide, with its prolonga-
tions, the Chignecto Channel and the Basin of Mines,
nearly separates the provinces of Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick. It is characterised by its rushing
tides, causing a rise and fall of from 12 to 70 feet.
Its southern shore, from Cape Blomidon to Brier
Island, is lined by a lofty mural precipice of black
basaltic rocks, :crom 300 to 600 feet in height, against
which the impetuous tides dash with great fury. The
Digby Gut, a naiTOW passage barely 700 yards in
width, through this wall of rock, affords ingress to the
beautiful Annapolis Basin. On the north-west are the
harbours of St. John and Lepreau, while from St. Mary
29G
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGllAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
Bay, on the south-west, to the Gut of Canso, tlie whole
coast is lined with excellent harbours, easy of access,
capacious and well sheltered. Conspicuous amongst
them is that of Halifax, the Atlantic naval station of
Britain, and the winter port of the Dominion, one of the
finest on the Continent, easily accessible, and capable
of accommodating the largest vessels in the world.
To the south-west of Halifax are the harbours of
Lunenburg, Liverpool, Shellnirne, and Yarmouth, and to
the north-east Torbay, Whitehaven, and Canso, the latter
at the extreme eastern point of the mainland of Nova
Scotia, while immediately to the north lies the magnificent
expanse of Chedabucto Bay, with Milford Haven at its
head. This bay forms the southern entrance to the Gut
or Strait of Canso, to the north-east of which lies the
island of Cape Breton, only second to Nova Scotia proper
in the number and excellence of its harbours. Among
these are Sydney and Louisbourg, the former the site of a
prosperous town and coaling station, the latter, although
now only a fishing hamlet, at one time the stronghold of
France on the Atlantic coast. Here, also, is the beautiful
Bras cTOr, — " arm of gold " — an almost tideless salt-water
lake, penetrating, with numerous bays, channels, and straits,
upwards of fifty miles into the island. Its depth varies
from twelve to fifty fathoms. The entrance is divided
into two passages by Boularderie Island ; the southern
passage is twenty-five miles long, and from a quarter to
three miles wide, but is not navigable for large vessels ;
the northern is about the same length, and from two to
three miles in breadth, with sixty fathoms of water. Its
southern end is only nine miles from the Strait of Canso,
and on the western side it has been connected by a ship
canal with St. Peter Bay, only half a mile distant, thus
bisecting the island.
This great " Arm of Gold/' with its charming coves
ST. LAWRENCE GULF.
297
and sandy beaches, picturesque villafjes, fertile fields, and
substantial homesteads, with beautifully -wooded hills
rising in the background, whether seen in the bright
verdure of early spring, in the rich luxuriance of sunnner,
or decked with the glorious tints of autumn, presents a
greater amount of lovely coast scenery than can be found
within the same compass in any part of America. It is
traversed by commodious steamers, and an excellent road
runs almost the entire length of its doeidy-indented shore-
line. Its beauties once seen can never be forgotten, and
that it is so little known or visited by travellers is a
remarkable fact.
To the north the Strait of Canso opens into the
south-east angle of St. George Bay, another deep
indentation of the coast, sixty miles in circumference.
The entrance to this south -easternmost bay of the
great St. Lawrence Gulf is about twenty miles wide
between Cape St. George, a bold granite headland on the
mainland of Nova Scotia, and Port Hood, latitude 4G°
north, the extreme we^^tern point of Cape Breton Island.
At its head is the fine harbour and thriving town of
Autigonish.
The principal entrance to the St. Lawrence Gulf is
fifty-nine miles wide between Cape Kay in Newfoundland
and Cape North in the Islaritl of Cape Breton, latitude
47° 20' N. and longitude 5y° 50' W. The Gut of
Canso to the south, about one mile wide, and the Strait
of Belle Isle to the north, fifteen miles wide, are the only
otlier entrances. Exclusive of that portion lying west of
Anticosti Island, this gulf may be tlescribed as a pear-
shaped area, having an extreme length, from Belle Isle on
the north-east to Bale Verte on the south-west, of 550
miles, and an extreme width, from Gaspu on the west to
Cape Breton on the east, of 200 miles. Its superficial
area is about 80,000 square miles, surrounded by the
298
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
■^'\
rii
provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, New-
foundland, and the south coast of Labrador.
Within it are the Magdalen Islands, and the beautiful,
fertile, and thickly-settled island province of the Dominion,
Trince Edward ; and between exactly the same parallels of
longitude, but 130 miles farther north, is the somewhat
larger island of Anticosti (3845 square miles), with a
population of only 600 persons.
On the southern shores of the gulf, separated from
Prince Edward Island by Northumberland Strait, varying
from ten to twenty miles in width, there are also many
excellent harbours and roadsteads. Pictou and New
Glasgow, the shipping ports for the coal-fields of Nova
Scotia, and Baie Verte, the outlet of the proposed canal
connecting Cumberland Strait and the Avaters of the Bay
of Fundy, and Shediac, the connecting station of the
Intercolonial Railway with the Prince Edward Island
steamers.
Leaving Northumberland Strait the coast continues in
a northerly direction, and passing the fine harbour and
estuary of the Miramichi River, noted for its export of
timber, we come to the entrance of the beautiful Baie des
Chaleurs, ninety miles long, and fifteen to twenty miles
wide. It is everywhere deep and well sheltered, and the
numerous rivers falling into it afford the finest salmon
fishing in the world. The bold peninsula of Gasp^,
seventy to eighty miles wide, terminating at Cape Rosier,
separates it from the estuary of the St. Lawrence River,
which, immediately west of the island of Anticosti, 350
miles below the city of Quebec, is seventy-five miles in
width.
Erom Anticosti and the Mingan Islands to the eastern
limit of the province of Quebec, at the Strait of BeUe Isle,
a distance of 300 miles, the north shore of the gulf
presents a stretch of inhospitable rocky coast, indented
LABBADOR COAST.
299
by bays and inlets, and fringed with a multitude of
islands.
North of the Strait of Belle Isle the coast -line
of the continent turns north-west to Cape Chudleigli,
or Chidley, and forms the north-eastern shore, nearly
600 miles in length, of the great triangular penin-
sula of Labrador and East Main, lying between the
Gulf of St. Lawrence and Hudson Bay, The conti-
nental outline is, however, prolonged in the same direc-
tion by groups of large islands, far within the Arctic
circle. About 250 miles from the Strait of Belle Isle
the great inlet called Esquimaux Bay, Invertoke Bay,
or Hamilton Inlet, in latitude 54° 23' N., longitude
57° 25' W., is by far the largest of the many inlets
which indent that part of the coast. At its entrance it
is upwards of thirty miles in breadth, thence decreasing
until at the port of liigoulette, about fifty miles from the
sea, it is reduced to about a mile in width, after which
it again expands, and about ninety miles from the sea
forms a magnificent salt-water lake, upwards of twenty
miles wide and fully thirty in length. At the western
extremity of the lake it again contracts to a small width
for a short distance, above which it forms another lake,
about seven miles wide and twenty long, where the head
of the inlet is reached. Its total length may be taken at
150 miles, and its mean breadth about fifteen miles,
exclusive of two large arms that join it in the neigh-
bourhood of Eigoulette, the one running to the south-east
about forty miles, and the other having a course nearly
parallel to the main bay, and a length of sixty miles.
Including these arms, the surface covered by its waters
may be taken at about 1700 square miles.
Many islands lie off the entrance of the bay ; they
are also very numerous within it. Being of all sizes,
from the little rock hardly large enough to stand upon.
300
COMPENDIUM OF GKOGIlArHY AND TRAVEL.
to the large island many miles in extent, they add, in a
{^n-eat degree, to the danger of navigating the bay in foggy
weather, fur there is generally deep water close alongside
of theni.^
Between Hamilton Inlet and Cape Chudleigh there
are numerous good harbours, besides those on which are
situated the Moravian missionary settlements of Hopedale,
Zoar, Nain, Okkak, Hebron, and Eamah.
t «
3.
The Shores of Hudson Bmj.
'it
This large inland sea, appropriately styled " the
Mediterranean of America," lies in the centre of the
Dominion of Canada, and stretches half-way across the
widest part of the continent.
It consists of the bay proper, or central portion, and
two large arms, that of Fox Channel on the north, and
James Bay on the south. The eastern shore, or " East
Main," as it is called, 80° west longitude, forms the
western shore of the Labrador Peninsula.
The western shore of Hudson Bay, 95° west longi-
tude, lies contiguous to the great north-west prairie section
of Central Canada. The northern end of the bay proper
is in latitude 62° N., where Hudson Strait enters at the
north-eastern side, but the northern limit of Fox Channel
is 70° north latitude. To the south, James Bay has its
entrance between Cape Henrietta Maria on the vest and
Cape Jones on the east, both being in about 55° north
latitude, while the extreme southern end of the bay is in
52°, or 3° farther south.
Including its two arms, Hudson Bay has an extreme
length north and south of about 1300 miles, and a width
across the bay proper of about 600 miles.
' Notes on Esquimaux Bay and the Surrounding Country, Ly W. II.
A. Dalies, 1842.
HUDSON BAY.
301
The basin drained by this great inland sea is esti-
mated at 2,700,000 square miles, and includes the
magnificent prairie section of the Dominion, bouutlod on
the west by the Eocky JMountains.
The ge()gra]->hy of the bay and strait is not well
known. It has never been fully explored, although the
Hudson Bay Company have navigated it annually for
over 200 years, and it is only lately since the country
has been transferred to the Dominion of Canada that
regular surveys of its shores have been conmienced.
The narratives of Coats ^ and Chappell,- as well as the
Government IJoport on the navigation of Hudson r>ay,^
have been consulted, Init the latest information has been
derived from the Ifeports of the Geological Survey of
Canada,^ under the direction of A, 11. C. Selwyn, LL.D.,
F.li.S. These explorations, however, as yet only cover
the south and east portions of tho bay and the imme-
diate vicinity of Forts Churchill and York.
Hudson Strait is about 400 miles in length, with an
average width of about sixty miles, the narrowest part,
about half-way between the Atlantic and Hudson Bay,
being twenty-two miles in width. On the north is
"Bailin Land," on tlie south tlie northern shores of the
Labrador and East ]\Lain I'eninsula.
The Atlantic mouth has, until lately, been described
as lying between liesolution Island on the nortli, Gl° 15'
north latitude, and Cape Chudluigh on the south, 00° 14'
south latitude. It appears, however, that the inlet
named Frobisher Bay, according to the re])orts of the
* Geography of Ilndson Be )/.
2 Xnrrnt.ivc of a Voijaiji' fo Hudson's Bay in his Majesfi/s Ship "Bosa-
mond," by Lieut. Clinpiioll, R.X. London, ]S]7.
^ Navigation of Jhtdson Bay, by J. S. Dennis, Surveyor-General to
the Fetleral Government of Caniuln, 1878.
* Geological iiurvcy of Canada — A. R. C. Selwyn, F.R.S., F.G.S.,
Director.
302
COMrENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
'
Ji
i
I
whalers who visit this coast, forms a part of Hudson
Strait, and is only divided from it, hetweon Resolution
Island and North Bay, by a chain of islands, of which
Ilesolution Island is the most easterly, and tlie Savage
Islands the most westerly. The different charts consulted
agree in marking this shore {is a Meta Ijicor/nita, although
some lay down Frobisher Bn/t/, and others Frobisher Strait.
Newton's Terrestrial Globe of 1881, as well as the
Dominion Maps, lay it down as a strait.
According to liecher's ^ chart, Ilesolution Island is
ten miles from the northern mainland ; and although it is
known that tlie group of Button Islands lie otf Cape
Chudleigh, still, so little have these coasts been explored
that it is not known whether Cape Chudleigh is on an
island or on the main shore.
The centre of the channel is about 61° north latitude.
The chief islands at the western entrance are King
Charles, Nottingham, and Salisbury Islands. Tlie Digges
Islands lie off Cape Wolstenholme, at the north-west
point of East Main, while Mansfield and the southern
Southampton Islands lie west of the western mouth.
Prince Henry foreland is worthy of notice as a
striking headland on the south shore, and about midway
in the strait.
The large Bay of Ungava, 150 miles across, lies on
the south shore near the eastern entrance ; and almost
opposite to it, on the northern shore, is North Bay, a long
shallow bay, into which Frobisher Strait opens.
The shores have never been examined, but appear to
be high, rocky, and barren, with many islands and slieltered
bays, and the water deep, exceeding at mid-channel some-
times 300 fathoms. The western entrance, about the
7oth meridian, is seventy-five miles in width.
^ Becher " On Voyage of Martin Frobislier," Royal Geographical Society,
1842.
HUDSON STUAIT.
303
Tlio princi'iifil isliinds on the iiortli shore, ?mincd by
Coats, are ]ies(»hitioii Island, Snowyland, Siiddlcliack,
Middle Suva;,'o Islanils, Gray Goose Island, and many
others ; hut those names are not to he relied on.
On the south shore are the Ihitton j^'roup, Akpatok
Island, a lar<,'e hold island in Ungava liay, CJreen Island,
Long Island, and, as supposed, many others.
There are two large rivers emptying into Ungava
r>ay, — Whale Iliver and the Koksoak or South liiver; of
these very little is known. The George liiver, jjrohahly
about forty miles in length, forms the boundary between
East ^lain and Labrador.
The tides in Ungava Bay rise to thirty or even forty
feet, and the curients rush with mueh force, particularly
at the narrows and at the mouth.
The Hudson Strait current is regularly east from Fox
Channel, carrying much ice when the arctic ice is moving
southward.
lioving bands of Esquimaux frequent the shores of
the strait during the summer months ; but otherwise they
are uninhabited. The region including Fox Channel,
which is bounded on the west by Melville Peninsula
and Southampton Island ; on the east by liatlin Land ;
on the north by Coekburn Island ; and on the south by
Hudson Bay proper, may be described generally as icy,
l)iirt of it being within the arctic circle. The extreme
length of Fox Channel is about 350 miles, with an uni-
furni width of about 100 miles. The large island of
Suutliampton lies at its mouth, about opposite to Hud-
son Strait, and Wager Inlet opens into it on the western
shore, about 66° north latitude, 87° west longitude.
Very little is known of Fox Channel, except from the
account of Fox, or of the shores, except from the reports
of Hearne.
James Bay, at the southern end of Hudson Bay, is
4 ;;
; /
I' '/
304
COMPENDIUM OP GEOGRAPHY AxND TRAVEL.
M
1
V',
■fi
eiglity miles in width at its moiitli, and has a pretty
uniform breadth throughout its entire length, M-Jiich is
about 300 miles. The islands of Agoomska and Charlton
lie towards the lower end. The waters of James l>ay jire
muddy,and near the shore shallow and braekish. The eoasts
are low, and slightly undulating. They are well wooded,
and some of the spruce timber is of fair size. Passing
northward, a strip of land, several miles in width, along a
part of East ]\Iain, appears suitable for agrieultural i)ur-
podcs. In approaching Cape Jones, the larger trees begin
to retire from the shore ; and the woods are interspersed
with i)ark-like openings, which give the country a i)leas-
ing and romantic a])]iearanco. The coast is 1 ringed with
a labyrinth of low islands of different sizes, consisting of
rounded rocks in sitv, boulders, shingle, gravel, and sand,
and outside of these are many reefs of the same materials,
only bare at low tide.
The southern shore of James ]">ay, as well as the
region on the west, as far as Nelson, enjoy a milder
climate auJ a richer soil tlian is found in the corresiwnd-
ing latitude on East Main. This dillerence in climate,
referred to elsewliere, is sujiposed to arise from the
iniluence of the warm westerly \vinds, and it produces
a marked elfoct on the vegetation. Summer frosts are
avoided, and the more hardy grains, as well as root crops
and ord /ary garden vegetables, thrive.
rroceetliug nortliward along the western shore, the
soil and climate are favourable to the coarser grains,
until the Xelson liiver, about 57° north latitude, is
]»assed ; while as far as the Churchill Piver cro])S may
be grown.
The following rivers falling into Hudson Uay, on the
"Western sliore, are here siin])ly named, as thi^se that are
known wUl be sjiecially described iiuther on. They are
the Dubauut, falling into Chesterfield Inlet, in latitude
HUDSON B\Y.
305
64° 30' north, 100° 40' west,— the inh^t is 250 miles
long, and twenty-five miles wide ; the Seal, North,
Churchill, Nelson, Hayes, Severn, Weenisk, Trout, Equan,
Attahwahpiskat, and Alhany.
At the southern end the Moose, Massiwaiba, Oggotika,
Matta-ganii, and Abittibe.
On the East i\Iain shore, proceeding northward, the
Harrikanaw, Noddawai, llupert, East Main, Big lliver,
Seal, Whale and Little Whale, Nastapoka, and Langlands,
with many others still imnanied.
North of Cape Jonos the coast is described in the
report of the (Jeoh)gical Survey of Canada for 1877-78.
The water there becomes as clear as that of the Atlantic
Ocean. A change in the marine fauna is also noticed —
new species of fishes and a number of the lower marine
animals, which had not been observed farther south, make
their appearance, while others which had been previously
seen now become abundant.
The shore begins to be higher and bolder, and these
characteristii's increase as we go north. The hills near
the coast rise to a lieight at first of a few hundred feet,
and then to 1000 and even 2000 feet above the sea.
Instead of the gently undulating outline which has
hitherto jtrevailed, the shore becomes rugged and pre-
cipitous.
The islands are bold and lie in regular succession.
They vary in si/e from mere rocks to thirty miles in
length. ]\lost of the larger ones have a crescent-sha})ed
outline, the convex side facing the mainland, and gene-
rally presenting a clilf of greater or less height, while the
top of the island slopes to the west and dips at a gentle
angle under the sea.
Tory Island, aliout thirty miles in length, lies off Ca])e
Jones. A short distance ahead is Long Island Sound, full
of reefs.
X
I II
I! I
306
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRArilY AND TRAVEL.
')
i
The Manitoimuck cliain of islands, forty miles in
length, beyins opposite to the mouth of (Jrcat Whale
River.
The Manitounuck Sound, inside of this chain, is narrow
and completely sheltered from the open sea, and looks
somethin,^ like a river in sailing through it. The Nasta-
poka chain begins opposite to the mouth of Little Whale
River, and runs for ninety miles at a distance varying from
ten and a-half to five miles from the mainland, the inter-
vening water being called Nastapoka Sound.
The Nastapoka and Langlands rivers, which empty
into this sound, have each a beautiful fall at the mouth.
The Hopev'oll chain of islands, farther north, lies close to
the main shore ; the sound of the same name averaging
only about one mile in width. At the end of this chain
we come to Cape Dufferin, in al)out bS° 45' north lati-
tude, the most prominent cape on the east C(jast of Hud-
son Bay.
The coast has now become somcAvliat lower than it
was to the south. From Manitounuck Sound, to a point
thirty-two miles north of the inlet of Ilichmond Cilulf,
rocks similar to the upi)er co])per-bearing rocks of Lake
Superior — dolomites, sandstones, and traps — are largely
developed.
Richmond Gulf, north of which trees are no longer seen
on the coast, is a remarkable sheet of salt water, triangular
in outline, and measuring about twenty-five miles from
north to south, by fifteen miles from east to west. It is
connected witli the sea by a gorge a mile in length, but
only a few chains wide, cut through the high ridge which
lies ' 'tween the gulf and Hudson Bay.
This gorge is too narrow to allow the gulf to fill up
with every rise of the tide, or to empty itself at the ebb
to a level with the low-water mark outside. The result
is that, with the exception of a few minutes at each turn
II
HUDSON BAY COMPANY.
307
of tide, the water rushes out and in through this rocky
canon, causing wliirlpools and eddies, which are sometimes
dangerous to small craft.
The water at this place never freezes, and the locality
is much resorted to by water-fowl, seals, and white por-
poises, which are numerous in the summer time. The
scenery around Richmond Gulf is extremely wild, grand,
and picturesque.
Mosquito Bay, an inlet of considerable size, and near
the entrance to Hudson Strait, is not described, and has
probably never been explored.
On the western coast, about Churchill River, the land
is high and rocky ; but at York Factory, at the mouth of
the Hayes River, latitude 57° 2' north, longitude 92° 40'
west, it is low and swampy. At the mouth of the
Severn it is too low to permit of ships approaching the
coast. At Moose Factory, in James Bay, the anchorage
is good. In the southern part of this basin many of the
well-known timber trees of Canada, including red and
white pine, are found. The spruce is the last to disap-
pear as one goes northward, but is suitable for building
purposes as far as Fort Ueorge on the east and Fort
Churchill on the west shore. The tamarac or larch {Larix
Americana) has the same limits. The balsam fir reaches
nearly to Fort George. Tiie Banksian pine is found near
York Factory. Of the deciduous trees willows extend
farthest north, the balsam, poplar, aiul aspen coming next.
The white birch has the same range as tlie latter.
The Hudson Bay Company have ten stations or
trading ]iosts on tlie bay, with resident agents. At these
points the trade with the interior is carried on, supplies
of goods are received from London, and shipments of furs
are returned.
The ships visit the bay once a year. Passing from
Britain vid the Orkneys, they enter the bay generally
308
COMrENlJlUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TIJAVEL.
1^'
about the middle of July, aud leave about the middle of
September.
At the mouth of t^ie Churchill River are now standing
the ruins of a fort, 100 yards square, with walls seven-
teen feet thick, originally mounting forty guns. This
fort was builc by the Hudson Bay Company at an
expense of about $120,000, the dressed stone for the
front of the walls having been imported from England.
It was constructed probably more for the protection of
the territorial rights of the Company, which were menaced
by the French, than as a protection against the Indians.
In 1704, Peronse, the French admiral, demanded its
surrender, to which Hearne discreditably acceded.
To the west of Hudson Bay game abounds, and the
fur-bearing animals afford supplies to the Hudson Bay
Company, who, although they have not now a monopoly
of the trade, prosecute it as formerly.
As the navigation of Hudson P>ay and Strait is now
attracting much attention, the question of the practi-
cability of establishing an ocean steam line for trade and
immigration purposes between Europe and the north-west
of the Dominion by this route, may be considered.
Assuming that a railway be constructed westward
from the western shore of Hudson Bay, as is now pro-
posed, along the valley of the I»J'elson IJiver, and for
which a charter has been obtained, the importance of
this route is evident as shortening the distance to the
fertile agricultural districts of the great prairie section of
Central Canada, as well as that of the transcontinental
route. Stretching a ta])e line over a terrestrial globe, it
will be seen that the distance between Liverpool aud New
York is about ninety miles more than the distance from
Liverpool to the Nelson River, aud this point is lialf-way
to the Pacific Ocean.
It is further claimed that this northern route, for
(
NAVIGATION OF HUDSON BAY.
309
of
:al
it
3W
pUl
ay
lor
climatic reasons, possesses special advantages for the
transmission of grains and meats.
The inii)ortant points to be proved are, that the navi-
■uation of tliis strait and of Hudson Bay is open a suffi-
ciently long season for the purpose of trade and immigra-
tion, and is safe.
A very valuable report on the question, prepared by
liieutenant-Colonel J. S. Dennis, Deputy Minister of the
Interior, and published in 1878, is a synopsis of the
latest information on the subject. The report can only
be referred to briefly, but is worthy of attentive perusal.
It is there stated that Professor Hind considers
a Canadian Archangel may be established on Hudson
Bay, and that with strongly - built steamers, properly
handled, and using the magnetic -electric light in the
latter part of the season, the navigation of this strait is
jierfectly practicable during the months of June, July,
August, September, and October.
This opinion seems to be confirmed by that of other
j)ersons, as well as by facts.
For more than two hundred years, from two to five
sailing vessels on an average, frequently with war ships
convoying them, have sailed annually from Europe to
Port Nelson or other ports in Hudson Bay, and returned
with cargoes the same season, vid the only available
route, Hudson Strait.
What was practicable for the old-fashioned sailing
ships is now rendered comparatively easy in consequence
of the great changes which have taken place during the
last ten years in the prosecution of the sealing industry,
which has established the fact that properly constructed
vessels of large ca])acity are, in skilful hands, perfectly
adapted to push their way through ice-encumbered seas.
The difficulty in this route is that of effecting an
entrance into Hudson Strait from Davis Strait, for so
310
compp:ndium of geoguapuy and travel.
i!
,
soon as the east entrance is passed the navigation is
comparatively easy to the westward, since the Hoe ice, if
driven, as it usually is, by the winds to the south shore,
leaves the north sliore free, and vice vcrsd.
Lieuteni'.iit Edward Chappell, R.N., of H.M.S. liosa-
mond, visited Hudson Bay, and in the narrative of his
voyage, published in 1817, adverts to the advisability of
merchants sending a strongly-built brig into Hudson
Strait early in the month of June, so as to reach Cape
Saddleback before tlie Company's ships arrive, with a
view to trade with the Esquimaux of those coasts. He
states that a vessel intended for this trade should
not remain in the strait later than the beginning of
Octol)er.
This would cover a period of about four months,
according to Lieutenant Chappell, for a sailing brig, and
with properly found steamers this term might be ex-
tended probably two weeks. He further states that it is
not to be expected that ships, during their return to
Europe from Hudson Bay, will ever meet with loose ice,
and that when at York Factory they consequently undid
all their preparations for sailing among ice.
Eobson, in his Accotint of Hudson Bay, considers
that a safe passage may often be found through Hudson
Strait in the beginning of June, before the ice breaks up
in the bay, and is carried by winds and currents into the
strait. He argues that the ice at the bottom of the
bay, the north ice and the west ice, will not have time
to reach the strait, " but that after June all the bay ice
commonly reaches it," The beginning of June, therefore,
seems to be the likeliest time in which to expect a free
passage.
Mr. Davidson, the master of the Hudson Bay Com-
pany's ship Prince of Wales, informed Sir Edward Parry
that, after reaching and leaving the headland called the
NAVIGATION OF HUDSON BAY.
311
North Bluff, lying immediately above the Savage Islands,
about the middle of the strait, they seldom met with
any very serious obstruction, except from a body of
ice which they usually have to penetrate near Charles
Island.
Sir Edward Parry states that the ebb-tides which
come down the strait are not so strong as the Hood-
tides which go up it, and that in his second voyage he
was twenty-two days in the passage of the strait after
entering, and but three days in the return passage.
Lieutenant Chappell was twenty-four days between
tlie entrance and Charles Island, and on his return left
York Factory on the 18th of September, a^d nached
Cape Desolation on the 6 th of October and the Orkneys
on the 19 th of the same month.
With steamers like those now engaged on the New-
foundland and Labrador Coast in the seal fishery, the
return voyage would probably have been accomplished in
thirteen or fifteen days.
The extent to which ice forms in Hudson Bay is
not known ; but, judging from the statements of Hearne,
whose opportunities for acquiring information were ex-
cellent, ten miles from the shore may be the extreme
limit on the deeper and north-westerly portions. The
southern part of the bay and the eastern portion probably
freeze over a much larger area than the north-western
portion.
The objective point in Hudson Strait, which it is
desirable to attain at the earliest possible date in the
summer, is North Bluff, in the rear of the Upper Savage
Islands, from which place, as already stated, the Hud-
son Bay Company's ships generally take their departure
across the strait into Hudson Bay. Baffin anchored
here in 1615. In Parry's chart the Savage Islands are
represented as a small group, eleven in number, pro-
312
COMI'ENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
I!!
.'(
I',
;>
tectiDg tlie enlrance to North Bay, a deep opening in
their rear. In his work is a sketch of the largest
island, which he examined and dejcrihed in 1821.
The clilt's of the eastern island rise between 400 to 500
feet above the sea, and the highest portion to which
Parry ascended is from GOO to 800 feet above the
ocean. Here the group is a conspicuous object, and
affords ancliornge-ground. From this point Parry took
his observations on the tides, and on that occasion North
Bay in the rear was entirely free of ice.
The great rise and fall of the tides in such a narrow
strait gives colour to the statement that ice never forms
entirely across it, for it is well known that no agent is so
powerful in preventing the formation of ice in northern
latitudes as strong and continued tides and currents.
Hence the suggestion of Lieutenant Chappell and Robson,
that Hudson Strait should be entered early in June,
before the ice brealvs up in the bay and is carried into
the strait, acquires special importance in connection with
the shelter afforded by the Savage Islands and North Bay.
Here, if necessary, steamers might wait for the moving of
the ice in Hudson Bay. Supposing that open water
does not exist throughout the winter, or in the early
spring, between Mansfield and the adjoining large island,
thirty miles distant, it is extremely improbable that at
the entrance to Hudson Bay, where the water is deep,
ice ever forms a continuous barrier. The statement of
Hcarne, that in the northern parts ice forms only " several
miles " from the shore, is entirely opposed to its doing so,
and, conjointly with the great range of the tides, it may
reasonably be supposed that the ice seen a month later
in the season consists of ice drifting easterly. Captain
James alleges that when he wintered in the southern
part of James Bay, ice was formed as far as the eye
could see. This is very probable, for James Bay, though
i*;.
ICE IN HUDSON STKAIT.
313
much farther to the o(tiith, is very sliallow, and its waters
for miles from the shore are brackish only.
The Hudson Bay Company's ships, between the
years 1773 and 1813, according to a table given by
Lieutenant Chappell, arrived during the months of July,
ranging from the 20th to the 31st, and from the 1st
to the 2 2d of August, and two arrived in September,
namely, 2d and 13th of September; but no criterion of
the time when the navigation opened can be formed
from these dates, as the vessels were old, and were
frequently under convoy ; and further, no object could be
gained by their early arrival at the eastern entrance to
Hudson IJay, since one voyage each year to and fro was
all that was required by the exigencies of the trade.
As to the dangers arising from ice. Sir Eihvard Parry
states that " the effects to be. apprehended from exi)osure
to the swell of the main ocean constitute the peculiar
danger of first entering the ice about the mouth of
Hudson Strait, which is completely open to the inliu-
ence of the Atlantic. A very inconsiderable quantity of
loose ice is suliicient to shelter a ship from the sea,
provided it be closely packed ; but when the masses
are se})arated by wind and tide, so as to admit the
swell, the concussions soon became too violent for a ship,
strengthened in the ordinary way, to withstand for any
length of time. On this account it is prudent not to
enter the ice without a fair prospect of getting seven or
eight leagues within the margin. For the same reason
also, when likely to be beset near the sea, it is better
to make a ship fast to small than to large pieces, in
order to avoid the heavier concussions occasioned by the
latter."
The Newfoundland, the Dundee, and the Norwegian
sealing steamers, properly protected, push their way into
the apparently illimitable fields of ice in March and April
I\
314
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHT AND TRAVKL.
III
'i
V4[
ll
in pursuit of seals seeking the ico, for it is there only tliat
they can capture the seals. There are now twenty-five
sealing steamers of large size in Newfoundland waters,
and during the past ten years tliey have nearly driven
the sailing craft from this, formerly styled, hazardous
enterprise. It is not unreasonable to suppose that at the
present day, wlien ice navigation is so thoroughly under-
stood, not only by the captains of sealing vessels but
by steam winders, the passage through Hudson Strait,
successfully accomplished for 200 years by bulky and
unwieldy sailing vessels and vessels of war, as well as
by whalers, will become an easy problem. The French
not unfrequently sent vessels of war into Hudson Bay,
and more than once tlicy destroyed the Hudson Bay
forts. All these facts show that old-fashioned sailing craft
successfully accomplished for nearly two centuries, for
the purposes of a limited trade, a supposed obstructed and
hazardous navigation, which the interests of a country as
large as the empire of Germany now invite us to encounter
with the modern protected steamer, the magneto-electric
light, and the experience of trained and skilful navigators.
Mr. Horetsky, who resided for several years in Hud-
son Bay, says that the Hudson Bay Company never
lost one of their own vessels until the year 1864, when
the Prince of Wales and consort went ashore at Mansfield
Island, " with studding-sails set."
It appears certain that some of the popular impres-
sions respecting the icy character of Hudson Strait and
Bay have arisen from the accounts which have been
published from time to time of the climate and coast-line
of Northern Labrador, which is not unfrequently neared
on entering the strait. The descriptions given by the
Moravian missionaries of the dangers attending an ap-
proach to that coast, as far north as Hebron, before the
month of August, are no doubt truthful pictures of reali-
ICE CURRENTS OF LABRADOR COAST.
315
tics as they api)eared for the first time to the eyes of
tiiese inexperienced saihjrs. Bnt the coast-line of North-
ern Labrador is the unfortunate recipient of the com-
bined eliects of no less than three se])arate arctic or su))-
arctic ice streams. These are the East Greeidand ice
stream, the Ballin Bay and Davis Strait ice streams, and
the Hudson Strait ice stream. All of these ice-encum-
bered cuircnts meet in the summer on the coast of
Northern Labrador, and are the cause of its exceptionally
cold climate. The reason why the eastern entrance to
Hudson Strait is encumbered in early summer arises
from the ice of the combined East Greenland and Davis
Strait current sweeping in a broad stream past its entrance
towards the Labrador coast, on which it is pressed by the
earth's rotation.
The only hindrance to an entrance into and through
Hudson Strait, early in June, arises from the olistruc-
tion presented by the two ice streams coming from East
Greenland and Baffin Bay, down the west coast of
Davis Straits. It is reasonable to suppose that these ice
streams are less encumbered late in May or early in June
than in July.
The str-ait once entered, the chief difficulty is over ;
and if entered before the ice comes down, as alleged, from
Hudson Bay, Bluff Head may be reached and a new
departure taken, as suggested by the authorities quoted.
It is doubtful whether the northern portion of the
bay ever freezes " several miles " from the shore, and it
remains to be seen whether much, or indeed any, ice does
come out of Hudson Bay. It is probable that the ice
spoken of as coming from the bay really comes down Fox
Channel, as showu by the drift of H.M.S. Terror, repre-
sented on the Admiralty chart. There are two reasons
for supposing that very little ice comes from. Hudson
Bay. The first is, it would imply the constant occurrence
316
COMPENDIUM OF GEOORAPIIY AND TIIAVEL.
I'
/(
of strong southerly winds and a considcraltle space of
time to carry the ice from so large a surface as Hudson
Buy through the contined channels leading into Hudson
Strait, and experience teaches that ice is rarely met with
after passing Charles Island, except towards the centre of
the l)!iy. Moreover, from the description of the ice met
in Hudson Strtiit, it is largely composed of hummocky
or heavy Arctic ice, which comes down Fox Channel f/oni
the north. It is more prohable that the Hudson Bay
ice melts and disappears within the limits of the bay it-
self. The second reason is, that tiie early o])ening of the
ice on the west coast of the bay, — admitting the salmon
and caplin to the shores in the latter part of June, even
so far north as Churchill, and six weeks before the North-
ern Labrador coast is free from ice, — ap])ears to show
that local dissohition is the chief, if not the only, cause of
the disappearance of the bay ice, and its remnant is
occasionally found in the eddy near the centre of the
bay in Jidy. If the bay ice found its way into Hud-
son Strait, these would be most liable to be blocked up
between Mansfield and Digges Islands, but this part
is represented to be always clear.
It may, with great propriety, be asked. Why should a
patch be found near the centre of the bay ? If the bay
ice drifts out into the strait, would not the ice under
such circumstances be found near Mansfield Island instead
of at the centre of the bay ? Why does the central patch
not follow the stream ?
Hence the greater reason for adopting the suggestion
of Lieutenant Chappell, and entering Hudson Strait early
in June, before the Arctic ice from Fox Channel co^nes
clown, as shown by the Terror's drift.
At all points of the route through Hudson Strait and
tlie entrance to Hudson Bay, where ice accumulations
are met with, the Channel, never exceeding forty-five
■nil
I
Til
TIIK rORT NELSON ROUTE.
317
miles in Lriiadth, is siiniciently noar for tel('<,'rapliic coin-
iiiunicatioii hy means of maj^neto-electric lij^jhts fnjm one
side to the other, so tliat instant advantage could be taken
of information conveyed respectinj^ the condition of the ice
in the early summer. In a tideway where the tides rise
at neaps thirty, and at 8])rinj,'s iorLy feet, and where the
daily swin<;' of tiio tides is from twelve to twenty miles,
carrying ice 1 tack ward and forward through that space
twice every day, fresh channels are constantly opening,
which a steamer can avail herself of, Iwit whicli are use-
less to a sailing vessel, except with a fair wind.
The importance of the opeiung of this route will b(^
understood when a comparison is made of distances.
Port Nelson, on the western side of Hudson IJay, is
distant from Liverpool 2941 miles, New York is 3040
miles, — a difference of ninety-nine miles in favour of the
Hudson Vniy route in the sea voyage.
In inland carriage the great advantage for imn-igrants,
as well as for imports and exports, will be evident.
Between Winnipeg and Liverpool, vid Hudson Tny,
there would be a saving of inland carriage, as com] tared
with the route vid New York or Halifax, of about 2000
miles — a consideration whicli i^ likely to produce its
effects in hastening the completion of the Hudson lUiy
and Nelson liiver L'ailway.
On the transcontinental route there is a saving in dis-
tance of over 2000 miles, thus : —
Liverpool to Japan, vid New York and San Francisco,
12,078 miles ; Liverpool to Ja])an, vid Port Nelson and
the Canadian Pacilic liailway to Burrard Inlet, 9734 miles,
or a saving in miles of 2352.
The Port Nelson and Hudson Bay liailway, 400
miles in length, is now being surveyed, the Canadian
Pacific road is already built to a point 400 miles west of
Winnipeg, and will be carried by the end of the summer
318
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
II
of 1882 to the base of the Rocky Mountains — 800 miles
distant from the point at present reached. Tlie comple-
tion '^f the line to Burrard Inlet on tlie Pacific cuast, being
the dirticult portion of the road, will doubtless require
four to five years, but may possibly, from the energy of
the syndicate now at work, be finished even at an earlier
date tlian is now anticipated.
It is not necessary to enlarge on the imperial and
Dominion interests which are alfected by these facts, as
the figures speak for themselves, and the intelligent man
will appreciate their importance on the questions of im-
migration and commerce.
^i
k
1
4. Tlie Arctic Coa<if:
Leaving Hudson Bay, we now follow the northern
coast of the continent, skirting the North Polar Sea.
Little as is accurately known of this sea, its discovery
and exploration have tasked and develo|)ed more skill
and heroism than perhaps all tlie rest of the world ; and
although Parry, in 1827, by means of sledges reached 82°
45' to the north of Spitzbergen ; Hall, in 1871, attained
82° IG' in the Polai'is, by the way of Smith Sound ; and
Markham in Nares' Expedition reached 83° 20', — tliero
is still an area round the Pole, estimated iit 2,500,000
square miles, which is a blaidc to geographers. Various
opinions are held as to whetlier this vast area is occupied
by an open polar sea, or by a continuance of the archi-
pelago of ishmds found on its confines. jMarkham, one
of the best authorities^ on Polar explorations, cites the
opinion of Admiral Osborn, that the ice-pack to the north
of the American continent is land l)ound, either by islands,
or possibly by a continent of which Lincoln, Ellesmere,
^ Threshold of the Unknoivii llajiom. Clements B. Jlaikliiua, C.B.,
F.R.3., London, 18/3.
THE AllCTIC COAST.
319
and Grinncll land, to the west of Smith Sound, may
form parts. Sir Kobert MH.'lure appears to hold similar
views, but the wliole is mere conjecture, based on the
ap]iearance of the ice, and the movement of the tides and
currents. These currents are eastward, the Pacific cur-
rents passiuff throuji'li Uering Strait into the Arctic Ocean,
and the arclic current into the Atlantic by Davis Strait.
As will be seen, on reference to a map, the boundary
line of ex])loration to the north of the American con-
tinent skirts the coast of the mainland, from Bering
Strait to about the 12oth meridian, and thence north-
ward around the Parry Islands to Jones Sound, and
then follows Smith Sound to 82° 16', where it ends.
It is a curious fact, however, that a wide sheet of
navigable water is invariably found during the sum-
mer months at the upper end of l>at}in Bay, and
for some distance within Lancaster and Sniitli Sounds,
although there is a formidable l)arrier of ice between this
"north water" and Davis Strait of l70 to 200 miles in
extent. ]')utlin worked his way through this ice-pack in
1()16, and although no man followed him for 200
years, still it is now regularly passed by the whalers
in the prosecution of their voyages.
This open water is attended by a somewhat milder
cliuiate than is found farther south, and affords encour-
agement to explorers of yet reaching the I'ole by this
channel. Parry, it will be remend)ered, found himself
carried southward on the " ice-pack," on which he had
started in sledges, faster than he ])rogressed nortliward ;
but sliould tiie ice on the Canadian side of the Polar Sea
he laiul-bound, the I'ole niav vet be reached from this
side.
In 1832 Poss established the IMaguetic Pole at
70^ 5' 17" north, and 06° 46' 45" west. "
The only section of the arctic coast tolerably well
•IT
f
320
COMPKXDIUM OF GEOGllAPHY AND TIIAVKL.
.'/
I
:{
known at a distance from the continent, is that whicli
lies to the nortli-east of British America, now the
Dominion of Canada.
This arises from the efforts made since the time of
Davis, in 1585, to find a nortli-west passage, and from
the search aftar the lost Franklin, or later from Polar
scientific expeditions. Through these means the coast of
the mainland has been determined, and although the
north-west passage is found to be practically barred by
ice, still geographical as well as scientific knowledge has
been extended, and we may now describe this coast, to
which these " heroes of the north " have given a location
and a name.
The mainland of the Dominion of Canada stretches
from Alaska, 140° 30' west longitude, to Fox Channel
in the east, a distance of about 1000 miles. This coast
line follows pretty closely the 70 th parallel, but is
broken by bays and peninsulas, Boothia Felix, at Bellot
Strait, 71° 55' north, 95° west, being the most northerly
point.
The coast is generall}^ low and flat, but is in some
parts high and rocky. A small range of mountains lies
between the mouths of the Mackeuzie and Coppermine
rivers, and runs parallel with and near to the coast. It
is irregular i'rom wide indentations, rather than from
narrow inlets, as is the case on a heavy sea-washed coast.
Tjiis is probably owing to the ice-guard of the solid pack,
which skirts the coast at a short distance seaward, as well
as to the archipelago of islands to the north.
The principal bays met, in following the coast from
west to east, are Mackenzie Bay, at the mouth of the
river of the same name, 69° north, 135° west; Erskine
Sound, Franklin, Darnlcy, Duke of York or Coronation
Gulf, M'Laughlin, and Boothia Gulf, and the unnamed bay
at the mouth of the Back or great Fish liiver, where it
THE ARCTIC COAST.
321
will be remembered Dr. Eae, in 1859, and later Sclnvatka,
in 1878, found the only relics of tlie Franklin party.
The capes and peninsulas following the same order,
and of which the latitudes and longitudes are only ap-
proximately stated, are — Cape Bathurst, 70° 30' north,
128° west; Kent, 68° north, 107° west; Adelaide, 68°
north, 98° west; Boothia Felix, 72° north, 95° west;
Simpson, 68° north, 89° west; and Melville, 69° north,
83° west.
The straits alongside the coast, and again following
the same direction, are the Dolphin and Union, Dease,
Victoria, Franklin, Bellot, Boothia Gulf, Hecla and Fury,
Fox Channel and Frobisher or Hudson Strait.
The rivers met in like order are the Mackenzie,
named after its discoverer, who sailed down it in 1793,
and reached the Arctic Sea.
Two smaller rivers, discovered by Dease and Simpson,
are found between the Mackenzie and the Coppermine
rivers.
The Coppermine Eiver, discovered by Hearne in 1771,
enters the ocean at 68° north, 116° west, but is not
navigable.
The Back, or great Fish Paver, discovered by Back
in 1834, has its mouth in the sound south of King
"William Land, about tlie 95th meridian.
Tlie arcliipelago of islands between the 125th meridian
and Baffin Bay may be classed in four groups —
The western, consisting of Banks Land and Victoria
and Albert Land.
The central, of King William, the Prince of "Wales,
and Xorth Somerset Islands.
The northern, of the I'arry Islands ; and the eastern,
of Baffin Land, consisting of the vast mainlands of Fox
and Cockburn Lands, and several smaller islands.
To the uortli-east of the Parry Islands, and separated
Y
\nri
322
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
1/
4
from Greenland by Smith Sound, and from the Parry-
Islands by Belcher and Jones Straits, lie tlie yet un-
delined Ellesmere and Grinnell Lands. Kane, and
afterwards Hall, sailed up Smith Sound, the latter to
82° 16'. Nares in 1876 took his vessels up to Dis-
covery Bay, and one, the Alert, wintered in latitude
82° 27', the highest latitude yet attahied by any ship.
He explored in sledges the coasts, which trend almost
at right angles with Smith Sound, for a distance of 200
miles to the west, and 100 to the east, finding a sea of
ancient ice to the north and north-west ; and jMarkham
and Parr sledged to latitude 83° 20' 26", the nearest
point to the l*ole yet reached. And here we may be
allowed to turn southward to Baffin Land,
Battiu Land stretches from Frobisher or Hudson
Strait, 61° 40' north, to Lancaster Sound, 74° north, a
distance of about 800 miles. At Cape "Walsingham, 66°
north, 60° 40' west, Baffin Land extends towards Green-
land, and forms Davis Strait.
This group is cut by several inlets, connecting Fox
Channel and Boothia Gulf with Baffin Bay, but these
liave never been explored. Cockburn Island, the most
northward of the group, is separated from jMelville Pen-
insula by the Fury and Hecla Strait on the south, and
from the Parry Islands on the north by Lancaster Sound.
Cumberland Sound, a large gulf opening into Davis
Strait, lies parallel with and to the north of Frobisher
Strait, running north-north-west apparently 150 miles,
with an average width throughout the whole length of
about thirty miles.
Between Cockburn Island and Boothia Felix Peninsula,
with its adjacent North Somerset Island, lies tlie Gulf of
Boothia ; and on the opposite or western side of tlie
peninsula, and separated from it by the Franklin Channel,
is Prince of Wales Island ; while immediately to the south
THE AUCTIC AUC111PP]LAG0.
323
lie
1,
hi
of Prince of AValcs Island is Kinf? "William Island.
These three islands constitute the central group.
The narrow strait of Bellot separates the peninsula of
Boothia Felix from North Somerset Island. It will be
remembered that the existence of this strait was doubted,
and that the island for a long time was supposed to
form part of the peninsula. This peninsula is also the
last link which intervened in the coast - line explora-
tion between the exploring parties who passed from the
cast westwardly and those who took the opposite course.
Between I'rince of Wales and King William Islands
and the western group are the M'Clintock Channel and
Victoria Strait. Victoria and Albert Land miirlit be
classed as a continent, being almost double tlie size of
Xewfouudland, and yet not one-third as large as Baffin
Land. It is cut by large and deep inlets or bays. To
the westward it is separated by a lai'ge strait from the
great island of Banks Land.
The northern group of the Parry Islands consists of
the following principal islands : — The most easterly, North
Devon ; and in their order westwardly, Bathurst, Melville,
and Prince Patrick, besides numberless small islands.
This region is constantly ice-bound, and the land is
almost destitute of vegetation. There are traces in
fossil trees of a warmer climate than now exists, but
animal life is now almost confined to the waters, which
are rich in mammalia and fishes. Navigation is re-
stricted to the midsummer months, and even then it is
uncertain and precarious in many of the straits.
At Smith Sound, however, musk ox, reindeer, and
game abound, and Kane reports having foimd groves of
trees one foot in diameter. Traces of Esquimiuix settle-
ments exist here, and some are supposed to be still
located north of Hall's highest point.
Notwithstanding the sterility of the soil and the rigour
1 1 '■
324
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPllY AND TRAVEL.
of the climate, these nortliern seas have a commercial
value which is not yet fully appreciated. Here is the
home and the pasture of the seal, the walrus, and the
whale, as well as of the highly-prized tahle-fish, the cod,
the haddock, and the herring. Herein is no stint, and
the ever- increasing fleets of the hardy whalers, who
annually reap their abundant harvests, prove that the
riches of the land may be surpassed by those of the
waters. And from the fertility of the sources of repro-
duction, it may be hoped that here at least the destructive
agency of man will be unable to impair the supply.
5.
Tlie Pacific Coast.
The length of the coast-line of British Columbia has
been estimated at about 10,000 miles, a predicate on
that of Norway, the latter on actual measurement
having been found to have in its indented line tliirteen
times the length of its coast in a straight line. In point
of fact the British Columbia coast is much more deeply
indented than that of Norwav, some of the inlets being
upwards of fifty miles.
From San Francisco, as far as the Strait of Fuca, the
coast presents a line remarkably free from indentations ;
thence northwards, however, it is broken into a perfect
maze of inlets, forming in their ramifications countless
islands of greater or less extent.
The minute explorations of this extraordinary archi-
pelago by Vancouver in the years 1791-93 have given
maps, the accuracy of which, under the circumstances,
has excited the admiration of succeeding navigators.
Outside of the archipelago lie two principal islands,
Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Islands, divided from each
other by a broad sound, and extending from the Strait of
Fuca on the south to the frontier of Alaska on the north.
I
VANCOUVER ISLAND.
oor.
o ^ o
ill
|is,
Ich
lof
th.
Vancouver Island extends in a north-western direction
from latitude 48° 20' to latitude 51° in length, nearly
250 geographical miles, its greatest breadth opposite to
Nootka being about seventy miles.
The shores are boldly ijicturesque, with piany pro-
montories, clitl's, harbours, coves, and beaches. The west
coast is cut by arms and inlets, niiirgined by rugged
mountains bearing fir, hemlock, and cedar ; here and
there the shore is skirted by lower wooded hills, among
which, and along many streams, small patches of open or
wooded flat land are found. There are no inlets on the
north or east coasts, but in other respects the above
description applies also to them. Near Jolinston Strait
the shore-line is even more continuously mountainous and
abrupt than on the west coast, Farther down tlie east
coast, and also in the south-eastern part of the island,
the coast is lower, and the proportion of Hat or gently
undulating land, good for farming, increases, some of
which is open or thiidy timliered. The prevaihng
timber near the coast is the magniiicent Douglas fir,
wliich often attains dimensions second only to those of
the Sequoia of California and the Eucalyptus of Australia.
Victoria, the seat of government and cai)ital of the
province, is situated near the south-eastern extremity of
the island, where the adjoining Strait of Fuca is aliout
seventeen miles in breadth. The position of this rising
city, both as a distributing point for the province at large,
and as a nucleus for foreign trade, is extremely favour-
able ; and the fact of its being the first available seaport
north of San Francisco confers on it additional importance.
Esquimault, three miles distant, is an extensive har-
bour, capable of receiving vessels of the largest size, and
is tlie station of Her Majesty's ships on the I'acific
coa The harbour is eight and a half miles distant
from the Eace Eocks, and is distinguished by the white
T
326
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAI'IIY AND TRAVEL.
/ N '
M.
ill
w,
'<i
■ III
tower of the Fisgard Light, which marks tlie western
point of the entrance. This is a safe and excellent
anchorage for ships of any size, and with the aid of tlie
lighthouse the harbour may be entered at any time with
great facility ; the holding-ground is good, being of a
tenacious blue clay. The extent of this fine harbour is
about three miles by two miles, with an average depth
of six to eight fathoms, and round the whole of the
irregular circle described numerous rocky promontories,
with outlying islands and gently sloping sandy bays, form
the chief feature of the scene. Great natural advantages
and facilities exist for the extension of townships and
formation of docks, and there is no doubt but that this
favoured spot will remain the established headquarters of
the Royal Naval Force in the Pacific.
About seventy miles from Victoria, on the eastern or
inner shore of the island, is Nanaimo, a small town of
local importance, originally established in connection with
the coal mines wrought in that vicinity, and around which
other interests have sprung up.
Comox and Nelson Districts, about forty miles above
Nanaimo, on the eastern shore, are prosperous agricultural
settlements ; while distant from the former, five and seven
miles respectively, are the Union and Beaufort Coal-Mines.
Cowitchan, also an agricultural settlement, is situated
between Nanaimo and Victoria, upon a river bearing the
same name. Passing Esquimault westward, along the
Strait of Fuca, are the settlements of Metchosin and
Sooke,
6. Queen Charlotte Islands.
The group consists of two
large
islands and two
smaller ones lying in an archipelago of islets. The four
principal ones, called Graham, Moresby, North, and
Prevos, are divided merely by narrow arms of the sea.
QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS.
327
This gi'oup is described as the Eden of the North Pacific.
The climate is very delightful, caused, in some degree, by
the Pacific Gulf Stream that skirts the coast of Japan,
and with a speed of eighty miles in twenty-four hours
runs north, and washes the coast of British Columbia.
These islands are hilly, though not mountainous, the
interior is clothed with magnificent forests of the finest
timber, and the coasts are indented with inviting harbours.
Along tlie whole coast-line of the province a perfect
labyrinth of islands exists, giving innumerable sheltered
roadsteads, and channels teeming, as well as the rivers
that empty into them, with salmon, sturgeon, mackerel,
cod, herring, etc. British Columbia occupies a command-
ing position, not only with regard to the trade of the
western part of America and the Pacific Islands, but also
with respect to India, China, Japan, and other Asiatic
countries, and the Australian colonies.
\f^
328
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TllAVEL.
J
\
1 1
u
CHAPTEE II.
THE MOUNTAINS.
1. General Features.
It is in consiclerin*^' the eftect of mountains on tlie physi-
cal character of a country, and the material interests of
its inhabitants, that we are able to appreciate their
importance. The course of the winds influencing tem-
perature, the direction of clouds distributing moisture and
causing fertihty of soil, the watershed over the plains
affording lake and river navigation, the mineral products
of the hills, and the soil in the valleys, are all more or
less attributable to the character of the mountain ranges.
They are important factors in respect to climate, fertility,
and commerce.
The mountains of Canada must be regarded as forming
a part only in the general orographical system of North
America. Their arrangement is simple but vast, and in
keeping with the general features of tlie continent. The
coast-line on the Pacific or western side, as well as on the
Atlantic or eastern one, takes its form from the two gi'eat
ranges which exist on the continent. The Eocky Moun-
tain range, on the Pacific coast, is a continuation of the
"back-bone" of the South American continent, whicli
starts at Cape Horn, continues through the Isthmus of
Central America, traverses Mexico and the United States,
and, stretching through Canada and Alaska, ends at tlie
Arctic Ocean, west of Mackenzie Eiver. The portion of
THE MOUNTAINS.
329
this range in Canada is about 1500 miles long and 400
miles broad, and includes three subdivisions, which run
parallel witli one another, north and south, known as tho
Coast, the Cascade, and the llockies, but usually classed
as the liocky Mountain IJange. Although not equal in
height to the Alps, the Andes, or the Himalayas, they rise
from a wide base to 15,000 feet. This range is tho
longest in the world, and the most extensive, having its
snow-capped peaks, its extensive cafions or gorges, its
l)eautiful valleys and forests, as well as its glaciers and
cascades, with evidences, in some cases, of late volcanic
activity in its heights. Very little is, however, known
of the range, as it has never been fully explored, and in
Canada the only parts known are the " passes."
The other great range, on the Atlantic coast, known
iis the Appalachian or Alleghany Itange, with its several
spurs having distinct names, to which we will refer farther
on, stretches from the Gulf of Mexico, on the south, to the
most northern parts of Labrador. There are several spurs
of this range in the United States, but those in Canada
occupy the north and south shores of the St. Lawrence
Eiver, and create the basin of that river and of the great
lakes connected with it. The range to tho south of the
St. LaM'rence may be said to connnence in the Cobequid
Hills in Nova Scotia, then to attain their greatest height,
of about 4000 feet, in the Shickshock Mountains of
Eastern Gaspe, and then, running in the same line as the
St. Lawrence, to receive the name of the Notre Dame
Range, which, passing through the eastern townships of
tlie province of Quebec, are connected with the Green
Mountains of Vermont and tlie Adirondacks of New
York State.
The Laurentides follow the coast -line from Northern
Labrador along the north shore of the St. Lawrence,
retiring northward from the river at a point just below
330
COMPENDIUM OP OROGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
'/
/<
'^
II
I
the foot of the island of Orleans, and, striking the Ottcawa
lliver, continue wi'stwardly north of the (Joorgian Hay on
Lake Huron, tluMi skirt Lake Superior on the north shore,
and, gradually losing their height, continue as a table-land
towards the liocky Mountains.
Taking, however, a hird's-eye view of the North
American Continent, a vast fan-shajx'd basin opens out
from the narrow isthnms adjoining the Clulf of jNIexico,
and widens northward to 4000 niilcs at the Arctic Ocean.
In such a view the continuation of the Notre Dame and
Laurentides IJanges, which diminish in height westwardly,
appear as two cross ridges of table-lands or plateaus, one
giving a watershed southward over the United States,
the other north towards the Arctic Ocean, between which
plateaus the St. Lawrence Elver escapes eastwardly. A
cross ridge again divides the Hudson Bay system from
the Arctic one, and directs the course of the Great
Mackenzie to the Northern Ocean, whilst the Saskat-
chewan and associated rivers empty into Hudson Bay.
The geographical sections of Canada, to which we
referred in the opening chapter, are thus seen to be
dependent on the lie of the mountains and the basins
of the watershed.
We now proceed to a description of the several moun-
tain ranges in Canada, following the order from east to
west.
2. Tlie Acadian Highlands.
Commencing at Cape Canso on the north-eastern
Atlantic coast, there extends, in a bold sweep, through
the centre of Nova Scotia to Cape Sable on the south-
west, a range of highlands which nowhere assume the
height of mountains, but form a broad band or axis of
rugged country of rounded gi'anite hills, or barren stony
flats, interspersed with swamps and lakes, in which the
THE ACADIAN HIGHLANDS.
3.11
streams descoiHliiif^ to the Atlantic coast, on tlie one hand,
and to the Vn\y of Fundy, on the other, have tluur sonrcea.
Nearly parallel with this ranj^'c, and sixty miles inland
from the Atlantic seaboard, are the ('olK'quid Mountains,
some of which attain elevations of 1100 feet. This rid^e
traverses the northern portion of the ]»rovin('e from Cape
Chi^Miecto, on the IJay of Fundy, to Cape rorcujiine, on
the Strait of Canso. Its summits, consistin*^ of crystalline,
•granitoid, and syenitic masses, of more ancient date than
those of the Atlantic Highlands, are clothed with a large
growth of valuable timber ; while in tlie intervening de-
pressions agricultural })roducts grow luxuriantly.
IJetween these parallel ranges is a wide and fertile
valley embracing the entire length of Xova Scotia proper.
A third parallel range of similar structure, but of
greater elevation and extent, traverses Northern New
Brunswick, from the boundary of the State of JMaine to
the Bay of Chaleura. Its drahiage gives rise to all the
great rivers of New Brunswick, and it forms, in part, the
boundary between that province and Quel)ec. To the
south of it is an extensive plateau of fertile lands, em-
bracing nearly the whole of Southern New Brunswick
and a portion of Nova Scotia.
8. The Shichslioch, Notre Dame, and Laurcntide
Mountains.
A range of mountainous country rises on each side
of the estuary of the St. Lawrence, the Laurentides on the
north, and the mountains of Notre Dame on the south.
The opposing flanks of these ranges keep close on the
margin of the water for a considerable distance up the
river.' That of the southern range begins to leave the
margin in the neighbourhood of Kamouraska, nearly a
hundred miles below Quebec, where the river is fifteen
M i!
I;
ii!
332
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
/r
miles wide. Opposite Quebec the range is tliirty miles
distant from the river, and opposite Montreal about fifty
miles, where it enters the State of Vermont to form the
eastern limit of the valley of Lake Champlain. From
the province-line south-westward the range is known as
the Green Mountains and the Alleghanies, and constitutes
the Appalachian Chain. The flank of the northern range
diverges from the St. Lawrence at Cape Tourmente, about
thirty miles below Quebec, and at Montreal is distant
from the river about thirty miles. Beyond this it extends
up the Ottawa on the north side for about a hundred
miles, and sweeps round thence to the Thousand Islands,
near Kingston, from which it gains the southern extremity
of Georgian Bay, and continues along the eastern and
northern shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior. It
then turns np to the north-westward, and, gradually
diminishing in height to a table-land, ultimately reaches
the Arctic Ocean ; the distance of the whole course of
the range from Labrador is about 3500 miles.
The southern range sei)arates the tributaries of the
river St. Lawrence from those of the gulf, as well as
from those of the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic. The
northern range gives the water-parting, separating the
tributaries of the St. Lawrence from those of Hudson
Bay ; but beyond tlie basin of the St. Lawrence it is
traversed by two of the afliuents of this bay, tlie Saskat-
chewan and the Churchill, the former taking its source iu
the liocky Mountains; while still farther on the range
again becomes the limit of the Hudson Bay rivers, divid-
ing their sources and those of the Back and other streams
for 800 miles from the tributaries of the Mackenzie.
Judging from the facts obtained in Canada, each of
these ranges is composed of sedimentary rocks in an
altered condition — those of the north presenting tlie
more crystalline character. The rocks ot" the northeru
f
NOTRE DAME MOUNTAINS.
133
raiif^e are also the more ancient, being of the azoic era ;
while those of the southern are in part pala3ozoic.
The strata of both ranges are very much corrugated.
In the southern mountains the folds run parallel with
the range, and the hills and valleys for the most part con-
cide with these bearings. Some of the axes have been
traced a considerable distance, and though parallel with
one anotlier, they do not appear to maintain straight
lines, but assume, as they proceed, great sinuous sweeps.
Following them from the extremity of Gasp6, they strike
into the land with a north-west bearing, which gradually
rounds to west in the vicinity of Ste. Anne des INIonts
and the Chatte. Farther on they by degrees assume a
nearly south-west course, and again turn more west for a
short distance, after passing the Chaudiere ; but once
more bending to south-west, their course becomes nearly
south as they quit the province amid the Green Moun-
tains, beyond which their course has been described by
Professor liogers as being marked 1)V sinuosities of a
similar character as far as Ala1)ama. In one part or
other of the range, rocks of all the divisions of the
paUeozoic age, from the Cambrian to the Carboniferous,
appear to be involved in the folds ; and though in some
places there is a want of conformity lietween the Cambro-
silurian and the Silurian, and between tlie Devonian and
the Carbouifei'ous, the axes of tlie i'olds are parallel
throughout the whole, showing that the forces which
produced them continued in operation in tlie same direc-
tions during nearly the whole of tho pahoozoic age.
In the Canadian part of the range the higliest peaks
are formed of i)re-Cambrian rocks. To these appear to
belong the Sliiekshock Mountains, which, in ascending
the St. Lawrence towards (»?ueltec, are the highest that
are seen on the south side. Tlie whole of the Gasp(5
peninsula may be considered a block of table -lands,
334
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
it
I i
i '
t
'I':
'1.
I }
about 1500 feet in height, in which the river-courses are
deep and narrow excavations. liisiug from this, the
Shickshock Mountains are a conspicuous range of high
lands, extending about sixty-five miles from the east side
of the Ste. Anne des Monts to the Matanne. They
stand on a breadth of from two to six miles, at a dis-
tance of about twelve miles from the St. Lawrence, and
rise into points attaining heights of between 3000 and
4000 feet. But, though the highest land, tliey do not
form any part of the water-parting of the peninsula; for
the Ste. Anne des Monts, the Chatte, and the INIatanne,
taking their sources in lower country to the south, cut
gorges through tliein so deep that their channels, where
they cross the range, are not more than between 500
and 600 feet above the St. Lawrence. The waters of
one branch of the Matanne have their source on the
lower land on the north side of the range, and flow south
through a profound gap to join the main stream, thus
crossing the range twice in their covrse to the great
river. To the south-west the same pre-Cambrian axis
reappears, and is continued as a prominent range of high
lands through the townships of Buckland, Thetford,
Broughton, etc., to Sutton Mountain, 4000 feet, on the
Vermont boundary; while rising on its south-eastern
flanks are a number of more or less isolated volcanic
peaks and pinnacles, exceeding in average altitude the
highest portion of the axis of the range. The most
noted of them are Owl's Head, the Sugar Loaf, Orford
Mountain, 2200 feet, Shipton Pinnacle, Ham Mountain,
Broughton Mountain, St. Eonan's Mountain in Bucklanil,
the White Mountains of Coleraine, and other smaller
peaks to the north-east.
As in the case of the smaller streams cutting the
Shickshock Mountains, the Chaudiere and tlie St. Francis,
which are two of the largest tributaries on the south
THE LAURENTIDE MOUNTAINS.
335
nil
lin,
iler
the
Icis,
lutU
side of tlie St. Lawrence, traverse this portion of the
range, gathering the chief part of tlieir waters from
lands to the south, except near the water-parting, through
valleys running with the strike. The valleys of
the principal streams do not attain a gi'eatei elevation
than from 500 to 900 feet ahove tlie St. Lawrence.
They present but few abrupt cascades, and though no
less than sixteen ponds and larger sheets of water are
included in the panorama from the top of Orford Moun-
tain, it cannot he said that, on the whole, the Canadian
part of the southern range abounds in lakes. Six of
the largest of these, with their areas and approximate
heights aliove the sea, are : —
Feet.
Area,
Square Jtliles.
^Icmphramagog
. 756
37
Aylmer .
. 795
9
St. Francis
. 890
12
Megantic
. 1092
17
Teiuiscuuata
. 407
24
Matapedia
. 480
12
The hills, exclusive of the summits of the highest ridge,
seldom exceed from 1000 to 1500 feet; and the country
connected with the Canadian part of the range, presenting
a rolling rather than a rugged mountainous surface, is for
the most part — particularly in what is called the Eastern
Townshi[)S — capable of tillage or pasturage, and will in
geueral be found to constitute a useful agricultural area.
Wliile the corrugations of the Laurentides appear to
be more complicated than those of the southern range,
they have not yet received the same amount of investi-
gation. It would be hazardous, therefore, to express any
very confident opinion in regard to their general bearings,
the chief i)art of which are meridional, or a few degrees
removed from it. The plications appear to be sharp and
numerous ; and as the bearing of their axes would be
transverse to the general bearing of the range, while su[)-
fl
;¥/i
I
336
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
//
i I
posed equivalent rock-masses belonging to it are never-
theless found towards both extremes of the province, as
well as in intermediate parts, it seems probable that the
outcrops of the strata will exhibit a very deeply-serrated
or zigzag arrangement in their geographical distribution,
and that the bearings of the mountains and valleys will
conform to them.
The largest rivers issuing from the Laurentides in
Canada are the Ottawa and the Suguenay, the former
between 500 and 600 miles, and the latter between 300
and 400 miles in length. They take their sources very
nearly together, upwards of 200 miles north-west of the
St. Lawrence ; and, after running for some distance par-
allel with it in opposite directions, turn and flow nearly
parallel with one another to join it, their distance apart
being about 300 miles. Almost all the streams in the
intermediate country — the Gatineau, the Li^vre, and the
St. Maurice being the largest three — run very nearly
from north to south, and it is upon some of those which
are tributary to the Ottawa that the axes of the folds
have been found to coincide with the rivers ; while the
Ottawa itself, skirting the Laurentides for a considerable
distance in the lower part of its course, cuts the folds
transversely. From the upper end of Lake St. John
to Chicuutimi, sixty miles in a bearing south of east, the
Saguenay appears to run with the strata ; but from
Chicoutimi to the mouth, seventy miles more in the same
bearing, it appears to cut them transversely. For some
distance below the Saguenay the streains flow nearly
parallel with it, becoming, however, more north and south
ap]iroaching the gulf The largest of these rivers are the
Betsiamite, the Outarde or Bustard, the I^Jauicouagan, and
the Moisie ; but what relation their courses bear to the
strike of the strata has not been ascertained.
Between Lake St. John and Murray Bay the main
THE LAUliENTIDE MOUNTAINS.
337
ridge of that part wliicli is cut tranvevsely by the
Saguenay is stated to attain 4000 feet above the sea,
while peaks in parallel ridges nearer the St. Lawrence
may exceed half that height. Bayfield gives 2547 feet
to Mont Eboulemens, between Murray Bay and Bay
St. Paul ; and farther up the St. Lawrence the highest
summits do not appear to exceed 1500 or 1700 feet,
though one near the sources of the Muskoka and the
Petawahweh probably attains 2300 feet; those on the
northern tributaries of Lake Nipissing and the French
River are from 1400 to IGOO feet; to the Lacloche
Mountains, on the north side of Lake Huron, belonging
to the Upper division of the Archean rocks, 1000 feet
have been given ; and to hills farther north in this part
something less ; while some of the summits of corre-
sponding age on Lake Superior attain 2000 feet.
As the various heights mentioned belong to points
more prominent than the country surrounding them, it
may not be giving too low an estimate of the general
elevation of the Laurentide Eange in Canada to call it
from 1500 to 1600 feet. The surface wliich the range
presents is of a inammillated character, its hills being
worn by glacial action into round-backed forms, in general
thickly clothed with wood, the prevailing trees on the
summits being evergreens, in some parts chieHy pine, and
in others spruce, while hardwood sometimes abounds on
the lower elevations and in the valleys. The valleys arc
in general not very wide, and many are worn into deej)
pits, holding ponds and lakes. Some streams, indeed,
are nothing more from their sources to their mouths than
a chain of such quiet expansions united by short dis-
charging channels. The prodigious number of these
sheets of water, great and small, bespangling the whole
area, is one of its most remarkable features, and when
looked npon as displayed on a map they appear so
H
i'f
^1
I.
>
O O Q
. ) >:> o
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAniY AND TRAVEL.
iini
* '!•
'' M
.1
I !
:/i
i;ii
scattered at random over the surface as to contradict
almost any supposed law of distribution. Some of the
chisters, however, that have been examined in connec-
tion with their geology are most beautifully explained by
the peculiar geographical distribution of the strata, which
results from their very corrugated condition, combined
with the unequal wear occasioned by the hardness and
toughness of some parts and the softness of others. In
the Laurentide region a straight line can scarcely be fol-
lowed in any direction for a great distance without the
occurrence of one of tliese expansions, and it frc(|uently
happens that it will present a considerable area even
where discharging by a very slender outlet. The profu-
sion in "which the lakes exist, with in some instances only
a short interval of land between them, though they
may belong to different river systems, aftln-ds, with the
aid of birch-bark canoes, a ready means of passing from
one navigable stream to another, in whatever part an
explorer may be ; and thus, if he is well acquainted with
the country, he can reach almost any position he may
wish to attain without much deviation from a direct route.
Although a large number of the rivers of the Canadian
portion of the Laurentides is still unknown, or only
partially explored, upwards of 1000 of these lakes are
represented on the published ma[)S of the country. It
is only a few of them, however, that are sufficiently
large to deserve especial mention. The following six are
the best known, with their areas and their elevations
above the sea : — ■
IToight.
Feet.
St. John . . . 300 ?
Grand Lake . . 700 ?
Teniiscamang . . 612
Keepawa . . . 7(50
Temagamang . . 800 1
Nipissing . . . 639
Area.
Sij^uare utiles.
360
560
126
92
330
294
THE NIAGAHA ESCAUPMENT.
339
From the opposing flanks of the two monntain ranges
which have been described tliere extends a vast iiiter-
uiL'diate plain, the limit of which westward is tlie Rocky
Mountains. In addition to six or seven isolated trap
mountains in Eastern Canada, varying in height from
500 to 1800 feet (all visible from the hill near Montreal,
which is one of thera), and the Adirondack Mountains, a
nearly isolated mass of Laurentian rocks rising in New
York to the height of 5000 feet between Lake Champ-
lain and Lake Ontario, there are few sudden inequalities
to break the smoothness of the general surface of the
plain, with the exception of aljrupt descents through the
drift to rivercourses, and an escarpment forming that
step in the country which produces the world-renowned
cataract of Niagara. The summit of that escarpment is
of the middle Silurian period, and, tracing it from west
to east, it is known to form the two horns separating
Green Bay from Lake Michigan, thence running along
the south front of the northern peninsula of the State,
which takes its name from that lake and the south half
of the jManitoulin range of islands, it reaches Cabot's
Head, and composes the chief feature of the promontory
separating Georgian Bay from the main body of Lake
Huron. From this it constitutes the summits of the
Blue ]\Iountains, and, rounding the western extremity of
Lake Ontario, it forms St. Catherine Bidge and Queens-
ton Heights. It thence follows at a short distance the
south side of Lake Ontario and of tlie valley of the
^lohawk, and sweeps round into the valley of the
Hudson. By tlie addition of terrace above terrace of
strata of Silurian and Devonian age, the step farther
on rises into tlie Catskill ^Mountains, beyond which it
liecomes entangled in the folds of the Appalachian chain
and is lost.
m
/' i
340
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGIiAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
M
Hi
Wi
4. Rochj Mountains.
Probably no mountains of the same altitude can be
so readily traversed as the Rocky Mountain chain, owing
to the great breadth of its base and its gentle acclivity.
Among tlie highest known peaks in Canada are Mount
Brown and Mount Hooker, the former about 16,000, and
the latter 15,690 feet above the level of the sea, lying about
5 3° north latitude ; the general altitude of the range, how-
ever, is supposed to vary from 10,000 to 14,000 feet.
This chain in the central and west part of North
America commences in New Mexico, in about 32° 30'
north latitude, near Fort Webster. It extends nearly
north-north-west throughout the north portion of the con-
tinent to the Polar Ocean, terminating west of the mouth
of the Mackenzie Eiver in latitude 69° north, longitude
135° west. This range, in connection with the Andes,
of which it may be said to be a continuation, forms the
longest and, according to Humboldt, the most uniform
chain of mountains on the globe.
Somewhat more than half of the entire chain belongs
to North America, the name Eocky Mountains being
usually applied to that portion only which is comprised
within the United States and Dominion of Canada,
although the exact limit of this mountain range towards
the south can scarcely be said to be determined. The
entire length, however, of the chain, following the wind-
ings, may be stated in round numbers at 3000 miles.
Among the most remarkable of the numerous passes
may be mentioned that leading from the head-waters of
the Athabasca to those of the Columbia, between Mount
Brown and Mount Hooker, and called the Athabasca
Portage. It has a height of 7300 feet, and has only
been used by the traders of the Hudson Bay Company
as the principal pass into the basin of Columbia.
;m
be
■iiig
ity.
iiint
and
)OUt
ow-
b.
ortli
30'
larly
coii-
outh
tude
ides,
the
form
longs
being
)rised
nada,
yards
The
kvind-
;s.
aasses
iTS of
klount
ibasca
1 only
npany
A
n
II
rf
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
341
In a iiiimite by tlie Hon. Josc'iili "W. Trutch, late C'liiuf
( 'ommissidiu'i' of Lauds and Works for Jiritisli Columbia,
it is stated that little lias hitherto been done towards the
construction of trails or roads across the liocky IVIouii-
tains north of the 49th parallel, and that the primitive
paths throuf^h the various passes of this mountain ran<,'e,
originally tracked out by Indians, and only kept open,
year by year, by their travel along them, are still the sole
means of coUimunieation between British Columbia and
the North-West Territory.
Many of these passes are, however, even in their
primitive condition, so easy of passage that horses carry
heavy loads over them M'ith facility, and through the
Vermilion Pass loaded carts have been driven on the
natural roadway unimproved by labour.
But althougli, adds jNIr. Trutcli, the work of building
a road over the Boeky JMountains has yet to be com-
menced, much has already been effected by this province
towards the consummation of the nmch-desired line of
road comnnmication through British territory, between
the sea-coast of British Columbia and Canada. In fact,
more than one-half (in cost) of this work within the limits
of the province is now complete. The Cascade Bange of
mountains, the great barrier between the sea-coast of
British Columbia and its interior districts, wliich presented
a far more dillicult engineering ol)stacle to road-making,
and one more expensive to overcome than the Bocky
]\Iountains themselves, has been pierced by two lines of
coach road, which, commencing at Yale and Douglas
respectively, the limits of steamboat navigation on the
Lower Frazer and its trilnitary, Harrison Lake, unite at
Clinton, 136 miles from Yale, on the high-rolling plateau
in the interior, from which junction-point the road extends
242 miles farther northwards to Cameronton,in the heart of
the Cariboo district, distant altogether 378 miles from Yale.
».i :.^V- .'WJ-s-e-jJ^w.
342
COMPEXDIUM OF GEOGUArilY AND TRAVEL.
I'i
i i
A hraiich road, twenty-tlu'eo miles long', 1ms also
been built from the main line, at a ])oiut on the Ihiona-
parte liivcr 110 miles from Yale, to Savona's at the lower
(western) end of Kamloops Lake, from which place unin-
terrupted steamboat navigation extends through Kandoops
Lake, and up the South Thompson liiver to the upper
(eastern) end of Great Shuswap Lake, a distance of 115
miles, and also u[) th(! north branch of Thompson liiver,
which joins the .South Tliomi)son at Fort Kamloops, to a
distance of eighty- five miles from the latter post.
These roads, constructed at a total cost of Jj^ 1,33 9,9 1")
(about £270,000), are of a character very superior to
that of public roads in most young countries.
Loads of seven and eight tons are hauled along them
by mules or oxen, at an average draught load of 1200
lbs. or 1300 lbs. to each team animal; and the moil
coach drawn by six horses travels between Yale and
Cariboo at the rate of nine miles an hour.
From the Cariboo terminus of this road, and from
Savona's, as well as from intermediate points along tlie
road, various routes may be traced to the different pass(\s
of the llocky Mountains. Of these passes, nine in
number, only three appear to be fitted for forming lines
of connection between the sea- coast of British Columbia
and Canada, viz. the Leather Pass, 37G0 feet ; Howse
Pass, 4500 feet; and Kicking Horse Pass, 5210 feet.
Li either ease the road, 133 miles in length, already
constructed irom Yale to Savona, would form part of the
line of route. The distances of +hese two routes do not
greatly vary, and the estimate of cost is about the same.
Their rival merits, in the judgment of the Commissioner,
can only be determined after more exact inc[uiry has
been made.
TIM'; MOUNTAINS IN mUThSlI CULUMIMA.
043
5. The Cascades, Coast, and Gold Jianr/es of Jirifish
Col u labia.
The main oro«:;raphiciil features of the west coast are
tlie Coast or Cascade Jianj^'e, the great central hilly plateau
or tal)le-land, and the ]iueky [Mountain chain ; subordinati!
to the latter, and more or less parallel M'ith it, are two
other belts of mountainous country, the Selkirk IMoun-
tains and the Gold Eange. All these mountain chains,
and likewise the central plateau, have a general north-
west and south-east course. The Coast, or Cascade IJange,
is the northward extension of the Sierra Nevada ; the
hilly central i)lateau hetu's a similar relation to the great
volcanic, arid, and hilly table-land of the State of Nevada ;
and the Selkirk and Gold lianges may be paralleled with
tlie Bitter lioot jNIountains between Montana aiul Itlaho,
the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, and other chains which
occupy a similar position, in relation to the main axis of
the llocky Mountains.
Exclusive of the volcanic cones and craters of Mount
l^iaker, Mount Hood, Mount Ifainier, and others, from
10,000 to 15,000 feet high, none of which, however,
occur between the Fraser Ifiver mouth and Alaska, the
highest points of the Cascade ]\Iountains probably do not
exceed 7000 feet. The central plateau has an average
elevation of from 1000 to 3000 feet. The Selkirk
Mountains, especially towards the north, in the vicinity
of Cariboo, and about the sources of the North Thom])soii,
have a somewhat greater average elevation than the Cas-
cades, and they appear, likewise, to contain a greatcsr
number of glaciers and of j)oints above the snow-line,
though their more inland position may perhaps account
for this fact irrespective of their altitude.
1^1
344
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRArUY AND TRAVEL.
CHAPTEE III.
THE RIVERS AND LAKES.
': • i
1. General Features and Extent.
Canada has been called the country of waterways, as it
surpasses all others in the area and navigable extent of
its rivers and lakes.
Tourists, accustomed to the more restricted landscapes
of Europe, do not readily grasp the idea of the majesty
of the lakes, the grandeur of the rivers, or the awful
power of the cataracts of Canada.
This extensive water-supply is an indication of the
excess of the rain- fall over the evaporation, and also
represents, to a certain extent, the gradual melting of the
snows stored in the mountain ranges of the Eocky ]\Iouu-
tains, aiul mirrors in the azure waters embosomed in the
lakes, or gliding in the rivers towards the ocean, the
immensity of the source from which it springs. An idea
of the quantity of these waters may be realised from the
fact that the river St. Lawrence and its tributary lakes,
wliicli constitute but one of the vast water-systems of
Canada, are estimated to contain 12,000 cubic miles of
water, or more than one-half the fresh water of the globe.
The configuration of tlie great fan -shaped plateau
between the Pacific and Atlantic mountain ranges lias
been already noticed. It may now be remarked that
almost all the great rivers of the continent take their
rise on a limited area at the base of the Eocky Moun-
11
THE LAKE SYSTEM.
o4o
'^B'
lea
the
^es,
of
of
bbe.
3au
\as
Ihat
lieir
luu-
tains, namely, the Mackenzie Eiver, emptying into the
Arctic Ocean ; the Missouri, with its alUuent the Missis-
sippi, falling into the Gulf of Mexico ; the Saskatchewcan,
running into Lake Winnipeg, and from thence finding its
way to the Vtlantic Ocean through Hudson Bay ; and
the Fraser and Columhia, entering the Pacific Ocean. Nor
need Ave travel far nortli from this plateau to reach the
head-waters of the mighty Yukon, which gains the Pacific
Ocean at Pering Strait, or far east to tap the head
waters of the St. Lawrence chain of lakes, which reach
the Atlantic Ocean by the river of the same name.
It Avill also be noticed, on reference to a map of the
continent, that the several great lakes form a semicircle
aroi.nd Hudson Pay stretcliiiig from the Arctic to the
Atlantic Ocean, namely. Great Pear Lake, Slave Lake,
Athabasca Lake, Wollaston, Deer, Winnipeg, AVinnipegosis,
]\lanitoba, Lake of the Woods, Superior, Nipigon, ]\Iichigan,
Huron, Erie, Ontario, and the great basin of the Gulf of
the St. Lawrence, thus marking the ancient shore of the
ocean retiring before a rising continent.
This great water-system, in kee])ing with the immense
plateau which it traverses, not only affords means of com-
munication, and carries fertility with it, but at the same
time tempers the summer's heat and winter's cold, and
in its pure waters purifies the air, so that < ,'anada may
1)6 said to be free from the agues and malarial fevers
which prevail where extreme heat and stagnant waters
abound.
Xor are these lakes and rivers barren of products and
food for man, as their cool waters swarm with the choicest
tish, and are as valuable, acre for acre, as the ricliest agri-
cultural land.
The elotpient Earl of Dufferin, when Governor-General
of Canada, visited Manitoba and the North- West Terri-
tories in 1877, and being entertained by the Mayor and
h'H
346
COMPEXDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
i
7
-i
s;
Town Council of Winnipeg, delivered an address in wliic];
he referred to the extent and beavities of the " fluvial "
system of Canada. In his usual felicitous manner, and
with striking power of description and magic of language,
he said :
" From its geographical position, and its peculiar
characteristics, ]\lanitoba may be regarded as the keystone
of that mighty arch of sister provinces which spans the
continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It was here
that Canada, emerging from her woods and forests, first
gazed ui)on her rolling prairies and unexplored Nortli-
West, and learnt as by an unexpected revelation that her
historical territories of the Canadas, her eastern sea-
boards of New Brunswick, Labrador, and Nova Scotia, her
Laurentian lakes and valleys, corn -lands and pastures,
though tliemselves more extensive than half a dozen
European kingdoms, were but the vestibules and ante-
chambers to that till then undreamt-of Dominion, whose
illimitable dimensions alike confound the arithmetic of
the surveyor and the verification of the explorer.
" It was hence that, counting her past achievements
as but the preface and prelude to her future exertions
and expanding destinies, she took a fresh departure,
received the aftlatus of a more imperial inspiration, and
felt herself no longer a mere settler along the banks of
a single river, but the owner of half a continent, and in
the magnitude of her possession, in the wealth of her
resources, in the sinews of her material might, the peer
of any power on the earth.
" In a recent remarkably witty speech the Marquis
of Salisbury alluded to the geograj^hical misconceptions
often engendered by the smalhiess of the maps u])()ii
which the figure of the world is depicted. To this cause
is probably to be attributed the inadequate idea enter-
tained by the best-educated iiersons of the extent of her
THE NAVIGABLE WATERWAYS.
347
in
liev
Majesty's North American possessions. Perhaps the best
way of correcting such a universal misapprehension would
be by a summary of the rivers which How through them,
for we know that as a poor man cannot afford to live in
a big house, so a small country cannot support a big
river. Xow, to an Englishman or a Frenchman, the
Severn or the Thames, the Seine or the Ehoue, would
appear considerable streams, but in the Ottawa, a mere
affluent of the St. Lawrence, — an affluent, moreover, wliieh
reaches the parent stream 600 miles from its moutli, —
we have a river nearly 550 miles long, and three or four
times as big as any of them.
" But even after having ascended the St. Lawrence
itself to Lake Ontario, and pursued it across Lake Huron,
the Niagara, the St. Clair, and Lake Sujierior to Thunder
Bay, a distance of 1500 miles, where are we? In the
estiiiiation of the person who has made the journey, at
the end of all things ; but to us who know better, scarcely
at the commencement of the great fluvial systems of the
Dominion ; for, from that spot — that is to say, from
Thunder Bay — we are able at once to ship our astonished
traveller on to the Kaministiquia, a river of some hundred
miles long. Thence almost in a straight line we launch
him on to Lake Shebandowan and Eainy Lake and Bivev
— whose proper name, by-the-by, is ' liene,' after the man
who discovered it — a magnificent stream three hundred
yards broad, and a couple of hundred miles long, down
whose tranquil bosom he floats into the Lake of tlie
Woods, where he finds himself on a sheet of water, which,
though diminutive as compared with the inland seas he
lias left behind him, will ])robably be found sufficiently
extensive to render him fearfully sea-sick during his
passage across it. For the last eighty miles of his
voyage, however, he will be consoled by sailing through
a succession of land-locked channels, the beauty of whose
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348
COMrENDIUM OF CiEOGKAl'IIY AND TllAVEL.
scenery, while it resembles, certainly excels the far-famed
Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence.
" From this lacustrian jiaradise of sylvan beauty we
are able at once to transfer our friend to the Winnipeg,
a river whose existence in the very heart and centre of
the continent is in 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 waters, the extent of their lake-like expansions, and
the tremendous power of their rapids.
" At last let us suppose we have landed our traveller
at the town of Winnipeg, the half-way house of the
continent, the capital of the I'rairie Province, and I trust
the future ' umbilicus ' of the Dominion. Having had
so much of water, having now reached the home of the
buffalo, like the extenuated Falstaff, he naturally * babbles
of green fields ' and careers in imagination over the
primeval grasses of the prairie. Not at all. Escorted by
My. ]\Iayor and the Town Council, we take him down to
your quay, and ask him which he will ascend first, the
lied Eiver or the Assiniboine, two streams — the one 500
miles long, the other 480 — which so happily mingle
their waters within your city limits.
" After having given him a preliminary canter upon
these respective rivers, we take him ott' to Lake Winnipeg,
an inland sea 300 miles long and upwards of sixty broad,
during the navigation of which for many a weary hour
he will find himself out of sight of land, and probably a
good deal more indisposed than ever he was on the Lake
of the Woods, or even the Atlantic.
"At the north-west angle of Lake Winnipeg he hits
upon the mouth of the Saskatchewan, the gateway and high
road to the North-West, and the starting-point to another
1500 miles of navigable w^ater liowing nearly due east
and west between its alluvial banks.
I
Till-: "WATERWAYS OF THE NORTH-WEST.
349
" Having now reached the foot of the Ilocky ]\Ioiin-
tains our 'Ancient Mariner' — for by this time he will
be quite entitled to such an appellation — knowing that
water cannot run up-hill, feels certain his aquatic ex-
periences are concluded. He was never more mistaken.
AVe immediately launch him upon the Athabasca and
^Mackenzie Kivers, and start him on a longer trip than
lie has yet undertaken — the navigation of the Mackenzie
I'iver alone exceeding 2500 miles. If he survives this
last experience, we wind up his peregrinations by a con-
cluding voyage of 1400 miles down the Trazer Eiver,
or, if he prefers it, the Thompson Eiver, to Victoria, in
Vancouver, whence, having previously provided him with
a first-class return ticket for that purpose, he will
probably prefer getting home vid the Canadian Pacific.
" Now, in this enumeration, those who arc acquainted
with the country are aware that for the sake of brevity
I have omitted thousands of miles of other lakes and
rivers which water various regions of the North-West —
the Qu'Appelle lliver, Belly Iliver, Lake ^Manitoba, the
AVinnipegosis, Shoal Lake, etc. etc., along which I might
have dragged and finally exterminated our way-worn
guest ; but the sketch I have given is more than suth-
cient for my purpose ; and when it is further remembered
that the most of these streams How for their entire
length through alluvial ^ lins of the richest descripti(jn,
where year after year wheat can be raised without
manure, or any sensible diminution in its yield, and
where the soil everywhere presents the appearance of a
highly-cultivated suburban kitchen garden in England,
enough has been said to displav the aurieultural riches of
the Territories I have referred to, and the capabilities
they possess of affording happy and prosperous homes to
millions of the human race. . . .
" In a world apart, secluded from all extraneous
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
influences, nestling at the feet of her majestic mother,
Canada dreams her dream, and forebodes her destiny — a
dream of ever -broadening harvests, multiplying towns
and villages, and expanding pastures ; of constitutionnl
self-government and a confederated empire; of page
after page of honom.ible history added as her contribution
to the annals of the Mother Country and to the glories
of the British race ; of a perpetuation for all time upon
this continent of that temperate and well-balanced system
of government which combines in one mighty whole, as
the eternal possession of all Englishmen, the brilliant
history and traditions of the past with the freest and
most untrammelled liberty of action in the future. ..."
In giving the statistics of these lakes and rivers, the
following tabular statement shows their extent : —
Length.
Breadth. Area.
I'^'l'"^- above, sea.
Superior . 420 miles.
160 miles. 31,500 sq. m. 1000 ft. 600 ft.
Huron . 2S0 „
105 „ 20,400
1000 „ 574 „
Erie . 240 „
57 „ 9,000
200 „ 565 „
Ontario . 180 „
55 „ 5,400
COO „ 235 „
The lake system of the Korth-West Territories is low
in altitude, covers .
m area of over
13,000 square miles,
and is as follows :—
—
Klevation
Area.
above si'a.
"Winnipeg
710 ft.
8500 sq. miles.
Manitoba
. 751 „
inoo „
'VVinnepefi;osi3
770 „
1936 „
Cedar Lake
. 770 „
312 „
Dauphin Lak
3 782 „
170 „
The four principal rivers on the eastern, northern,
and western watersheds of Canada are : —
The St. Lawrence
Saskatchewan and Nelson
Iilackenzie, without its affluents
Fraser . . . . ,
Length in miles.
. 1500
. 1.500
. 1200
. 450
Drainage area
in sq. niilt'S.
330,000
450,000
440,000
30,000
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Tin: ItlVKU ST. LAWItHNCH.
2. Tlic liifcr St. Laicrcnce.
351
This river, tlu; liir;j;est in Xortli America as to volume,
and second only in length to tlie ]\Iississip[>i, united to its
tributary the ^lissouri, issues from Lake Ontario in about
44° 10' nortli hititude, and 70° 30' Avcst longitude, and
ilows in a north-easterly direction. It forms in a part
of its course tlie boundary between the United States
and Canada, and falls into the Gulf of the St. Lawrence
liy a l)road estuary, in about 49° 30' nortli hititude, and
G4° west lonj^itude.
ViewinjT it in connection witli the great lakes, Xi])igon,
Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, which arc
its head-waters, and of which it is the outlet, it may bo
said to rise at the sources of the St. Louis lliver, which
flows into Lake Superior.
The lie of these lakes is at first south-easterly, and
trends gradually in a semicircle to north-east. The St.
Lawrence receives nearly all the rivers tliat have their
sources in tlie extensive range of northern mountains
that separate the waters falling into Hudson l»ay from
tlidse that descend towards tlie Atlantic Ocean, and also
all those that rise in the highlands which are on the
snutliern bank, and continue in a south-Avesterly course
towards Lake t'hamplain.
Of these rivers the principal ones on the north are
tlie Ottawa, ^lasquinonge. Saint Maurice, Saint Anne,
•facipies Oavtier, Saguenay, Betsiamite, and Manacougan ;
and on the south the Salmon, Chateanguay, Chamldy or
liicliolieu, Yamaskn, Saint Francis, Becaucour, Du Chcne,
Chaudicre, and Du Loup rivers.
In different parts of its course the river St. Lawrence
is known l)y different names; thus, from the sea to
Kingston it is styled the St. Lawrence, between Lakes
Ontario and Erie the Xingara liiver, between Lakes Erie
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGUArilV AND TUAVEL.
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ami St. Clair the Detroit, hetween Lake St. Clair and
Lake Kiirou the river St. Clair, l)etween Lakes Huron
and Superior the Narrows or Sault St. ^Lirie — all which
sections form, united, a waterway of 2384 miles; the
rapids iii the section between ^Montreal and Kinj^'ston,
and again between Lakes Ontario and Erie, where tho
Tails of Niagara intervene, being surmounted by canals.
Lake Superior may be considered as the inexhau.stil)lc
spring whence the St. Lawrence has continued to derive
its ample and pure Avaters, which have the azure tint of
those of the ocean. Issuing from this lake with a rapid
current, it rushes through the narrows of the Sault St.
Marie for a distance of twenty-seven miles, and, tumlilini;'
over a rocky bed, enters Lake Huron, Lake Huron is
united at its western extremity with Lake Michigan, a
lake lying entirely within the United States, and sepa-
rated from Lake Huron by the Straits of jVIackinaw and
by a peninsula of about 150 miles across at its widest part.
It is fed by many considerable rivers and several inferior
streams from the height of land on this peninsula, as
well as by several large rivers which enter it on its
north shore and through the Georgian Bay — a large bay
on its north-eastern side. Of these latter rivers tlie
Trench river is an important one, as it connects with
Lake Nipissing, and by a succession of smaller lakes
affords an easy means of making the communication by
water complete, from Lake Huron to the Ottawa lliver,
and thence to the St. Lawrence at Montreal.
From the extremity of Lake Huron to the southward,
the channel contracts into the St. Clair liiver, which, after
flowing nearlydue south for sixtymiles, between moderately
high banks adorned by many natural beauties, expands
into the small lake of tlie same name.
Issuing from this lake the river continues its course
southwardly for forty miles under the name of the Detroit
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FALLS OF NLVGARA.
To filer jKVje :','Si.
NIAGAHA.
River, and there fulls into Lake P^rie. There are many
isliiuds ill this ])iirt of the river, some of them of con-
sidoralile .size, and the scenery on the east side is
diversified and ajireeahle.
From the north-east end of Lake Erie the connection
with Lake Ontario is l»y the Nia^nira Kiver thiily-six miles
in lenj^th, and from half a mile to three miles in width.
Its course is nearly north, and the stream is divided in
several places by islands, the largest of which, Grand
Island, is seven miles in lenj^'th.
The levels of the conntry here change by a sndden
drop to the lower ])lateau on which Lake (.)ntario lies, and
as the Niai^ara Iliver approaches its fearful lea]) at the
" Falls " its waters ap])ear to lash themselves into a fury,
and surge like the breakers on a rock-bound coast. This
jKirtion of the river, by its picturesquenes^ and " life of
waters," must ever attract the admirer of nature. Har'ing
now reached the great Falls of Niagara, a short descrip-
tion will be given of them, as they are looked on by
Europeans as the central point from which the continent
of America radiates.
N. P. "Willis, in r)artlett's Illustrated Canada, says : —
" The Falls of Niagara impress travellers very differ-
ently. Most persons, having heard of this wonder of
the world from their childhood, have aggrandised their
imagination of its a])])earance in proportion with the
growth of their minds, and visit Niagara, at last, with
the expectation of seeing an ocean poured from the height
of the clouds." lie quotes a description by a traveller
who remarks : —
" I first visited these celebrated Falls in the month
of September — a season of the year which in America
is peculiarly pleasant. Until I arrived within a mile
of the Falls, the sky was perfectly clear, the sun
shone with his wonted splendour, and the atmosphere
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COiMPENDIUM OF GEOGUAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
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was remarkably dry and uncommonly lucid. But no
sooner liad I approached their immediate vicinity, than
a sudden and singular change took place in the whole
aspect of nature. The earth, before parched and im-
movable, became damp and tremulous, and the sky, till
then unsullied by a single cloud, assumed a frowning,
dark, and portentous appearance. The atmosphere, pre-
viously dry and rarefied, now presented a dense and
humid visage ; and my fancy, unreined by my reason,
transported me into a world essentially different from
that in which, a few minutes before, I lived and moved
and had my being.
" Still, howev'L^r, I pursued my course, and at length
gained the summit of the craggy hills which tlank this
noble river. My increased elevation did not contribute
to dissipate t\\<i preconceived delusion, and I still felt
inclined to doubt of my own or the world's identity.
Mountains of water, belching forth the most appalling
sounds ; globes of foam, boiling with rage ; rainbows,
embracing within their numerous and splendid arclies a
surprising variety of newly formed impending clouds;
rocks, boldly projecting over the tumultuous abyss; and
spray-covered forests, decorated with pearly drops, now
rendered more brilliant than crystal by the retlected rays
of the setting sun, and now blown into feathery streams
by sudden gusts of the impetuous wintl. These were
some of the most striking features of the gorgeous scenery
by which I was surrounded. Long did I luxuriate m
pleasing contemplation, admiring its peculiar grandeur;
and still did I find myself lingering amidst these stupen-
dous and matchless disjjhiys of creative excellence, until
the sun, wearied with shedding his beams on the trans-
Atlantic wilds, had retired, in all his glory, ' to rove o'er
other lands, and give to other men the kindest boon of
Heaven.'"
NIAGARA.
355
It may be added to tliis sketchy but grapliic descrip-
tion that (Joat Island divides the waters of the Pall.
Oil the Canadian side the rock is worn into the shape of
a horse-shoe, which gives the name to this Fall, and has
a width of 1900 feet, with a precipice of IGO feet. The
American Fall, GOO feet wide, is straight in its line, and
wilh much less water than the Horse Shoe Fall,
The rumbling or thunder of the Falls is sometimes
hoard with a favourable wind for thirty or forty miles,
and the trembling of the earth from the concussion of
*i
NIAGARA.
the water, for fifteen miles around ; while the column of
spray, with its prismatic colours, is visible sometimes
at seventy miles.
The chasm below is worn in tlie solid rock, and ex-
tends to the town of Niagara, at the mouth of the
Niagara Iiiver on Lake Ontario, some miles below. This
gradual retirement of the Falls towards Lake Frie com-
menced, as assumed by Sir Charles Lyell, from a geolo-
gical examination of the strata, and a calculation of the
time neccvssary to cause the wear, some 10,000 years since,
iind is still in j)rogress, while the river is ever pouring
il8 vast volume of waters into the abyss below.
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TKAVEL.
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The quantity of water passing over the Falls is
estimated at 701,250 tons per second, and the power
at 4,500,000 horse-power.
It is only after the mind has become impressed with
the "continuance" of this great " movement of the waters,"
that the majesty of this object of natural beauty is fully
realised.
It may be remarked that the level of the river here,
as in the other parts of the St. Lawrence, is very uniform,
altliough, on a few occasions, the waters of Lake Erie
have been lowered at its eastern end by a continued and
strong easterly wind.
Below the Falls the river follows the channel which it
has excavated for itself, and, regarded from the banks,
which on either side are precipitous stone walls almost
200 feet deep, it moves so stilly that the contrast be-
tween its fury and repose is complete.
Five miles below occurs a great maelstrom or whirl-
pool, occasioned by the stream sweeping with such
violence around a natural basin that it ensures destruc-
tion to whatever comes within its attraction.
Here the velocity of the current is subdued, and the
river thence follows its tranquil course to Lake Ontario.
Lake Ontario receives but few other rivers, and the
principal ones are on the southern or American shore.
At the eastern end of the Lake, "Wolfe Isle is the largest
of several that are in the vicinity of Kingston, and
divides the stream into two main branches, known as the
North or Kingston Channel, and the South or Carletou
Island Channel.
Here ve enter the St. Lawrence proper, and find it
studded with islands between this point and Brockville,
some forty miles below, and known to number about
2000. To avoid exaggeration they are called the
" Thousand Islands." The scene here is one of fairv
I ft'
LAKES AND RAPIDS OF ST. LAWRENCE.
357
enchantment, to be realised only when seen in the stilh
morn, the summer's eve, or nnder a Canadian moon. It
is now admitted by artists of experience that the Canadian
atmosphere is equally brilliant with that of Italy, and
hence the term " Canadian moon." The distance between
Kingston and Montreal is 190 miles. On our way the
Lakes St. Francis, St. Eegis, and Two Mountains are tra-
versed. These lakes cannot be compared with those
already noticed, and can, indeed, only be considered as so
many expansions of the river. Thoy are of no great depth,
and have many pretty islands scattered about them. Lake
St. Francis is twenty-five miles long by five and a half
broad. Tiie shores are in some places marshy, as they do
not rise much above the level of the water. Lake St. Louis
and Deux ^Montagues (Two Mountains) are near the junc-
tion of the Ottawa with the St. Lawrence. Tlie first is
twelve miles long by six broad ; the latter is very irregular
in outline, twenty -four miles long, and varying in breadth
from one mile to six. At the confluence of the two rivers
are the Islands of Montreal, Jesus, Uizard, and I'errot.
On the north-west lies Isle Jesus, which, by its position,
forms two channels of a moderate breadth — one called
La Iiivi(^re des Prairies, and the other La Kiviere de St.
Jean or Jesus. Tliese channels are both navigable for
boats and rafts, and unite again with the main river at
15out de I'ile, at the east end of the Island of ^Montreal.
The rapids of the St. Lawrence between Kingston and
Montreal are so picturesque and beautiful that they
must be noticed for the benefit of the tourist who may
desire to " run " the rapids. The first one is met at
Cornwall, and the last at Lachine, in the following order :
The Platte, the Galops, the Long Sanlt, the Cedars, the
Cascades, and the Lachine. Tliese constitute the grandest
and most extensive rapids imaginable. The first and
second are striking. The Long Sault, nine miles in
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
length, is a perfect sea, with its waves surging and
dasliing in snowy crests over the upper works of the
steamer. The Cedars and Cascades, more picturesque,
althougli not so boisterous as the Long Sault, are charm-
ing reaches of river scenery ; wliile at Lachine the
apparent peril of the vessel as she pitches forward
among the breakers, and has her passage apparently
barred by opposing rocks, adds a zest to tlie scene,
although no actual danger exists. The view from the
Lachine rapids is very impressive, for amid these snowy-
crested waves, divided liere and there by a barrier oi
rocky islands and shoals, tliere is seen in the distance, and
about six miles below, an open stretch of water or basin
which narrows to about two miles, and there stands the
"Victoria Bridge, spanning the river and tlie harbour of
Montreal, lined with its steamships and river craft. At
mid-channel, below the bridge, is the island gem, St.
Hel^ne, an historic point, and on the left bank stands the
bright City of INIontreal, with its gray marble buildings
and leafy heights rising terrace above terrace, until
Mount Itoyal appears with its majestic maple-groves
and royal pines, smiling, as it were, over the peaceful
scene below. About forty-five miles below the City of
Montreal, on the south side of the St. Lawrence, is the
town of Sorel, hv\\t at the mouth of the river llichelieu, an
affluent of the St. Lawrence. Not far from here the river
St. Lawrence expands into Lake St. l*eter, the last of the
lakes in the passage to the sea. This lake is thirty
miles long and nine broad, with a de})th of only eleven
to twelve feet on a part known as the " fiats." This
want of water interfered with the navigation of the river
up to Montreal from the sea, and was overcome at an
enormous expense by steam-dredging, as stated in the
chapter on Canals. About forty-five miles below Sorel,
ou the north shore, at the mouth of the river St.
be;
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QUEBEC.
359
this
L'ivev
borei
Maurice, stands the town of Throe Elvers, the second
oldest town in Canada. From Montreal, thus far, the
banks are of a very moderate elevation, and uniformly
level ; but below Three llivers they become higher, auil
gradujilly increase on approaching Quebec until they
attain the height of Ca])e Diamond, upon which the
citadel is built. The view from this eminence, and from
Point Levi on the south shore, is particularly striking.
The following description may be quoted as a very good
one : —
" The scenery of Quebec and the surrounding country
is described by all travellers as rivalling in picturesque
beauty the most favoured parts of the earth. The navi-
gator who ascends the St. Lawrence, after he has passed
the Isle of Orleans and entered the broad l)asin already
mentioned, where he first comes in sight of this capital,
is struck with intense admiration. He sees its citadel
crowning a lofty cliff, its castle and batteries over-
hanging a range of formidable steeps, the river crowded
with numerous vessels of every form and size, from the
huge timber-ships to the bark canue. The Fall of Mont-
morenci appears dashing its white foam almost to the
clouds, and on each side is a long range of fertile and
beautiful shore. On ascending Cape Diamond, a still
grander and more extensive j)anorama bursts upon his
view, combining all the boldness of rude with the rich-
ness of cultivated nature. Up and down the magnificent
stream of the St. Lawrence is a reach of more than forty
miles, on which sails almost innumerable are in ceaseless
movement. Below is the beautiful Isle of Orleans, while
the opposite coast is diversified by a great variety of
natural arid cultivated scenery. To the north appears
the river St. Charles, winding amid fertile valleys and
lulls, with villages hanging on their sides, while the
prospect is closed by a bold screen of mountains."
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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Mr. JVIold prefers the views from the upper town, where,
though fewer objects are seen, they appear more distinct
and brilliant.
This traveller, after visiting a great part of Europe and
America, gives to them a preference over everything he
had observed on either continent. Mr. M'Gregor con-
siders them similar, but much superior, to those from the
castles of Edinl)urgh and Stirling.
A little below the city of Quebec the Island of
Oi'leans divides the river into two channels. The
south shore is high, the north mountainous, but both
are thickly settled, and the lands well cultivated. Erom
the upper end of the Island of Orleans are seen the
Falls of the Montmorenci Eiver, which leaps in an un-
broken sheet over a rocky bank about 250 feet in height.
This river empties into the St. Lawrence on the north
shore, about six miles below Quebec.
I'roceeding down the river, the traveller sees several
large islands, among which the principal are Grosse
Island and Crane Island, which are cultivated, but the
others are in a state of nature.
At Riviere du Sud the St. Lawrence has increased to
a width of eleven miles, and the country on either shore
cannot easily be rivalled for picturesqueness, as village
succeeds village, conspicuous by contrasting their bright
church steeples and whi' :- tinted houses with the rich
foliage of the trees ; the whole backed by rising-grounds,
ami the bold but distant outline of the Xotre Dame Moun-
tains, which form the southern boundary of the Province.
Beyond Riviere du Sud occurs what is called the
" Traverse," where the channel is intricate, and vessels
have to cross from one side of the river to the other, as
indicated by buoys and lights.
Passing the Traverse, a very agreeable view of the
settlements of the Bay of St. I'aul, enclosed within au
GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE.
361
amphitheatre of very high hills, and the well-cultivated
Isle Aux Coudres at its entrance, presents itself. Con-
tinuing down the river, the next in succession are the
Islands of Kamouraska, the Pilgrims, Hare Island, and
the cluster of small ones near it, named the Brandy Pots.
From hence, at no great distance, is (Jreen Island ; near
Green Island is Ped Island, and abreast of it, on the
northern shore, is the mouth of the Saguenay Piver.
This river, over a mile in width, and 1000 feet in
depth, is remarkable, even in America, for the volume of
the waters it pours into the St. Lawrence. As this river
is described among the tributaries of the St. Lawrence, we
proceed, and pass Bic Island and Father Point, at which
point the ocean steamers land the mails and such
passengers as wish to take the Inter- Colonial Pailway,
tlicre skirting the south shore of the St. Lawrence, and
continuing to do so as far as Quebec.
The river has now widened to thirty miles, but the
(!ulf cannot be said to have been reached before Point
de Monts, on the north shore, longitude 67° 30', latitude
49° 15', is passed; and even this may be questioned, as
tlie Gaspe peninsula continues about three degrees farther,
and terminates at its most easterly point in Cape Gasi^e.
Were we to follow the northern shore to Blanc
Sablon, the boundary between the Dominion and Lab-
rador would be reached at the Strait of Belle Isle, and
opposite the northern end of Newfoundland.
The island of Anticosti would have also been passed.
This large island, estimated to contain 2600 square miles,
lies off the north shore between latitudes 49'' and 50° north
and longitudes 62° and 65° west; and although the interior
is hilly, there is much good land, and it is well adapted
for agriculture. It is a favourite resort for bear-hunting,
as well as for salmon and trout fishin ■ '^ut has few in-
habitants.
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362
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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li
The vast Gulf now opens between the head of the
Strait of lielle Isle to the north, and the shores of New
Brunswick and Nova Scotia on the south ; whilst the
Magdalen Islands lie opposite to the main entrance
between the southern cape of Newfoundland and the
northern point of Cape Breton Island.
These Manrdalen Islands are a group of thirteen small
islands stretching north-east from Prince Edward Island,
from which they are distant about fifty-four miles, and
from Newfoundland, west -south -west about 100 miles.
Amherst, Grindstone, Grosse, Byron, and Coffin islands, —
the latter twenty -five niles long but very narrow, —
are the principal ones. Amherst Island contains the best
harbour. These islands were formerly under the govern-
ment of Newfoundland, but are now annexed to Canada.
The fisheries of these islands are very productive, and
are the mainstay of the inhabitants, numbering some
4000 souls. Considerable deposits of gypsum are found
on the islands, also ores of manganese and iron.
We have thus followed the St. Lawrence from its head
waters to the Atlantic, and in conclusion may state that
every advantage which science can secure in buoys,
beacons, and submarine telegraphs, has been adopted, and
that the coast-line which this river and gulf aflbrd to
Canada is one of her greatest natural advantages.
It may be said that its shores are inhabited throughout
their entire length, — sparsely, it is true, — east of the
Saguenay by fishermen, and to the north on Lake Superior
by a mining population ; but between these points, a
thousand miles apart, the farms of the agriculturist, and
the villages, towns, and cities of the remainder of tlie
population of the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario to the
north, and of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to the
south, give life and animation to the scene.
In the following pages reference will be made to the
THE OTTAWA KIVER.
3G3
sliippiuf:^ and fisheries of its waters, and to the lumber and
mining interests of its shores ; but when it is considered
that between .Ireland and Newfoundland the trip is made
in five days, and that there is afterwards still water and
the optio)!, after a sail of two days more, to take the rail-
way, it will l)e evident that the passage of the Atlantic on
this route, and with first-class steamers, has been made
short, safe, and easy.
A short description is now given of the tributaries of
the St. Lawrence liiver.
VHi .
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3.
Tributaries of the St. Lawrence.
The Ottai'M River. — Having giA'en the reserve supply
of the St. Lawrence derived from the great lakes, it is
necessary now to state the active supply which it receives
from its tributaries. The largest of tliese is the Ottawa —
so called from the Outoais tribe of Indians who lived on
its banks — a magnificent river, which in its turn receives
iilllueuts of miglity rivers. It is in considering the size
and drainage of tliese rivers that the volume of the St.
Lawrence can be understood.
The Ottawa rises near the 49th parallel of latitude in
longitude 7G° west. It is about 780 miles long, and 300
miles from its source passes through Lake Temiscamang,
07 miles long. Above this lake the country drained by the
Ottawa is little known, but below it, for a distance of 430
miles, the river has been sur\'eyed. Montreal Eivor, the
old canoe route of the Hudson Bay Company, comes in
from the north-west, thirty-four miles down Lake Temis-
camang ; and six miles lower down the almost unknown
river Iveepawa plunges into the lake in a magnificent
cascade 120 feet in height. From the Long-Sault, at
the foot of Lake Temiscamang, 233 miles above the city
of Ottawa, the river is not navigable for a distance of
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3G4
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGHAniY AND TRAVEL.
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eighty-nine miles, excei)t for canoes. Between the hast*
named point and Ottawa, a distance of 197 miles,
numerous tributaries swell its waters, and one of these,
the Matawan, coming from the west, is of especial interest,
in consequence of being on the line of the pr(>i)osed ship-
canal route between the Ottawa liiver and Lake Huron,
Above the Upper Allumette Lake there is a navigable
reach of water forty-three miles in length. The moun-
tains aliove Allumette Lake are upwards of 1000 feet
in height, and the scenery is very grand. The mountains
on the north side of Colounge Lake are 1500 feet high,
and the scenery beautiful. The Tetewahweh, one of the
largest tributaries, 140 miles long, drains an area of
2200 square miles; the Black River, 120 miles long,
drains 1120 square miles; and thirty-nine miles above
Ottawa City, the Madawaska, one of the greatest feeders,
and 240 miles long, drahis 4100 square miles. Six
miles above Ottawa the rapids begin which terminate
in the celebrated " Chaudiere " Falls, whoso tumultuous
waters plunge forty feet and partly disappear in the
" Lost Chaudiere " by an underground passage, whose
subsequent outlet is unknown. At Ottawa tlie great or
main river receives the Eideau Biver on the south shore,
distinguished by its canal, which connects the Ottawa
Biver at the capital with Lake Ontario at Kingston. The
largest tributary of the Ottawa Biver is tlie Gatineau,
which empties into the Ottawa on the north baidc op-
l)osite to the city of Ottawa. This river has a course of
420 miles, and drains 12,000 square miles of territory.
Eighteen miles below Ottawa is the Biver I)u Lievre,
draining an area of 4100 .square miles; below this river
there are numerous tributaries to the Ottawa, varying
from 90 to 160 miles in length, which cannot be here
described, although worthy of being so. The rapids
below Ottawa are avoided bv a succession of canals. One
K
THE ST. MAURICE RIVKR.
365
hundred and thirty miles behjw the capital of the Dom-
inion the Ottawa's waters meet those of the St. Lawrence,
and for many miles their dark hne distinguishes them
from the azure waters of the St. Lawrence, afterwards
hlended in tlieir onward course to the sea.
The valhiy drained by the Ottawa is 80,000 square
miles in area, for the most part covered with valuable
timber, particularly red and white pine. It is abundantly
intersected with large rivers, which afford the means of
floating the timber of tlie lumberman to market, and
contains a very considerable area of the best soil. The
country, behind what has been called the red pine region,
is generally beautiful and undulating, and sustains a
growth of ma])le, beech, birch, and elm. No region of
equal extent enjoys so much excellent water-power, with
such ample supplies of timber and minerals. It is a
region rich in ores of iron, lead, and copper, also in
plumbago, marbles, ochres, and phosphates. The city
of Ottawa was founded by Colonel By in 1827, at the
time of tlie construction of the Rideau Canal. It is
situated a little Ijelow the beautiful and curious falls of
the Chaudiere, and stands upon a high and l)old emhience
surrounding a deep bay. Lord Sydenham recommended
Bytown, as it was then named, as a very favourable
situation fur the seat of government, which distinction it
afterwards received on the reference by the Canadian
Parliament to Her jMajesty the Queen.
The tributaries of the St. Lawrence are so numerous
that the descri[)tion must be limited by our space to the
principal ones.
2'he St. Maurice, which falls into the St. Lawrence at
Three Bivcrs, just below Lake St. Peter, is about 300
miles in length, and is excessively rapid. It rises in the
Laurentian range, traverses a mountainous country, re-
ceives as its tributaries about ten large rivers, and falling
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COMPENDIUM OF OEOGRAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
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over a ledjjjo of rocks at the magnificent Falls of Sliawin-
e<,'an, about forty miles from the St. Lawrence, for which
(iJHtance it is navi<^'al)le and uninterrui)te(l, reaches its
niouth in the St. Lawrence, where it is about a mile wide.
live, S(tf/m'H((i/, from its mouth, about 12U miles below
Quebec, where it falls into the St. Lawrence on the north
shore, to a distance of seventy miles, is a river over a mile
in width, bounded on either side by mountains of 1500
feet in height. This gorge is evidently a llssure in the
Laurentian Itange, as, were the shores brought together,
the opposite hills would apparently lit. The depth of the
river is great, and in most places corresponds with the
height of the precipitous mountains on either shore. The
head-waters of this river are on the height of land dividing
the province of Quebec from the Hudson Bay Territories,
about 120 miles from the St. Lawrence. It opens out
into the Lake St. John, about 100 miles inland. This
lake is about thirty miies long and tweuty-iive miles wide.
Some large lumbering establishments have been carried on
here for years, but the Saguenay is celebrated chieily for
its scenery and for the salmon rivers which enter it.
Tadousac, a favourite bathing -place, is at its mouth.
Here are still to be seen the foundations of the first
stone buildings erected by the French in Canada, and a
little wooden church, the first one erected in Canada, is
still in good preservation in the little bay near the mouth
of the river.
There are steamers regularly running to Chicoutimi,
seventy-five miles up this river, and a comfortable hotel
at Tadousac is much frequented by tourists.
It may lie remarked that the head waters of the three
great tributuritis of the St. Lawrence on its north shore,
namely, the Ottawa, the St. Maurice, and the Saguenay,
rise in chains of lakes to the north, on the height of land
above referred to, and that it is possible, by short im'tiujcs
TIIK ItlCIlKLlKU KIVKK.
307
Lotweeu tlie lakes, to pass from one to tlio otlicr of tlieso
rivers.
rassin<? from tlie north shore, where the rivers, hesicles
tliose (lescrilied, are innumerable and oi' considerable size,
to the south, we meet
The llichilicu, or liivcr of the Iroquois. This river,
about ei<,dity miles lonjj;, is navij^'able from Sorel at its
mouth to Chumbly Fort and liasin. It is the outlet of
Lake Chamjthiin, and was used by the French in their
wars with the Iroquois, and afterwards in their advances
ajfainst the Knylish colonists. Still later it became the
great line of attack adopted by the Americana in their
wars with the Canadians. The valley of the Ilichelieu is
one of the most beautiful and fertile sections of the
province of Qucl)ec. The rapids at Chambly can be sur-
mounted by a canoe.
The St. Francis, a river of about 130 miles in lenj^'th,
is the outlet of the lakes St. Francis and ]\Ieni[)hremagog
— the latter a beautiful lake, equal to any of the Cumber-
land lakes. This river falls into the St. Lawrence at
Tort St. Francis, a small place of no note.
The Chaudilrc, a river of 110 miles in length, falls into
the St. Lawrence about six miles above Quebec. It is
celebrated chietly for a beautiful fall near its mouth, and
for its gold-tields.
Tlie only rivers familiar by name which have not been
descril)ed on either shore — and their name is legion — are
the Montmorenci, about six miles below (Quebec, celebrated
for a beautiful faL of 240 feet, and the Jacques Cartier,
about six miles above Quebec, celebrated for its salmon
pools.
In another part of this work a list is given of the
salmon rivers leased by the Goverimient for rod fishing,
hut it may be stated generally that all the lakes and
rivers on the north shore abound in speckled trout, and
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3G8
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRArHY AND TKAVEL.
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that sea-trout and salmon frequent the rivers as higli as
tide waters.
The vast and picturesque lakes now claim attention.
Although the description of these lakes is necessarily
limited, it must not be assumed that they are unattractive
or uninteresting. Nothing can be farther from the trutli,
as no more beautiful or enjoyalde trip can be made than
over their sp",rkling waters in the palace steamers, which
constantly carry tourists and passengers, and provide
accommodation such as is not known in Europe, so
luxuriously are they fitted and found. Add to this the
attraction of the richest agricultural display of farms, and
farmers' well-appointed and, in many cases, very ex-
tensive homesteads, groves of trees, well-kept grass lands,
cosy hamlets, gay villages, bustling towns, or noisy cities,
with the restless engine working its way with a steam
cloud as it traverses the shores, and the reader will feel
satisfied that the lakes of Canada will alone afford
material where the artist, the poet, the sportsman, the
tourist, the merchant, and the litterateur, may revel and
still feel that the end is not reached.
4. Lahc Ontario.
Lair Ontario, the smallest and most easterly of the
five great lakes which communicate with the river St.
Lawrence, is situated between 43° 10' and 44° 10' north
latitude, and *7()° and 80° west longitude.
It divides the State of Xew York from Canada on the
north, the line of its greatest extent running ueorly due
east and west.
Its greatest length is about 190 miles, and greatest
breadth 55 miles. The entire area is estimated at 5400
square miles. The sm-fiit'O is 334 feet below that of
Erie, and about 230 feet above the tide water in the St.
LAKE EKIE.
3G9
St.
the
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latest
i400
it of
le St.
Lawrence. The greatest depth is upwards of GOO feet,
and it is navigahhi in every part for vessels of the largest
class. It is never closed with ice, and never freezes,
even in the severest weather, except in shallow places
along the shore.
Lake Ontario receives its cliief supply from the great
lakes tlirough Niagara lliver, though considerable acces-
sions are brought to it by the Genessee, Oswego, and Trent
rivers, and numerous smaller rivers, both from the Cana-
dian and United States shores. It discharges its waters
by the St. Lawrence. It is connected with Lake Erie by
the Welland Canal, twenty-eight mdes long. The lake
contains a great variety of fine fish, among which may be
named the salmon-trout, whitefish, and Oswego bass.
Situated on a beautiful circular bay, on the noith-
west shore of Lake OntP'^^'o, is one of the most tiourishmg
cities of the Dominion, viz. Toronto.
The other principal cities on its shores are Llamilton,
west of Toronto, Niagara on the opposite side of the
lake, and Windsor, Port Hope, Cobourg, Belleville, and
Kingston, east of Toronto.
This beautiful inland sea is studded with sails and
enlivened by steamers, whose busy keels are ever engaged
in transporting the products of the country, or carrying
rich freights farther inland.
On its shores La Salle in 1C79 built the first vessel
constructed in Canada, and at the present day tb.c fast-
growing cities on its shores, and the vessels on its waters,
afford a pleasing illustration of Canadian progress.
5. Tjuhe Eric.
Lnlx Un'r, the next in order, proceeding westwardiy,
o'' the great lakes, lies about north-east and south-west
between 41° 25' and 42° 55' north latitude, and between
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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78° 55' and 83° 25' west lon^uitude, M'itli tlie ])rovince of
Ontario on the north, a part of the States of Xew Y(jrk,
INjnnsylvania, and Ohio on thv. south, and a part of
Micliigan on the west.
Its shape is elliptical, the entire length being about
240 miles, its greatest breadth 57 miles, average breadtli
38 miles, computed circumference 658 miles. The depth
of the lake is less than that of any otlier in the chain,
the greatest yet obtained from soundings being only 220
feet. Towards the sliores, and especially at the western
extremity, its shallowness is a serious impediment to
navigation, which is entirely suspendeil during the winter
months, in consequence of the shoal portions being
frozen.
The surface of Lake Erie has an elevation of 322
feet above the level of Ontario, and ~)C)~) feet above high-
water mark in the St. Lawrence at Quebec.
Its princi])al supply is by the Detroit and St. Clair
rivers, which constitute the outlet of the three great
lakes to the north-west, viz. Huron, Michigan, and
Superior.
Numerous rivers flow into it from the south, the more
important of wliich are the jMaumee, Sanausky, tiraud,
Huron, and IJaisin. Its own waters are discharged by the
Niagara Uiwr into Lake Ontario, and tlience by the river
St. Lawrence into tlie ocean.
The principal harbours on the Canadian shore are
tlie (Jraud Iiiver, Port Coll )orne, Port iJover, Port Stanley,
and Leanungton. Long I'oint, a narrow neck of huid
stretching into the lake near Port Stanley, is so much fre-
quented Iiy inmiense ilncks of ducdx's thnl it is hidd Ity a
com[)any of sportsmen as a ibu-k preserve, and affords im-
mense bags of game. Tlu," lake also abonnds with fine ti.sh.
Here is the land of the vine, as the Niagara district
of "Western Ontario and the shores of Lake Erie are
LAKE HURON.
o I i
celebrated for tlieir fruits. Tlie richest of our native
grapes, full in flesh and rich in flavour and colour, the
peach, the nectarine, the pear, the plum, the a])ple, the
cherry, the melon, and tlie tomato, are to be found in
abundance along its shores.
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the
iver
G. Zf^/t'c Huron and Georgian Bay.
Lahe Huron, tlie tliird in order and in size of the
great lakes of North America, communicating with the
St. Lawrence River, lies between 43° and 46° lo' north
latitude, and between 80" and 84° 40' west hmgitude,
lieing bounded on the south-south-west by the State of
Michigan, and in all other directions by the I'rovince of
Dntario, and receives its sup]»ly of water from Lake
Superior, by tlie Sault St. ^Nfarie, and from Lake ^Michigan,
tlirough the Strait of Michilimacinac, abbreviated into
]\lackinaw. It is divided into two unequal portions by a
long peninsula naiucd Cabot Head and the jManitoulin
clifiiu of i.slands. The parts to the north and east are
called JManitou, i.e. the (Jreat Spirit Bay, or the North
Channel and Manitoulin Lake or Georgian IJny. With
the exception of these bodies of water and Saginaw Bay,
the outline of Lake Huron approaches in form very nearly
to a crescent.
Its position, lengthwise, is about S.S.E. and N.X.W.,
and the distance from one extremity to the other, follow-
ing the curve, does not vary nnu'li i'roni 280 miles. The
greatest breadth, exclusive of Georgian Bay, is 10;" miles,
the averii.,'., b^'cadth 70 miles, and the estiniat(.'d area
20,400 srpiare miles. The surface of tlu> water is
elevated 10 feet above Lake Erie, 852 feet above Lake
Ontario, and 000 feet above the level of the sea.
The depth of Lake Huron is greater than that of any
other in the chain, averaging, probably, not less than
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372
COMI'EXDIUM OF GEOGHAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
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1000 feet. Off Saginaw Bay, it is said that leads have
been sunk 1800 feet — 1200 feet behjw the level of thu
Atlantic Ocean — without reaching the bottom.
The waters are remarkably clear, es[)ecially towards
the Strait of Mackinaw, and very pure and sweet. It
is to their peculiar transparency that Dr. Drake attril)utu.s
the fact, which he ascertained by actual experiment, that
the temperature of the water at the surface and 200 feet
below is precisely the same — fifty-six degrees. The sun's
rays pass through the water as thr(nigh a cloudless atmo-
sphere, without meeting with suliicient solid matter in
suspension to elicit heat.
This lake is said to contain upwards of 3000 con-
siderable islands. It receives numerous rivers, and its
coast affords very fine harbours. IJke most of the other
lakes in the chain, it is subject to fearful storms, but its
navigation is not generally considered dangerous. The
scenery of the northern shore and around the historic
Strait of Mackinaw is alone worth a visit from Europe.
7. ZaJce Superior.
Lahe Superior is the most westerly and most elevatel
of the North American chain of lakes, and is the largest
expanse of fresh water on the globe. This is truly a sea.
It extends from latitude 46° 25' to 49° north, an<l
from longitude 84° 30' to 92° 20' west. It has ]\Iiniu'-
sota on the west and north-west, Wisconsin and the
north peninsula of ]\Iichigan on the south, and Ontario
in all other dii'eetions.
The greatest length, measured on a curve through its
centre from east to west, is 420 miles ; the greatest
breadth, 160 miles; and the circuit about 1750 miles.
Height above the sea-level, 630 feet; depi.li varying from
80 to 200 fathoms.
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LAKE SUrERIOR.
373
It is of very irrej4iilar shape, widening towards its
rontre, and gradually uan^jwing, partly towards tlie east,
but much more so towards the west extremity, tlius
forming an irregular crescent, with its convexity on the
north and its concavity on the south.
The north shore is generally bold and elevated, pre-
senting almost continuous ranges of clilfs, which vary in
height from 300 to 1500 feet ; the south shore is low
and sandy, though occasionally interrupted hy sandstone
ridges, the most remarkable of which, situated towards
the eastern extremity, presents a perpendicular wall 70
to 80 feet high, broken by numerous caverns and pro-
jections, and forming, und(;r the name of the Pictured
Itocks, one of the greatest natural curiosities in America.
The central portion of the lake is free from islands,
which, however, are nunua-ous both towards the southern
and northern side. In the former direction they are
s^cnerally small ; bnt in the latt<3r several, more esjiecially
the Isle lioyal, are of considerable dimensions, and,
along with the indentations of the coast, allbrd good
sliitlter for vessels.
The water of the hake is remarkable for its transpa-
rency, and is derived from a basin estimated at 100,000
square miles, drahied by more than 200 streams. About
tliirty of these arj of considerable size, but they are almost
iill impctuons torrents, interrupted by rocks and rapids.
The outlet is by the St. ]\Iary Strait, at the south-
cast, which communicates with Lake Huron and the
other great lakes whose waters reach the ocean through
the St. Lawrence. St. ]\Iary Strait (Sault St. Marie)
descends twenty-two feet in a distance of three-fourths of
a mile, forming a series of rapids, around which a navi-
1,'ahle canal has been constructed on the United States
side, forming the last link of the chain of communication
between the great lakes, and adding above 1700 miles to
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374
COMPENDIUM OF (JEOGKAl'IIY AND TliAVEL.
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our coast trade. Within the lake itself the only obstruc-
tions to its navigation are the violent gales to which it
is subject. It is well supplied with fish, ])rincii)ally
trout of great size and of a delicious flavour, whitc-tish,
and sturgeon. The two former are of excellent (puility,
and have led to the establishment of a number of lishing
stations.
The principal exports from Lake Superior are ores of
silver, copper, and iron, of which deposits of great richness
and extent have been discovered both on its shores ami
islands. The silver - mines of Lake Superior are very
rich, successful, and most j) roll table ; explorations are
being prosecuted on a number of islands and on the
mainland by several companies. The most valua])lc
deposits of silver yet found have been on Silver Islet,
where the yield is very great.
The boundary-line between Canada and the United
States in Lake Superior proceeds through its centre
until it approaches Isle Eoyal, when it trends north, so as
to give that island entirely to the United States, and is
then carried south-west to its termination at the mouth
of Pigeon Iliver in latitude 48° north.
The scenery of Lake Su])eri(»r has never been
descriljed, and, unfortunately, there is no room for it
here ; but the precipitous and mountainous north shore
is mirrored in the clear waters, so that it is diflicult
to realise where rock, water, and cloud begin or end.
8. Zake Nlpigon.
" Nipigon," a contraction of a word signifying " Deep
Clear Water Lake," is a large lake of Ontario, thirty miles
north-west of Lake Superior. Its general outline is o\iil
in form. The shore on the southern side is dee])ly in-
dented by large bays ; and on the northern, Ombabika
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LAKE NII'IGON.
375
Bay is nearly twenty miles long, with an entrance only a
iiiile wide. These indentations increase very much the
coast-line, which measures 580 miles. Lake Nipit^on is
very tliickly studded with islands, estimated at ujnvards
of 1000. Some 500 or GOO have already been examined,
varying in size from eiglit miles in diameter to a few
chains in length. The streams ilowing into the lake are
very numerous ; among the largest are Kayoshk or Gull
liiver, Na-me-wa-rain-i-kan or Sturgeon liiver, sometimes
also called the Poplar Lodge Iliver, from the name of tlie
Hudson Bay Company's post at its mouth.
The aspect of the country around Lake Nipigon, and
of the islands within it, is undulating, and sometimes
liilly, but level tracts of consideraldo extent occur in
some places. The largest tract of good land a] »] tears to
be on the south-western side of tlie lake. For tifty miles
from the Xonwatan Eiver northwards the country is
mostly level and the soil fertile. The Indians represent
this tract as continuing nearly to the Winnipeg Eiver,
becoming more level as it recedes westward. Around
South Bay and M'Intyre Bay, the two largest bays of
the south, there is a considerable area of good laud.
Along the Kabitotiquia on tlie west, on both sides of
the river, the country is level and the soil sandy, sup-
porting a growth of grass and bushes, the timber having
teen burned off' by repeated fires. The land is free from
stones, and almost ready for the plough.
To the north-westward the country is low, and a level
tract extends north to an unknown distance. To the
north-east, along Ondjabika Bay, as far as the eye can
reacli, the country is level and the soil good.
The climate appears to be as well suited for agricultural
purposes as tbe greater part of the Province of Quebec.
Farming has been successfully carried on for a long time
at Xipigon House, the Hudson Bay Company's jjost.
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAniY AND TRAVEL.
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The tinilter is prJncii)ally white .si)nice, birch, aspen,
pophir, balsam, fir, with occasional trees of black ash, gray-
elm, and white pine. Lake Ni])igon is 313 feet above
the level of Lake Superior, and its depth of water is very
great; in some parts a line of 540 feet has failed to touch
the bottom.
The shores on the south and east are bolder, and the
water deeper, tlian on the north and west. The lake has
its outlet in the Nipigon liiver, which issues from the
S(juth-east side, and empties into Lake Sui)erior, to whicli
it is by far the largest tributary, and may be regarded as
the chief source of the St. Lawi'ence.
This lake is still in a state of nature, and is very little
known except from the report of Professor Bell of the
Geological Survey.
Lately, however, some adventurous sportsmen visited
it, and discovered that its outlet swarms with speckled
trout, ranging from one to seven pounds in weight, and
commonly over four pounds.
IT
BASIN OF HUDSON BAY.
377
...
CHArTER IV.
I
THE BASIN OF HUDSON BAY.
1. (jcncral Features.
The term " Xew World " has not yet lost its significance
and applicability to that vast region of North America,
known as the "Xorth-West Territories," M-hereof the
" Old Woi'ld " has remained in comparative ignorance
until within the last few years, since which time tliey
have been introduced to notice in connection with the
Dominion of Canada.
In 1G70, as already stated, the Hudson Bay Com-
pany obtained a charter frora Charles II., granting tnem
!i limited sovereignty, with territorial rights and a mono-
poly of trade over the country drained by the rivers
which fall into Hudson Bay. Under this charter the
Company claimed jurisdiction and control over all the
territories between the watershed of the St. Lawrence
Basin and the Arctic Ocean, and from the Labrador coast
to the liocky Mountains. Their trade was directed from
England, and the route adopted for connnunication with
tlie country w^as vid Hudson Strait.
Under the French r^rjime the claim of the Hudson
Bay Com})any to this territory was dis])uted by the French
traders, who had their base of operations in Canada, and
so fierce was the rivalry that constant \var ensued.
The Hudson ]>ay Company found the fur trade, to
which they chiefly confined their operations, very lucra-
I:' i
378
COMPl'A'DIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
\\
i III
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I
tive, and mudo groat efforts to maintain tlieir monopoly
in silence, and to prevent all intrud(;rs from enterim,' the
Territ(jries, or interfering with the Indian hunters whuui
they hiid in their service.
Suljsc(|uently to the conquest of Canada hy Great
Britain, the ]jritisli colonists, attracted by the fur trade
of the interior, organised a company with its headquarters
in Montreal, and known as the " North- West Company,"
which i)rosecuted this trade so vigorously that, to avoid
the rivalry of the op])osing company a union was eifecttMl
with the North-West Company in 1793, and the original
policy of exclusiveuess was maintained more rigorously
than before.
In the arctic explorations of Hearne, Mackenzie,
Shnpson, and Dease, the Hudson liay Company con-
tributed nmch to geographical knowledge ; but the narra-
tives of hardships and sufferings endured by these ex-
plorers gave ground for the im})ressiou of the severity of
the climate, erroneously imputed, to the entire area of
these Territories.
One, and only one, agricultural settlement was per-
mitted by the Company. The failure of this one, under-
taken by the Earl of Selkirk and a colony of Scotcli
Highlanders about the year 1812, on the banks of the
lied liiver within the present Province of Manitolw,
was utilised to discourage agricultural settlements, and
the Company is charged, with some reason, — if their state-
ments before the Committees of the British House of
Commons in 1857 be referred to, — with the cultivation of
the idea that the climate was arctic and the land sterile.
Thus, for two centuries, these Territories were retained
for the exclusive uses of the Company — a gi-eat " lone
land " — untenanted excejjt by the scattered trading posts
of these fur traders, and undisturbed, unless by the roving
Indian hunter following the musk ox or the buffalo.
..,i,f » ■^■^'..-■f^.
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10.
FEllTILITY OF THE NOKTII-WKST TEUUITuKY.
379
At the present day it may be stated, on tlie evidence
of facts and the retnrns of the settler, that this prairie
section of Canada, instead of being an arctic waste, is the
nidst vahiable and fertile part of tlie Xew World, and
possibly ecjnal to any part of the Old one.
As already stated, the area between tlie coast of
Labrador and the eastern slope of the llocky jMountains,
includinii; the islands of the arctic coast and the water
surface of Hudson Lay, exceeds .'5,000,000 sipiare miles.
The country is a plateau, rising in terraces from the
Atlantic coast to the llocky JMountains.
The soil is alluvial, underlaid with gravel, and has a
covering of rich mould, varying i'unn a i'ew inches to ten
feet, formed by the decay of the grasses and of the ashes,
to which they have been reduced by the lires that have
for ages annually mown and bedded them uniler.
Occasional tracts, large in themselves, but small in
comparison with the whole, are sandy or sterile, and again
some are wet and will continue so until drained, as mav
easily be effected through the deep eroded channels of
the rivers cut in these alluvial plains.
One-third of these Territories may be stated to be as
well adajjted for the habitation of the human race as Eng-
land, and, notwithstanding the erroneous opinions expressed
liy a few mendjers of the Dritish House of Connnons in
the deljate on the Irish Land Lill are much more
salubrious than any part of Great Bru.iin, and as fertile
as its highest cultivated districts. The remainder corre-
sponds with Russia in similar latitudes, but is better
timbered, and is in great part underlaid with coal.
In 18G9, at the urgent solicitation of Canada, the
Imperial Government obtained from the Hudson 15ay
Company a surrender and transfer of their rights. The
terms agreed on were £300,000 sterling, to be paid by
Canada, the loan for the purpose being guaranteed by the
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
Imperial Government, and a land grant of about seven
million acres in the great fertile belt, together with valu-
able blocks around each of their established forts and
trading posts.
The transfer was completed on the 1st October 1869,
and tliese two impediments existed to the settlement of
these Territories : —
Tlie first was a dread of Indian hostility.
The other was the difficulty of access.
The first of these, as will be shown elsewhere, has
ceased to exist, and the second is being rapidly overcome
by the railways now in course of construction.
Until these are completed through Canadian territory
tlie influx of immigrants will be necessarily limited. With
this transfer the care of the Indian population and the recog-
nition of their rights in the soil was assumed by Canada.
Subsequently treaties were effected by the Canadian
Government with the several Indian tribes, as stated in
the chapter on Indians, by which their title to the wliolo
of the Territories was purchased on condition of perpetual
annuities to them and to their children, and reservations
of sufficient agricultural lands for their support.
By tliis just and politic arrangement the Indian is
now settling down as an agriculturist, and has already
made progress in the arts of civilisation, which will, it is
1 lelieved, increase with each generation ; and thus has the
Indian been rendered the friend and not the foe of his
white brother, and the attached ally of his great motlier
the Queen of Britain, and the Empress not only of the
East but of the West.
The territory around Hudson Bay has been already
in part described, and our attention will be now cliiefly
directed to the prairie region between Hudson Bay and
the Rocky Mountains.
But few persons know anything explicit or tangible of
. ■— •^^ #-*.t»rf, ^i**« ^
'«4r-*!«i>«r«(v;"'J:;Kiriit" -■-..•►ik
AGRICULTURAL CAPABILITIES.
381
the immense region called the " Xorth-West Territory."
If we define it as the region westward from Lake Superior
to the Kocky Mountains and northwards from the bound-
ary to the 60° parallel, it includes 500,000 square
miles of this continent, a territory equal to the British
Islands, France, and Germany combined. The great
North- West, however, is not the terra incognita it was a
few years ago. Its vast plains have been traversed ; its
rivers and lakes carefully traced, and treasures of iron,
and coal, salt, and even gold, have been laid bare ; and
its rich exj)anses of fertile prairies are now known to
possess the capability of supporting a numerous popula-
tion, equalling in numbers those now densely thronging
the British Isles. What are the agricultural capabilities
of the great region drained by Lake Winnipeg is very
clearly stated by Professor Hind, who made a very able
report on the subject not long since. He gives us the
following statistics on the subject : —
Acres.
On the route from Fort William, Lake Superior, to
the Lake of the "Woods, including the valley of
Rainy River 200,000
The fertile belt, stretchinrr from the Lake of the
Woods to the flanks of the Rocky Mountains, and
as far north as the r)4th parallel, on the Atha-
basca, west of M'Lood River (80,000 square miles) 51,200,000
Isolated areas in the Prairie Plateau, south of the
Assiniboine 2,000,000
Isolated areas in the f:;reat Plain Plateau, the exten-
sion northwards of the great American desert,
and in the valleys of the rivers flowing through it 1,000,000
Total area of laud available for agricultural i)urposes 54,400,000
Approximate area suitable for grazing purpose? . 30,000,000
Total approximate area suitable for the abode of
civilised man 84,400,000
Approximate area of the basin of Lake Winnipeg,
within British territory 199,680,000
Area fitted for tlie abode of civilised man . . 84,400,000
Deaert area unsuitable for the permanent abode of man 1 1 5,280,000
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
Comparing this extent of surface with Canada, we
arrive at the following results : —
Acres.
Area of the province of Canada (340,000 square miles) 117,600,000
Area occupied by the sedimentary (80,000 square
miles) 51,200,000
Area occupied by Crystalline rocks . . . 166,400,000
If we suppose that one-sixth of the area occupied by
crystalline rock is capable of cultivation, as regards
soil and climate (an estimate probably in excess),
the total amount of land in Canada available for
the purpose of settlement will be approximately . 78,900,000
Showing an excess of land fitted for the permanent
abode of men in favour of the basin of Lake Win-
nipeg over the province of Canada of . . 5,500,000
Tlie first re'iiilar survey of this prairie section was made
by Captnin Talliser, E.E., in the four years from 1857 to
18 GO, under tlie direction of the Imperial Government.
His reports and maps are interesting, and should be con-
sulted by any one seeking information as to the details of
the country. Tlie subsequent surveys for the Canadian
Government by the officers of the Geological Survey, and
of the Department of the Interior, as well as for the
Canadian I'acific liailway, have materially increased our
knowledge of the country, and corrected many erroneous
ideas entertained even lately as to the sterility of certain
sections supposed to be arid or swampy.
Sandford Fleming, C.E., says, in his first report on the
proposed railway route : —
" A glance at a map of Xorth America will show that
the field of inquiry extends from 76° west longitude ou
the eastern side, to 120° west longitude on the western
side, wliile it is bounded on the south by the 4r)th parallel
of latitude, and on the north by tlie 55th parallel.
" Its extreme limits thus embrace fifty-four degrees of
longitude, and ten degrees of latitude, and, reduced to
miles, the territory under examination will be found to
^
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THE PRAIRIE REGION.
383
cover fully 2700 huiidretl miles in length, and a breadth
ranging from 300 to 500 miles.
" This extensive territory, with an area of 1,000,000
square miles, drains into three oceans — the Atlantic to
the east, the Arctic to the north, and the Pacific to the
west. . . .
" The leading botanical, in conjunction with the geo-
logical and topographical, features of the country divide it
imi urally into three great regions. The Eastern is densely
wooded ; the Western is wooded and mountainous ; the
Central is a vast lowland plain, for the most part prairie."
Kespecting the Central or Prairie Region, Mr. Fleming
states that it may be described as an isolated triangle
with a base of 1500 miles in length, and sides of from
900 to 1000 miles: —
"This vast triangle, containing about 300,000,000
acres, may be described generally as a great plain, sloping
nently downwards from its apex to its base. Its apex at
the foot of the IJocky IMountain chain, between the sources
of the Missouri and the South Saskatchewan, is estimated
to be about 4000 feet above sea-level, while its base,
lying along the series of lake expansions from Lake of
the Woods to Great Slave Lake, will not, it is believed,
averaj'e a hidier elevation than 900 or 1000 feet above
the sea.
" The river systems, which carry off the water-flow of
this long sloping plain, are the Assiniboine, the Saskat-
chewan, the Atha1)asca, and the Peace. The first two unite
tlioir waters in Lake Winnipeg before finally passing out
throuu'li the Xelson Eiver to Hudson I'.av. The last two
are tributaries of the ^Mackenzie, {ind, through the cliaimel
f»f tliat river, ultimately reach the Arctic Ocean. Between
the Saskatchewan and the Athabasca the river Churchill
takes its rise, and flows independently in a generally north-
eastern course, falling ultimately into Hudson Bay.
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384
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGUAPHY AND TRAVEL.
"All the rivers of this divisiou of the country Unw
for a great part of their length in deeply eroded channels,
frequently of consideral)le width, and, as the materials
underlying the plains are for the most part drift or suit
rock formation, the channels which have heen furrowoil
out are not much obstructed by fails or dangerous rapiils,
but generally present, from the base of the mountains
throughout the greater part of their course, a unilurm
descent.
"The i)rairie land passes into woodland in various
localities to the north of the Saskatchewan, to reappear
in higher latitudes. On Peace lliver there are extensive
prairies with extremely rich soil. In other localities
there is an agreeable mixture of woodland and prairie,
and this character of country appears to prevail as
far as Hay Kiver, 400 miles to the north of the river
Saskatchewan.
Hurlbert, in his valuable physical atlas of the
Dominion, classifies these Territories according to their
productive character, and has exemplified by maps the
prairie, the f(jrest, and the desert lands, again sliowing
the zones of — (1) conifer and mixed forests ; (2) of wheat,
barley, rye, oats, pease, root crops, and vegetables ; (3) of
maize and grapes ; and (4) of orchard and smaller fruits
— to which we can only briefiy refer, and must direct
the attention of any one seeking fuller information to tlio
work itself.^ He says, " Xorth of the parallel of 49°
east of the Itocky Mountains, there are about 120,000
square miles of prairie, an area equal to Groat Britain
and Ireland. J'etween this and the North Saskatchewan
the prairie land predominates, but is interspersed with
groves. Xorth of the Saskatchewan the forests pre-
dominate, there being not more than one-third praiiio.
^ Vhyslenl Alias of the Dominion of Canada, by J. Beaufort Hurlbert,
M.A., LL.D. 1880.
H1
.vlieat,
(3) of
fruits
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Hundrec
\^^
THE I'KAIRIE REGION.
385
Along the eastern base of the Rocky ^fountains, and
extending up into the recesses of the mountains, is a
belt of conifers, the principal trees being tlie Douglas
pine (this tree, is, however, an Abies), and the white and
black spruce. East of these mountains the watersheds
are mostly covered with heavy forests of spruce, but on
the dry ground there are trees, with poplars {Fopulus
trcmuloides). In the damp forest lands near the moun-
tains balsam poplar is found in abundance, and this is
the species which grows to such an enormous size on the
Athabasca, Peace, and Mackenzie Ilivers ; all the islands
in these rivers being covered with trees of this species, often
seven to ten feet in diameter, and 100 feet in lieight.
" In the interior of the continent, where tlie summer
temperatures range from 60° to 80°, with somewhat
uniform summer rains, are found the great mixed forests
of North America, the most remarkable forests of decidu-
ous and coniferous trees on the globe.
" Most of the grains and vegetables of the middle
temperate zone come to maturity wherever planted in
the country to the south, east, and west of James Bay ;
but, judging from the temperature and rainfall, no doubt
that entire region would be best adapted for pasture and
meadow lands.
" The pastures and meadows, with their accompanying
flocks, herds, and the dairy, have a value equal, if not
superior to, the cereals. . . . The pasture-lands of Canada
must assume in the near future an importance scarcely
to be over-estimated.
" Taking as our guide the temperatures and rainfall,
the existence of native grasses, and the analogy of
Europe, we are justified in the inference that the cultiv-
able grasses in the Dominion would extend over more
than 2,000,000 square miles, or more than twelve
hundred millions of acres.
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
"The northern limit of wheat is about 58° nortli
latitude. . . . Hence the immense areas in tlie north-
west in Canada favourable for wheat. South of the
northern limits, where wheat has been found maturiii<f
east of the llocky Mountains, and west of Ontario, tliere
are some 950,000 to 1,000,000 square miles in these
North-West Territories of Canada. ... It lies, too, in the
valleys of the great rivers of the northern half of the
continent — the Saskatchewan, Assiniboine, lied, Winni-
peg, Peace, Athabasca, and Mackenzie — with probably a
larger percentaj^e of tillable soil than any equal area in
the Old Worhl
" As barley and rye ripen four to five degrees farther
nortli than wheat, tliere are at least half-a-million of
square miles more land adapted to these grains than to
wheat in the North-Western Territories of the Dominion.
" Macoun found oats in latitude 50° four feet high,
barley of nearly equal growth, wild grass three feet.
" Flax is a splendid crop in Manitoba. Wild hops
grow luxuriantly in the valley of the Kaministiquia,
west of Lake Superior, latitude 49°, also in the valleys of
the lied liiver, the Assiniboine, and the Qu'Appelle.
" The polar limits of the potato are beyond those of
barley, and turnips will go to even a higher latitude than
the potato.
" On the Peace River, latitude 5G' 12', and IGOO feet
above the sea, Indian corn had i-ipened three years iu
succession (Professor Macoun's evidence before the Com-
mittee of the Dominion House of Commons, March 1876).
" Dr. Richardson found the wild vine in latitude 52°,
and Professor Macoun found it on the Assiniboine north
of Fort Ellice, east of the 10 0th meridian, and as high
as the 51" parallel, where it produces excellent iruit."
Speaking of apples and wild plums, he says : " The
analogy of Europe would justify us in placing the
THE rUAIIUE REGION.
387
li
northern limits of these two fruits as high as the parallel
of 60°."
The northern boundary of the smaller fruits — straw-
hcrvies, raspberries, currants, cranb(;rries, and two kinds
of cherries — nuiy be placed as high as the grasses, and
over the vast regions of the interior co-extensive with
the pastures and meadows.
In the beginning of 1881 Sir Alexander Gait, in
referring to the north-west and territorial jurisdiction,
says: "Already, though Winnipeg has only had railway
communication with the United States for less than two
years, it has sprung from a poj)ulation of a few hundreds
to upwards of ten thousand. Manitoba, without roads,
without capital, and in spite of every possible misrepre-
sentation as to its climate, has gone forward by ' leaps
and bounds,' within the last four years, and now counts
its 75,000 inhabitants. Settlers, eager to press on to
even more favoured regions, are now dotting the trail
across the prairie with their farms in every direction.
Villages are springing up many hundreds of miles west
of Winnipeg ; churches are being built ; mills to grind
the future crop are having their steam-engines wearily
dragged across the plains. Even at the very base of the
Piocky Mountains herds of cattle are now being raised on
the rich pastures of the aflluents of the Saskatchewan,
for which a market is to be found in the advancing tide
of settlement. Eroin one end of the country to the
other there is the evident commencement of one of those
great movements of population that have from time
to time signalised the progress of the American continent.
The gigantic efforts now being made to further the
colonisation of the Canadian Far West arc promoted and
seconded by the wise and liberal public policy in respect
to the land. By Act of the Dominion Parliament, one-
fourth of the whole public domain in the North- West
'}h
fi
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388
COMI'KNDIUM OF UKkCUAI'IIY AND TUAVEL.
Territories is devoted absolutely to free grants to actual
settlers, auotlier fourth is ludd at their option for three
years at otie-ludf tlio (Joveruineiit sellini,' price, and the
remaining one-hulf is to he sold at prices varying from
4s. to £1 per acre to reinihurse the cost of the Canadian
Pacitic Iiuilway. When it is remembered that the dis-
trict thus being opened up exceeds in area 2 5 0,0 00,0 00
of acres, it will be seen that the free grant lands alone
are nearly twice as extensive as the whole of England.
Let me pause for one moment to answer the objection
that I have seen occasionally urged against the policy
England has pursued in transferring her territorial right
to her colonial subjects. This very territory that I have
endeavoured most inadequately to describe was for up-
wards of two hundred years within the jurisdiction of
England herself, and has only been made over to Canadii
within ten short years. Admitting that its capabilities
were then unknown, Canada can at least claim the credit
of diffusing this knowledge ; but if this be denied her, let
me ask whether English taxpayers would ever have con-
sented to do what Canadians are cheerfully undertaking ?
What Chancellor of the Exchequer would have ventured
to propose a vote of £11,000,000 sterling for a railway
to open up such a remote country ? What Englisli
Government would for years have sustained the burden of
introducing government and law and order ? And even
in the case of the Indian tribes, what statesman would
have been bold enough to tell the people of England that
for years to come they must provide £200,000 a year to
save these wretched natives from starvation ? Yet all
this, and far more, has been done by Canadian statesmen,
and cheerfully acquiesced in by the Canadian people;
while one-fourth of the whole domain, acquired and
developed at the sole charge of the Canadian taxpayer,
is now offered free to all their English brethren who
L
THE rilAIRIE REGION.
389
choose to come. Xor must I confine myself to these
records of successful progress. Already Canada is among
the first of tlie great carriers of the world ; her ships are
Idund in every sea, from every frequented seaport they
l)C'ar the i»r()d\ic(! of other lands to market. Her trade is
iio longer with Kngland and the United States alone, but
extends to tlie East, to Australia, the West Indies, and
South America. AVithin the present year a steamship
line, jointly subsidised by Brazil and Canada, will open
the markets of that vast empire to the products of
Canadian industry. Similar arrangements, it is con-
lidently expected, will result from negotiations now in
l)rogress with Spain for trade with the Spanisli AVest
In(Ues. And if further evidence be asked of the growing
importance of the Dominion, it will be found in the fact
tliat both the late and present Governments of England
have recognised the propriety of making exceptional
arrangements in future treaties of commerce with foreign
countries for the Colonies ; and in the negotiations now
jiroceeding with France and Spain, the interests of Canada
will be watched over by her own representative, and
determined by her own Government. Such, in brief, is
the position of Canada to-day, and such the population
and resources with which she is about to address herself
to the stupendous task of colonising the whole interior of
Xorth America lying north of the United States, and
stretcliing for upwards of 2000 miles from Lake Superior
to the Pacific Ocean."
Unless the prairies have been seen, very hazy ideas
are entertained of their general appearance ; and with a
view of affording clearer notions on this subject, an extract
is here quoted from the graphic and suggestive lines of
the poet liryant — lines unsurpassed for their beauty.
This is done in spite of Dr. Johnson's opinion that
anything can be stated in })rose better than in verse.
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390
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
li
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Possibly he held "likewisely," that music is best rendered
on a cow horn. He was fortunately in the minority ou
these points.
The Prairies.
These are the gardens of the Desert, theso
The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful,
For which the speech of England has no name ;
The Prairies. I behold them for the first.
And my heart swells, while the dilated sight
Takes in the encircling viistness. Lo! they stretch
In airy undulations, far away,
As if the ocean, in his gentlest swell,
Stood still, with all his rounded billows fixed,
And motionless for ever. — Motionless ? —
No — they are all unchained again. The clouds
Sweep over with their shadows, and beneath.
The surface rolls and fluctuates to the eye.
Dark hollows seem to glide along, and chase
The sunny ridges. Breezes of the south !
Who toss the golden and the flame-like flower?.
And pass the prairie-hawk that, poised on higli,
Flaps his broad wings, yet moves not — ye have played
Amnn.'f the palms of Mexico, and vines.
Of Texas, and have crisped the limpid brooks
That from the fountains of Sonora glide
Into the calm Pacific ; — have ye fanned
A nobler or a lovlier scene than this ?
Man hath no part in all this glorious work :
The hand that built the firmann^nt hath heaved
And smoothed these verdant swells, and sown their slopes
With herbage, planted them with island groves.
And hedged them round with forests — fitting floor
For this magnificent temple of the sky —
With flowers whose glory and wliose multitude
Rival the constellations ! The great heavens
Seem to stoop down upon the scene in love —
A nearer vault, and of a tenderer blue.
Than that which bends above the eastern hills.
As o'er the verdant waste I guide my steed,
Among the high rank grass that sweeps his sides,
The hollow beating of his footstep seems
^"l
THE SASKATCHEWAN RIVER.
391
A sacrilegious sound. I think of those
Upon whose rest he tramples. Are they here —
The dead of other days — and did the dust
Of these fair solitudes once stir with life
And burn with passion ?
• ••••••«
Still this great solitude is i[uick with life.
^Myriads of insects, gaudy as the flowers
They flutter over, gentle quadrupeds,
And birds, that scarce have learned the fear of man,
Are here, and gliding reptiles of the ground,
Startlingly beautiful. The graceful deer
Bounds to the wood at my approach. The bee,
A more adventurous colonist than man
With whom he came across the eastern deep,
Fills the savannas with his murmurings,
Antl hides his sweets, as in the golden age.
Within the hollow oak. I listen long
To his domestic hum, and think I hear
The sound of that advancing multitude
Which soon shall fill these deserts. From the ground
Comes up the laugh of children, the soft voice
Of maidens, and the sweet and solemn hynm
Of Sabbath worsliip])ers. The low of herds
P)lends with the rustling of the heavy grain
Over the dark brown furrows. All at once
A fresher wind sweeps by and breaks my dream,
And I am in the wilderness alone.
2. The Saskatchewan River.
The term country is more properly applicable than
valley to the region drained by the Saskatchewan and
its tributaries. The country through which tlie two
great arms of the Saskatchewan have their courses being
a portion of the great interior plateau that slopes east-
ward from the liocky Mountains, it does not present the
aspect of a valley. The term valley is more appropriately
applicable to the deep hollows in the generally plain
country in which its rivers How.
The north and south branches of the Saskatchewan
I
if I
l< t
1 91
^l!i ;i
(H
392
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
have tlieir sources in the Rocky Mountains, hut a few
miles apart, about latitude 51° 40' north. From their
nearly common source the North Branch diverges north-
eastward, and the South Branch or Bow lliver, south-
eastward, till, at 250 miles due eastward, they attain
a distance of 300 miles from each other; the South
Branch being; there within 75 miles of the frontier. Then,
gradually a]>proacliing, they meet at 550 miles eastward
from their source.
The length of the North Branch, by the manuscript field
notes of the survey of it by the North- West Company's
astronomer, David Thompson, is 7*72-^ miles, and that of
the South Branch, by the latest maps, is about 810 miles.
From their junction, the course of the main Saskat-
chewan to Lake Winnipeg is, by Thompson's field notes,
282 miles. This makes the whole length of tlie Saskat-
chewan, from the source of the South Branch (which is
the main stream) to Lake Winnipeg, 1092 miles. Fol-
lowing the North Branch, as measured by Thompson, the
total length to Lake Winnipeg is 1051-?,- miles.
Passing through the north end of Lake AVinnipeg at
423 miles farther, the Saskatchewan falls into Hudson
Bay, making its entire length from its source to the sea
1515 miles. In this last distance its waters are more
than doubled in volume from the large tributaries that
feed Lake Winnipeg; and as it descends 628 feet, its
course is exceedingly obstructed by rapids and falls.
The total area drained, by it is 500,000 miles.
By the careful measurements of ]\Ir. Fleming, of the
Canadian Exploring Expedition, the volume of water
passing in the North Branch, in the month of August,
was 25,264 ^iubic feet per second, or one-iifth more than
tlie mean volume of the lllione, by D'Aubuisson ; aud
that of the South Branch was 34,285, or 585 cubic feet
more than the mean of the llhine, by the same authority.
Iki&lLL
THE SASKATCHEWAN RIVEH.
393
Measured below the forks, where it is 980 feet wide
and twenty feet in average depth, that of the main
Saskatchewan was 59,GG7 cubic feet per second, or
nearly three-quarters of the mean discharge of the
Ottawa at Grenville.
In considering the character of tlie Saskatchewan and
its country, as described by the Canadian exploring
party, and others, let us ascend it from Lake "Winnipeg.
From its mouth there are over two miles of strong
current, up to the Grand Eapids, which are nearly three
miles in length, with a descent of forty-three and a half
feet. The river has there worn its channel, varying from
6 GO to 220 yards in width, down through the horizontal
beds of limestone which form the basis of the level and
generally marshy plateau behind.
The second rapid referred to is four miles above the
head of the Grand IJapid. It is fully a mile long, with
a fall of seven and a half feet. From this up to Cedar
Lake, which is twenty miles from Luke Winnipeg, there
is a succession of rapids and swift currents, which, with
the rapids already mentioned, make a total descent of
upwards of sixty feet.
Cedar Lake is thirty miles long, and twenty -five
miles in greatest width. From the foot of it the river
is navigable for steamers, without interruption, 180 miles
up to Tobern's Eapids.
North of Cedar Lake the country is described as low
aud fiat for a long distance back ; the mainland and
islands well wooded with balsam, spruce, birch, poplar,
tamarack, cedar, and Bauksian pine.
From Cedar Lake up to j\Iarshy Lake, about forty
miles, the country on each side of the river is not more
tliau eighteen inches over the water, which is skirted by
a belt of willows, alders, and long grass ; in the rear is an
extensive marsh, with occasional islands of small poplar
M
394
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
and spruce. The floods cover these flats every spriii!;,
depositing a very rich mud. No high ground is to be
seen on either side.
The Pas Mission is situated at the mouth of the
Pasquia, a considerable tributary. The river banks are
there ten or twelve feet high ; the soil a dark mould over
drift clay. The banks, however, continue low alluvial,
with a rather low country behind.
Around Cumberland House (about 116 miles farther)
the country is low and flat ; much of it is submerged in
spring floods. Many of the marshes could be drained
and improved without much difficulty.
Here we have readied a very favourable country for
agricvdtural purposes. Speaking of the twenty-nine miles
above this, Mr. Fleming says : " The general character of
the country we have passed through to-day is excellent,
the soil being rich and the timber of a fair quality." Of
the succeeding forty-seven miles upwards, he says he
" passed through an excellent tract of country all day, the
soil on both sides of the river consisting of a very rich
alluvial deposit, ten feet in thickness above the water, well
wooded with large poplar, balsam, spruce, and birch —
some of the poplars measuring two and a half feet in
diameter ; and, as far as I was enabled to ascertain, tlie
land continues good for a great distance on either side,
but more especially on the south side of the river."
Of the next fifty-three miles he says that the land
is "well adapted for agricultural purposes and settle-
ments, the soil being a rich alluvial loam of considerable
depth, well watered and drained by many fine creeks, and
clothed with abundance of timber for fuel, fencing, and
building."
The country on the banks of the river continues the
same for a few miles farther, till, approaching Fort a la
Corne, the immediate banks become gradually higher, and
L il^I—^Jl.
THE SASKATCHEWAN RIVER.
395
the bluffs that form the edge of the high plateau behind
on each side gradually approach nearer to tlie river.
From Fort h la Corne, which is 150 miles above
Cumberland House, up to the forks of the north and south
branches, a distance of sixteen miles, the river sweeps, in
magnificent curves, in a valley of about a mile in width,
and from 150 to 200 feet lower than the general level
of the country on each side.
Describing the country on the south side of the
Saskatchewan here, Professor Hind says : " The trail from
Fort k la Corne to the old track leading from Fort Ellice
to Carleton House ascends the hills, forming the banks of
the deep-eroded valley of the Saskatchewan, in rear of the
fort. It passes through a thick forest of small aspens
initil near the summit, when a sandy soil begins, covered
with Banksian pine and a few small oaks. The sandy
soil occupies a narrow strip on the banks of the river,
varying from half-a-mile to four miles broad. South of
the sandy strip the soil changes to a rich black mould,
distributed over a gently undulating country. The pine
gives way to aspen and willows in groves, the aspen
occupying the crest of the undulation, and the willows the
lowest portion of the intervening valleys. The general
aspect of the country is highly favourable for agriculture,
the soil deep and uniformly rich, rivalling the low prairies
of lied lliver and the Assiniboine."
I7ic South Branch of the Saskatchewan.
Immediately above the forks the South Branch of the
Saskatchewan is only 180 yards in width, but the current
is swift — three and a half miles an hour — and the aver-
age depth seven and a half feet.
For about 130 miles up its course its valley preserves
the same character as that of the main river between the
t i|
if'
!"i ,
396
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
y
forks and Fort h la Corne ; but the banks which the
prahie phiteaus on each side present to the narrow valley
of the river are generally lower, varying from 140 feet in
height, exposing sandstone cliffs where c;^*" by th' bends
of tlie river.
The country on each side has a rich soil, with abun-
dant woods in clumps and groves for a great part of the
way. It then becomes gradually less wooded and more
sandy in parts, especially on the west side, till, after
passing the distance last -mentioned, it assumes the
character of light, treeless, prairie land. Tlie river in tliis
distance varies from 180 to 440 yards in breadth (in-
creasing in width in ascending), generally from ten to
fourteen feet in depth, the current three and three and a
half miles an hour, with a swifter current and wliirlpools
in a few places.
The generally treeless prairie country, reached at 130
miles from the forks, is the commencement of the so-
called great infertile region, extending westward over the
iSouth Saskatchewan and its tributaries nearly to the
hilly country at tlie base of the Rocky IMountains.
Continuing about seventy miles farther in the same
south-west direction, or nearly 100 miles by its course,
the elbow of the South Branch is reached 210 miles from
the forks. In the commencement of this distance is a
rich alluvial expansion of the low valley of the river,
called the " Moose "Woods," partly wooded, with rich glades
between. It is twenty-five miles in length, and six or
eight miles in breadtli, and bounded on each side by
sandy-crested bluffs. From this to the elbow the river
again assumes its narrow valley, the banks of which
gradually ascend to 200 feet in height.
About thirty-five miles above the elbow the South
Ih-anch approaches the Eyebrow and Thunder-breeding
Mountains, and there skirts the salient angle of the
JlvuL
— i^ "- '-, tUmiHtit
THE SASKATCHEWAN RIVER.
397
Coteau Missouri, whicli springs like a vast bastion from
the United States boundary. Its east face, whicli rises
600 feet above tlie elevated plain at its foot, is 200 miles
in length ; and its western face, called the Cypress Hills,
extends IGO miles, with much greater elevation, being,
according to Dr. Hector, 4200 feet above the sea.
For nearly 500 miles above the elbow of the South
Saskatchewan, its upward course passes through the great
infertile region of light prairie land, the greater part of
which is described as consisting of arid wastes, from
which, however, there are apparently some large excep-
tions ; for instance, the Cypress Hills, covered with fine
timber, abounding in excelle^it giass and well watered, and
fairly, though not abundantly, stocked with game.
The following extracts from notes by Professor Macoun,
M.A., F.L.S., the well-known explorer and botanist, are
taken from the Report of the Minister of the Interior,
1880, and describe portions of the north-west over which
the professor has passed during the last year : —
" Taking the Qu'Appelle at its mouth as a centre, and
projecting a line nearly due west to the South Saskat-
chewan, a distance of over 250 miles, and starting at the
meridian of Fort Ellice, and including only the land south
of the Touchwood Hills, a belt with an average breadth
of 100 miles extends right up that river. Here we have
25,000 square miles or 16,000,000 acres of land lying
iu one block, that, to my own knowledge, has over 90
per cent of it fit for agricultural or pastoral purposes.
The only poor soil in this extensive tract is that portion
between Spy Hill and Fort Ellice, and two small groups of
sand-hills lying at the sources of the Qu'Appelle, No alka-
line soil is known on any part of it, except a narrow tract
extending from the head of Long Lake toward Quill Lakes.
Numerous small brooks are found on both sides of the
river, and where these are not seen ponds of good water
r:
398
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGBAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
are seldom wantincf. There will be no difFiculty in oli-
taining first-class wheat crops throughont the greater part
of it, as the soil is gener{illy a rich black loam, mixed
with silica, and at times containing more or less gravel.
The subsoil, in nearly every case, is alight-coloured cliiy,
or clay and gravel coated with carbonate of lime. Nearly
the whole of the surface is a gently undulating plain,
easily drained, and over three-fourths of it sloping to the
south. The crops at the Qu'Appelle Mission, about the
centre of the area, ripen earlier than in any other part of
the North-West; barley having been cut both in 1879
and 1880 during the last week in July. No summer frost
has ever been reported from this region, and authentic
reports say that the spring is two weeks earlier than tit
Winnipeg. Forty miles west of the File Hills wood is no
longer found, and from that to the Saskatchewan not a
bush of any description is seen."
As to game, he says : " After the middle of August
we began to shoot ducks, and besides the species men-
tioned above, the Gadwell or Gray Duck {Cliaiilclasmv.s
strcperus) and lied-breasted Merganser {Mcrfjas scrriator)
bred in numbers on the plains. Coots or ]\Iud Hens
{Fidica Americana) and Pied-Billed Grebe {Podilyinbiis
podiccps) were in great numbers, and afforded fine sport.
We had to wade almost up to our neck to obtain our
specimens, as they were very diliicult to kill, owing to
their diving power.
" After the middle of September the sea-ducks began
to arrive, and it is no figure of speech to say that the
ponds and lakelets were alive with them. For the fol-
lowing six weeks feathered game of every kind were so
abundant that any person in a week could have shot
enough ducks and geese to have lasted a family all winter.
The abundance of water-fowl in the interior is of such
importance at this time, when Indians are being fed by
II
WILD FOWL,
399
the Oovernmont, tliat tlicy should be compollcJ to lay in
a slock of i'ood tor tlienisolves duriii}^' the winter. To see
hunters perishing' of hun<j;er, or living on supplies furnished
by the CJovernnient, and at the same time surrounded by
millions of birds, is a jjaradox ; but these men carry rifles,
and bird-shooting to them is a small business after buH'alo
hunting. \Vithin a day's journey of the Cree Ueserve, on
the north side of the Cyi)ress Hills, is a large lake, named
by me Gull Lake, that during the last days of August was
literally alive with birds ; and when one shot was enough
to supjily six of us with a dinner, yet these Indians were
largely depending on the Government rations at this time,
and Colonel M'Donald could scarcely persuade some of the
young men to go and kill a few ducks, by liberal offers
of powde'- and shot. At the Assiniboine lieserve it was
just the same, — plenty of birds in the neighbourhood, but
scarcely any attempt made to shoot them, as the men j)rc-
ferred Government rations to independence. Eitles to-day
are of little value to the plain Indians, and they should be
required to exchange these for shot guns at an early day.
" Geese, ducks, and prairie chickens are taking to the
stubble fields in the fall, so that no dilliculty will be
found by incoming settlers to lay up a supply of fat fowl
lor the winter. About forty species of game birds were
either shot or seen on the prairie, and it is very probable
that many s[)ecies were not observed, as we were far east
of the main migrating lines. All birds shot were fat ;
and soup made from the various s})ecics of snipe and
plover was considered a great dainty. The value of the
bird crop, after the railroad is built, will be enormous, but
the destruction of eggs in the spring by Indians nnist cease.
Xone but those who reside in the interior, or have been
there in the autumn, can realise the number of birds
liviug or passing through it at that season."
In his botanical notes he says : —
li
II
li
11 i
400
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAniY AND TUAVEL.
"A voyajj;er on tlio Assiiiiboine in tlie ascent from
Winnipeg to the Gnind Valley cannot but remark the
paucity of species in the river valley as regards trees.
It is true he S(!es familiar forms, but many Eastern
species are wanting, and he looks in vain for beech,
maple, or jiine, and only occasionally does he see oak or
ash. Poplar and elm, with willows which sometinus
attain to the size of trees, make up the bulk of the wood ;
while roses (liusa h/anda) tiud Veinh'nin. htivvms {Vibiamv in
Lentago) form almost impassable thickets. The Ostrich
fern {Struthioptcris Gcrmaniea) is occasionally very abun-
dant, and attains a great height, and all herbaceous vege-
tation is astonishingly luxuriant. Climl)ers too are not
wanting, and wild hops {Humulas Lnpulm), wild balsam
apple [Echinocystis lohata), hedge bindweed {Calystefjia
scpium), wild grapes {Vitu riparia), and Virginia creeper
{Ampelopsis quinqucfolia), are either quite common or
occasionally seen. Berry bearing shrubs are not rare,
as thickets of wild plum {Frumts Americana), raspberry
{Riibus strvjosns), service berry {Amdanchier alnifolia),
high bush cranberry ( Vihurmuii Opulus, and j^nncijlorum),
wild cherry {Frunus Virginiana), and white thorn
{Crataegus coccinca), are very common, and all bear
abundance of well - flavoured fruit. Gooseberries {Ilihts
oxycantkoidcii), wild black currants {Files Jloridum), and
red currants {Files rulruni), are abundant in the valley,
the two latter where the soil is wet, the former on the
drier slopes. A beautiful western shrub, the lUitlalo
berry {Shepherdia argciitca), is occasionally met witli on
the Assiniboine, but it is oidy on the Saskatchewan that
it is seen in its beauty. A near congener, the silver berry
{Elwagnus argcntca), is abundant on the drier slopes, and
throughout Manitoba is said to indicate good soil; in
reality it is only an indicator of a dry one. These t.vo
shrubs are well worthy of cultivation, being perfectly
Ili
FLORA.
401
hardy and having bcantiful silvery loaves and sweet-
scented llowers — the blossoms of the latter about tlie
middle of June actually loading the air with their frag-
rance. Later in the season the former is loaded down
with its close clusters of bright red acid berries, which
we found to be an excellent corrective to salt pork when
made into jelly and sweetened. The berries of the latter
are of the same colour as the leaves, are quite mealy,
and these, with rose hips, constituted the principal food of
our so-called prairie chicken, though in reality the sharp-
tailed grouse (Fedioccctes phasianellus) during the lall and
winter.
" On the more elevated country and along the banks
of the river strawberries {Frmjaria Virginiana) are very
abundant, of large size, and fine flavour. AVhile the
steamer was wooding up on 16th June 1879, myself
and other passengers climbed the hills, and obtained
abundance of ripe berries at that early date. In many
parts of the country strawberries are in such great (juan-
tities that it is no unusual thing to find the cart-wheels
streaming with their juice.
"Besides the sli rubs mentioned above, there are still
a few that should not be })assed without notice on
account of their beauty. J^oremost amongst these are
the lead plant {Amorpha cnnrsrcns), which was alnmdant
at Portage La Prairie in 1872, and a smaller species,
Amorplia microphylla, which is in some abundance at
the rapids on the Assiniboine. Both these species are
worthy of a prominent place in any of our gardens.
Wild honeysuckle {Loniccra parviflora) and two species
of snowberry {Si/mjjhoriccnjms raccmosus and occidintalis),
with wild cornel (Cornus stolonifcra) and downy arrow-
wood {Viburnum lyuhcscciif^), are found in more or less
abundance in the river valley. The wild cornel or
western kinuikinik is very abundant in the valleys of all
2 D
ii'.
':(
402
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
I V,
streams, and it is from the iuner l»ark of this shruh,
mixed with tobacco, that all the Indians of the phiins
and the half-breeds make the ' Harotif^e,' which they
prefer to pnre tobacco. The kinnikinik of the east
{Arctostapkylos Uva-ursi) and the creeping' juni])('r
(Juniperus S((hina var. procnmhe7is) are abundant on all
sandy soil, and form the chief coverinj^ of the sand dunes
and hills throuf,diout the country. . . .
" The prominent llowers were three species of Pen-
stemon (P. r/i'aci/is, 2'>^i^^csccns, and confcrtus var.) Hedy-
saruni boroale, Thermopsis rhombifolia, Gaura coccinea,
Galium borealo, Sisyrinchium Bernnidiana, Arnica angus-
tifolia, and four species of Astragalus (A. pcdinafits,
Jlexuosus, carijocarims, and hisulcatus). All of these
would have been ornaments to any garden, ami grew
in such profusion that they gave a marked character
to the landscape. . . .
" At the time we crossed the extensive plain lyiu;^
between the Grand Valley and Moose Mountain (the
latter part of June), the whole country was gay with
beautiful thnvers. The air was loaded with the ])erfiuiie
of roses and the Ehvagnus, and every little mound was
bright with the tall purple spikes of Oxytropus s])loiuIciis
and Lamborti, while the level jirairie was dotted with
patches of Arnica augustifolia, looking like the mari-
golds of our gardens. Even the marshes were beau-
tiful with the nodding plumes of the cotton grass
{Ei'iopliorum poli/stachyon), and their borders lined with
Dodecatheon and the little yellow star grass {Sisyrinchium
Bcrmudian((). . . .
" The grasses of the plateau were of the real pasturage
sjiecies, and produced abundance of leaves, and were so
tall that for miles at a time we had great diliiculty in
forcing our way through them. The chief were species
of Festuca, Danthonia, Poa, Avena pratensis, Bromus,
MUSHROOMS.
403
(the
with
ivhuiie
id ^va3
luleus
^Yitll
inavi-
beau-
gvass
[l with
cluinn
Iturage
leve so
lilty w
tpecies
and riileum nlpinum ; Jind altliougli tlieir vsocds were all
ripe (August 4th), tlieir knives were quite <;rcen. . . .
" Tlirouf,'hout tlie whole country extending from Old
Wives Lakes to the Cypress Hills, a distance of 100
miles due west, the pasture was always good and the
grass of species noted for their nutritive rpudities.
"At this time (August 28th) mushrooms became
very abundant, and continued with us until the latter
])art of Se[)teniber, when the frosts became too severe, and
jirevented their growth. There were three species, all
equally large and numerous, and, although we consumed
great quantities of them, we never observed any ill effects
from tlieir use. There was one species, however, which
was very large and more abundant than the others, which
I did not touch, as I did not like its appearance, yet the
usual test indicated it to be nutritious. While crossing
the great plains north of the Qu'Appelle in July 1879,
we found mushrooms by the cartload, and the past
season we used them every day for three weeks while
travelling at least 200 miles in an easterly direction.
From the reports of other travellers and my own obser-
vations, I am led to believe that on nearly the whole
prairie abundance of mushrooms will be ol)tained after
any great rainfall during the summer. One species of
Lycoperdon (Puff Ball) was seen that grew to a very
large size, and numerous others were noticed during the
whole season scattered over the plain in groat profusion.
Xo Lycoperdon is poisonous, and all are highly nutritious
if gathered young, before the spores turn yellow, and cut
into thin slices and fried. Were it possible to teach the
Indians to discriminate between the good and bad mush-
rooms, immense quantities could be collected every year,
dried, and stored away for future use, as is done in
Xorway. . . .
" In the valley of Strong Current Creek there were
I
404
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
■U
m
iM
numerous thickets of Sheplierdia argentea covered at
this time with its beautiful red and acid berries, and
these, toj^etlier with choke cherries {Prunus Virginiana),
were eaten with avidity, and the former very much
relished when boiled to a jelly and sweetened. Wlierever
the valley of the Saskatchewan was examined these
species grew in profusion, forming at times impenetrable
thickets and the fruit always palatable, the latter species
never being astringent as it is in the east, but always sweet
and pleasant. . . .
" Experience has taught me tliat wherever trees and
brusliwood are found there to look for a broken country
and one that contains too much water, wliile the open
treeless prairie generally condemned as sterile is by far
the best farming land.
" In conclusion, I may state that the appearance of
the country passed through was altogether different froi"
what I expected, having been led to believe that mucli
of it was little else than desert. Having crossed that
part of it north of the Qu'Appelle in the summer of
1879, I can speak with certainty of the fertility of tlie
immense plain sloping towards that river on l)otli sides."
The Surveyor-General, Lindsay Russell, states in his
report to the Minister of tlie Interior : —
"The area completely surveyed into townsli.ps, and
ready for settlement and sale, was 4,472,000 acres;
whilst an area of about 4,500,000 acres was partially
surveyed — chat is to say, liad the block outlines ami
a portion of the township outlines laid out in readiness
to begin the subdivision work of anotlier year.
" Of the townships surveyed in tlie Souris and Turtle
Mountain districts, the reports received are favourable in
the extreme. It would appear from these reports, ami
from information received from the engineers explorim:
for railway lines westward, that the whole of this countn
FUEL SUPPLY.
405
south of the Assiniboine and Qu'Appelle Elvers, as far
west as the so-called Missouri Coteau, in lonfi^itude 105°
W., may be considered as affording first-class land for
settlement. It is not so well wooded as the districts on
the north side of the rivers mentioned, but it is by no
means anything like a treeless prairie. More or less wood
is met with on the banks of every creek or streandet, and
ou the range of hills called IMoose Mountains quite a
large quantity of timber is found."
Extremely favourable reports of the country traversed
have also been received from the township outline sur-
veyors in the district north of the Qu'Appelle Eiver, and
between the Assiniboine Eiver on the east and the
Touchwood Hills on the west. In this latter retjion
more wood, and of better qiudity and dimension than was
anticipated, was encountered.
In connection with the fuel supply for this part of
the country, it may be of interest to mention tliat several
barge-loads of lignite from the valuable deposits of that
material on tlie upper waters of the Souris were floated
down that stream and the Assiniboine to market at
Winnipeg, by parties who had embarked in the enter-
prise under permission from the Department.
That portion of the special survey which consisted of
the establishing of the Sixth Principal Meridian — that of
114° west longitude from Greenwich — was carried from
P]dmonton southward to the boundary line at a point
about south of Fort IMacleod, a distance of 350 miles.
The returns of the survey indicate, along the eastern
slope of the Eocky Mountains, between the Bow Eiver
and Edmonton, and lying principally on the upper waters
of that river, and of the Eed Deer Eiver, a beautiful tract
of country both for cultivation and for grazing purposes,
— one in which good rich imH is prevalent, where there is
abundance of wood for all purposes of fuel and building,
I
li
{
\ I
406
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
■i'l
and peculiarly adapted, by the richness of its grasses, and
by the shelter afforded in the river bottoms, or in the
openings among the mixed wood and prairie glades, for
stock-raising farms.
The Honourable Minister of the Interior, Sir John A.
Macdonald, K.C.B., states in this report that although it
is, of course, an admitted fact that there are large prairie
areas which are but indifferently provided with wood,
yet the more the Territories are explored, the more pp-
parent does it become that the timber supply is not so
limited as was at one time supposed ; that, properly hus-
banded, it is sufficient for all practical requirements ; that
within a reasonable distance of the treeless plains there
is plenty of building and fencing timber which can be
procured at no very great cost when the means of internal
communication have been improved; and that on the
north slope of the valley of the Saskatchewan liiver there
are, easily accessible to the lumberer, continuous forests
of fir-timber, for the manufacture and transportation of
the products of which that river and its tributaries afford
facilities.
The portion of the so-called American Desert which
extends northerly into Canadian territory is proved to
have no existence as such, for in the very worst parts of
the country many tracts of good soil were found, and
almost invariably the grass was rich and nutritive, offering
excellent facilities for stock-raising. There is but one
drawback to wliich Professor Macoun calls attention:
the want of wood, for long distances. Lignite, however,
underlies all tliis part of the Territories, the outcrops of
which will furnish fuel ; and the introduction of railways
will enable settlers to obtain lumber sujjplies. Streams
are not plentiful, but there is an abundant supply of
water to be found everywhere by digging wells, and at
no great depth.
STOCK FARMING.
407
The advantages offered by the Xorth-West for stock-
raising are now receiving that attention from capitalists
and experienced cattle-breeders which they deserve.
Already numerous applications, backed up by the most
substantial proofs of the ho7ia fides of the applicants, are
before the Department, for leases of grazing lands in
various sections of the Territories, and the purchase of
the property on which to erect the necessary buildings.
On the faith of a promise that his enterprise would receive
every legitimate encouragement from the Government,
one experienced Canadian agriculturist and stock-breeder
of large capital, the Hon. Senator Cochrane, has gone to
Great Britain with a view to an extensive purchase
there of thoroughbred stock as the foundation of a ranch
which he proposes establishing in the Bow Eiver region.
This ranch is now (1881) in full operation with
40,000 head of cattle and about 150 horses. It is hardly
necessary to say how important it is to the future of
that country, — how intimately connected with the de-
velopment of its best interests, — that this and kindred
schemes should be successful, and how much it will con-
tribute to the convenience, profit, and prosperity of the
settlers in this new land that they should find at once at
their very doors the best breeds of cattle from which to
stock their farms. To the pioneer farmers of Canada,
and to all who have had any experience of the difficulty
of procuring well-bred animals in new settlements, this is
a point which will suggest itself as of the utmost possible
consequence.
The most amicable relations continue to exist between
the police and the Indians, and manifestations increase of
growing confidence and good feeling on the part of the
latter.
P
I
'\ V'
i y
M
408
COMrENDlUM OF GEOGUAniY AND TRAVEL.
The Xorfli Branch of the SasJcnfchcunn.
The country (Iniinccl by the North l>r;inch of the
SaskatchewiUi ami its extensive tribntiiiy, the l'»iittle
Kiver, thou<^h inconi])iinibly more vahiuble tluin tlio
country traversed by the South I'ranch, does not require
so much des('ri})tion, owinj^ to its more unilbrm character.
The North iJranch, for the greater ])art of its course,
and the IJattle Iviver, lie in the great belt of country
which all authorities describe as generally fertile land of
the lirst quality.
The Nortli Branch, for 520 miles up from the forks,
and the Ikittle Iviver, for its whole course of 450 miles
(excei)ting a short elbow of it), traverse a rich prairie
country, more or less interspersed with woods.
The remaining 282 niiles of the u])per course of tlio
North Branch lie in the thick wood country, wliicli to the
commencement of the mountains — about 200 miles —
is represented as abounding in marshes, with patches of
hue land in parts. In this distance the banks of the
river display beds of lignite coal, l^eyond it the re-
maining course of the river lies in the valleys of the
mountains to the glaciers at its source.
The navigation of the Saskatchewan will probably
])rove to be nearly as useful as that of the Ohio, but less
liable, on account of its greater volume, to interruption
from low water, to which the navigation of the Ohio is
very subject in the dry months of sunnuer.
3. The Mson Elver.
The largest of all tlie rivers entering Hudson Ray
is the JVelsou, which is one of the great rivers of the
world. It is estimated to be about four times the size
of the Ottawa at the capital. Its waters are nuuldy,
THE NELSON RIVER.
400
liiiLliiig in susj)cnsion, all the way to its mouth, the fmc-
clay inattor brou<fht Ironi the lioeky JMouiilaiiis by the
Saskatchewan.
Owiiiif to want of information eoncevninj]; these Invufe
vivovs of British North America, and owing also to certnin
parts only haviiiu; been exjilored as yet, a very geni'ral
view must necessarily be taken. The follo\vin<^ rejiort
liy Professor IVill, of the Geolo<j;ical Survey of Canada,
describes a section only of the Kelson Jiiver (18V8).
Tlic Lower Part of jVelsou Ixiirr.
"An ex])loration of the Nelson lliver was made for a
(listnuce of al)out ninety miles from the sea, following;
llie stream. The shallowness of the water and the low
monotonous character of the shores everywhere in this
vicinity renders it dillicult to draw a delinite line between
land and water. The mouth of the Ifaye's and Nelson
liivers are se])arated from each other by a low tongue of
land called IJeacon Point. Extensive shoals stretch for
miles out from the extremity of Beacon Toint and from
the shores to the north and south of the estuaries of the
two rivers. Owinjf to these circumstances, the outline
lictween the land and water is wiilely diil'erent at hij^li
and low tide.
" The nu)uth of the Nelson Eiver at high tide has a
bioadlh of six or seven miles o]>])osite the extremity of
IkMi'on Point, but it contracts rapitily, having a trumpet-
like outline, and for the lirst ten miles up the wi 'Lh is
ti'oni three to four miles. Tt continues to narrow gradually
to Seal Island at the head of tide-wati'r, or twenty-four
miles from the extremity of r>eacon I'oint (at high tide),
where it is only one mile and a half broad. Above this
it varies from half a mile to a mile and a half as far as
we went.
14
410
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
m
I'l
iWi
111
" "When the tide is out the greater part of the spaco
between the banks in the estuary of the river is dry, and
consists of a dreary stretch of mud-flats dotted with
boulders, constituting a continuation of the shoals fartlier
out. A narrow channel with a somewhat irregular deptli
of water winds down the centre of the estuary. From
the soundings which I took it appears to have an average
depth of from two to three fathoms at low tide from a point
abreast of Beacon Point for about twenty miles up. At
the mouth of the river the ordinary spring tides amount
to about twelve feet and the neap tides to about six feet,
so that at a high tide, from three to five fathoms may be
found throughout the above distance.
" The shallowest part of the river which we sounded
was abreast of Gillam's and Seal Islands, or just where
the tide ends and the proper channel of the river begins.
Here the water was only about ten feet deep. But from
this point upward, as far as we went, the average deptli
of the centre of the river was found to be twenty feet,
and sometimes our soundings showed over thirty feet of
water. In this section of the river, the velocitv of the
current varied from about two to six miles an hour, accord-
ing to the experiments wdiich were made with the sub-
merged tops of spruce trees, in order to ascertain the rate,
at least approximately. The swift parts are short, and
the mean velocity may perhaps be taken at from two and
a half to three miles per hour, and the average Avidth at
three-quarters of a mile between the water margins.
" A short rapid occurs a few miles below the highest
point to which we explored the river, but it does not
appear too swift to be surmounted by steamers. Above
it the Indians report no obstructions for about fifteen
miles, when a cascade, called Limestone Falls, is reached.
The Nelson Eiver may therefore be said to be navii ble for
river steamers to a distance of about 100 miles froi.i the sea.
THE NELSON RIVER.
411
" The distance from York Factory to tlie extremity of
Beacon Point is about five miles. In going towards the
latter, the baidcs gradually diminish in elevation from
twenty-scA'en feet at York Factory to the level of hi^h
tide at Beacon Point. They consist of stradfied grayish
clay combined with more or less line sand. Below high
tide the beach in the above interval consists of a muddy
bluish clay with rounded pebbles and some boulders, and
contains marine shells, which are toleral)ly plentiful.
"As already stated, the shores about the mouth of
Nelson Eiver are very low and Hat. Banks of clay, at
first only a few feet high, begin to appear on both sides
about ten miles above the extremity of Beacon Point; and
in ascending the river the banks of clay on either side
gradually rise till a point is reached about fifty-four miles,
in a straight line from Beacon Point, wliere they are
nearly 200 feet in height, and above this, as far as
observed, they maintain about, the same elevation either
immediately overlooking the river or at a short distance
back from it. A layer of peat, averaging about four feet
in thickness, was observed almost everywhere at the top
of the bank on either side and extending inland. At
Flamborough Head, a prominent point on the north-west
side, nineteen miles from Beacon Point, the clay bank
has attained a height of 126 feet. It consists of hard
gravelly drift clay with some boulders at the bottom, and
drab-coloured stratified clay towards the top.
" No islands occur in the estuary of the river, but from
the head of tide, in the distance to which I ascended,
upwards of twenty, covered with timber, were passed,
besides a number of others on which only grass was
growing. The wooded islands are comparatively high,
while the grassy ones are low and flat, and are evidently
swept over by the river ice when it breaks up in spring.
From the Puck-wa-ha-gun Eiver (sixty miles from Beacon
')}' '
I
<l>l
Ml
JR f
f:
Hi }
■ I
'0
:|-
jl
i
412
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRArilY AND TRAVEL.
I'oiut), upward wide flats covered with good grass oocur,
here and there, on both sides of tlie river. The grassy
islands and flats probably owe their preservation to the
underlying horizontal beds of dolomite, which prevent
them from being worn away by the force of the ice.
" A slight rapid occurs near the highest point reached.
Below it the river is narrower than it is above, and here
there is evidence of great ice-packing in the spring. On
the sloping bank on the north-west side, the timber is
prevented from growing below forty-five feet above the
river. The outermost trees, standing on this level, are
barked by the ice and boulders which have been pushed
diagonally up the slope. A great am])hitheatre is exca-
vated in the opposite bank, evidently by the water pass-
ing a temporary dam of ice, blocking up the river by
piling at this point, after a spring shove. On the 18th
of July 18 78 some ice still remained on the north-west
bank, opposite to this amphitheatre-like excavation, but
was melting rapidly under a hot sun.
"The timber along the lower part of Nelson Eiver
consists principally of spruce, tamarack, aspen, and balm
of Gilead. On the islands and lower levels the spruce
attains a good size, and would be very suitable for build-
ing purposes; but on the level ground, stretching away
from the tops of the banks, the timber is smaller, and the
ground is covered with a thick growth of sphagnum, under
which a layer of peat, of variable thickness, is seen at the
brink of each steep clay bank.
" The region through which the upper two-thirds of the
Nelson Bivcr Hows may be described as a tolerably even
Laurentian plain, sloping towards the sea at the rate of
about two feet in the mile. The river, for the first 100
miles from Great I'laygreen Lake, does not How in a
valley, but spreads itself by many channels over a con-
siderable breadth of country. This tendency to give off
THE NELSON RIVER.
413
li
' stray * chiinnels is cliaractoristic of nuinerons rivers
tlirougliout tlie northern and comparatively level Lauren-
tian re^nons, but it is perhaps more stronj^ly marked in
the Nelson than in any other. In the above section of
this stream the straj^glin^' channels are of all sizes, from
mere brooks up to large rivers. Jn their various courses
towards the sea these channels here and t\ere unite
either wholly or partially, but often oidy to divide again,
and thus they constitute a sort of network of rivers, the
islands between them being of all sizes and shapes. The
channels themselves consist of a series of dead-water
stretches, separated by chutes or raj>ids at longer or
shorter intervals, which, however, vary nuich in the dif-
ferent channels. The greatest descent at any one of the
chutes visited takes place at the White j\Iud Falls, and
amounts to twenty feet. These falls are divided by
islands into three parts, and the 'discharge' on which
they occur is supposed to represent about half the volume
of the Nelson lliver. The White Mud Falls were con-
sidered to represent more than twice the quantity of
water which passes over the Chaudiere Fall at Ottawa.
Should this estimate be correct, the whole body of Nelson
Eiver would be more than four times as great as the
Ottawa at the above fall.
" Following the channel on the east side of Eoss Island,
the first break in the smooth water extending down from
Lake Winnipeg is the Sea Eiver Fall, at thirty-seven
miles from the outlet. At twenty -one miles farther
down we come to I'ipestone Lake, which is on the same
level as Cross Lake, and separated from it by an irregular
strait five miles long. IJetween tlie level above Sea
Pdver Fall and that of Pipestone Lake, there are, in all,
ten rapids, with a total fall of about thirty feet. Making
an allowance of ten feet more for the current in the
smooth portions of the river, there would be a dilference
■^°^^^"^-
l\ 'I w
414
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
of about forty feet between tlie level of Lake Winnipeg'
and that of Tipestone and Cross Lakes. By the channel
on the west side of lloss Island the navi^'ation is unin-
terrupted from Lake "Winnipeg all the way to Jjig lieed
Lake, one part of which conies within four miles of the
southern extremity of Cross Lake. Between Cross and
Sipi-wesk Lakes ten more rapids occur, with a total fall
of about eighty feet. This, with twenty feet for the cur-
rent in the intervals between the rapids, would give a
total descent of 100 feet from the one to the otlier.
Below Sipi-wesk Lake no rapids, projierly speaking, were
met with as far as I went, but two others are reported to
exist before Split Lake is reached. Above Sipi-wesk
Lake the first rapid occurs at the Chaiii-of-Iiocks, four
miles up, and is very slight, having a fall of less than
two feet. It could, no doubt, be easily passed by steamers.
But the Bed Bocks Bapids, at seven miles from the lake,
are more serious, and would terminate the upward navi-
gation of this section of the river. From these rapitls
downward, including Sipi-wesk Lake, there ajipears to be
no insurmountable obstruction to the navigation of the
river by steamers till the higher of the two ra])ids above
Split Lake is reached, a distance of upwards of 100 miles.
" Sipi-wesk Lake and the first twelve miles of the river
below it run nearly north-east, or with the general strike
of the Laurentian gneiss and miea-schist on which they
are situated ; but at the above distance the river assumes
a course bearing due north by compass (nearly north by
east astronomically), or diagonally across the strike of the
gneiss and the course of the glacial striaj, both of which
have a general N.E. and S.AV. bearing. The branches
from the right, in this interval, run south-west, while
those from the left fiow north-east. The whole of the
waters of the Nelson Biver appear to have come together
in this stretch for the first time since leaving Great Play-
THE NELSON RIVER.
415
green Lake. The width now averages about a quarter of
a mile, or rather more, with a deptli of from forty to fifty
feet. The current runs at the rate of aL(jut three miles
an hour in the middle, except at two very narrow parts,
where it is considerably greater. Owing apparently to
the considerable depth of water across the greater part of
the bed of the stream, strong eddies are found on both
sides, wliich greatly facilitate the upward navigation of
this part of the river. The general aspect of the country
along the ui)per part of the Nelson Eiver is even, or
slightly undulating, the highest points seldom rising more
than thirty or forty feet above the general level. Whis-
key-Jack " j\Iountain," opposite the foot of Sea Iliver
Fulls, is only from thirty to sixty feet high. The " High
Piock," four miles above tlie entrance to the Echimamish,
lias an elevation of only about fifty feet. Such terms,
a])plied by the inhabitants to mere banks and hummocks,
indicate the general level nature of the country. On the
north-west side of the inlet of Sipi-wesk Lake the hills
rise to a height of from 100 to 150 feet, and appear to
be composed of cltiy or drift materials. Along the north-
west side of the lower part of this lake, the ground has
an elevation of about 100 feet. Partridge Hill, seven or
eijiht miles eastward of the outlet of the same lake, is the
highest point observed in the district, and has an eleva-
tion of about 200 feet over the water.
" The solid rocks of the region are generally overspread
with the prevailing gi'ay clay, which, in some cases, is
liable to bake and crack in the sun, but in others it forms
a soft, mellow soil of excellent quality. Of course a good
deal of fixed rock is exposed at the water's edge along the
principal watercourses, but even in these situations the
iipper parts of the banks, including those of the smaller
islands, are generally composed of clay.
" On either side of the channel west of Cross Island, the
^
J
41G
CO.MI'ENDIUM OF GF.OriHAPIlY AND TltAVEL.
country is ratlior barren. The shores are low, and con-
sist mostly of points and knobs of ;j;neiss witli sandy buys,
and bogs and niarslies between them. AVhiskey-Jack
Portage, whicli connects the heads of two bays from oj)-
posite directions, ])asses along a strij) of dry coarse sand,
which looks as if it might liave formed the north-wesU-rii
side of an ancient watercourse."
4. Lahc Winnipeg.
Lake "Winnipeg, lying between latitude 50'* and 54°
north, and long. 9G° and 90° west, is 280 miles in
length, and fifty-seven in its greatest breadtli. Its south-
ern extremity is 350 miles west-north-west from Furt
William on Lake {Superior. Its elevation above the sea
is about 710 feet. From the mouth of tlie Iliver Win-
nipeg, near its south end, to its northern extremity, it is
the boundary Ijetween the generally rocky Laurentiau
country, and the Cambro-sdurian limestone formation of
the east side of tlie great central plain. It is very
shallow at its southern extnunity. Its shores are low
and marshy at the entrance of lied Hiver, and subject to
inundations. By the rejwrt of Ca[)tain Munro, at low
water the depth on the bar at the entrance of that river,
in the shallowest part of the channel, is only four feet.
The navigation of Lake Winnipeg derives an ad-
ditional importance from that of its tributaries, the Great
and the Little Saskatchewan ; the former being navigabk'
for steamers, with but tln-ee interruptions, to Edmonton,
on the North Branch, 772 miles, and probably iarther,
to the base of the liocky Mountains ; while the Little
Saskatchewan and its lakes present a navigation of
upwards of 300 miles from its mouth, or 500 from Fort
Garry, without interruption.
Among the numerous tributaries received by Lake
rnr
AMTOliA,'
ffledXaicaj n,rt<>'i' J
lide West of Greenwieli
StoM/brJJe Caog^ Sstoli". Zond/m,
\mi\Aq
mmii
I
.MANITOBA. THUNDER RAY Tfl
rilUNDER BAV TO WIIVMPEfJ
KiiwfLi'*) Htjtiiioifl. .*►.'» Chariii); ("pohh
SVin/or^LA ■"tejog^ Esudi', !■ i^dun.
<mmm* 1 1 i*<
>v.
' \
■I
THE LAKES OF MANITOBA.
417
AVinnipor; are, — lied ]\iver, draining in part a region
wliicli is in some degree tributary to the Mississippi.
The English or Winnijieg liiver, 1G3 niih?s long, draining
the region of the Lake of tlie Woods, and its trilmtaries
300 miles to the east. Numerons rivers come in from the
eastern belt of the Laurentian rocks, which separates the
valley of Lake Winnipeg from Hudson and James Bay.
On the west side it receives the noble Saskatchewan,
bearing its tribute from the Iiocky Mountains, a thousand
miles to the west. Eed Deer Piiver and Swan L'iver
fall into the Winnipegosis Lake, besides many other minor
streams which drain the prairies to the west of those
magnificent lake expansions. Lake Winnipeg drains a
region 400,000 square miles in area.
),l:.!.i
11 fir
5. Lal'cs Muni tola and Winnipegosis.
A little east of the middle of the tract of 240 miles
in width, between Lake Winni})eg and tlie Assiniboine,
and roughly parallel to them, extend Lake Winnipegosis
on the north, and Lake ]\Linitoba on the south ; the
latter receives the waters of the former by an elbow-
shaped stream, and discharges its own into Lake Winni-
peg from a bay on its east side, by a river called the
Little Saskatchewan, which is fifty miles in direct length
to its mouth.
These lakes are each 120 miles in length. The
greatest breadth of Lake ^Manitoba is twenty-four, and
of Lake Winnipegosis twenty-seven, nnles. Taken together
they extend 220 miles from north to south.
They encloses between them and Lake Winnipeg a
peninsula of 2 HO mih'S in length by 100 miles in
greatest breadth, which is cut across at the n:iddle by
the Little Saskatchewan.
This peninsula, though as large as the kingdom of
•2 E
m
!i'->i
41 S COMPENDIUM OF GEOOnAniV AND TRAVEL.
I)rninark, counts for little in the north-west. Its interior
is reported to be a low, Hat country, abountling in liikos
ami marshes.
liounil the south end of Lake ^Manitoba, for a circuit
of about tifty miles, the soil is that of the richest descrip-
tion of ]»rairie land. The few settlers consider it even
superior to that of Ked Iviver. It is an undulating
country of mingled woods and ojien prairie.
Jn'tween the np]>er end of Lake Manitoba and the
Assiniboine are the Hiding ^Mountains, and around Lake
I'auphin thert^ is much rich jj^round. Mr. Hind u,ives the
liidini4 ^Mountains an elevation of 1000 feet aliove the
land on the shore of Lake Manitoba; and ^Ir. Dawson
estimates the Porcujiine Mountains as risintj; about 1500
feet civer tin' j'lain at their eastern base.
As the Little Saskatchewan, the outlet of Lake ]\rani-
t<>b;i. is a tine navigable stream of T.'iO feet in lnvailtli,
and the W'liti'rlicn Liver, which connects Lakes ^Manitoba
and \\'innipcu<isis, has a brnad channel not less than three
feet dccj) at low water, they ])resent, to^uether with these
lakes, an unbroken line of water communication from
]-"<>rt ( larrv to Mossy Portage, at the h(!ad of Lake Wiu-
ui[)egosis, a distance of about 500 niiles.
G. Ttic Winnipc<i Hirer.
Issuing; from the Lake of the AVoods throui-h sevovnl
^'aps in the northern rim of the lake, the river Winniiu'g
Hows throULrh numerous tortuous and distinct channuls
for iiiaiiv iiiih's of its course in a ucneial north-east
direction. Some of the channels unite with the main
.stream frnm ten to tifteen miles bidow JIat Lorta;j;e. ami
one i)ursues nearly a strai«,dit cours." for a dislnnce (it
sixty-live miles, and joins the AVinnipi'.u below the r.anu'i'C
Falls. The windings of this innnense river are abrupt.
^
TIIK WINMl'Wt mWAl
419
'i?
In its course of 163 miles it descends by a succession
of inagnilicent ciitaracts 349 feet. Some of tlie falls and
rapids present the wildest and most picturesque scenery,
displaying every variety of tumultuous cascades, and
foaming ra}>i(ls with treacherous eddies, whitened with
foam, and huge swelling waves rising massive and green
over hidden rocks. The cascades and ra[)ids of the
Winnipeg are of great beauty, hut neither sketch nor
language can portray the astonishing variety they
present under different aspects — in the gray dawn of
morning, or rose-coloured by the setting sun, or Hashing
in the brightness of noon-day, or silvered by the soft
light of the moon.
The river frequently ex])ands into large deep lakes,
full of islands bounded by precipitous cliffs or munded
hills of granite. Tlie fort in the occupation of the
Hudson ]>ay Company at JIat Portage is very prettily
situateil at one outlet of the Lake of tlie "Woods. It is
surrounded with hills about 200 feet high, and near the
fort some white ajid red pine are standing amidst a
vigorous second growth. The rock about Hat Portage is
chloritic slate, which soon gives place to granite, so that
no area capable of cultivation was seen until we arrived
at Islinu'ton Mission.^
1 5i
TIic Character of the Country about the Upper Winnipeg.
The broad river, with its numerous deep bays, stretches
far to the north, and all around dome-shaped hills show
tlieir Ijare and scantily-wooded summits in every direc-
tion. (Jencrally they seem to be thickly covered with
small stunted i>ine, but in the hollows or valleys between
them, pine and sjiruce of large dimensions, with f.dr-
sizod aspens and birch, llourish abundantly.
' Ki']Ktrt l\v H. Y. Iliml, At. A., Ooologist ami Xatuialist to the
Caiuuliiui lied Kivcr Exploriiij^ Kxiicditiou.
r-
Wl
1 1
I?
420
COMrr-NDIUM OF GEOr.H.VrHY AND TUAVEL.
Tlie nspuot of thi^ countrv is similar in its outline tn
the re<jji(»n about Millc Lacs, hut the venotation is not to
be conipart'd. At Isliuj^ton JMissioii the general features
of the country maintain an appearance of great sterility.
7. The lied JUrer.
At its south end Lake Winnipeg receives the Kod
Kiver, exceeding the \\'innipeg lliver in length of course,
but far inferior to it in magnitude. By its windings it
is nearly (iOO miles in length.
For the last oOO miles of its course its general direc-
tion is due north. It crosses the irnited States lioumlarv
about ninety miles west of the T>uke of the "Woods, a
little over 100 miles from its mouth, and for that dis-
tance Hows through the province of Manitoba in a nearly
level ]»rairie of the richest alluvial soil.
"J'his })rairie country is described as extending hack,
on the east side of the IIcmI Ifiver, from four to al)out
thirty miles, and on the west side about forty, to the ridire
or hilly ground called the renibiiui Mountains. Tarts of
it are marshy, as migiit be ex})ected of an alluvial, nearly
level ]dain, in a state of nature ; l)ut they are desciihed
as ailmilting of l>eing drained with little trouble. The
big swamp in icar of the lied lliver Settlement is twenty-
seven I'eet above the surface of the river; ami the nine
mile swamp on Kat Kiver, a small tributary on the east
side above the settlement, is described as capable of heinu
draiiuMl with c(jmi)aratively trifling labour, and would form
the richest of jtrairie land.
From its lowness (to which it owes its extraordinary
fertility, like many other alluvial valleys) ])arts of it
are sometimes, although very rarely, subji'ct to iiiuiidii-
tions. About forty miles from its mouth the Ited liiver
receives its (diief tributary, the Assiniboine. At their
■i
illinc to
not to
tcatures
A'
rilily.
tlie I^mI
course,
dings it
■al (lirt'c-
)()uni]ai'y
Voocls, a
tliiit (lis-
a nearly
ing hack,
to about
the, ridge
Parts of
ial, lU'arly
de.scribtnl
jIo. The
s tweuty-
thc nine
the oast
e of being
ould form
•aordiiiary
irts of it
i) inunda-
Ited liiver
At their
THE RED RIVER.
421
ronflnencG is situated tlic city of Winnipeg, rontainin*,,'
ir.,000 inhabitants, and being tlie connuorcial centre, as
well as the seat of government, of the province of Mani-
toba. Here also is the old fort of the Hudson Bay
Company, known as Upper Fort Garry,
The lied Kiver is 480 feet vvitle and twelve feet deep
at the middle settlement. It is navigable to the United
States boundary, ami far to the south of it by boats of
light draft ; but the navigation is subject to interruption
from drought in dry seasons.
From Winnipeg to the United States boundary, about
Hfty-seveu mik^s, its banks are fringed with wood, from a
few yards to half-a-mile in l)readth, and the peninsulas it
forms are well wooded. The woods of elm, poplar, oak,
and ash towards its mouth have heretofore supplied the
wants of the settlers.
The alluvial clay of the Red River and the Assiniboine
is well fitted for the manufacture of excellent white bricks
and common pottery.
Witli reference to the physical features of the Red
IJiver, Hind says it is merely necessary to imagine a
river from 200 to ooO feet broad, with a moderatelv
rapid current, having in the course of ages excavated a
winding trench or cut, to the depth of from thirty to
forty feet, in tenacious chiy, through a nearly level
country, for a distance exceeding 100 miles; and the
gienera^ physical aspect of the Red River, within British
territory, is reproduced. Here and there local diversities
occur, which give some appearance of variety — Grand
Rapids, where the even How is broken and disturbed by a
ledge of limestone, which may occasion a fall of four feet
within a mile. A lower plateau has here and there been
excavated, perliaps ten feet below the general level of the
prairie banks. Occasionally sand, mud, and gravel bars
are formed at numerous sharp turns in the general course
l|
J'
42-
COMTKNOIUM OF GEOmiAPIlY AND TUAVFX.
-I'^ li I
i M
%
w
if '
Oi the .stivain, similar to tliose which may \w oh.st>rve(|
ui>()ii tlio chart at Tuiiit D()u;4his, also ahove Fort (larrv,
near hi liivicrc Siil, as well as near Scratching Creek, etc.
These projectin}^ bars or points are often covered with fra;^-
ments of limestone, boulders of })rimitive rocks, and vast
numbers of lart,'e fresh-water shells. The current rouinl
them is rajiid, and they jnesent a fornudable obstacle tn
the steamers, exceeding,' 100 to 120 feet in length, which
are used in tlie navigation of the river. Often, too, on
one side or the other, and sometimes on both sidc>,
a narrow belt v>f heavy forest tind)er closes ujioii tlie
river, and seems suddenly to narrow and darken its
abrujit windings. The most uniform character, however,
and one which is more fre(iuently found on the west sitlc,
Ls a clear and steep line of bank, about thirty feet in
altitude. ])erfectly level to the eye, and forming the
boundary of a vast ocean of prairie, whose hoii/on or
intermeiliate surface is rarely broken by small islands of
jioplar or billow, and whose long, rank, and lu.\in"iuiit
grasses show everywhere a iniiform distiibuti(jn, and in-
dicate the character of the soil they cover so iirofusely.
A sidisciiuent closer insi)ection never fails to estahlisli
tiie fertility of the S(ul, as well as its extent, over areas
as far as the eye can reach, both e;istward and westward,
on the banks of this remarkable river.
t
I
lip
mh
8. The Zah of the Woods.
The Lake of the Woods is over seventy miles in
extreme length, and from its exceedingly irregular fnnu
has a very extended coast-line. Jt belongs to that
system of inland waters which includes the (Ircat Lai<L'S
to the east, and is continued in the north and west by
Lakes Winnipeg, Athabasca, Great Slave, and (Jreat I'oar
Lakes, all of which lie along the southern and western
mm
H..i
THE LAKE OF THE W(JODS.
423
iTiiir<,'in of the <,n'eat metainor])lii(; nucleus of the con-
tinent, whei-e its crystnlliiio rucks sink below those of
Silurian and Devonian a^e. This lake, in its gco^Ta-
])liical and geological relations, thus differs from those
which cover so great a i)art of the surface of the
crystalline nietanior])hic series itself, and which appear
to occupy shallow rock basins in it.
The water sup])ly of the lake is derived cliiefly from
the northward and eastward, by the Iiainy IJiver, a mag-
nificent stream, draining the western slope from the water-
jiarting which divides the waters flowing to the Lake of
the Woods from those falling eastward into Lake Superior,
The tributary streams from the country lying west of the
lake, though comparatively numerous, are unimportant,
as the low ridge which separates these from the others
passing westward into tlie Ived JJiver lies very near the
lake. The lake discharges its waters by tlie "Winnipeg
Eiver at Hat Portacre, and there bei-ins a descent of about
oOO feet to AVinnipeg Lake by a fine cascade and rapid.
The northern part of tlie lake is studilcd with
innumeralde islands, comparatively few of which are
marked on any map. Some are several nules in length —
others of very small size ; but they are invariably com-
posed of solid rock, and seldom have more than a very
scanty covering of soil. The shores of this part of the
lake are also rocky and bold, and the water clear and
deep, giving rise to its common name of Clearwater Lake.
It communicates by several narrow passages through a
maze of islands with tlie southern portion, which is
totally different in character. Here islands are compara-
tively rare, and the lake forms a broad sea -like expanse,
which is easily tlirown into violent agitation by the winds,
rendering canoe navigation somewhat precarious. The
shores are fur the most part low and swampy, in some
l)laces covered with a dense growth of tamarack (Larix
> w
& ;«•
ill"
424
COMrENPH'M OF (JKdGUArilY AND THAVKL.
Anin-li'ini)t), \n\t dl'tcn Itoidcrcd l»y IdW siiinl-liills, aiul
.stnitcliiiij,' (Mil iK'hiiiil llirm in urcat ircdy J///,s'/.> 7.-,
(a Cliipju'Wii word j^fiMicially ii(l(»j)lt'(l to (Icsi^naU! the
Nviilc, urassy swaniiis ol' this rcnidii). Tlai water is com-
])aiativ('ly shallow and soiutnvhat tuihid. To this jmii
ol' thti lake tlu' naiiir Lake of thi^ W'ttods is ^funcriillv
iipidied, but it is niorr jn'oiicrly called Lake of (he Saiul-
liills. A third <,Mvnt division of t his system of waters liis
lu'twt'en tlic eastern hays of Clearwater Laki^ and Lake
of the Sand-hills. It eoniniunieates with the fonuer hy
nanow ehannels, and from the latter is entered across a
rocky ilivisioii known as Turtle rorta^c, 'J'his pail of
the lake is desiLrnated White-lish Lake, and has never
so far hi'cn jiroperly examined or surveyiMl. La;; I'lat,
situated to the west of Clearwater Lake, may, tlieui,'!!
inui'li smaller than the others, he counted a fourth divi-
sion. The north-west an^lo inlet is a naiiow arm
runnin;^' westward from near the junction of Sand-hill
and Clearwater Lakes. On it is situated the eastern
terminus of the road from Winnijie^s and in coiuiectiun
with this theie is a (lovt'rnmont Station for innni};raiits.
There is also a })ost of the Hudson r»ay Coiiijiaiiy,
several trailers' houses, and usually a lar;;o camp of
Indians. At llainy L'iver is another Ciovernment post
known as Hungry Hall, and between this ])lace and the
north-west an^le a steamer formei'ly ])lied regularly,
fornduL!; a link in the water routt; from Lake Supciier to
Mi'uitoba. The mouth of Rainy liiver is also, and has
been from time immemorial, a favourite cami)iii»,f-place
of the natives. At IJat l*orta;,^e there is a suuUl lluilson
Bay tradin.Lj ])ost.
5|
i
0. 'r/w Ikaicr or CluurhUl lliirr.
The IJcaver IJiver has its source about I'orty miles from
the North Saskatchewan at Fort Edmonton. Its course
^^' ■'^"
w
■ li
THE CIIURC'IIILL IlIVF.Il.
42i
to Tludson liay is Jiboiit 1100 miles in Iciiuitli. Fur 250
inik's tVdiii its sourco, its course! is in tlu; i)laiii country
of Siluriiui or more rectmL iorniiitioiis. It then, Ik'Iow
Isle ii la Crosse, enters the ^n-iiL primary or azoic belt,
which covers the retnainder of its course within this section.
It may he considered as draininj.^ part of the same plain
as the Saskatchewan, thcii- basins l>ein,L!; divided only by
rocks a ft!W fe(!t in height. At Fm;^' Fortayc, 2;')0 nnles
lower, crossin^n to a tributary of the Saskatchewan, the
waters of the IJcaver tlow over into it at hi^li ilood.
Sir John Uichardson says that the Churchill Kiver
drains a c()ni})aratively small extent of prairie land, and
Ca))tain Falliscr describes the country bt^tween it and the
forks of the Saskatchewan as a thick wood country, with
many lakes aboundinif in fish.
Sir Alexander M'Kenzie, who speaks favourably of the
soil on the u])i)er ])art of the IJeavcr Ifiver, describes the
bnllaloes ran,ninj^ over the patches of prairie along it, and
mentions a ganlen at Isle a la Crosse that well repaic. the
labour best(jwed on it. He speaks of Lake a la Crosse
abounding in " the finest fish in the world," and of the
richness of its surrounding banks and forests in moose
and fallow deer, with the vast nundter of the smaller
tribes of animals, and the numerous Hocks of wild-fowl.
As its IncUan name ]\Iississii)])i, " ^lucli Water," im-
plies, the Beaver or Churchill, as it is called in its lower
course, is a river of great voUime. At Island Portage,
aliove Frog Portage, Sir J. liichardson speaks of its being
500 or (»00 yards wide, with a strong current where pent
up and narrow. Eastward of Lake a la Crosse, where
it passes through the primary or azoic formation, the soil
of the country is poor, sandy, stony, and rocky. Describing
]>art of it, Sir J. Pichardson says the general aspect of it
is like the country on the north shores of Lake Superior,
though the water basin is not so deeply excavated.
' i'
j;
» i ;
ifii i*^
illli
420
roMI'KNDIUM OF GEOCU.vrilY AND TUWKL.
11
w
'if
Li
J 1 1
iuiili
.'( i t
CirAPTKli V.
THE BASIX OF TIIK MArKKNZIK KIVF.U AND ITS TKIDUTARIES.
1. llnwral Vicu.\
The Maekoiizio is tlio Lir^'cst river in tlie western licmi-
spliere wliieli e<intril)Utes its wulcirs t»i the Arctic Ocean.
It was (liseovered bv Sir Alexander Matken/ie in ITsO,
and followed I'v liini to the sea in 179;». Of this juur-
ney he t,'ives an interesting aee(»nnt (Mackenzie's /'('//("/o,
I'hilailelphia, ISOU). This {.,'reat river, inclndinLj its main
tributary the I'cace, has a len^^th of not less than 2500
miles; and of this not less than 2000 miles are naviLjable
for steamlioats, wilii a few short interrn])ti()ns caused by
falls and rapids, all of which could he easily sunnouiitoil
hy locks. The area drained i)y the ^lackenzic ami
its tributaries is about ;">.")(), 000 stpiare miles, dr
almost double that of the St. Lawrence basin. It
receives the waters of the eastern slojies of llic
liocky ]\rountains thronj^h lifteiMi d(\L,nves of latitude,
and that of the western slopes from M'l.eod Lake and
the head of the I'arsnij) in latitude r»4° 20', to the ardir
circle. The rivers by which this enormous volume df
water finds its way to the Mackenzie are, from seiith
to north, the Athabasca, the I'eace, the Liard, ami tlu'
Peel. Its principal eastern drainai,^', comin;^ from tlie
land of the musk-ox and the reindeer — 1'ho i»arn'n
Grounds — is received thnnii^h the three rjreat lakes
Athabasca, Clreat Slave, and (Jreat Bear. Between Lakes
'm£L-
TAlilES.
TIIK P.\>!IX OF TIIR MACKKX/.IK HIVKR.
427
i
Atliiil)ii.s('ii and Great Sliivc, Lake tlio rivur is known
as Stonv ] liver and Slave Iiiver.
The iJarren (Ji'Dunds may lie defined as extinidin}^ from
the water- part iii.Lj immediately north of Churcliill Ifiver
to the Maekeiizie, alow^ the slojte.s towards Hudson J»ay
and the Arctic Ocean. This extremely desolate and in-
ho.'^pitahle re^ijion is occui)ied by a ])ortion of tiie j^reat
Chipewyan or Tinneh trihe, M'ho regard it as the cradle
of their race, whence they claim to have spread in other
directions.
Stunted shrubs of the hardiest kinds — dwarf birch,
willows, and the likt; — scantily clothe the nu)re favoured
spots alou^f the watcu'courses ; while! elsewhere various
lichens, the ]ii'culiar food of the reindeer, inters|)ersed
with stones and stagnant water-pools, alone characterise
the dreary scene. Yet amid these unattractive wilds the
natives obtain an abundant, if at times precarious, subsist-
ence by fishinf,^ and the chase. Keindeer (of the smaller
variety) are extriMuely numerous during the period of their
northern mi,nration, commencing' in !Marcli ; and the musk-
ox (Oribi)S mosclmhiH) linds in these solitudes a congenial
iind ])erennial Held. On the immediate sea-frontier the
poliir bear a])peiirs ; but no other of the larger quadrupeds
tiian those enumerated is found. The beaver, common to
nearly every ])ortion of North America, shuns a scene
where all its industry would i'ail to procure it a living;
and it is not till the hunters reach the line of about the
65th ])ar;dlel tliat they are able to procure the fur of this
animal for the purjjoses of barter. The ptarmigan is
found in abundance, as also the white fox ; with wolves,
some of which are white, and in i)arts the arctic hare
(Lcpus variahilis). ^lost of the lakes are well stocked
with white-fish and other kinds ; and probably salmon of
some of the numerous varieties ascend all the larger rivers
between the Churchill and the Mackenzie, in neither of
1 I
': .'. !
^
III
w >1'
(■' f
Offi
r
■^»^'
42S
COMrEXDIUM OF -iEOGKAniY AND TRAVEL.
Illli
1
ijPI
whicli do thi'V MjiiH'ar. A Viirioty calK'd the " Copper
Mine RiviT Saliiu»u" (Sal mo Jfedrnii of IJichardson) is
known to ascend tlu; river of tliat name; and the native
name of the Hack lliver — Title n-c-cJunlczdh (or tesyc)- —
lead some to infer that tliat also is frequented either bv
this or some other varietv. 77/A7(-('-r7/o, literallv " hii'-
tish," enijthtyed liy tlie Tdh-cullji of the r[)]H'r Kraser to
(lesii^nate the sturgeon, is on the Mackenzie a))plied to tlie
sahnon of the Yukon. JJeindeer arc the only .species of
the family found on the L<t\ver Mackenzie; foxes ef
several varieties, including the white {Vnl/n-fi lai/oiuis),
occur; also the niarn;ot, the bear, etc. in addition to the
many kinds of migratory water-fowl that resort to these
localities to iireed. the white ;.,'rouse or ]>tarmi,uan {Luj/npiis
alhi/s) ajijiears ahundantly as a ]>ermanent n'sident, a.s
indeed alonLt the wiiole of the arctic watei'she(l and tlie
shores of Hudson liay. The whitt'-tish (Coiriionm),
several \arielies of carp, trout, and otlu-r lish, inchuliiii,'
the inconnu (jirohalily ii:raylin^, Tlii/yiudluH fiu/ni/o; of
Jiichardson 0. 'U'^' common to the stream and its tributaries.
The jiike also is found, but no salmon asct-ud this river,
which in this rc-pcct forms ])robal>ly tlui solitary exceji-
tion auKHiLr all the larger sti'cams from California ujiwimls
to this point. For the dehciency of this valuable fish
there is no apparent cause ; nor docs iheri! seem to exist
anv reas(»n whv it shoul-1 not he arliliciallv introduced at
some future day. lli'^lier up, as wo a])iiroach the dis-
charLic (tf the (Ireat Hear Lake, the evith'nces of an im-
jirovinLl <dimate ajijx'ar. The service-berry (Amditnchkr),
till' wild gooseberry, and other fruits, are conunon ; the
c"untry throughout is well tind)ered, chielly with varieties
of lir and jtine; and a <,M-eater variety of lu'asts of the
chase, includinj; the moose, the beaver, etc., appears. <>1
th»> minerals in this (piarter little can be said; hut frcm
the name of the rivers before mentioned, and from rejiorts
THE ATHABASCA RIVKR.
429
we may be jiistilied in believinjj; tluit rich deposits of
C()pi)er, at least, exist. The Jvsiiuiniaux occupy the whole
seaboard.
Mackenzie describes the nioutli of the river, latitude
f)8°, as having innumerable islands, its depth to be from
4 to 50 fathoms, and its ]>readth from half a mile to two
miles, with a current of six miles an hour, and a volume
double tliat of the Niagara or ^Missouri IJivers.
'i'he islands are covered with trees of a small growth,
and in places spruce and fir of a larger size ; the l)aid':s
where high are wooded, ])ajtly with lurch and lir ; berries
are abundant, and the ground in places is covered with
short grass and ilowers. This was on the 12tli July, in
latitude 08° north, ncavlv 2000 miles beyond the Lake
of the "Woods in a (hrcct north-westward dii'cction, and
-SOOO miles from I\b)ntreal, or as far as that city is from
the mouth of the Orinoco in South America. This coni])aii-
son is made to give an idea of the extc^nt of the country
here described. ^Maclvcnzie a('Com])lislied the distance
from Fijrt (,'hii)cwyan to the mouth of the river and back,
a boat voyage of oOOO miles, between the .'id of June
and the 12th of 8eptend)er, or in 100 days, thus slio\ving
that thiring this season at least the navigation is open.
The whale fisheries in Ik'riug Sti'ait, to wliich the
Mackenzie L'iver alfoi'ds a short route and easy access,
are the riclu'st known, and arc extensively resorted to by
American whalffs, wlio, t'- reach this iishiug-ground, sail
1G,000 miles.
The Atliabas(>a is the most southerlv extending
tributary of tlie Mackenzie, and little if at all inferior to
the Peace, either in length or in the volume of water
which it cari'ies. It rises on the eastern slopes of the
liocky .^b)untains, in the Leather oi Yellowhead and in
the, Athabasca ])asses. The Aihabasca Lass, latitude
52° 20', is 002 5 feet above the sea. It crosses between
i' i
i
i(
n
1
[
i
1
■ J'::|i|L||
^I iJi
m
\
1
w
i
I
(!-• ;
f'-'
it
*-«^4s;
430
COMI'ENDirM OF GEO(;i{ArilY AND TltAVKL.
Mount Hooker and ^Nfonnt Ih'own, two of tlic liinliost
peaks of llu; IJocky Monntains, and leads directly to the
r>o.at Eneanii)inent on the ^reat sontli bend of the Cohnii-
hia Iviver. The Leather I'ass, ;)74() feet al)ove the sua,
strikes the easternmost sources of the Fraser llivor.
From tl.iese ]>asses the "Whirljtool and the Aliette Ivivers
issue, and the latter has a length (tf 18 miles and a full
of ."'.oL! feet t«» its junction near ]fenry House with tliu
"\Vhirli)ool Athabasca, 55 or 60 miles from the suniiiiit
of the Athabasca I'ass. Thence the Athabasca or Klk
IJiver taki's a ticni'ral north-easterly course, and, i)assiii'f
Jasper ] louse, which stands in a wide and beamiful
Aalley within the mountain, it ilows with many sweciiiii^
curws and shar]» licnds to Fort Assinilioine, .'UJO miles
from its souri'c in the mountains. Its lai\u;est tributary in
this ]i:\\[ of its course is the M'Leod J{i\er, which takes
its water from the water-] »artin<j; between the Athahasca
and tlie Saskatchewan, and joins the former about HO
miles above Fort Assinilioine. Here the Flk or Athaba,sca
is described as a stream 300 yards in width, tlowiuLT in
a valley from 1 to 2 nnles wide, and 250 feet below the
level of tlie sui'roun<linuf ])lain. At about 4(1 miles
lower it receives on the south the IVMnbina, which, like the
]\Ii.cod, leathers its Nvater from the water-parti n,u; between
the LH'eat valleys of the Saskatchewan and the Athabasca,
ami has a eoui'se of al)ont '2-'>^) mik's. Thirty miles liehiw
the conthienee of the l'end)ina, tlie ].csser Shi\i' h'iver
comes in from tlie north-west, wilii a course of -10 inik's
to its head ill Lesser Slave Lake. This lake exUiuls
nearly east and west 100 mil(>s, with an aveva;^e bivaihii
of 20 to .')0 mih's. From this tlu! river makes an cUinw
south-eastwar<ls and then turns nearly north, wliich Lieiienil
direction it maintains to its dischai'.^e in Lake Athaliasea,
receiyin.Lj midway, at 150 miles from its mouth, Ch'ar-
water Jiivcr, coming from Mctiiy Forta«'e on the south-eiisL.
t
TlIK CLEARWATKK UIVEK.
431
^' tu ihc
(."oliiiii-
W' sea,
i;ivcr.
•1 a fall
itli iW
suiimiit
(.r Klk
I'assiiiir
'•■amit'ul
Wt'fjiilll^r
lO miles
utarv ill
li taki's
lialiasca
Klllt flO
tliabasca
wiiii^' ill
'Inw the
(I miles
like the
bet Ween
luiliasca,
.'8 bchtw
The rnrtn.cje i\ la Loche, or Mothy I'ortage (Metliy = Loclie
= Freshwater Ctttl =: Gadiis harhatula), is on the dividiii<,f
ridge between the waters flowing to Hudson Bay by
the valley of the Mississippi, and those tributat-y to the
jMackenzie through the Athabasca. The summit of this
])ortage, whieh is elevated very considerably above the
general level, has an altitude above the sea, as given by
Dr. IJichardson, of 15 GO feet; but this estimate is
])rubably somewhat underrated. The length of the port-
age is 1.") miles, over a level sandy plateau, stony in
]iai'ts, and wondcd with Banksian pine, spruce, and other
trees. The noithern side is a steep escar])ment, descend-
ing by eight successive stages, all more or less precipitous,
tft the borders of the Clearwater, which flows by a course
of some 80 miles, through a charming valley of mingled
jilaiii and forest, to the Athabasca.
It is by this route, and the Portage de la Traite
on the o])])(isiti', side of the IMississippi Valley, that the
iransj)oi't is effected l)etween Athabasca and Lake "Winni-
l)eg rill the Saskatchewan. This last ])ortage has its
niinie from the circumstance that Frobisher, the pioneer
trader fi'diu Canada, here intercepted a large party of
Indians on their way to Churchill in iVT-f, and secured
llu'ir hunts, liy the Crees this portage, from an old
tradition, is called Athikcsipichciian Portage, i.e. Portage
of the Stretclie(l Frog-skin. Hence the name a]»])lied to
it in some recent ma])s, " Frog Portage," but it is better
known by the name given above. 'J'he view down the
valley of Clcarv;,!ter Biver from Methy Portage is thus
described by Sir Alexander ]\Iackenzie:— " From thence the
eye looks down on the course of the little river, by some
called the Swan Biver, and by others the Clearwater and
Tt'lican Iliver, beautifully meandering for thirty miles. The
valley, which is at once refreshed and adorned by it, is
about three miles in breadth, and is conlined by two hjfty
f.A •'
m\
f
l|
I
u
Itht
'■I )
*M
I
i
;
\,
ai^'
" Kf »d
COMPKN'mUM OF OEOOIJAPUY AND TRAVEL.
ridu'os (if r([ual lieiiilit. ilispliiyiii<4 a most dcliulilful \\\W\.
iiiixtuiv y^^ \V(i()(l and lawn, and slivteliin^ on till the Muo
mists obscni'c till' ju'dsjuvt; sonio parts of the inclining
heii^hts are elothed with stately forests relieveil 1>\ pio-
montories of tin- linest verdnre, where the elk and
bulfalo lintl pasture." The sceninT and the ve,t,'elatinii
remain, l>ut the elk and the linUalo have passed awav, to
l)e re])laeed, however, at no distant date, hy vast herds of
domestic eatlh', for the rearing,' of which the ma^iiiHceiit
I)astures of tliis region are eminently adapted.
Sii' ddhn IJichardson describes the scenery as un-
eijualled, the soil as sandy, but on a limestone basis,
wliicli is favtairable to its warmth as well as to its fer-
tility. The whnle length of the Athabasca is DOU to
100(» miles. Ai>itroachin,<j: Lake Athabasca, the liigii
lianks of the river valh'y sink into the alhivial jilain al
its mouth, and which is thus described by I'rofessor
Maciiun inllie Ilcpoit <if tlie ( leolojjjical Survey oi' ("aiiada
inr 1 S7r»-7'>. pa'je ill: — "The whole country around iln'
south iind Avesl sid;'s of Lake Athabasca is a vast alhnial
]>lain, elevated but a xcry few feet above the levcd of tln'
lake, and some ye;iis mmdi of it is Hooded. The first
niuht after liM\iiiL: I'ort ('liii»ewyan we slept in the heats
owiiiLT to tlie lowness o|' llie laml, not more tiian one feet
above the water. The Athabasca has Ibrmed a larue
(h'lta at its luontli, and is every year siltin;i up the lake
witli the mud it brinijs (hiwn. For miles before wu
entered it we ]iasse(l o\-er mud Hats (hu- to tlie same
cause. Tlie mouth, oi' mouths, of the rivi'r are funiicd
bv a series of wilh»w swamps and islands scarcely a tent
abovt' the water. Wiiere we breakfasted the hind was t\ve
feet above the watei', at diinu'r four feet, aiiil where we
slept si.K feet. This was twenty-live miles finm the lake,
and the first spruce was seen, showin.i:; that here the land
Avas never permanently flooded. One day and a halt
.'SJ
LAKE ATHAnASCA.
^.CiQ
oo
from the lake \ve reached the Emhan'iis Iviver, where the
(Itilta coninieiices. Here the general level is ahout ten
feet above the \vater. The whole of the country ])etween
this and tlie lake is alluvium, brou.L,dit down by the river
in bygone ages. All this inmiense delta, including Lakes
Claire and IManiawa and their bordering marshes, and
all that part of the Teace IHver Valley below Peace
Point, may be called the delta of the Peace and Atha-
basca rivers. The water of the Athabasca is even mud-
dier than that of the Peace, but that of the Slave Piver
issuing from the lake is quite clear."
In numy ])laces along the banks of the Athal)nsca,
C'learwatei", and Slave rivers there are co])ious springs
of salt and petroleum, and there is no doubt that tliis
region will some day vie M'ith Pennsylvania and Ontario
in the production of these valuable materials.
In returning up the river Sir Alexander Mackenzie
describes the air, for some portion of the way, as laden
with a smell of sul})hur, caused by the burning of lignite
on the riviu' bank. This was, however, probably a mis-
take, as, although there are many and valuable beds of
lignite coal in the I'cgion, and some of them are on fire,
their O(unl)ustion does not give rise to deposits of sul])hur
or to sulphurous odours. These are caused by the spon-
taneous and more or less local condiustion of the ])yritous
shales of j\Iesozoic age, which form clifls along the u])per
tvibuta''es of the Mackenzie, and this curious combustion
is well e vhiliited on " Smokv Piver," one of the localities
alluded to l)y .Mackenzie. It is iuUy descrilied in the
Peports of the Geological Survey of Canaila, 1875-70 and
1879-80.
Lake Athabasca, or the Lake of the Hills, 180 miles
south-west of Slave Lake and 020 feet above the sea, is
an elongated body of water nearly 'J 00 miles in length,
and 14: to 15 miles average width. Stone Piver, issuing
2 F
i,| . .
I
mn
1 I
i
I
V-
i&-
I' ' I'
jl
'1*1
^ ^
•Ij
■ 1 1
I'M
V
■;^^ I
4:u
iiMl'r.NDirM OF GEOGUAT'IIY AND TRAVEL
out of Lake Wooliistdn — a circular lake 4r> miU's in
iliaiiU'tiT, lyiiiLT west -sdutli -west ol' Alhaliasca — ])assos
throii^li scvci'al small lakes, lietwerii which it is seine-
tinies eallfd reiciijtine Ifiver, and nil i mutely falls into
the Lake of the Hills. Alioiit ')() iiiilc!-' cast el' Sioiii'
liiver aimthcr lai'^e rixci- issues from Lake ^\'(l(llast(lll.
ami after a iioi'thei'ly euurse of 100 miles, ht'uds sliar]ilv
to till' south and tlows into iJeiudeei' Lake, the waters ef
which emiityhvthe Churchill liiver into lluilsou I'av.
hake WoolasidU is thus one of the main sources of the
Mackenzie and also of the ( 'liurcliill.
Stduy lli\er. the ]iriiici]ial outlet of Alhaha^eu L;ikt\
at its north- wcstci'u extremity Hows lietwi-en marshy
haid<<. and at the distance of .')0 miles minules its waters
Mith I'eace K'iver; the condiine(l streams torm Slave Kiwr,
which \aiies ill width from three (|iiarlers of a mile to
one mile and three ([iiarters. and is ;l(i(i nnh's in Icnutii,
vMmiui 1.(1 miles helow its head its na\i,uatien is iiitci-
rujited li\- a series of rapids, oecasioiiine' a succes>i()ii nf
|Hiilau'es Itetween \^n'j[ liiver and the rapids of the
1 )vowned, after which the ri\-er is uninteri'u])tedly ii.ivi-
uahle to Sla\f Lake. Issuing' freiii (Ireai Sla\'e Luke ;il
the western t'lld. the liver hears the name of Maikeli/lr,
it> disc(i\elci , and continnes its comse to the Arctic Sr;l,
I'ei'cixin^ oil its wav the Liard fiiim tlu; west, with a
cniir-e (if 7"iO to 1 l)0(» miles, as well a-- the I Ml ilDchti'
and the waters of (ireat Hear Lake fmni the east.
Ill: f i
iri
2. n>' Pnin- nh-rr.
The rn-i'jah ni' I'eace liiver, the lar-t'st hraiich of
the Mackeii/ie, is fnianc(l li\- the ciintlueiice of the I'ais-
ni)), the Nation, and the Liiilay. which I'ise on the west
side of the main axis of the llncky Mountains hctweeii
the o-hii and oTtli j^aiallels, and the ilMKh and ll'Tlli
h^
iiiilts in
— I Kisses
is sonie-
iiUs into
dl' Slnlic
odliiston.
^ slmi'iily
Wiiters (if
soil r>;iv.
es itl' till'
<c;i Lako,
1 marsliv
its wab'vs
AW Kiver,
;i milt' to
111 Iciiulli.
1 is illlrf-
•cssidii iif
S (if till'
mHv iiavi-
(• l.iiki' 111
,l;ick('ll/.ii'.
Uvlic Sra,
-t. with a
-I.
l>r;nn'1i nf
llu' Pavs-
11 the west
US lift ween
;ui(l lliTlk
TIIK LlAlil) IMVEIl.
435
meridians, and drain a laruje section of llie <?reat high
jilains of British Coliniihia lying In^tween the Cascade
Ifange and the llocky Mountains. I'ravcrsing the moun-
tain axis in a profound gorge, tliese united waters, after
a course of 1000 miles east by north tlirouuh a mafrni-
iicent country, and having received a number of smaller
rivers, the largest of wliieli are the Tine, the Smoky, and
the Vermilion, empty into Slave liiver, as already stated,
about 30 miles north of Lake Atlial)asea. At liijih
Avater in the spring, a great part of the water of Peace
liiver passes by the Quatre Fourches liiver into Atha-
basi'a Lake ; whilu later in the season the current is
reversed, and a part of the drainage of the lake passes by
the same channel into Peace Piver.
It would recpiire too much space in this work to give
full details of the boundless resources, varied character,
and wonderl'ul fertility of the valley of the Peace Piver,
and we must for tliese refer the reader to the reports
already cited of the (leological Survey of Canada for
187r)-70, 1879-80, and lSSO-81. Accomi)anying the
latter is a map of this vast region, from the Pacific Ocean
to Fort Edmonton on the Saskatchewan.
3. The Du Liard Elver, or River of the Mountaiyis.
This larger <"''il)ntary of the ^Mackenzie is formed of
two branches, rising west of the Pocky IMountains in
hakes Dease and Simpson, situated in long. 130^ west,
and 200 miles apart. Peceiving numerous tributaries,
and flowing on indi'pendent courses for about 150 niiles,
tliese br.inclies unite a little south of the 00° of latitude.
Thence the river continues in a south-easterly course for
about 2~)() miles, in which distance it ])asses, like Peace
hi\er, in a deep canon across the main axis of the Pocky
^loinitains. At about 50 niiles west of the mountains
. 1
t
•1 i
:i
1 ;[
\ ; 1
/s
1 .] \i
. _^..— -^^-»>- .
IJl*
436
(OMl'KNDIUM OF GEOGIJAI'HY AND TliAVIX.
it turns duo north, and continues tin's course for ncarlv
200 miles, until it enters the Mackenzie at Fori Sini])S()ii,
400 feet alune the sea. Fort J.iard is situated on it u
little south of the r>Oth ]iarallel. Speaking' of this ])lii('t'
llichardson says: " Tiioui^h this part is more elevate(l tliim
Fort Simpson by at least 150 feet, and is only two
degrees of latitude to the southward, its climate is said
to he very sujierior, and its vegetahle ]troductions of
better j^rowth and quality, liarley and oats yiidd good
crops, and in favourahh^ seasons wheat ri])ens wtdl. This
locality, then, Iw. adds, on the 60^ })aralh'l may l)e con-
sidered as the northern limit (►f the economical culture
of Avheat, Such heing the climate at that latitude on
the Du Liard liiver, it may reasonably be assumed to he
fully as favourable in the country extending 2<>0 miles
farther south on its eastern branch and on Hay Kivcr."
[i !}
1^ i|
n '»
4. T/w Half Hiirr.
Hay lliver, a tributary of Slave Lake, is ncaily 400
miles in length. ]t has two branches — the west one
rises in Hay Lake, the other rises not iar from the banks
of Peace Kiver, and ilows at no great distance from Fort
A''ermilion. The country on this branch is described by
Sir John llichardson as an agreeabh^ mixture of prairie
and woodland, and freipiented by vast bands of butlidoes.
This, he says, is the limit of those vast ])rairies which
extend from New Mexico. lielow the folks of Hay
Itiver, the country on it is covered with forests, and in-
tersected with swamps. Here, as elsewliere in all the
region drained by the ^lackenzie, the buM'alo is extinct,
being now rarely if ever seen uorth of the Saskatchewan.
,'1.
ft!
U*:U
tf
r nearly
Simpson,
I on it ii
his i)lii('e
lU'tl than
tnly twii
t(j is said
ctions of
i(!l(l },'00(l
41. This
( be eoii-
II cultuiv
titude oil
;no(i to lie
:00 miles
Kiver."
,eaily 400
west one
the. hanks
In mi Fort
iscrihed hv
: of prairie
f hufliiloes.
iries which
Ks of Hay
its, uiul in-
ill all the
is extinct,
ikiilchewan.
i "
i
I
fi ' i >
liuirisii (l)Lr.MniA \- riii-: sa
MeigtUJi ui- feet abav% t^iA Sea,
i.fim)aii; Kiiwnrd StaiiK
5IA \. THK SASKATCIIKWAN TKKIUTOIUKS.
11.-." 11(1
/lOi'
A,m'iW.W«y'i
l.iiiu'nii. Mwnrd Stantonl. 5R ChMiui^ t'nmB.
Longitude I2f)' W-sl of (".Twnwkih .
120*
tyo
1^0
J^" .liaU of Enjjh.ili. .Vilf.9
rm
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
437
4
CHAPTER VI.
THE WESTERN SLOPES OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND THE
RIVERS AND LAKES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
1. General Vicio.
British Columbia — bounded on the south by the U.S.
territories of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, on the
east by the Eocky Mountains, and on the north by the
60th parallel of latitude — is eminently a land of moun-
tains, lakes, and rivers. It may be fitly designated tlie
Alpine Province of the Dominion.
It has an average length from north to Bouth of 800
miles, and a breadth from east to west of about 300
miles. Except the north-eastern section, drained by the
Liard and the Peace, afUuents of the Mackenzie, its waters
are carried to the Pacific Ocean by the Columbia, the
Fraser, the Skeena, Babine or Simpson, and the Stickeen ;
while a number of smaller streams empty into the heads
of the numerous deep fiords which indent the coast from
New Westminster to Nasse Harbour on the confines of
Alaska.
Dr. G. M. Dawson says:^ " Three main structure direc-
tions serve to account for the greater part of the depres-
sions of the surface now occupied by the rivers, lakes,
and fiords of British Columbia — 1. A north-westerly
and south-easterly series, dependent on the general folding
of the rocks ; 2. A north and south series, due to systems
* Quarterly Journal Oeol. Soc, No. 133, Feb. 1879.
!
4 .: I
; J.
m
438
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGIIAPHY AND TRAVEL.
of parallel breaks ; and 3. An east and west series, the
cause of which has not yet been determined.
" The arrangement of the lakes and their long river-
like forms are very remarkable, suggesting, at least, the
action of glacier ice, which, though it may possibly have
formed rock basins in some places, has generally been
instrumental in causing lakes by the arrangement of diift
material in pre-existing hollows."
The only important western tributaries of the Co-
lumbia rising to the north of the 49tli parallel are tlio
Okanagan and its large feeder, Similkameen. The
former discharges the lake of the same name, and the
latter rises in tlie high mountains west of Hope on tlie
Fraser Kiver. Okanagan Lake is about 60 miles in
length, and only 3 to 4 miles wide. The distance from
the head of the lake to the confluence with the Columbia
in lat. 48° north is nearly 200 miles.
2. The Columhia River.
The Columbia is the largest river of America flowing
to the Pacific Ocean. It drains an area of 298,000
square miles, and its length is esthnated at 1400 miles,
nearly half of which is tlirough British territory. It rises
3090 feet above the sea, in the Upper and Lower
Columbia Lakes, near lat. 50°, long. IIG W., at the base
of the Eocky Mountains. From its source it flows north-
westerly in a dee}) and narrow valley, parallel with the
mountains for nearly 200 miles, to the Boat Encampment
at the entrance to the Athabasca Pass. Here it receives
its northernmost tributary, Canoe Eiver, coming from the
north-west, and whose valley, together with those of the
Columbia, the Kootanie, and the Fraser, from Tete Jaiine
Cache downward, forms an uninterrupted and nearly
straight north-west and south-east depression 450 miles
mm
THE COLUMBIA RIVER.
439
in length, from the 49th to the 54th parallel of latitude.
This great but narrow valley, bounded on both side;
almost throughout its length by snow-clad peaks, is one
of the most remarkable features of British Coluinl)ia.
Standing in the centre of the valley at Cranberry Lake, it
is difficult to realise the fact that you are on a divide,
so gradual is the fall north-westward to the Fraser, and
south-eastward down Canoe lliver to the Columbia.
Canoe lliver is here, between 50 and GO miles from its
mouth, 2622 feet above the sea ; and Tete Jaune Cache
on the Fraser, 13 miles distant, 2400 feet. From the
boat Encampment at the ]3ig Bend, the Columbia turns
south-west and south for 200 miles, to the United States
boundary at Fort She])herd. In all this distance it re-
ceives only one large tributary — the Kootanie. Its cliief
sources are considerably to the northward of those; of the
Columbia. It flows southward into IMontana, and receives
the drainage of the west slope of the Bocky Mountains
from its sources in the Vermilion and Kicking Horse
passes, nearly to the 49 th piivallel. IMaking a great,
ahiiost semicircuhir, sweep through IMontana, it re-enters
biitish Columbia, and passing through the southern end
of tlie great Kootanie or Flat Bow Lake, it issues on its
western side with the added drainage of the lake, and falls
into the Columbia 40 miles to the westward, a short
distance below the Lower Arrow Lake. Its length is
estimated at 450 miles. Opposite Fort Shepherd, on
the 49th paidlel, is the mouth of Clarke's Fork, Bend
d'Oreille or Bitter Boot Biver, the second largest atlluent
of the Columbia. The sources of its northernmost tribu-
tary, the Flathead Biver, issue from the Kootanie and
Boundary passes of the Bocky Mountains between the
114th and 115th meridians, north of the 49th parallel.
In Montana the Flathead Biver expands into a lake of
the same name, 30 miles long and 12 or 14 nules broad.
ii'i
It
' I ii*^
440
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
3., I
crossed about its centre by the 48th parallel of latitude;
continuing its southerly course for 30 miles, it falls into
the Clarke ; and the united waters then take a north-
westerly course to their confluence with the Columbia at
Fort Shepherd. In Idaho, between the 116th and 117th
meridians, latitude 48° 10' north, the river again expands
into a lake called Pend d'Oreille, 30 miles long, 8 miles
broad, and 1600 feet above the sea. Gold has been
found in the sands on nearly all the tributaries of the
Columbia, both in British Columbia, Montana, and Idaho.
Crossing the 49th parallel at Fort Shepherd, the
Columbia flows southward to the 48th parallel, then
westward to the confluence of the Okanagan Eiver, then
south-west, south, and south-east for 160 miles, to the
mouth of the Snake or Lewis River, its largest tributary,
A few miles below this junction it strikes the northern
boundary of Oregon, and abruptly changes its course to-
wards the west, forming the boundary between Oregon
and Washington territories for 250 miles to its mouth in
the Pacific Ocean. The navigation of the Columbia is
divided into four sections, a part of the upper section only
being in British territory. The first is from its mouth to
the Cascades, 160 miles, only a little above the head of
tide water. Vessels of the largest size that cross the bar
at its mouth can ascend to Vancouver, 115 miles. The
obstruction to navigation at the Cascades makes a portage
of 6 miles necessary. This is now made by means of a
railroad. The second section is from this to the Dalles,
a distance of 50 miles. Here another railroad, 14 miles
long, has been laid to Celito. Thence the third navigable
section reaches to Priests Rapids, 185 miles ; and the
fourth section extends from Fort Colville, where the
river is 700 yards broad, and 1050 feet above the sen
upwards for 250 miles, passing through the Upper and
Lower Arrow Lakes, 85 to 90 miles in length, nearly to
w
THE FRASER RIVER.
441
the Boat Encampment at the Big Bend. Above this th&
river is only navigable for small boats, with numerous
interruptions from falls and rapids.
3. The Fraser River.
This river drains about 100,000 square miles, a
much larger area within the province than the Columbia.
It receives nearly all the water of the eastern slope of the
Cascade Range from the 49th to the 53d parallel, also
tlie greater part of that of the central plateau, and of the
western slope of the Gold Eange ; while its eastern sources
are in the Eocky Mountains between the 53d and the
55th parallels of latitude. Its main eastern branch issues
from the mountains on either side of the Leatlier Pass,
latitude 52° 55', longitude 118° 30' west. From the
summit of the pass above Yellow Head Lake, 3746
feet above the sea, following the course of the stream
to its mouth in the Strait of Georgia, is a distance of
not less than 650 miles. Its main western branch, the
Xechaco, takes its rise in Franqois Lake, or Lac des
Fran^ais, only a few miles less distant from the mouth,
and one degree north of its eastern source in the Leather
Pass. This branch also carries to the Praser the water of
the Stuart River and its long chain of lakes, the northern-
most of which. Lake Tacla, extends nearly to the 56 th
parallel of latitude, and lies in a long narrow de^^ression
which separates the tributaries of the Skeena on the west
from those of Peace River on the east, the interveninji
distance being not more than 30 miles. The Nechaco
joins the Fraser at Fort George, a trading post of the
Hudson Bay Company, latitude 54°, and 1908 feet
above the sea. Below this there are only two other
tributaries from the west of any importance — the Black
or Westroad River and the Chilcotin, respectively 40
■1 y{\ 4
> ;
I
\ ':
V
m H-l
il
> 1 !
f
442
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
and 150 miles below Fort George. The former is of
interest as having been the route by which Sir Alexander
Mackenzie reached the Pacific on his memorable journey
from Athabasca Lake,
fid I'eace and Fraser
Iiivers, in 1793, when
lie su])posed the Fraser
to be the Columbia.
Except a number of
small streams, the
only tributaries of the
Fiaser from the east
are — the Quesnelle, at
the mouth of which
is situated the risiiifj
town of the same
name, and the point
where the road for
the Cariboo goldfields
leaves the valley of the
Fraser; and at Lyttoii,
200 miles lower down,
the Thompson, which
issues from the Wfst
end of Kamloops
Lake, bearing the
united waters of tlie
North and Soutli
Branches. The North
Thompson rises in
Albreda Lake, witliin
25 miles of the bend
of the Fraser at Tete Jaune Cache, but its water is chiefly
derived from the glaciers and snowfields of the northoiii
spurs of the Selkirk and Gold lianges. It Hows soiith-
TALLEY OF THE THOMPSON.
A SULPHUR SPRING ON THE HARRISON RIVER.
443
easterly, while the Fraser takes a directly opposite course, and
after flowing 450 miles, the two rivers unite, as before
stated, at Lytton, having circumscribed an oval space
about 300 miles in diameter from north to south, and
120 miles from east to west. This space includes the
Cariboo Mountains, and the whole of it has a high eleva-
tion, indented with numerous deep valleys and lake basins.
The South Thompson rises on the western slopes of the
Gold Eange near the Boat Encampment and the Upper
Arrow Lakes of the Columbia, and it carries the overflow
of the Great and Little Shushwap Lakes, which, together
with Kamloops Lake and the connecting river, aflbrd unin-
terrupted navigation by steamboats for nearly 100 miles,
for the most part through a fine agricultural and pastoral
country.
From Lytton to Hope, 60 miles, it receives no tri-
butaries, but below Hope the Fraser receives two large
tributaries from the north — Pitt Eiver, about 25 miles
from its mouth, and Harrison River, some 35 miles
farther, each being the outlet of a large lake. Pitt Lake
is about 12 miles in length; Harrison about 30 or 35.
They both fill deep gorges in the mountains, which rise
abruptly from their banks, and in many respects bear a
strong resemblance to the fiords of the coast. Harrison
Lake is fed by the Lilloet Eiver, which, about 30 miles
up, expands into a lake of the same name, 20 miles in
length, fed by tlie Chatham, the Upper Lilloet, and the
Birkenhead Eivers, the latter leading to the Pemberton
portage, which connects, by Lakes Anderson and Seton,
witli the Fraser Eiver 100 miles above Hope. Steamers
can ascend from Fraser Eiver to the head of Harrison
Lake. At the lower end of the lake, near the outlet, a
hot spring bubbles up among the rocks, close to the water's
edge, emitting a very perceptible odour of sulphur, and
having its peculiar taste. The water of the spring has
il
Ikl
'i' 1
T
444
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
never been analysed. It will doubtless be found to
possess valuable medicinal properties.
Anderson and Seton Lakes, lying nearly at right
angles to Lilloet and Harrison Lakes, cut through the
LiUoet range of the Cascade Mountains. The former is about
14 miles long, bearing north-east. Between the two lakes
there is a portage road about 2 miles in length, along a
river 100 feet wide, which flows with great force, the
difl'erence of the level of the lakes being about 60 feet.
Seton Lake is about 1 6 miles long, of a serpentine form.
Looking down from the head of it, a magnificent picture
of mountain scenery is presented. The lake is only 800
feet above the sea, and the surrounding mountains rise
abruptly 3000 to 5000 feet. A mile from the foot of
Seton Lake the Cayoush Eiver joins that issuing from
the lake, and 2 miles farther the united streams flow into
the Fraser a little below the town of Lilloet. This chain
of lakes and portages constitutes the well-known Douglas
route, 100 miles in length, by which the interior of the
country was reached before the waggon road was made
in 1863 from Yale up the Fraser, Bonaparte, and
Thompson valleys to Clinton. It was adopted to avoid
the then impassable canons of the Lower Fraser, but it is
now only used by Indians, and the road is overgrown
with grass and brush ; while the mountain sides in the
neighbouring valley of the Fraser are already echoing
the shrill whistle of the locomotive as it rushes along on
the iron road which at no distant date will connect this
remote Alpine Province of the Dominion with her elder
and more populous sister provinces in the east. The
gorge of the Fraser Eiver through the coast range, though
perhaps inferior to that of the Columbia, is a scene of
rugged and picturesque grandeur. The forms of many
of the summits are singular in the extreme. The forests
which hang ou either side are broken by rocky cliffs and
THE DELTA OF THE ERASER RIVER.
445
precipices and tiny waterfalls, and the river itself, com-
pressed witliin narrow walls, rushes through as if impatient
for the liberty of the ocean. This gorge may be said to
extend from Lytton to Hope, but the river is navigable
for steamers from its mouth up to Yale, 90 miles; thence
to Lytton it is not even navigable for canoes. Yale is
13 miles above Hope. Between Hope and New West-
minster the river spreads out into numerous channels,
some of them dry at low water, having extensive " bars "
of sand and gravel, and low islands between them. It is
often, in fact, 2 or 3 miles between the extreme banks. The
influence of the tides is felt as far as the Sumass, 5 5 miles
up, where the first rapid occurs. Its entrance into the
Gulf of Georgia is marked, as might be expected, by shoals,
the deposit of its freshets. An extensive tract of allu-
vial land, for the most part wet, and, till reclaimed by
dykes, unfit for cultivation, lies between its mouths, and
on the south reaches to Siniahmoo Bay. The immediate
banks of the river are chiefly alluvial for a distance of 50
or 60 miles, and are overflowed in the summer. They
are covered with cotton- wood (poplar) and a thick growth
of willows. Back from the water are a few small prairies,
of which the largest are around Langley, and on the
Sumass and Chilukweyuk. The low lands much reseml)le
those on the Lower Columbia. The prairies are rich,
having about a foot of black mould, with a subsoil of
clay and sand. It is here, between Burrard Inlet and
the Noot Sahk, and extending from a little alwve the
Chilukweyuk to the mouth of the Eraser Eiver, that the
most extensive tract of level country in British Columbia
is to be found. There is a remarkable parallelism in the
general course of the two great rivers of British Columbia.
From their sources they both flow in a nearly north-
westerly direction for about 180 miles; they then both
make a sharp turn, generally known as " The Big Beud,"
m
Pi I
(', I
446
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
to the south, flowing almost due south, and nearly parallel
with each other for 350 miles — the Fraser to Hope and
the Columbia to Colville, wlience they each reach the sea
by almost rectangular bends to the westward through pro-
found gaps in the coast range.
4. The Lahes.
The characteristic feature of nearly all the lakes of
British Columbia is their great length and comparatively
small breadth. They fill deep troughs in the valleys
of the rivers at the heads or on the courses of which they
lie. Babine Lake, at the head of the river of the same
name, a tributary of the Skeena, is 87 miles in length,
whilst its breadth varies from half a mile to 5 or 6
miles. Franc^ois Lake, one of the western sources of the
Fraser already alluded to, is 57-|- miles long, with an
average breadth of only one and a half miles. Tacla
Lake is 46 miles long and 3 miles broad, and nearly all
the lakes in the province have somewhat similar propor-
tions. Those above named, together with Stuart, Fraser,
Cross, Upper and Lower Ootsabunkut, Chestatta, Tezzer
Pinchi, Tchesinkut, Burns, and Decker, from 10 to 45
miles in length, and from 2200 to 2800 feet above the
sea, are, Babine excepted, all tributaries of the Fraser,
through the valley of the Nechaco, and lie between the
124th and 128th meridians and the 53d and 56th degrees
of latitude. Babine Lake, the largest lake in British
Columbia, has been so called by the French half-breeds
in allusion to the fact that the Indians living on it had
the custom of wearing a wooden labret, or lip piece, in
the lower lip. The lake is known as Kit-Koin by tlie
Tshimsians, and by the Carriers as Na-to-bun-kut, or
long lake. The group of large lakes to which it belongs
may be regarded as occupying two parallel valleys which
M
II
TIIK LAKE REGION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
447
conform to the general north-westerly and south-easterly
hearings, which govern the main features of the whole
country between the Rocky jMountains proper and the
coast. The physical features, climate, and vegetation of
this great elevated lake region are described at length in
the lieports of the Geological Survey of Canada, 1876-77,
and 1879-80, and to these and their accompanying maps
we must refer the reader for further details. The only
other lakes of importance, some of which have already
been mentioned, are Clearwater Lake, on a branch of
the North Thompson ; the Quesnelle Lakes south of the
Cariboo goldtields ; I akes La Hache, Green, and Horse,
near the waggon road ; and still farther southward, on
the east side of tlie Fraser Valley, the Shuswap, Kam-
loups, and Xicola Lakes, the latter discharging its waters
by the Nicola liiver into the North Thompson atSpence's
Bridge.
The interior mainland of British Columbia may be
divided into three sections, each diifering from the other
in its attributes. The first extends from the mouth of
Fraser River to the foot of the rapids above Yale ; the
second from that point to Alexandria ; the third thence
to the Rocky Mountains. The characteristic of the lower
district is a surface tliickly wooded in most parts with
trees of enormous growth, chietly varieties of the fir and
pine, and intermixed with the red cedar. Low alluvial
points fringe these thickets. These, as well as the numer-
ous islets along the river, are covered witli a luxuriant
;4i'ovNth of aspen, balsam, poplar, and alder. In the
lower part are some extensive meadows, yielding, in their
natural state, lieavy crops of a coarse but nutritions grass,
and under cultivation enormous returns of cereals and
other produce.
e trouble-
period
;quitoes
m-
.
some along the river ; but there has never been mani-
448
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
fested any symptom of fever and ague or other simi-
lar endemic, so often generated in positions of a like
description.
On the verge of the second or central division a
marked change commences. Tlie copious rains whicli
fall in the lower district are greatly modified after tlie
mountain ridge, through which the river bursts near
Yale, is passed. Evidences of a drier climate appear at
every step. The character of the vegetation changes.
About Lytton the Cactus begins to appear. In spots
along the Thompson the Artemisia and other shrubs
indicative of a dry and hot climate are found ; and in
lieu of the thickly-wooded luxuriance of the lower region,
a succession of open valleys, covered witli fine pasture,
and bordered by grassy hills in parts more or less wooded,
delights the eye of the traveller. Here and there belts of
forest intervene, amid which broad expanses of open land
lie scattered at intervals. This general description may
be regarded as applying to a very large tract of country,
extending from Alexandria on the Eraser, in latitude
52° 33', to the southern boundary on the Okanagan
Itiver, and tlience at intervals eastward to the base of
the Eocky Mountains.
The third division of British Columbia, from Alex-
andria to the mountains, varies materially from the otlier
two. The agricultural region, properly so called, may be
said to terminate in the vicinity of Alexandria ; though
there are many small s])ots beyond that point which may
be advantageously cultivated for culinary vegetables and
the hardier cereals. Generally speaking, it is a wooded
country, interspersed with large tracts of excellent soil
and luxuriant pasture, especially in the direction of Eraser
and Stuart Lakes, and on the Chilcotin high plains.
The Skeena Eiver is the second largest river on the
THE SKEENA KIVEB.
449
Canadian Pacific coast. Its mouth is in latitude 54°
10' north, and its sources interlock with those of the
Fraser, the Peace, and the Liard. It has a j^oneral course
fVom north-east to south-west of 300 miles, through a
region of snow-clad peaks and glaciers. The tide ascends
it for about 25 miles, and it can be navigated by stern
wheel steamers for about 30 miles farther.
Above this it is only navigable for small boats or
canoes, with many interruptions by falls and rapids.
The forks, or Hazclton, is situated on the left bank of
the river, about 140 miles from the sea, and a little
above the junction of the Wat-son-kua, a large tributary
from the south-east. It stands on an extensive flat,
elevated 10 or 15 feet above the river, and at the base
of a terrace which rises very steeply to a height of
170 feet. Two or three traders live here, and there is
an Indian village of about half a dozen barn-like build-
ings, each inhabited by several families. The low ground
about the forks, and the wide valleys of the Skeena, the
Watsonkua, and the Kispyox, seem to be shut in on all
sides by high mountain ranges. A triangular area of
some 350 square miles, circumscribed by the valleys of
the Skeena, the Watsonkua, and Kitseguecla, is occupied
by the Rochers Deboule's Eange. The north-east angle
of this compact mountain mass is a magnificent rocky
summit, with an altitude of 5955 feet above Hazelton, or
6680 feet above the sea. Among some of the peaks
near it is a small glacier, and great masses of snow still
lay in June on the upper part of the range. Looking
down the valley of the Skeena the axial mountains of the
Coast Eange occupy the horizon, the highest point attain-
ing a height of 8000 to 9000 feet. The Skeena district
cannot be regarded as of much value agriculturally. On
the lower part of the river — with the possible exception
of a few islands — there is absolutely no good land. At
2 G
'III
450
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
about 20 miles below the forks, however, the hi;,Oier
terraces at the sides of the river extend in some phiccs
several miles back from it, and show soil of a fair ([uality.
It is stated that the valley continues to present the same
appearance farther up, and it is certainly wide and low
for some distance above the forks. A consideralile
breadth of land suited for agriculture is also found
in the valley of the Kispyox to the north-westward.
There may also be some good land in the wide valley of
the Lakelse and Kitsunigallum,but unless in the event of
some local demand arising, through the opening of mines,
it will be long before these lands are utilised. The
Skeena has been somewhat extensively used as a channel
of communication between the Omineca gold mines and
the coast, Ijut it is by no means well adapted for this pur-
pose. The large canoes that the Indians of the coast
hollow from the cedar are generally emi)loyed on the
Skeena. Large boats carrying about 15 tons have been
worked up to the forks, but the native canoes are better
adapted for the navigation. Freight brought up to Hazel-
ton costs four dollars a hundred pounds. The Skeena
Iiiver above the forks being exceedingly rapid, and the
Babine River in the canons quite impassable for canoes,
the route for Babine Lake and the Omineca goldfiekls
leaves the Skeena at the forks, and strikes nearly due
east up the valley of the Suskwa Eiver to Babine Lake,
distant by the trail about 50 miles — in a direct line
about 41. All goods are carried by Indians over this
trail at a cost of $4'00 per 100 lbs. The Indians on
the Skeena and the Nasse live in permanent villages.
The total Indian population of the region is roughly
estimated at 2075. From about 50 miles below the
forks the country is occupied by rocks of Mesozoio age,
in many places affording evidence of the probable exist-
ence of workable coal seams. These Mesozoic rocks are
TIIK YUKON KIVKIl.
451
associated with porpliyritcs and other fclspathic rocks,
whicli may he the reHuIt of conteinporaneous eruptions of
volcanic materials.
t'i
The YuTxon, the larrjest American river flowinj^ to the
Pacific, discharf^fes thn)ii<rh several mouths opening into
jleriug Sea. Its length is estimated at 2000 miles, and
it is navigable for steamers for 1200 miles from the sea.
Its main northern branch, the Porcupine iiiver, the mouth
of which is near the limit of navigation, rises on the
western slope of the llocky Mountains, not far from
tributaries of the Mackenzie ; while the sources of its
sdiithern branch, I'elly River, interlock with those of the
Liard or liiver of the Mountjiins, and of the Peel River,
wliich Mows northward to Mackenzie Bay on the Arctic
Oivww. These three rivers, so far as known, drain the
wiiole of the great triangular area in Canadian territory,
tlie three sides of which, each about 700 miles in length,
are formed by the northern boundary of British Columbia,
the eastern boundary of Alaska, and the liocky Moun-
tains from Demarcation I'oint on the Arctic Ocean to
the GOth parallel, enclosing an area of about 285,000
square miles. The Pelly Elver Hows for 700 miles through
this territory before entering Alaska. Of this north-
westernmost corner of the Dominion but little is known
with certainty. It has never been explored, and offers a
fine field to enterprising travellers in search of untrodden
tracts. In its mountainous character, and its rivers
abounding with salmon, it chiefly resembles Norway ; and
had it included the coast of the Pacific, and the islands
along with it, the resemblance would have been greater,
for it would then have possessed a seaboard of fiords and
inlets rendered temperate by the warm winds of the
Pacific ; but from Mount St. Elias down to Dixon's
Entrance and Portland Channel, latitude 54° 40', the
i
i-\
452
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
h' ^ I
i"
:ri|
boundary o^ British Columbia, a narrow strip of American
— formerly Russian — territory, intervenes along the
Pacitic coast, reaching back to the summit of the nearest
mountain range, but nowhere exceeding 35 miles from
the shore. The Eocky Mountains on the east side, the
Blue or Peak Range, and the Cascade Mountains and
Coast Range, run nearly parallel to each other, north-
westwardly through this territory, with many intermediate
ranges and groups. The Rocky Mountains, whose highest
peaks rise to 16,000 feet above the sea at the sources of
the Athabasca, gradually decline in height northward to
4,000 or 5,000 feet. The Coast Range, on the contrary,
attains its greatest height at Mount St. Elias, which is
stated to be 14,970 feet in altitude. These ranges cover
nmch of this territory; but there are valleys between
and among them, some of considerable extent.
That but little is known of this remote region is not
surprising : as alpine in character as Switzerland and
Tyrol, aiid eleven times as large as both together, it pre-
sents incomparably greater obstacles to exploration in the
character of its climate and its inhabitants. It is cer-
tainly a natural bulwark to all military operations from
the Pacific coast against the plain country to the east of it.
^\\
ON THK YUKON.
m'ir
CI^MATE AND VEGETATION".
453
CHAPTEE VII.
CLIMATE AND VEGETATION.
1. General Bcvieio.
The study of the climatology of British America is yet
in its infancy. There are, it is true, a number of records
of the variations of the barometer and thermometer, and
depths of rainfall, at various points, in addition to the
valuable series of meteorological observations taken at
Toronto and Montreal ; but they have hitherto be<3n dis-
co: 3cted, not viewed as contributions to the climatology
of British America at large. One of the happy results
of confederation will undoubtedly be the establishment
of a system by which the corps of observers now scat-
tered, or to be scattered, over all British America, will
receive their instructions from a point within the
Dominion, and transmit their experiences to a central
station, not at Washington but in Canada, so that the
critical examination of them may be made with a view
to Canadian material interests, as well as to the advance-
ment of climatological science.
Until such a system has been in operation for several
years, it is impossible to write with accuracy a treatise
on the climatology of British America. Notliing is more
commonly misconceived than the climate of Canada.
People do not seem to be aware that Canada stretches
farther to the south than France, and that it reaches the
latitude of Rome.
A line touching the most southern part of Canada on
454
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TIJAVEL.
li'
I r
Lake Erie, and carried directly east, M'ould go tlirough
Spain and Portugal, the Mediterranean Sea, Italy at the
point of Rome, the Adriatic, Turkey, and the southern
part of the Black Sea.
Canada in its wide Dominion embraces the climates,
and to some extent the winter colds, of the whole of
Europe, from the extreme north to the south of France.
On a preliminary examination of the field, Newfound-
land and Nova Scotia, whose skies are more influenced
by their position in respect of the ocean than the land,
naturally divide themselves from the rest of British
America as a separate climatological province, haviug
perhaps as a dependency the southern shores of New
Brunswick. The rest of the country east of the Eocky
Mountains partakes of the peculiar features of the con-
tinent at large, and the following may be mapped out as
its subdivisions most distinctly marked : —
1. The North Shore of the St. Lawrence, from Lab-
rador to Quebec.
2. New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the
South Shore of the St. Lawrence, to Quebec.
3. The Eastern Townships and the territory enclosed
between the Upper St. Lawrence, the Ottawa, Lakes
Huron and Ontario.
4. The Southern Peninsula of the Province of On-
tario, jutting into and sloping towards Lake Erie. Also,
the Peninsula between Lakes Erie and Ontario.
5. The North Shores of Lakes Huron and Superior.
6. The Prairie Comitiy of the great West.
7. Nova Scotia.
The features common to all these regions are the
severity of their winters and the heat of their summers,
as compared with similar latitudes in Europe, and the
rapidity with which summer treads on the heels of
winter, leaving but little spring, in the European accep-
jiV.
^r:;.
I^M
THE CLIMATE.
455
tation of the word. Taking Montreal as a fair medium
for all Canada, the following is found to be the mean
temperature of the several months, compared with
London and Paris : —
Jan.
St. Martin's (Montreal) lat.
45-32 N.
Paris (France) lat. 48-50 N.
London (England) lat.
51-29 N.
o
14'5
35
35
Feb.
15-4
39-5
37-4
Mar.
o
25-1
44-0
44-6
April.
39°4
49-7
46-4
May.
o
55-7
58-1
64-1
June.
65°2
62-7
58-5
July.
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
Year.
o
o
o
o
o
o
O
St. Martin's (Mon-
72-3
67-5
58-7
45-0
32-2
17-4
42-4
treal) lat. 45-32 N.
Paris (France) lat.
65-6
65-3
60-1
52-2
44-1
38-5
51-3
40-50N.
London (England)
59-6
62-7
58-0
47-4
42-9
40-4
49-0
lat. 51 -29 N.
Tluis, while October, November, December, January,
February, March, and April, are colder than in either
London or Paris, and September colder than in Paris,
May, June, July, and August are warmer than in either,
and September warmer than in London.
The results of this difference are plainly marked in
the differing vegetation of Europe and Canada. Tlie
orange, the olive, the fig-tree — all cultivated in districts
of Europe where the mean temperature is less than that
of Canada — perish under the influence of Canadian frosts;
while on the other hand the high summer curve of tem-
perature enables Canada to produce abundantly many
semi-tropical fruits and vegetables to which Northern
Europe is a stranger.
The agricultural capabilities of the North-East and
North- West Territories of the Dominion, divided into six
sections, may be briefly sunnnarised as follows : —
,i
1. - '
'i \
it
'. A'
'l
i
r
'
456
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
1. The East main section has but little fertile land,
and the climate is very severe.
2. The South Hudson Bay section, or that adjoining
the souti end of James Bay, has much good land, and is
well adapted for the coarser grains as well as for roots
and grasses.
3. The West and North Hudson Bay section from
60° north to the Arctic Ocean, is for the most part
barren, and unsuited for anything but mining, fur trade,
and fisheries.
4. The Mackenzie River country is much superior to
section 3, to the east of it, in climate, and is well adapted
for agriculture almost up to the Arctic Ocean.
5. The I'elly Eiver section is the Switzerland of the
Dominion, with considerable tracts in the valleys of fiue
farming land, and with a climate in the southern part
much tempered by the Pacific winds.
6. The Red River, Saskatchewan, and Peace River
country, south of the 60th parallel, is the great fertile
prairie section in which nine-tenths of the land is fit for
cultivation.
It here becomes desirable to treat separately of the
various districts above enumerated.
1. The North Shore of the St. Laiurence. — The cold of
Labrador is so excessive as to be a bar to settlement.
The temperatures of Rigoulette, in lat. 54° 10' ; Nain, 56°
30'; Hebron, 58°, have been observed. They differ but
little, and give the following results as the means of the
various months : —
Jan.
Feb.
March.
April.
May.
June.
Labrador
-4"
-r
8°
24°
.3.')°
40"
July.
Aug.
Sept.
Out.
Nov.
JJcc.
Year.
Lalirador
48°
f.r
42°
31°
22°
6°
THE SHORES OF THE ST. LAWRENCE.
457
jold of
iiuent.
Fer but
of the
June. I
42°
year.
The extreme of cold is, however, not so terrible as one
might expect — the lowest recorded temperature being
only —28°, and that was on 24th January 1859, on the
9th of which month Montreal suffered from — 43°.
The Strait of Belle Isle once reached, however, the
climate sensibly improves. Observations are rare, but
the practical result of experience is th.at no part of the
coast, from Belle Isle to Quebec, is uninhabitable from
.severity of climate. Wherever the soil permits, it can
produce potatoes and turnips, tlie hardier garden vege-
tables, barley, oats, and hay ; also, in great al)undance,
strawberries, raspberries, and currants ; so that wherever
tlie fisheries or the mineral resources of the di.strict render
it desirable that men should dwell, they can raise sufh-
cieiit fresh vegetable food to maintain themselves in
health. Their wheat, flour, and Indian meal — probably
al.so most of their beef and pork — must always be im-
ported ; but this is the case, to a great extent, even in
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. As we ascend the St.
Lawrence towards Quebec, a gradual and regular improve-
ment manifests itself, and up the Saguenay liiver, around
Lake St. John, there is a small tract which enjoys as high
a summer temperature as Quebec, and where wheat and
Indian corn will grow. This is, however, due to local
peculiarities, and the line dividing this province from the
next is pretty sharply drawn at Cap Tourmente, a few
miles below Quebec.
2. The South Shores of the G-ulf and Estuary of St.
Lawrence. — In this province we enter u])on the region
where the culture of wheat becomes possible. Wheat is
a cereal of very wide climatological range ; Init, as Blodgett
observes, it is singularly affected by slight diflerences of
heat and humidity. Thus, in England, whenever the
mean of July and August is below G0°, the crop is defi-
cient. In North America it seems to require for ac least
i i|:
II
(
hi
!(
58
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
two months a mean of 65°. This temperature is not
attained on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, where,
moreover, the humidity of the atmosphere is too great for
its successful cultivation. It is, however, reached almost
throughout the interior of New Brunswick.
In Prince JEdward Island wheat is as yet a failure;
and it is not extensively cultivated near the north shore
of New Brunswick. It seems, however, that these dis-
tricts present a great analogy to Scotland in that particular.
As was ably shown by the Duke of Argyle, in a paper
read before the Statistical Society of London, the cultiva-
tion of wheat in Scotland was at one time uncertain in
the best of years, and from the frequent failure of the
crops famines were of constant recurrence. But when
by drainage the temperature of the soil was increased, it
became possible to sow wheat to an elevation on the
mountain sides where only oats would grow before ; and
it is now a certain crop, and superior in quality. So it
will be on the Gulf shore. The moisture of the air may
perhaps prevent its growth in certain districts close by
the sea, but when more capital and greater skill begin to
be applied to the proper cultivation of the soil, wheat will
apj)arently be a profitable crop throughout the region.
This feature is, moreover, remarkable as regards wheat, that
its quality, and the yield per acre, increase as it reaches its
northern limit, in consequence of which the wheat of Gaspe
has been successful at many an exhibition — an encouraging
fact for the farmers of New Brunswick and Queljec.
3. The Eastern Toimiships and the Territory of the
Ottawa and the TJirper St. Lawrence Valley. — This exten-
sive province is distinguished from the last as that in
which the profitable cultivation of Indian corn becomes
j)ossible. The limiting condition for this staple seems to
be a mean temperature of 67° for July, which is reached
throughout this district.
,l[
THE EASTERN TOWNSHIPS.
459
In every part of this province, too, the hardier kinds
of the grape vine, which is nearly coincident in range
with Indian corn, ripen their delicious fruit. Here, too,
the melon and tomato come to maturity, and the apple
can be cultivated. This district is at present by far the
most populous of the whole country. It contains the
largest cities and the greatest amount of realised wealth.
It is therefore desirable to look closely into the produc-
tions which its climate allows to be its staple.
The greater part of the Dominion is peculiarly favoured
as respects climatological adaptation to the growth of
wheat, but this part of it is that on which we chiefly
rely for our supplies of this important cereal. Tlie
Eichelieu district derived its name from its rich yield of
a!,Ticultural produce, chief of which in former times was
wlieat, and the white wheat of Ontario is now famous.
When the insect pests, wdiich have for many years past
injured the crops, have disappeared, Canada can boast of
at least ten bushels to the acre more than any soil in the
States which do not actually touch its boundaries, for the
valleys of the Mississippi up to Central Iowa, and of the
Ohio up to Cincinnati, are too humid and tropical for
wheat ; so is the southern part of Virginia, while even in
Central Illinois and Southern Maryland quality and quan-
tity both suffer.
The barley of this district is the best on the continent
of America. It ri])ens here later in the year than in the
more southern United States, on which account its grain is
more plump and less liable to stain. Barley is essentially
a northern cereal, and as long as the climate is cohler than
in the States, Canadian barley will be of better quality.
Oats, too, love the north. They yield more bushels
to the acre in Canada than they do farther south, and
probably weigh more per bushel.
Lorin Blodgett, the great authority on the climatology
''t
vr ^:
:
%
460
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
t I-
I I
of North America, says that maize yields most abundantly
near its northern limit. It can hardly be said to be a
staple in any part of Canada, but if this statement be
correct it may become so.
One other matter deserves especial mention. We do
not believe there is a single spot in any of the settled
parts of Canada where the cultivated grasses will not
thrive. Blodgett says that " on the sandy plains of New
Jersey and in some parts of New England the English
grasses fail, though the cause is not climatological. But
on the prairies of some of the States east of the Mississippi
the climate assists to limit them, through light summer
temperature and long periods of drought. West of the
Mississippi the climate is still less favourable, and as the
soil has less of the retentive character in receding from
the Mississippi, the favourite cultivated turf almost wholly
fails." The truth appears to be that the extreme summer
heat of the Middle States kills it ; the winter cold of New
England and many of the Western States, unaccompanied
by snow, destroys it. The less torrid summers in Canada
favour it, and by a covering of snow in winter its roots
are preserved and invigorated. Hence, probably, the
superior excellence of Canadian sheep both in Hesh aud
fleece.
4. TJie extreme South-ioest of the Province of Ontario.
— This is the tract most favoured by climate of any in
Canada : the southern section of the peninsula of Ontario
inclining towards Lake Erie, including also the regions
between Lakes Erie and Ontario, and Lakes Erie and St.
Clair. It is distinguished from the rest by its adaptability
to the growth of many kinds of fruit, shrubs, and flowers
which will not come to perfection in the rest of the
Dominion. Here the peach ripens, as a standard, in the
oDen air. The finer kinds of grape grow well ; the vines
needing little, if any, protection from winter frosts, hi-
i I'
il 1
I
THE CLIMATE OF ONTARIO.
4G1
deed, the district close to the Niaf^ara Piiver, that near the
Detroit River, together with the islands in Lake Erie, are
better adapted for the cultivation of the grape than any
of the more southern parts of Ohio or New York. Tlie
tuhp tree blossoms, the catalpa is not cut down by frost,
the chestnut bears ; the finest kind of pears and apples
can be cultivated.
The mean temperature of the months in this district
is hardly established by a sufficiently long series of obser-
vations, but it is about as follows : —
Jun.
Feb.
Maroh.
April.
May.
SG-O
June.
Windsor, Ontario
o
27-0
26-6
o
35-4
o
4G-3
65°6
July.
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
Year.
"Windsor, Ontario...
o
69-7
67°5
60°0
o
47-7
38°2
26°9
o
47-8
5. The North Shores of Lahcs Huron and Superior. —
Little is yet known concerning these. In some parts,
immediately on the shore, oats and barley grow well. To
the northward, at the dividing ridge between waters flow-
ing into the lakes and into the Hudson Bay, it is diffi-
cult to raise even potatoes. The capabilities of the inter-
vening country are probably governed by local peculiarities
— the configuration of the hills, the aspect of the slopes,
the cliaracter of the soil.
We give the monthly temperature of Fort William,
Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, etc. etc. : —
Jan,
Feb.
March.
April.
May.
June.
Thunder Bay
O
5-:
o
8-2
o
22-7
o
31-4
o
48-9
58°-7
July.
Aug.
8opt.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
Year.
Thunder Bay
62°2
58°8
o
48-'^
o
41-9
o
23-4
o
18-1
o
35-7
I II
'
i
i i
m
m
1
I
1
k
1
4G2
COMPENDIUM OF GKOGllAI'IIY AND TRAVEL.
G. .77/ c Prairie Country of the West. — Here the isntlipr-
mal of tlie summer months rises rapidly. Fort Garry and
tlie Saskatchewan have the same mean summer tempera-
ture as the most favoured parts of the St. Lawrence Valley
— as Central l*ennsylvania and Soutliern New luiyland.
The winter isotherm is that of (.^uehec. The natural vcjfe-
tation is luxuriant, so travellers all aj^ree. The fanners
of the Red liiver Settlement produce tine crops of wliciit
and corn and hay. The soil is evidently rich, certainly in
the basins of the Tied liiver, tlio Assiiuboine and the
Saskatchewan, and there appears no reason why these
regions should not very shortly become highly attractive
to agricultural S(!ttlement.
7. Nova Scotia. — The general featun^s of the climate
of Nova Scotia are easily to be learned from the folhjwiiii,'
table of mean temperatures of the months at Halifax, taken
from a paper read before the Nova Scotia Institute of
Physical Sciences, by Colonel Byers. Observations taken
at Wolfville, in the interior of the country, and kindly
forwarded by Professor I). F. Higgins, show a temperature
a couple of degrees lower for the winter months, but
higher in summer : —
,Ian.
Feb.
March.
April.
May.
June.
Halifax
o
25-0
22-2
o
24-3
24-1
29°0
29-4
38°0
40-3
48-0
51-6
56°3
61-9
WoltVillo
July.
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dpc.
Year.
43-3
44'6.
Halifax
o
62-3
67-5
o
63-7
65-5
o
58-3
o
47-0
49-2
39°3
39-3
o
25-7
26-7
Wolfville
The agricultural productions of Nova Scotia are
limited. Wheat will not grow near the coast and corn
will not ripen, so that the people are obliged to import
almost all their farinaceous food. There is, however, one
Ai.
THE CLIMATE OF THE NOUTII-WEST TEUUITOUIES. 403
part o( tlio ]»r(»vin('e which is exeei>tioimlly favoured, viz.
tlio l)iiy ot" Fiiiuly Khoro. Th(i winds si'cm to sweep into
this hiiy, as into a fiuuiel, i'roni tlie niiM waters of the
(lidf Stream, and make of a couple of counties of Nova
Scotia a fianUui where the plum, the pear, the best of
iijiples, and many other such products, come to perfection,
ill! the more astonishing' from the contrast which the At-
lantic and tlie Ciulf coasts of the same province oiler.
2. Climate of North-Wcst Territories and British Columhia.
rroeeedinjj; west of the f^reat lakes the isothermal
lino runs north-west ; and west of the llocky i\lountains,
on the Pacific face of the continent, the clinuite of Canada
is not unlike that of Great Britain. Vancouver Island
jivesents many analogies. And, in fact, the western face
of the continent, to a point below the latitude of San
Francisco, bears many resemblances to the climate of
AVest^rn Europe. This is due to the fact that the tropi-
cal currents of the Pacific Ocean, and also the tropical
winds, strike the western coast of America and ])ro-
duce modifying climatic influences which give warmth
and moisture just in the same way that the polar current
on the opposite coast produces refrigeration. The Pacific
currents and prevailing westerly winds carry this warmth
and moisture through the comparatively low passes of the
llocky ^Mountains into Piritish territory, and redeem a
large portion of th ontinent from the conditions of
desert area so common in North America below the 50 th
degree of latitude until the tropical rains from the Gulf
of Mexico are met.
In other words, we have in Canada climates and pro-
ductions similar to those of the Xorth-West and Central
Europe — that is, of Eussia, Norway, the British Islands,
l^enmark, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, Switzer-
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464
COMPENDIUiM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
land and Northern Italy; and on the continent of
America, the territory occupied by the Dominion of
Canada is exactly analogous to that occupied by these
countries on the continent of Europe.
The following notes by Professor Macoun on the
climate of Manitoba and the North- West Territories are
interesting : —
" The region included in the following observations
lies between the boundary (latitude 49°) and latitude 60"
north, these parallels forming the southern and northern
boundaries of the territory, while it extends from the
95th meridian to the Eocky Mountains, following their
north-western trend to latitude 60° north.
" For many years this vast extent of territory lay as
a blank on the maps, almost unknown to Englishmen or
Canadians, and counted valueless except as a fur-bearing
country; yet, as long ago as 1812, Lord Selkirk said
that the valley of the Red Eiver alone would maintain
a population of over 20,000,000. The people of the
United States were always alive to its value, but, like
true patriots, extolled their own country in preference to
the land of the stranger. Over twenty years ago, their
writers called attention to it, and Wheelock spoke glow-
ingly of it in his work on Minnesota. Seven years since
I had the good fortune to spend a number of months in
the territory, and travelled over its whole extent from
east to west, and, being impressed with its importance as
a field for immigration, I have since then taken every
opportunity to make myself acquainted with its climate
and capabilities. In the following pages will be found
my conclusions and the facts upon which they are based.
"Geologists have been aware for a length of time
that high arid plains, about 40° north, always ameliorate
the climate of countries north of them ; and Blodgett, in
his work on the Climatology of the United States, sajs
THE CLIMATE OF THE NORTH-WEST.
465
of
of
liese
the
s are
lay as
men or
•bearing
rk said
naintain
of the
lut, li^e
[rence to
'0, theiv
tliat high and arid plains are decisive of a high degree of
summer heat, with an arid atmosphere and little rain or
snow. Within the United States there are at least
500,000 square miles of arid country, almost constantly
receiving enormous quantities of heat by day and giving
it off at night by radiation. The general level of tliis
plateau is fully 6000 feet. At Laramie City it is about
7000 feet above the sea, but from this point it rapidly
falls off to the north, so that when it reaches the boundary
(lat. 49°) at Pembina it is considerably less than 1000
feet in altitude, and at the base of the Eocky Mountains
under 4000 feet. As the plain descends to the north
the rainfall increases, the ' cactus ' and ' sage-brush ' give
place to bunch-grass, and this, north of the line, soon
passes into sward, quickly followed as we proceed north-
ward by copse-wood, which, north of the Saskatchewan,
is replaced by an aspen forest, and this on the watershed
into one of spruce. No appreciable alteration in tempera-
ture takes place, but only an increase of moisture, as we
pass to the north, and with this increase of humidity a
more equable temperature is noticed. Less radiation
takes place as we leave the high treeless plains, and,
consequently, the variation of temperature is less strongly
marked between day and night.
"A careful examination of Blodgett's and Dove's charts
shows that the isothermals curve upward from the Gulf
of Mexico, and reach their northern bend, in the United
States, on the 110th meridian. In lat. 50° the mean
summer temperature is placed at 70°, while at Winnipeg,
600 miles to the east, it is 65°. Following these lines
fl° farther north, we find that the isothermal of gi-eatest
heat passes Fort Vermilion, lat. 58.24, on the IVace
Kiver and Edmonton on the Saskatchewan, Ijoth of these
points being noted for their productions. On the PaciHc
side the isothermals connnence to curve north from the
2 H
i
I at '
(I
JlL
466
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
head of the Gulf of California, reaching our boundary at
the 115th meridian, having actually crossed tlie Iiocky
Mountains before reaching this point, thus luoducing
those warm dry winds of the south-west, wliich are known
in Montana and north of the boundary as ' Chinook
"Winds.' These winds are noticed more particularly ij,
winter, and often raise the temperature over G0° in the
course of an hour or two. They are noted for being both
warm and dry, as they evaporate the snow as fast as they
melt it. Their effects are not nmch felt north of lat.
52°, and how far east they extend is not known.
" Here, then, we have two currents of warm air flow-
ing constantly into our territory, the one from the Gulf
of Mexico, the other from the Gulf of California, and
unitedly giving us heat and moisture which they have
carried over the ' Great American Desert ' to leave on the
lower plain to the north. Owing to tlie height and
aridity of the ' Desert ' much heat is absorbed dining the
day, but it is constantly sent into the atmosphere at
night, causing the air above the plain to l)e just as warm
at night as during the day. Fort Laramie, in "Wyoming
Territory, is in the same latitude as Boston, and yet,
strange to say, the former, although 7000 feet above the
sea, has a summer temperature as high as the latter. A
very little reflection will show that, were the ' Desert ' an
inland sea, the winters of our interior would l)e like those
of Eastern Europe, and we would have a cooler summer
and a warmer winter. In an article like the present it
would be out of place to discuss the climate of Eastern
Europe, but the forces whicli enal>le tlie IJus-^iau to build
his capital almost on the GOth ])arallel are ])reeisely the
same as those which send the warm air of the gulfs to
ameliorate the climate of our own North-"West, and cause
wheat and other cereals to be produced, in the highest
perfection, as far north as this same parallel.
Jti
THE CLIMATE OF THE NORTH-WEST.
467
"After temperature, the most important factor is
humidity, and here again we liave a remarkable example
of a well-known natural law. As stated above, the -' inds
are constantly drifting northward, and in winter, owing
to their passage across the ' American Desert,' which is
now very cold, they lose most of their moisture, and pass
over our prairie as dry winds. In summer the very
reverse of this takes place — the dry, hot plains prevent
deposition, and hence the winds come loaded with
moisture, and give the summer rains which cause such
astonishing growth in June and July. In most cases,
tliis dryness of the atmosphere is injurious to growing
crops, but, owing to the situation of the plains, in our case
it is a positive good, the rains coming just when wanted,
and ceasing when of no further use to the growing crop.
The following data, taken from the JMeteorological Report
of 1876, illustrate this.
Winter. Spring. Bummer. Autumn.
Quarterly rainfall atWinnipcg . .00- 5 69 10-52 0-04
Toronto
Snowfall, in inches, at Winnipeg
,, Toronto
5'51 6-63
574
318
Ist half
2nd half
of year.
of ye-ar.
28'6
297
677
457
It will be seen by the above table that the rainfall at
"Winnipeg in summer and spring is nearly equal to that
of Toronto for winter, spring, and summer; and where
Toronto has over three inches in autumn, Winnipeg has
scarcely any. The absence of autumn rains in the west
is a priceless boon, as it enables the farmer to thresh and
harvest his grain without injury, and, besides, gives him
excellent roads when he needs them most.
" The progress of the seasons cand the labours of the
Inisbandman, throughout the North-West, mav be summed
up as follows : — Early in April the hot sun dissipates the
slight covering of snow, and almost immediately plough-
468
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGUAPHY AND TRAVEL.
ing commences, as, after the frost is out six inches, spring
work may begin. Seeding and ploughing go on together,
as the ground is quite dry, and in a few days the seed
germinates, owing to the hot sunshine. By the time the
rains and heat of June have come, abundance of roots
have formed, and the crop rushes to quick maturity.
" After the middle of August the rains almost cease,
and for ten weeks scarcely a shower of rain falls, givini;
the farmer ample time for harvesting. These geneial
characteristics apply to the climate of the whole North -
West, and the same results are everywhere observed over
tracts embracing 300,000 square miles of temtory. One
important result of this peculiar climate is the hardness
and increased weight of the grain. Another, equally
important, is the production of natural hay, on which
horses and cattle thrive much better than when fed ou
made hay. All stock-raisers know that it is not cold
that injures cattle or horses, but those storms of sleet or
soft snow which are so common in Ontario and the
Eastern Provinces. Such storms as those are never seen
in the North- West, and the cattle are never wet from
November to April.
" Many intelligent persons are afraid of the winters
of the North-West, because they estimate the effect of
the cold by the thermometer instead of by the humidity
of the atmosphere. J. A. Wheelock, Commissioner of
Statistics for Minnesota, wrote as follows concerning the
atmosphere of that State, over twenty years ago : — ' Tlie
dryness of the air in Minnesota permits a lower range of
temperature without frosts than in moist climates. The
thermometer has frequently been noticed at twenty de-
grees without material injury to vegetation. In the dani]!
summer evenings of Illinois and Ohio, for example, the
heat passes off rapidly from the surface of the earth ami
from plants. Frosts develop under such circumstances
THE CLIMATE OF THE NORTH-WEST.
469
ipring
;ether,
( seed
lie tlie
' roots
f-
) cease,
general
Nortli-
'ed over
f. One
hardness
equally
n wliicli
1 fed ou
not cold
[ sleet ov
and the
ever seen
Iwet from
Le winters
effect of
humidity
5sioner of
Irning the
ir range of
Ites. The
[wenty de-
the damp
iniple, the
earth aiul
lumstauees
at a comparatively high temperature. The constant bath
of moisture lias softened the delicate covering and en-
feebled the vitality of plants ; and thus a fall of the
tliermometer, which in Minnesota would he as harmless
as a summer dew, in Ohio would sweep the fields like a
tire.'
" Wiiat "Wheelock says of Minnesota is equally true
of the North-West Territories, and more so, as they are
certainly drier than it. Dry air is a non-conductor of
heat, and as the dryness increases with the lowering
temperature, the increasing cold is not felt by either
animals or plants, and we find a solution to the paradox,
that, although water may freeze, vegetation is not injured
except when a humid atmosphere is in immediate contact
with it. The increase of dryness in the air has the same
effect as an increase of warm clothing for man and beast,
and we suffered less from a temperature of 10 degrees
below zero, lying in tents, without fire, than we would
have done in Ontario with 1 degrees of frost. Without
tlie aid of a thermometer no one would believe the cold
was so intense.
" There is then in this region a dry clear cold winter,
a dry spring with bright sunshine, a warm summer with
abundance of rain, but not necessarily a cloudy sky, and
a dry serene autumn, with possibly a snowstorm about
the Equinox.
" A country of almost boundless extent, with a climate
like this and a soil of astounding fertility, may well be
described in the words of Lord Beaconsfield as a land of
'ilHmitable possibilities.'"
The climate of the valley of the Mackenzie Eiver is
much milder than that of the section east of Lake Win-
nipeg in the same latitude, from which it differs in many
lespects that render it more valuable. Instead of being
a rocky and for the most part infertile gneiss and granite
If t
I
I';
470
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TPvAVEL.
:''
ii
II:
formation, it is an alluvial plain, underlaid by palaeozoic
strata, chiefly limestone, and is more or less wooded
throughout, almost to the shore of the Arctic Ocean. In
the southern half of it barley and garden vegetables can
be raised, and it abounds in workable beds of lignite
coal. Its rich alluvial soil and superiority in climate,
due in part perhaps to the prevalence of limestone,
is such as to admit of the growth of trees as far
north as the mouth of the river. Though in this
region generally stunted and of the hardiest kind (wliite
spruce), they sometimes attain a useful size in sheltered
positions. Even at the north-eastern extremity of this
section, in a sheltered grove at the mouth of the
Coppermine River, one is noticed as being 37 inches in
girth, 20 feet without taper, and 50 feet in height; but
such trees are there exceedingly rare. The character of
the surface already described would have made it a good
agricultural country had its climate permitted. Such as
it is, though its southern boundary is the limit of profit-
able wheat cultivation, Colonel Lefrov and Sir John
Richardson say that at 50 miles farther north, with a
mean temperature in summer of 59^° Fahrenheit, barley
grows well ; and the latter says that at Fort Norman,
340 miles north of latitude 60°, potatoes are raised, and
in good seasons barley ripens well, and that latitude 65°
may be considered in this region the northern limit of
the growth of barley. He adds that at Fort Good
Hope, 150 miles north of Fort Norman — that is, close
to the arctic circle — turnips attain the weight of two or
three pounds in favourable seasons, but barley has failed
there when tried. If therefore a line be drawn between
60° and 65° north latitude, there is to the south of it, in
this valley, an area of 120,000 square miles, which, with
the necessary allowance for waste land and portioiis un-
favourable through elevation or aspect, admits of the
THE CLIMATE OF BRITISH COLUMDIA.
471
Eozoic
ruoded
I. In
3S can
lignite
limate,
icstone,
as far
u this
(white
;ieltered
of this
of the
nches in
fht ; hut
racter of
b a good
growth of harley «as well as vegetables, and that would
admit of the growth of rye on its northern limit.
The following notes hy Dr. G. M. Dawson, which we
give in an abridged form, respecting the climate and
vegetation of British Columbia and the Peace Iliver
country, are taken from the IJeport of the Geological
Survey for 1879-80: —
" The climate of the coast of the northern p.irt of
British Columbia, while not subject to gi'eat extremes of
temperature, is excessively humid, with much rain at all
seasons of the year and occasional heavy falls of snow in
winter. Neither Esquimalt nor New Westminster, which
are the only regular meteorological stations maintained
near the coast of the Province, give any criterion by
which to arrive at a knowledge of tlie climatic conditions
of other districts ; for both these places — but especially
Esquimalt — are sheltered from the excessive precipitation
wliich occurs where the moisture -bearing winds first
strike the high coast-line. Observations maintained by
myself while engaged in a geological examination of the
Queen Charlotte Islands, during the summer of 1878
(published as an Appendix to the Iieport of Progress of
the Geological Survey, 1878-9), fairly represent the
dimate of that region during a few months. Observa-
tions kept up during many years at Sitka, two and a
half degrees north of Fort Simpson, and considerably
farther west, doubtless represent a climate considerably
worse than that of the northern part of the coast of
British Columbia. It may, however, be useful to extract
from these the following facts. The latitude of Sitka is
57° 3', or about one degree north of Glasgow (Scotland).
Temperature observations extend over a period of 45
years with little interruption. * The mean temperature of
spring is 41*2°; for summer, 54-6°; for autumn, 44*9°;
for winter, 32-5°; and for the entire year, 433°, F.
1 I
f*
H
I
!
472
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGUAl'IIY AND TRAVEL.
The extremes of temperature for 45 years are 8 7 "8°
and — 4"0°. However, the mercury has fallen below
zero of Fahrenheit in only four years out of the 45,
and has risen above 80° during' but seven years of that
l)eriod. The coldest month is January, the warmest
August ; Juno is slightly warmer than September.' The
mean of the minima for seven years of the above period
is 38'6°, and of the maxima for seven years, 4 8 '9°, show-
ing a remarkably equable climate. Tlie average annual
amount of rain, melted snow, and hail, from 1847 to
1864 (with the exception of the year 1855), was 82*60
inches, or within a fraction of 7 feet ; and the avera«ro
annual number of days on which rain, snow, or hail fell,
or heavy fogs prevailed, was 245, or two days out of
three, while it does not follow that the other days have a
clear sky. Tables by Liitke, from observations in 1828
and 1829, show that on an average each year there were
170 days calm, 132 days moderate winds, and 63 days
with strong winds.
" The excessive rainfoll, considered in conjunction with
the fact that the sky throughout the year is essentially
clo\idy, preventing rajjid evaporation and keeping the dew-
point near the actual temperature of the air, accounts for
the peculiar character of the vegetation, and the fact that
ordinary cereals cannot be grown in the districts exposed
to these conditions. At Fort Simpson, on the west coast
of the Queen Charlotte Islands, and elsewhere, many of
the hills are but partially covered with forest, the re-
mainder of the surface being occupied by sphagnous
moss several feet in depth, and saturated with water
even on steep slopes. The low north-eastern part of the
Queen Charlotte Islands is in great measure sheltered
from the rain-bearing winds, and constitutes, in fact, the
only extensive area of land which appears to be suitable
for agriculture on the northern part of the coast. Mr.
r^i
THE CLIMATE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
473
87-8°
below
e 45,
t' that
ivmest
The
period
, show-
annual
U7 to
82-66
avevaj^o
ail fell,
out of
J have a
11 1828
ere were
63 clays
Aon with
sentially
the ilew-
Uints for
|faet that
exposed
|est coast
many of
I, the re-
^diagnous
di water
■t of the
d\eltered
fact, the
suitable
Lst. Mr-
Puncan, of Metla-Katla, who kept a metcorolofTJcal
rejiister for some time after his first arrival in the country,
estimated that tliere were on an avora^'o about seven tine
days in a month in that place. The behaviour of tlie
winds and barometer in both Vancouver and the Queen
Charlotte Islands appear to indicate that the centres (d'
most storms, travelling from west to east, pass to the
northward of the coast of British Columbia, This being
so, it is probable that the force of the gales is somewdiat
jfreater on the northern part of the coast of the province
than on the southern.
" The cause of the exceptional mildness of the climate
of this region is to be found not alone in the fui^t of the
proximity of the sea, but in the al)normal warmth of tlie
water, due to the Kuro-Siwo or Japanese Current.
"Many of the islands lying oil' the northern coast of
lUitish Columbia, and forming the great archipelago wdnch
frhiges it, are low; but, though covered with luxuriant
forest, possess very little soil, and are in many cases
composed of almost solid rock. About Metla-Katla and
Fort Simpson snuill patches of ground are cultivated by
the Indiarjs as potato gardens, and good crops secured ;
V>ut the total area of arable land existing on this part of
the coast, with the exception of the portion of the Queen
Charlotte Islands before referred to, is so inconsiderable
as to be scarcely worth mention.
" The coast about Fort Simpson and the mouth of the
Skeena is very imperfectly sheltered from the rain-bear-
iiifj winds by the Queen Charlotte Islands ; while the
islands of the coast archipelago, being for the most part
of moderate elevation in this region, abstract little moist-
ure. Where these winds first impinge on tlie moun-
tainous mainland the heaviest precipitation occurs, in
exact correspondence with the height to which the moist
air is forced up into the higher regions of the atmosphere.
T'
I i
I 'f
474
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
and cooled there by its expansion and loss of heat by
radiation. As the mountains attain a consideraljlc;
elevation at the coast, and the increase in elevation of
the peaks towards the axis of the range is comparatively
gradual, the heavy rainfall of the coast is not found
to be maintained in travelling eastward by the Skeena
Itiver. At 45 or 50 miles above Port Essington, evidence
of decreasing moisture is found, and is still more clearly
apparent when Kitsalas Canon, about half-way from
Tort Essington to the forks of Skeena, is reached. The
devil's club and skunk cabbage {Echinopanax horrida and
Lysichiton Kamtschat sense), luxuriant in the lower reaches
of the river and indicative of a humid climate, no longer
abound.
"At Quatsalix Canon, 95 miles from the coast,
the highest summit of the coast range having been
passed, the vegetation characteristic of the northern
interior of British Columbia may be said to set in ; the
western scrub pine and aspen (Firms contorta and Popuhis
tremuloidcs) growing abundantly on the flats and slopes.
The change is so gradual, however, and the blending of
the coast and interior floras on the Skeena so complete,
that it is difficult to assign the precise position of the
line.
" With regard to the snowfall on the Skeena, ]\Ir. H.
J. Cambie, during his survey here in 1877, gathered that
from Port Essington to near the mouth of the Lakelse
(56 miles), it was exceedingly heavy, reaching a depth of
1 feet or more. From this place to Kitsalas Canon it
reaches, at least occasionally, a depth of 6 feet ; while
about Kitwungah (16 miles below the forks) it aver-
ages 3 feet. So far as information can be obtained from
the Indians, it appears to confirm these estimates.
" The Skeena usually opens during the last week in
April or first week of May. Ice begins to run in the
w
THE CLIMATE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.
( O
lat by
evable
ion of
itively
found
Skeeua
adence
clearly
y tVoin
[. The
ida and
reaches
D longer
e coast,
ng been
northern
, in ; the
Popuhs
slopes,
ndiug of
omplete,
of the
I Mr. H.
Ired that
Lakelse
[depth of
^Janon it
while
jit aver-
led from
[week in
in the
river early in November, but the river does not generally
freeze till the end of December. The river being very
rapid, the occa.sion of its freezing is usually tlie occurrence
of a thaw. This sets free great quantities of anclior ice,
sometimes very suddenly, blocking the river and ca\ising
it to freeze over. In 18G7 the river closed on tlie l.'Uh
of November, which was exceptionally early. The river
is generally higliest in July, deriving most of its water
from the melting snow on the mountains. It is lowest
immediately after the ice goes.
" Of the Watsoukua Iliver, whicli joins the Skeena
from the soutb-eastward at the forks, Mr. C'nmbie reports
that the valley tbrougbout its entire length is in part
prairie and sustains a magnificent growth of grass, but is
subject to frequent summer frosts antl unsuited to agri-
culture. The Sus-kwa Valley, which joins the Watson-
kua, and up which the trail from tlie forks towards
Babine Lake runs, contains no agricultural land worth
mention, but its northern side has been in many places
very completely burnt over, and is covered with exceed-
ingly luxuriant grass and pea-vine, forming an excellent
summer range for cattle or liorses.
" Babine and Stuart Lakes occupy portions of a
single great valley, which is bounded by mountainous
country on either side, and communicates northward
with the flat country of the Lower Nechacco. The
upper end of the lake rarely freezes completely across,
but this is due, not to the mildness of the winter, but to
the great depth of the water. A terrace at a height of
about 200 feet is specially prominent round the lake,
and after reaching this height the land frequently runs
back several miles as a level or gently-undulating plain.
In other places it slopes gradually up, reaching an eleva-
tion of 500, 600, or 800 feet above the lake, at from
two to five miles from it. The valley is not even then
'it
4VG
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRArHY AND TRAVEL.
\li
11 m.
;ii
I
h!J:
hi
iJii.
I
shut in by high mountains in its central part, but appears
to continue at nearly the same or a lower level in some
places for many miles. The woods are generally light,
aspen and poplar frequently preponderating over spruce,
and considerable tracts with a southern exposure, from
which hre has removed the forest, are covered with
luxuriant grass, pea-vine, epilobium, etc. The portage
between Babine and Stuart Lakes is low, across wide-
spreading benches, and from lialf to one-third of the
surface appears fit for cultivation. Considerable areas of
low land also border Stuart Lake.
" The northern or lower extremity of Babine Lake
being more closely hemmed in by snow-clad mountains,
is evidently less favourably situated than the remainder
(if this lake and Stuart Lake, and vegetation was found
to be decidedly behind that of the Sus-kwa Valley. ]\lr.
Sanpeve, who is in charge of two Hudson Bay posts, one
at the north end, the other at the middle of Babine
Lake, states that at the latter he can grow potatoes and
many kinds of vegetables, and that his predecessor grew
barley, which ripened well.
" The portion of the Peace liiver country, for which
the exploration of last season enables pretty accurate
general information to be given, may be considered as
extending eastward from tin middle forks of I'ine liiver.
West of this point, as already stated, the areas of fertile
land are small, being confined to certain river valleys
which penetrate the foot hills of the llocky Mountains
and high plateau attached to them. With this western
limit, the region now to be described may be considered
as bounded to the north bv the 57th i^araliel, to its
intersection eastward with the Peace Ptiver. Thence the
boundary may be assumed to follow the Peace Kiver
southward to the mouth of Heart Brook, near the conflu-
ence of the Smoky Pdver. Thence to run south-eastward
THE PEACE RIVER COUNTRY.
477
to the extremity of Lesser Slave Lake, to follow the
western border of the hilly region lying to the south of
the lake to the Athabasca Eiver; thence to follow the
Athabasca westward to the foot hills, and skirting the
foot hills to run north-westward to the first -mentioned
point on Pine Eiver.^
" The tract included within the limits above given
has an area of about 31,550 square miles, and by far the
larger part of this area may be classed as fertile. Its
average elevation may be stated as little over 2000 feet,
and this is maintained with considerable uniformity ; for
though the general surface slopes slightly from the north
and south toward Peace Piver, the region as a whole may
be considered as a plateau through which the great gorge-
like valley of the Peace has been excavated. This valley
has in general a depth of 600 to 800 feet below that
part of the plateau bordering it, with a width of two to
three miles from rim to rim. Its tributary streams, at
first nearly on the plateau level, flow in valleys of con-
tinually increasing depth as they approach that of the
Peace River. Those from the south-eastern portion of
the region rise either in the Pocky Mountains, or near
the Athabasca, the tributaries received by the latter
stream from the north and north-west being — with the
^ " In addition to the area above defined, my explorations and those of
my assistant, ilr. M'Connell, during the past season, inoUided an examina-
tion of tlie uitper jiart of tlie Atiiabasca to Atlialtasca Landing, of the
north slioro of Lessor Slave Lake and Li's.ser Slave Lake River, of a routi;
from the east end of liOsser Slave Lake to old Fort Assiniltoine, and thenee
to Edmonton, and of the road from Athabasca Landing to Edmonton.
Also of the AthaliMsea from the Landing to the mouth of the Riviere la
liiolie, by the valley of the latter to Lae la r)iohe, and tlienoe to Victoria
and Egg Lake. The country examined on these lines is not included in
ilie present report, as being less homogeneous in cbaractor than the great
vogion above delinetl, it reijuires to be treated at greater length and in
more detail. It may sufllce for the present to state that consiilurable areas
of furtilo land are found throughout, but more particularly in the region
south of the line of the Athabasca River."
fir
I. I
11
478
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
:
I
exception of the Batiste — quite inconsiderable in this
part of its course.
" The ridges and hills by which this region is occa-
sionally diversified appear in all cases to be composed
either of the generally soft rocks of the Cretaceous and
Tertiary or of arenaceous clays containing erratics, and
representing the boulder clays of the Glacial Period.
These elevations are generally slight, and with exceed-
ingly light and gradual slopes, the scarped banks of the
streams constituting much more important irregularities.
These ridges, however, often resemble detached portions
of a higher plateau, and spread widely enough to occupy
in the aggregate a considerable area, of which the soil is
not so uniform in character as elsewhere. "With these
exceptions, the soil of the district may be described as a
fine silt, resembling the white silts of the Nechacco Basin
previously referred to, and not dissimilar from the loess-
like material constituting the subsoil of the Red Biver
Valley in Manitoba. This silt, at a short distance below
the surface, is grayish or brownish in colour, but becomes
mixed superficially with a proportion of vegetable matter
to a varying depth. It has evidently been deposited by
a comparatively tranquil body of water not loaded with
ice, probably toward the close of the Glacial Period, and
has either never '^".en laid down on the ridges and un-
dulations above referred to, or has been since removed
from them by natural processes of waste. As evidenced
by the natural vegetation, its fertility is great.
" "West of the Smoky River, both to the south and
north of Peace River, there are extensive areas of prairie
country, either perfectly open and covered with a more or
less luxuriant growth ot grass, or dotted with patches of
coppice and trees.
" The northern banks of the Peace River Valley are
also very generally open and grassed, and parts of the
i, :»■
|5!
Ml
THE PEACE RIVER COUNTRY.
479
.!l
valley of the Smoky and other rivers have a similar char-
acter. The total area of prairie land west of the Smoky
Piiver may be about 3000 square miles. Tlie remainder
of the surface is <i;enerally occupied by second-growth
forest, occasionally dense, but more often open and com-
posed of aspen, birch, and cottonwood, with a greater or
less proportion of coniferous trees. Some patches of the
original forest, however, remain, particularly in the river
valleys, and are composed of much larger trees, chiefly
coniferous, among which the black spruce is most abun-
dant. Handsome groves of old and large cottonwoods are
also to be found in some of the valleys. Where tlie soil
becomes locally sandy and poor, and more particularly
in some of the more elevated parts of tlie ridges before
described, a thick growth of scrub pine and black spruce,
in which the individual trees are small, is found ; and in
swampy regions the tamarack is not wanting, and grows
generally intermixed with the black spruce.
'• East of the Smoky lliver, and southward towards
the Athabasca, the prairie country is quite insignificant
in extent, the region being characterised by second-
growth woods of tlie character just described, which, on
approaching the Athabasca, are replaced by extensive and
wuUnigh im[)assable tracts of brdld and wind-fall, in which
second-growth forest is only beginning to struggle up.
"Tliough the prairies are most immediately available,
from an agricultural point of view, the regions now
covered with second-growth and forest, where the soil
itself is not inferior, will eventually be equally valuable.
The largest tract of poor land is that bcjrdering the valley
of the Athabasca on the north. This rises to an eleva-
tion coiisideral)ly greater than most of the region to tlie
north and west, and appears, during the submergence to
\vhicli the sujjerficial deposits are due, to have been
exposed to stronger currents, which have prevented the
f|
1 i'
r^f
ill
480
CO-NirENDlUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
f .,
'.
I lit
it
deposition of the fine silt, causing it to be replaced by a
coarser silt, which passes in places with actual sand, and
alternates with ridges of boulder clay. This region is also
often very swampy, and for a width of twenty to twenty-
five miles on the trail from Sturgeon Lake to the Atlia-
basca is quite unsuited to agriculture, though still in
many places capable of yielding good summer grazing
when the forest has been completely removed by fire.
To the northward, more particidarly to the east of Smoky
River, peaty and mossy swamps occupy part of the
surface, and these may be regarded as permanently un-
suited to agriculture.
" There is also a sandy track, tliough of small width,
along the lower part of the Elk Kivor near its junction
with the Smoky. Deducting, as far as possible, all the
areas known to be inferior or useless, with about twenty
per cent for the portions of the region under considera-
tion of which less is known, the total area of land, with
soil suited to agriculture, may be estimated as at least
23,500 square miles. In the absence of complete maps,
such an estimate cannot be otherwise than very rough,
but may serve to give some idea of the fact.
" Whatever theory be adopted, and may have been
advanced, to account for the wide prairies of the western
portion of America farther to the south, the origin of
the prairies of the Peace River is sulliciently obvious.
There can be no doubt that they have been produced
and are maintained by fires. The country is naturally a
wooded one, and where fires have not run for a few
years, young trees begin rapidly to spring up. The
fires are, of course, ultimately attributable to human
agency, and it is probable that before the country was
inhabited by tiie Indians it was everywhere densely
forest-clad. That the date of origin of the chief prairie
tracts now found is remote, is clearly evidenced by their
'[ft
III'
IP
in
CLIMATE OF THE PEACE RIVER COUNTRY.
481
present appearance, and more particularly hy the fact
that they are everywhere scored and rutted with old
buffalo tracks, while every suitahle locality is pitted with
the saucer-shaped ' buffalo wallows.' It is reported that
a few buffaloes were seen last year near Pine Itiver, but
the animal has now become in the Peace liiver country
practically extinct — an event which, according to the
Indians, happened at a date not very remote, owing to a
winter of exceptional severity, during which the snow
' reached to the buffaloes' backs,'
" The luxuriance of the natural vegetation in these
prairies is truly wonderful, and indicates, not alone the
fertility of the sod, but the occurrence of a sufficient
rainfall. The service-berry (or amalanchier) and the
choke -cherry are very abundant in some places, par-
ticularly on the so-called Grande Prairie, which con-
stitutes the great berry gathering ground of the Indians.
" With regard to the climate of the Peace liiver
country, we are without such accurate information as
might be obtained from a careful meteorological record,
embracing even a single year, and its character can at
present be ascertained merely from notes and observations
of a general character and the appearance of the natural
vegetation.
" It may be stated at once that the ascertained facts
leave no doubt on the subject of the sufficient length
and warmth of the season, to ripen wheat, oats, and
barley, with all the ordinary root crops and vegetables,
the only point which may admit of question being to
what extent the occurrence of late and early frosts may
interfere with growth.
" While regretting that the data at disposal for the
determination of the agricultural value of the Peace
River country are not more ample, we may, I believe,
arrive with considerable certainty at the general fact that
2 I
I i
': »
l!
I I
! i
im
■W
II'
(
.r-.i'
482
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
|i
m
it is great. From such coinparison as can be made,
it would be premature to allow that the climate of the
Peace Eiver is inferior to that of the re<^ion about
Edmonton or the Saskatchewan. It is true that in both
the Saskatchewan and Peace liiver districts the season
is none too long for the cultivation of wheat, but if the
crop can be counted on as a sure one — and experience
seems to indicate that it may — the occurrence of early
and late frosts may be regarded with comparative inditler-
ence. The season is at least equally sliort throughout
the whole fertile belt from the Peace Eiver to Manitoba,
though early and late frosts are not so common in the
low valley of the Red River. The almost sinndtaneous
advance of spring along the whole line of this fertile belt is
indicated ]jy the dates of the flowering of the various plants.
It is further unquestionable that the winter is less severe,
and not subject to the same extremes in the Peace River
and Upper Saskatchewan regions as in ]\Ianitoba.
" In addition to the favourable climatic conditions
indicated by the thermometer, the length of the day in
summer in tlie higher northern latitudes favours the
rapid and vigorous growth of vegetation, and takes the
place, to a certain extent, of heat in this respect. This
has been supposed to be the case from the luxuriant
vegetation of some northern region, but Alfonso de
Candolle has put the matter beyond doubt by subjecting
it to direct experiment. In latitude 5G°, which may be
taken as representing that of much of the Peace River
country, sunrise on 21st June occurs at 3h. 12m., snn-
set at 8h. 50m.; while six degrees farther south, in
latitude 50°, which may l.)e assumed to represent
Manitoba, sunrise occurs on the same day at 31i. 49m.,
sunset at 8h. 13m. The duration of sunlight, in the
first case, is I7h. 38m.; in the second, 161i. 24m.,
or one hour and a quarter in excess in the nurtheru
THE PEACE RIVER COUNTRY.
483
locality. This excess, of coarse, decreases to zero at the
spring and autumn equinoxes, and the differ(;nce is
reversed in the winter.
" A further t^rrumstarce giving to the Peace Eiver
country and that on the upper part of the Saskatchewan,
other things being equal, a value as farming land acre for
acre considerably greater than that of most parts of the
North-West, is the immunity of this region from the
visits of the devastating locust or grasshopper {Caloptenus
spretus)."
From the foregoing it will be seen that the climate
of all British America is what Blodgett calls " formidable."
It, moreover, presents its most unfavourable features to
the stranger or the casual visitor.
All vessels coming from Europe cross the banks of
Newfoundland. " It is a dreary locality," says the Right
Eev. Dr. Mullock, of St. John's, " and the almost constant
fog and drizzling rain, the doleful sound of tiie fog-horn,
with ships' guns calling their crews, the troubled ocean,
the ships rolling almost under the waves, as they ride at
anchor by their hempen cables, steadied by their main or
tugsails in addition to their moorings, — all these make
an impression on a stranger which he never after
forgets. . . . And he is surprised when he is told that
for ten months in the year all the fog and damp of the
Banks goes to the other side of the Atlantic, while we
(in Newfoundland) never have the benefit of it unless
what we call the out-winds blow."
Again, Canadian railways pass through the least
inviting sections of the country. The farmer naturally
Ijuills his house to face the gravel road, and not the
railway; the railway company seeks out the least im-
proved and therefore least expensive track, also in most
cases the neighbourhood of valleys not yet reclaimed
from swamp. He that travels by rail from Halifax to
k
484
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TKAVEL.
ii
i/i
HI !
I
ii
vV'indsor, X.S., from Quebec to Montreal, from Prescott to
the capital at Ottawa, or on almost any other route, and
forms his opinion of the country by the rocky or swampy
or sandy deserts he passes through, falls into serious eiTor.
So with Canadian rivers. The banks of many of
them are not yet cultivated, owing to the rising of the
waters in the spring. It is only in old settled localities
that habitations, fields, and meadows can be seen from
the steamers' decks.
But somehow it often happens that where nature is
most formidable, nay, most repulsive to the careless
observer, she is kindest to the loving wooer and most
liberal to the patient worker. The leaden skies wliich
cover the Banks of Newfoundland point out from afar
the haunts of a fish more valuable far to man than all
the painted denizens of Southern waters. The snows
which in winter hide the soil of Canada cover also farms
which yield more merchantable products to the acre than
the lands of the more balmy South. As taxation is said
by the political economist not to be an unmixed evil in
that it is an incentive to exertion, so the rigour of
Canadian winters, even when not directly beneficial as
it is in some cases, appears but to stimulate Canadians to
profitable exertion in the summer.
The map accompanying J. A. Hurlbert's Climates,
Productions, and Resottrccs of Canada not only clearly
shows the areas adapted for wheat and the coarser grains
and grasses, but affords a comparison with corresponding
areas in Europe, and to this, and the Physical Atlas of
the Dominion of Canada by the same author, the reader
is referred for more detailed illustration of these points.
If still further testimony were required concerning
the agricultural capabilities of the great Canadian North-
West, it is conclusively afforded by the following extracts
from an able and exhaustive article on the " Wheat-fields
THE WHEAT OF THE NORTH-WEST.
485
iture is
careless
id most
5 which
om afav
than all
le snows
Iso farms
acre than
)n is said
td evil in
:igoiir of
leficial as
ladians to
of the North- West" published in the September (1881)
number of Harpers Monthli/ Magazine : —
" The superior quality of the wheat raised in this
new country will be best shown by a comparison made
in figures. Duluth and Chicago are selected to furnish a
comparison, as the former is the general poiut of ship-
ment of the northern wheat, and the latter is the i)lace
of largest receipts in the grain States farther south. To
explain the use of the figures below, it may be noted
that, for the convenience of trade, on arrival at one of the
larger places of receipts, grain is inspected by experts
who are public officers, and graded according to its sound-
ness and weight. The difference in market value ])etween
the grades is considerable. Take for the purpose tlie crop
of 1880. During the last three months of that year
there were inspected at Duluth 1,778,764 bushels of
wheat. Leaving out of consideration the fraction 86,000
bushels, which were of the soft variety, and, it is assumed,
came to this port from southern counties of Minnesota,
the wheat graded as follows, the amounts being expressed
by per cent : —
At Duluth.
Hard
Grade No. 1,
Grade No. 2
Grade No. 3
Rejected .
87 per cent.
11 „
1 ,,
1 „
During the same months there were inspected at Chicago
1,571,262 bushels of winter wheat, and 7,988,816
bushels of spring wheat, which graded as below : —
Winter Wheat.
Grade No. 1 . . 1 per cent,
Grade No. 2 . . 53 „
Grade No. 3 . . 34 „
Rejected . . .12
At Chicago.
j Spring Wheat.
Grade No. 1 . . 1 per cent.
Grade No. 2 . . 66 „
Grade No. 3 . .23 „
Rejected ... 10 „
ji
SI
%
I
11
m
486
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGHAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
i
i\:,
As to the respective market values : at the city of Bufl'iilo,
"where tlie northern and southern grain, coming over the
Jukes from Duluth and Chicago, first meet in a general
market, the following were the average prices per busliel
during the months mentioned above : —
No. 1, Hard Duluth
•
• •
1-18
No. 2,
,
. a
M5i
No. 1, Red Wiuter
• •
1-14
No. 1, Spring .
. . Ii3j
No. 2, „
• •
111
No. 2, „
. . 1-08
No. 3, „
• •
ro6
No. 3, „
. . 0-!)r)
Rejected „
• •
I'OO
Rejected „
. . 0-80
The southern grown wheat may have in the future, it is
l)robable, a still lower relative value.
" The hard northern wheat, instead of being the
lowest, has taken its rightful place as the highest priced
on the list of grain.
" The land is also more prolific. The experience of
the wheat-raisers in Manitoba has now been of sufficient
length to make understood some of the natural advantages
extended to this country for returning large and certain
crops. Situated in a high latitude, there is afforded to
vegetation a greater number of hours of sun each day
during the entire season of growth. The winter cold,
continuous and with light falls of snow, freezes the ground
to an extraordinary depth. Under the disintegrating
power of frost, the lower soil is broken up each season
for the sustenance of plants as thoroughly as if done by
the best artificial means. This is not the only service
performed by the frost; later, throughout the period of
growth, it keeps within reach of the roots a moisture
which renders drought impossible. But most notewortliy
is the soil itself — an alluvial black loam, with an average
depth of twenty inches, resting on a subsoil of clay. It
is very heavy when wet, having a tar -like consi>stency,
and rich in the elements which are believed to nourish
w
THE WHEAT OF THE NOUTH-WEST.
487
vegetation. l)ro])ped into this soil, witli the otlier favour-
ing circumstances, seed springs up and grows with an
extraordinary vigour, and gives a sound and abundant
crop. The average yield of wheat per acre in the lied
Iviver Valley, north of Fargo, where the soil becomes
heavier and more characteristic, is twenty-three bushels.
In Manitoba and the Saskatchewan region the average is
greater, and amounts to twenty-eight bushels. These facts
become more striking when comj)ared with results in the
district of the wheat supply at present. In Illinois the
average for wheat to the acre is seventeen bushels ; in
Iowa, ten ; in Wisconsin, less than ten ; in Kansas, ten ;
while in Texas it is eight and one-half bushels. Nor
does the land seem to deteriorate under a course of crop-
ping, as does the lighter soil of States in tlie south.
" In the parish of Kildonan, on the lied liiver, there
are fields which have been sown to wheat every season
for the last thirty-five years without the application of
any fertilisers, and which in 1879 yielded an average of
over thirty bushels to the acre. A soil which raises one
grain in such perfection is, of course, suitable for other
purposes. Stinmlated by the presence of buyers for the
mills making the high-priced flour who offer innnediate
payment for all their crop, the farmers have so far devoted
all their energy to increasing their acreage of wheat.
But the other cereals — oats, rye, and barley — sown to
supply local needs show a like abundant yield, and when
brought to outside markets these products of northern soil
will be found entitled to the high estimation accorded to
the present staple.
" The larger yield to the acre, the better quality, and
higher grade of crop, shown in this northern country, are
matters lifted by the vast extent of the land above a
question of individual profit to the persons now cultivat-
ing the soil. If one-half the ground of that comparatively
! I
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488
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
I'l, :
small portion which is drained hy the lied liiver and its
aflhients were sown to wheat, the product at an avera^'o
yield would be 000,000,000 bushels, or more than the
entire amount raised in the United States in 1880.
" However uncertain may be ell'ects on the United
States, we niay expect that the centre of activity in
wheat, never very stable, will soon pass to the lied I'iver
Valley — to ;,'o later, possibly, still farther northwiird.
jMost valued by the farmers in Minnesota for seed is tl/e
grain cominp; from the lied Eiver Valley, and espcciidly
that from ]\Ianituba. Taken southward, if not renev; I
frecpiently from the original source, it tends to degenen.io.
and become soft. Harder and better still is the wheat
coming from the region of the Upper Saskatchewan and
the Peace River. This perfect grain has the create?!
weight of all, and by cultivation even in the lied llivuv
Valley shows a loss of its original quality."
The Forest
The value of the timber trade to Canada is well-
known, and the forests of the Dominion are properly
considered as one of the most important resources of the
country. The absence of trees is undoubtedly caused by
a deficiency of moisture, and the areas of summer droughts
in the Old and New worlds are identical with the treeless
areas. This climatic defect must operate permanently
and with increased intensity upon plants.
It will be seen on reference to the accompanying
map that, with the exception of the extreme arctic coast,
and the comparatively small section of the American
desert which crosses the international boundary, Canada
is covered with forest trees.
The prairies of the North-West form the northern
limits of the prairie lands, and being but park-like open-
'It^'T
il
THE FORESTS OF THE NORTH-WEST.
481)
ings in tins vast forest region, have the rainfall and humid-
ity which secure them rich crops of grasses and cereals.
North of the parallel of 4I)°, east of the liocky
^fountains, there are about 120,000 square miles of
jtrairie, an area equal to Great Jiritain and Ireland,
lletween this and the North Saskatchewan the prairie
land jn-edominates, but is interspersed with groves. North
(tf the Saskatchewan the forests predominate, there being
not more than one-third prairie. Along the eastern base
of the liocky Mountains, and extending up into the
recesses of the mountains, is a belt of conifers, the
jirincipal tree being the Douglas pine (the tree is, however,
an Abies), and the white and black spruce. East of these
innimtains the water? beds are mostly covered with heavy
forests of spruce, but the dry ground, where there are
trees, with poidars {Populus tremnloides). In the damp
forest lands near the mountains, balsam poplar is found
ill some abundance, and tliis is the species which grows
to such an enormous size on the Athaljasca, Peace, and
Mackenzie Eivers, — all the islands in these rivers being
covered with trees of this species, often 7 to 10 feet in
diameter and 100 feet in height.
In the eastern parts of the territory the Banksian
pine is a small tree seldom attaining 12 inches in dia-
meter; but on the southern shores of Hudson Bay
it is found 2 feet in diameter and 100 feet in height.
Another small pine {Finns contorta) ranges from the head
of tiie Athabasca through the liocky Mountains, and forms
thick forests of many miles in extent in Upper British
Columl)ia west and north of the Fraser liiver.
The forests of British Columbia west of the Cascade
Mountains are very fine, and here the Douglas pine or
Douglas spruce (Abies Doiu/lasii) and giant cedar attain
their greatest dimensions. East of the Cascades the
forest clings about the mountain tops, but the trees are
n^^H!'
i
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490
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
II
much smaller. Pinus ponderosa is in some abundance on
the Thompson Iiiver, and has much the appearance of red
cedar. On the western slopes of tlie liocky Mountains
are many species of fir and pine, which, in the near
future, can supply the eastern plains with enormous
quantities of first-class timber.
The cone-bearing trees are found in a broad belt
west of the liocky Mountains, sweeping around the shores
of the North Paciiic and Arctic Seas, down the coast of
Hudson ])ay and Labrador and across the St. Lawrence,
keeping in the cooler and more humid climates of the
Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic Oceans. These forests are
also mixed with white birch and poplar.
In the interior of the continent, when the summer
temperatures range from 60° to 80°, with somewhat
uniform summer rains, are found the great mixed forests
of North America, the most remarkable forests of de-
ciduous and coniferous trees in the globe. These forests
are made up of some sixty to seventy varieties of trees,
birch being predominant, and forty to tifty of shrubs.
The most valuable of tliese forests are in the Domiuiuii
of Canada.
In going northward from the United States boundary
at the Lake of the Woods by way of Winnipeg Kiver and
Lake, the Nelson Eiver and the tea-coast northward, Mr.
Bell found the trees disappearing in the following order : —
Grass wood, sugar maple, yellow birch, white oak, soft
maple, gray elm, white and red pine, red oak, black ash,
white cedar, serrated leaf poplar, mountain asli, balsam
fir, white birch, Banksian pine, balm of Gilead, aspen,
tamaiiick, white and black spruce. Black S])ruce is found
some distance beyond Seal Iiiver, lat. 59°, long. 96".
Here ]\Ir. Bell found black spruce 3 feet in diameter and
100 feet in height. Balsam poplar 6 to 10 feet in
diameter is found on lied Iiiver, and very abundant
THE SUGAR MAPLE AND THE VINE.
491
White spruce 3 foet in diameter is also found at Fnrt
Simpson, lat. 62° 5'.^
Climates fatal to forest trees could not be favourahlt;
to fruit trees, nor indeed to any agricultural products.
Hence the absence of orchards and the frequent failures
of crops throuf,diout the Western States from the deficiency
of summer rains.
The high summer temperatures and abundant sum-
mer rains in Canada are unquestionably the conditions
of climate necessary to produce these peculiar trees.
We take the sugar maple (Acci' saccharinnm) as our
starting-point for illustration. This forest tree is found
over the greater part of the valley of the St. Lawrence
up to latitude 49°, in the Red Eiver north of 49°, and the
ash-leafed maple (N. J{a.nnifolium) on the Saskatchewan,
lat. 54. It requires a summer of from 65° to 67°, and
copious rains. The summer tenq^eratures of Eugland
and the north of France are too low for this tree (London
or, Liverpool 57°, Paris 64°). The British Islands
have the necessary rain but not the heat ; the western
prairies have the heat but not the rain. This beautiful
tree attains, in Canada, the height of 120 feet, and 12 in
circumference. Besides the sugar maple, there are four
other varieties, one especially {A. dasyca^min), nearly as
large as the one described abo\e.
Wherever th'i maple grows, the wild vine may be
found running to the tops of ordinary forest trees, and
in favourable localities sometimes attaining 6 inches in
(liaineter. This may be taken as a rough estimate of the
extent of country — twice the size of Great Britain m the
valley of the St. Lawrence alone — in which the gxape
may be cultivated, for our vine-growers are getting hardier
varieties, based on the native vine.
' J. Beaufort Hurlbert, M.A., LL.D., Physkal Atlas, and Climates,
Productions, ami Resources of Canada.
v\
« ii
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492
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
1 1, f
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The Canadian forests are made up of some sixty
trees, with numerous shrubs. "VVe name only a few.
The black walnut {Juglans nigra), in the western and
south-western parts of Canada, lias an average heiglit of
120 feet, and 70 to the first limb. Trunks 6 feet in
diameter and 18 in circumference were not uncommou
in the pristine forests. The chestinit {Castanca vcsca)
attains a height of 100 feet, and 3 in diameter; the
butternut (Juglans cinerca) is also one of the largest forest
trees, widely diffused over Canada, with 60 to 70 feet of
trunk free from limbs. The gigantic oaks and elms are
too well known to require description, and are found 18
and even 22 feet in circumference.
The climate that produces the plane-tree or button -
wood {Platanus occidentalis), 60 inches in diameter and
60 feet to the first Hmb ; the white- wood (Lirwdcndron
tidipifera), a variety of the gorgeous magnolia, equal in
height and size to the last-named ; the pepperidge, or sour
gum tree {Nyssa midti flora), 100 feet high; the tlowerinii
dog- wood {Cornus florida), 30 feet high and 8 inches in
diameter; the red cedar {Junipcnis virginiana), 24 inches
in diameter; the sassafras (S. officinale), 60 feet higli, —
the climate that produces such forests, with a hundred
varieties of trees and shrubs, needs no further defence
with the botanist, nor even with those but partially
acquainted with the productions of the earth and the
localities where they grow. The writer, in 1862, made
a very full collection of the woods and plants of Canada
for the International Exhibition in London, with a view
to correct the erroneous opinions so widely entertained as
to our climate. Several eminent botanists, amongst others
Sir \\ illiam Hooker, Director of the Kew Gardens, and
]\Ir. Lindley, made special reference to the collection, as
illustrating this very subject. Samples of some sixty
varieties of Canadian woods were presented to the Kew
THE LUMBER TRADE.
493
Gardens, the British Museum, the Admiralty, to Lloyd's
in London, the Industrial Museum of Edinburgh, and to
the chiei' governments of Europe. These were highly
prized as most irrefragable proofs of a high summer
temperature, as well as for their connnercial value.
The lumber trade, which for many years formed the
largest item in Canadian exports, has felt most severely
the general commercial depression of the past five or six
years. The value of the total export of lumber for the fiscal
year 1879 was only $13,201,459 against $19,511,575
in 1878, being a decrease of $6,250,116, or about 32
per cent ; and as compared with the largest yearly export,
1873, when values aggregated $28,586,816, the falling
off is considerably more serious, the difference being
815,325,357, or about 54 per cent, the decrease being
larger than the entire export for the latter year. It
should be noted that the decrease in these exports from
1873 to 1878 was almost entirely in the shipments to
the United States, they amounting in the earlier year to
812,498,417, and in the latter year only to $4,481,053.
The figures for the san:ie years for Great Britain are
nearly equal, being in 1873 $13,749,755, and in 1878
$13,271,372 ; but taking the figures for 1879 it will be
seen that while the values of the exports to the United
States show no material difference from 1878, those to
Great Britain have declined from $13,271,372 in 1878
to $7,328,513 in 1879. It is satisfactory, however, to
note that the supplementary returns of exports for the
lust six months of 1879 exhibit a slight improvement
in tlinse of lumber over the corresponding six months of
1878, the amounts respectively being $10,304,081 and
$9,257,471. This indication that the trade is reviving
is confirmed by reports from lumber dealers, that the
close of 1879 and the opening of 1880 brought an im-
proved demand, chieHy from the States, and that better
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
prices were being obtained, which have often ruled ruin-
ously low (luring late years. In wliich connection it may
be remarked that the heavy decline in the value of lum-
ber exports, while mainly attributable to increased de-
mand, has been aggravated by low prices.
TJie Grasses.
The region of the cultivated grasses (timothy and
clover chiefly) is identical with that of the summer
rains, roughly sketched in the temperate zone of this con-
tinent by the presence of forests ; where these do not
exist the cultivated turf cannot be produced, unless in
the higher latitudes and in a humid atmosphere. Hence
the vast areas of the Western States, even east of the
Mississippi liiver, unfavourable for pastures, and of course
for the dairy. West of that river, pastures of these
grasses almost wholly fail. As a general rule the culti-
vated grasses fail south of latitude 39° east of the Missis-
sippi, and at a much higher latitude west of it.
The great prairies have many peculiar species of grass
of most tenacious hold until the turf is broken, but then
almost incapable of reproduction, as they rarely produce
seeds, and never spread from the root.
The prairie grasses make good pastures in their wild
state, and grow where the timothy, clover, and even bhie
grasses will not ; but when the land is brought under
cultivation, the wihl grasses cannot be reset in districts
even partially deprived of summer rains.
In no part of the United States west of the Missis-
sippi is there rain in the summer. In the nortli and
north-west of Xew ^Mexico the rain is mostly in the
winter, in the southern part of Texas and New j\Iexico it
is in the autumn, and west of Arkansas in spring.
The flocks and herds, and dairy produce of the pas-
II
DAIRY-FARMING AND FRUIT -GROWING.
495
tures and meadows, have a value equal if not superior
to the cereals. From the great and rapidly increasing
demand for horses, beef, and mutton in the great centres
of commerce and manufactures on both continents, and
from the increasing facilities for transport, tlie pasture
lands of Canada must assume in the near future an
importance scarcely to be estimated.
The chief grazing region, the chief meadows and
pastures in North America, the home of the herds, ilocks,
and the dairy, must be in the Dominion of Canada,
enil)racing as it does the zones of summer rains, and
lying in latitudes and positions similar to the western
and central parts of Europe.
Taking as our guide the temperatures and rainfall,
tlie existence of native grasses, and the analogy of
Europe, we are justified in the inference that the cul-
tivable grasses in the Dominion would extend over an
area of more than 2,000,000 square miles, or more than
1,200,000,000 acres. Deducting such percentage of
imtillable lands as is usually found in countries — and
Canada is made up chieHy of the vast plains of four
great river valleys — there would still remain an almost
boundless region the most favourable for pastures and
meadows.
Fruit-Growing.
A very important branch of farming in certain parts
of Canada is fruit-growing. It is very generally thought
by persons not familiar with the country that, owing to
the severity of the winter, fruits cannot be successfully
cultivated except to u very limited extent, and at a great
cost. There is no foundation in fact for such an im-
pression. On the contrary, in the production of such
kinds of fruit as belong to the temperate zone, Canada
cannot well be surpassed. The character of the soil in
m
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496
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAI'IIY AND TRAVEL.
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many districts is suitable for the apple, plum, pear, etc.,
while in the hot summer sun the peach and grape reacli
maturity and develop fruit haviu<Tj many points of excel-
lence. A hardy kind of grape, which has been success-
fully crossed into the European varieties, grows wild in
the woods ; the strawberry, raspberry, and gooseberry, and
other small fruits, grow in profusion in all the older pro-
vinces. The red plum is also indigenous to the soil.
In specially-favoured regions, such as the Niagara
district, peach orchards many acres in extent are to be
seen. The peach crop is not always a successful one ;
generally speaking, there is a good yield every second
year. Though it is far from probable that Canada will
ever rival European countries in the character of her
wine, nevertheless her vineyards are increasing in number
year by year, and good wholesome wines are being made.
Experience is all that is necessary to develop this into
an important industry.
The best evidence we could have of Canada's char-
acter as a fruit-growing country is furnished in her success
in this direction at the Centennial Exhibition. The dis-
play made by the Province of Ontario was the finest at
the show, surpassing all competition, which included
nearly every State in the American Union, and astonish-
ing persons who had looked upon Canada as a country
of perpetual snow. The Americans honestly admitted
themselves fairlj'' beaten by their northern neighbours.
The following extract from an article in the New York
Graphic shows the prominence Canada gained in this
respect. Coming from an American source, it carries
with it special weight.
" Probably the finest show of various fruits is made
by the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario, Canada, a
society which has done much to promote and encourage
the cultivation of fruits in North America, It ^vas
etc.,
•eacli
xcel-
jcess-
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r pro-
L.
iagara
to be
L one;
second
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of her
nvimber
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included
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in this
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It was
THE FRUIT-GROWERS ASSOCIATION.
49'
formed a miml)er of years ago with this ohject in view,
and has heen extremely successful in all its undertak-
uijj;s. The memhership includes more than 3000 persons.
Three meetings are held every year, at which the members
interchange their views upon the various subjects con-
nected with fruit-growing. These meetings are held in
different parts of the Province of Ontario, in order to be
more convenient for members to attend ; and once a year
new and promising hybrids, trees, and plants are given
to members, who are expected to cultivate them care-
fully, and report the results of their trials. A number of
the members of this society have achieved a reputation
as careful hybridists, and the names of Arnold, Uempsey,
Mills, and Saunders are held in deserved estimation
throughout the pomological world. The best results of
their labours are generously placed at the disposal of the
Association, and new and promising varieties of fruits
are soon widely and inexpensively scattered abroad and
thoroughly tested.
"The Society also publishes an annual report, —
embodying its transactions, and preserving such useful
information with regard to fruit culture as they may be
able to gather, — and gives a copy of it to each of its
members. In this manner many choice fruits and much
useful information are disseminated among the members ;
hence it is that the fruits produced by them are generally
noted lor superiority and excellence.
"At the quarter-centennial of the American Pomo-
logical Society in Boston, the Ontario Fruit -Growers'
Association carried away not only silver medals for the
best collection of plums, but also prizes for the peaches,
grapes, and pears displayed in competition with the most
noted fruit-growers of the United States.
"The present display occuji s the entire north side
of the Pomological Building, id is composed of 1000
2 K
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498
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAniY AND TRAVEL.
platcR of applos, 200 plates of plums, 200 plates of pears,
90 plates of crab-apples, and 25 varieties of peaclies,
153 plates of grapes, and a variety of nuts, including
walnuts, butternuts, hickory nuts, hazelnuts, and pea-
nuts. The same Association, in July last, made a display
of gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and cherries, some of
the first-named being an inch in length. They were
highly commended by the judges, as no prize was com-
peted for.
" One of the finest specimens of fruit exhibited is the
Alexander, a beautiful clear red-and-white apple of large
size. Another is the Kent Fillbasket, a large obtuse
pyramid, beautifully mottled with red on a yellow ground.
The Virginia Sweet is a showy red apple, rather oblong
in shape, and of large size. The Irish Peach Apple is a
great beauty, as well as of fine quality, while the iJuchess
of Edinburgh is a very hardy apple, mottle red in colour,
and of handsoiiii! appearance. It is good either for the
kitchen or table, and is highly esteemed by connoisseurs.
Sherwood's Favourite is a fine yellow and red, and
Swayzie I'omme Grise is a hardy cinnamon russet of
beautiful colour. There are remarkably fine s])eciniens
of the Snow Apple, which is a bright red outside and a
pure white inside, and takes its name from the latter
characteristic. Spur's Sweeting is a fine showy apple of
rosy waxen colour, and the Chenango Strawlierry is a
beautiful red a])ple of conical shape, ^fany other speci-
mens arc shown, among which are thirty-one varieties of
new French a])ples exhibited by James Doiigall of
Windsor. All the foregoing specimens named are raised
in large quantities in Canada, and thousands of barrels
are annually exported to Great Britain and the United
States. As a sample of the manner in which they will
keep, a plate is shown of the growth of 1875, in Avhicli
the apples are well preserved and of good appearance.
THE FliUIT-GllOWEKS ASSOCIATION.
499
I is the
)f large
ol)tuse
(vvoiukI
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pple is a
Ducbess
n colour,
r for tlie
iioisseurs,
reil, and
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(|K'ciiuens
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ler speci-
[u'ieties of
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ivre raisi't^
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tbey ^vil^
in Nvbicli
Lraiice.
" One of the finest specimens of pears exhibited is
the Flemish Beauty, which grows without a blemish, and
is hardy as an oak ; Sickles, Bartletts, Negh^ys, and the
Belle Lucrative are also displayed in great quantities, of
a quality that compares favourably with any others on
exhibition.
" The plums displayed are remarkably fine, the most
noticeable ones being the Columbia, Pond's Seedlings,
Damsons, Gages, and the Lombard. The latter is a
beautiful dark crimson, and is very prolific. Hundreds
of bushels of these plums are sent every year to the
United States, where they fhid a ready sale, and are
yreatly esteemed.
" In peaches the Lord Palmerston is doubtless the
largest shown. One of these was displayed which was
over eleven inches in circumference, the qualities being a
firm white flesh, with free stone. The Early Crawfords
and other varieties are also very fine.
" In grapes the Tokalon and many varieties of
Piogors' hybrids are the most noticeable. The Autuchon,
a beautiful white grape, and the Lindley, light-coloured,
and resembling the Catawba, attract much attention.
Miller's Burgundy, a grape which grows very close and
thick, and the Delaware, a delicious variety, are also
favourably known to fruit cultivators.
" These are but a few of the many specimens displayed.
It would be impossible, in a notice like this, to do justice
to the entire collection. As a representative collection,
intended to exhibit the fruit from that section of the
country between the Niagara Eiver and Lake Huron, and
from the Ottawa to the Detroit Rivers, it could not be
surpassed. The arrangement and classification reflect
much credit upon the officers of the Association, and
especially upon the gentlemen who are in charge. It
must be doubly gratifying to them that this very beau-
1
500
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGUAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
tiful display of the fruits of the Province attracts such
universal attention. Their exhibit has contributed mucli
to the beauty and attractiveness of the poniolosical de-
partment, and they are to be congratulated upon the fniit-
producing capabilities of their soil and climate, and the
taste and enterprise of their fruit-growers."
With such facts as are contained in the above ex-
tract, let it not hereafter be said that Canada is a wilder-
ness of ice and snow.
I: II
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MINES AND MINERALS.
501
CHAPTEE VIII.
MINES AND MINERALS.
Though the main sources of the wealth of Canada lie in
her fertile fields, luxuriant pastures, grand forests, and
inexhaustible fisheries, her mines and minerals must in
course of time attract more attention than they have
hitherto done, and yield a good return for the capital
and labour expended on them. As the Canadians devote
their attention chiefly to the more common pursuits of
fanning, lumbering, and ordinary trade, comparatively
httle has been done towards developing the mineral
resources of the country; yet the results attained
abundantly prove that there are vq,8t and valuable de-
posits of coal, gold, iron, copper, lead, antimony, silver,
manganese, plumbago, mica, asbestos, apatite, gypsum,
salt, and petroleum. Except in Nova Scotia, and par-
tially in British Columbia, the want of any system of
collecting the mineral statistics of the iJominion makes
it impossible to give accurate figures of the quantities
and value of mining products. A few of the most trust-
worthy of these may, however, prove interesting.
British Columbia. — According to a table published
by the ]\Iinister of Mines of this province, the total value
of the gold extracted from 1858 to 1876, inclusive,
was $39,953,618, — the annual average number of miners
employed being estimated at 3220.
In the two years 1874 and 1875 the coal produced
t i
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGUAPIIY AY.h TUAVKL.
3
lid
from the only two mines tlien working on Vancouver
Islimd WHS 194,545 tons, worth $(3 ])er ton in Victoria, or
$10 per ton in San Francisco, and rc])rcsonting a money
value in Victoria of $1,1(17, 270. The j)riiicii)al markets
are Victoria and San Francisco, hut small 'luantities are
shijyped to Honolulu, Mazatlan, Alaska, etc. Notwitli-
standiu*,' tlui heavy United States duties on foreign coal,
the ex])()rt from Vancouver to San Francisco has slcadily
increased from G015 tons in 18G2 to 101,572 tons in
187<>. Since 1870 several new iiiines hav(; been
opened.
On Texada Island, in close proximity to the coal-
mines, is a large deposit of magnetic iron ore, hut no
attempt has yet been made to work it.
Small veins of copper ore have been noticed in
several localities, while fragments of rich ore and uf
native copper have been found on the Thompson and
Fraser rivers. liich ores of silver and argentiferous
galena have been found in several places, and in the
Omineca gold-fields and on the Similkameen liiver grains
and small nuggets of native silver occur with the gold
drifts. More or less fine platinum has been found witii
alluvial gold in several of the streams of British Columbia,
particularly in the Similkameen River.
Ontario. — The most important mineral products of
this province are petroleum, salt, gypsum or " plaster,"
silver, copper, iron, and phosphate.
At present there are about 350 wells capable of
producing petroleum. At one time about 500 small
steam-engines for boring and pumping were on the
ground. The oil-wells in Ontario have all been borud
by the ordinary percussion drill. A small proportion of
the oil is distilled at Petrolia, but the greater part is
refined in London, about fifty miles to the eastward.
Here there are fifteen refineries of a total capacity of
PETUOLKUM.
.03
|al)le of
small
Ion the
bored
L-tiou of
I part is
Istward.
Icity of
12,000 to in, 000 barrels per week, tlie jirincipiil one
lic'iuj,' the Atlantic Petmlenni Works. TIio total value
of tlie plant, etc., eniploytul in the ]n'0(luction of the oil
is cstiniateil at about $750,000, and of that used in the
refiiuni^ processes at about $;") 50,000. Wanes are iij^L'.aO
per day lor drillers, $2.00 for mechanics, and $1.2') for
I'ETUOLIA.
labourers. The following? are the (juantities refined in
grams m
uuiuno
lor I
ne live y
ears i
roni 1 o / i Lo i i
5 1 .'
) : —
e gold fl
Year einling
oOth June
1871
. 26n,.3n.') 1
ari'
•l3 of 40 gals.
1 \vith fl
))
)>
1872
. 308,100
)» M
uuibia, m
))
»
1873
. 3(55,052
)> )t
1
)i
»
1874
. 1«8,807
» )I
.^4-n AT ^1
»
»
1875
(about) 210,000
»> )t
Latterly, the greater part of the oil has lieen con-
sumed within the Dominion, only a comparatively small
proportion being exported.
Salt. — From the Eeport of the Geological Survey
1874-75, we learn that in 1874 the capital invested in
the salt interest in Ontario was $024,000, the value of
plant and works being $571,838. The total production of
fine salt in 1873 was 438,076 barrels, and of coarse salt
13,500 barrels, valued at $436,218; of which 226,570
barrels were sold in the Dominion and 225,000 barrels
'I
!
■i
(
,|
1 , 1
1
!
ill
l^il^
504
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
in the United States. There were also manufactured
about 3040 tons of land salt, valued at $8360.
Gi/psum.— From 18(59 to 1871 the quantity of
gypsum miui^/.l in Ontario was ahout 5000 tons a year,
valued at $-7_^*'^"per ton. In 1876 the Ontario gypsum
mines were producing about 14,500 tons per annum.
The gypsum or " plaster " deposits of Ontario belong
to the Onondaga formation, which is extensively de-
veloped in Northein New York, crosses the Niagara
Eiver into Canada, and extends north-westward to Lake
Huron, a distance of 150 miles, again appearing at
the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and
Lake Michigan. It not only affords gypsum, but
is also the source of valuable brine springs, and in-
cludes magnesian limestones, which are often suitable
for the manufacture of hydraulic cement. The principal
gypsum mines worked are along the Grand lUver, between
Cayuga and Pr.ris, a distance of 35 miles. Dolomite
is found immediately above and below the gypsum,
and is sometimes interstratified in thin beds with it
That above is often arched, forming domes or mounds at
the surface indicative of gypsum beneath.
Silnr. — The production of silver ore from the
Thunde. Uay and Silver Islet mines, Lake Superior, for
the three years from 1869 to 1871, was 1,156,304 lbs.,
— value at 'he mine, $823,077.
The Silver Islet Mine is stated to have yielded, from
1871 to 1876, a total of 82,500,000 worth of silver at a
cost of $1,500,000. It has since then been continuously
and actively worked with profitable results, and several
other mines have been opened on the mainland and on
the adjacent islands.
Copper. — The West Canadian mines on Lake Huron
are the only copper mines in Ontario that have been
worked continuously from 1847 to the present time.
f! ; i
SILVER, COPPER, AND IRON ORE.
505
These mines are situated on the Bruce, Wellington,
and Huron Copper Bay Locations, which adjoin one
another, the Bruce being the most easterly, "Work was
begun on the last named in 1846, and has since been
gradually extended westward, across the Wellington and
on to the Huron Copper Bay, the whole length of the
workings comprising nearly four miles. The present
company purchased the Wellington Location from the
]\Iontreal Mining Company (who had previously worked
the Bruce Mines from the time of their discovery in
184G) in 1853, and the Bruce Location in 1864, and
tliey hold a renewable lease, obtained in 1858, of the
Huron Copper Bay Location. For a time some of the
produce of the mine was sent to Baltimore, but the great
bulk of it has gone to England, which is the present
market. The total amount of the sales of the copper ore
and copper up to 1875 has been about .$3,300,000, and
tliis has afforded a good average profit.
Iron Ore. — The iron ores of Ontario belong to the
Laiirentian and Hurouian systems, and are associated Avith
gneiss and crystalline limestone. They correspond .vitK
the ores which occur in the same systems in Nortlieru
New York and in the highlands of Southern New York
;uul New Jersey, where they have long been mined on an
extensive scale. The Swedish iron, which is famous
throughout the markets of the world, is made from
similar ores, which occur there in rocks of the same auje.
The ore is chieliy magnetic oxide, but often mixed
with hematite, and contains from 50 to 64 per cent of
luotallic iron. The beds or veins vary in thickness from
1 foot to 200 feet, and there is practically no limit to
the quantity of these ores which couhl be mined. Of
the actual production there are no recent statistics \ but
ill the years from 1809 to 1871, 65,440 tons were
raised, of the value of $163,600. Since then the
I!!
irr
506
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
liHi
4 '
w.
quantity mined has gradually increased. The cost of
mining is about $1.50 per ton. None of the ore is at
present smelted in the country, the whole of it l)ein,i>'
exported to Cleveland and other points in the United
States.
Phosphate of lime or apatite in both beds and veins
is very common in the Laurentian rocks of Canada, and
has been mined on a small scale for some years. It is
generally found in pyroxenic or garnetiferous gneiss, or in
crystalline limestone ; and deposits several feet in tliick-
ness, and almost entirely free from foreign minerals, are
of frequent occurrence. The best known deposits in
Ontario are in the townships of North and South Ihirgess
and North Elmsley ; but important localities have also
been discovered in Ottawa County, Quebec.
The production of this mineral in Canada is now
assuming very lai'ge proportions. It was first mined in
Ontario in 1863, and up to 1876 about 12,000 or
15,000 tons had been mined. The price has varied from
$16 to $22 per ton for mineral containing 74 to 85 per
cent of phosphate of lime. Very beautiful and perfect
hexagonal crystals of apatite are frequently found in tlie
workings, sometimes exceeding 2 feet in length with faces
6 inches broad. As much as 8100 has been paid for one
of these large crystals, while the smaller ones connnand
correspondingly high prices, both in the United States
and in Europe.
Quebec. — Ores of copper and iron, gold, roofing slate,
phosphate of lime, and asbestos, are the leading mining
products in this province.
Since 1 8 7 1 a number of valuable mines of phosplmte
and asbestos have been discovered and worked with
satisfactory results, while the production of most of the
other minerals has considerably increased.
Mw Brunswick — Iron ore, coal, manganese, gypsum,
1".
ALBERTITE, PLUMBAGO, AND ANTIMONY.
507
(1 1'rom
85 per
perfect
in the
\\ faces
for one
fcnimaml
States
[\>_^ slate,
mining
lospliate
"d witli
oi the
rypsuni,
and building stone are found in this province, and also
the mineral albertite, which differs from true coal in being
of one quality throughout, in containing no traces of
vegetable tissues, and in its mode of occurrence, as a vein,
and not as a bed. The vein occupies an irregular and
nearly vertical fissure, and varies from 1 inch to 1 7 feet
in thickness. It has been mined to a depth of 11G2
feet.
Since the first discovery of the Albert IMiues the
amount of the mineral exported, chiefly to the United
States, during the twelve years from 18G3 to 1874 has
been 154,800 tons.
It has been used partly for the nmnafacture of oil,
and partly for admixture with ordinary bituminous coals
in the preparation of illuminating gas. For either of
these purposes it is admirably adapted, yielding 100
gallons of crude oil, or 14,500 cubic feet of gas of
superior iUurainating power per ton.- When employed
with coal it leaves as a residuum a valuable coke.
The vein is now exhausted, and the works suspended,
but it seems probable that other similar veins may be
discovered in the vicinity if properly sought for.
Besides the minerals above named, plumbago and
antimony ore have both been mined in New Brunswick
at intervals, and with varying success.
The veins holding stibnite, or gray sulphide of anti-
mony, at Prince William, seem to have been known for
a number of years without attracting much attention
until about the year 1862, when fresh discoveries having
been made indicating a considerable body of ore, several
companies were formed with a view to its development.
Through their explorations the mineral was found to be
iiiore or less abundantly spread over an area of several
^fiuare miles, occurring chiefly in veins of white quartz or
^f c^uartz and calc-spar, intersecting hard clay slates and
i II
h
• 4
:i!
1 il
li
L
[
n
1;
1 1
1 1
i! !
1
II
508
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
sandstones of undetermined age. These veins vary in
thickness from a few inches to 6 feet, the ore being
irregularly distributed through the quartz in strings
or veinlets, sometimes attaining a thickness of from 12
to 1 5 inches. A large portion of that hitherto raised
has been obtained within a short distance of tlie surface
by means of trenches dug on the course of the lodes, but
several shafts have also been sunk to a depth of over 100
feet. The value of the metal on the ground is 12 to 1-4
cents per pound. It is partly exported in cakes or ingots
to the United States, and partly employed on the ground
in the manufacture of Babbit metal (containing 15 to 20
per cent of antimony with lead and tin, or in the better
qualities with lead, copper, and tin), valued at from 20
to 50 cents per pound.
JVbva Scotia. — In the variety and value of its mineral
resources this province stands pre-eminent, and it is the
only one in which carefully compiled mineral statistics
are annually published by the Government.
From the Eeport of the Mining Department for 1880
we learn that the total value of the mineral productions of
that year, which included gold, manganese, coal, gypsum,
and building stone, amounted to about 31 millions of
dollars.
Besides the foregoing, copper, petroleum, and salt are
likely soon to be added to the minerals produced in this
province.
As regards petroleum, the Inspector of Mines states:
"During 1879 and 1880 large tracts of land in Victoria
and Inverness counties. Cape Breton Island, were care-
fully examined, and the following indications of the
presence of petroleum observed : — Globules of heavy dark
petroleum were seen rising through the water of Lake
Ainslie, and spreading over the surface, so that the rocks
on the shores were in many places saturated with it, and
\m
iry in
being
strings
om 12
raised
surface
les, but
IQV 100
2 to 14
>r ingots
) ground
.5 to 20
lie better
from 20
PETROLEUM.
509
this saturation was observed for several miles. Swamps
were frequently found to be covered with oil, and many
springs were so impregnated with it as to be unfit for
domestic use. Gas was also observed issuing from fissures
in the rocks in many places.
" Seven wells have been sunk in the Lake Ainslie
district. That of the Cape Breton Oil and Mining
Company has reached a depth of 1100 feet. Consider-
able quantities of oil have been secured. At present the
quantity of salt water in the strata has caused a delay,
and necessitated fresh pumping appliances."
It would be instructive could we compare the
quantities produced during the three years from 1879 to
1881, but there are no statistics available, except for Nova
Scotia. In this case we find from the figures above
given that the yield for 1880 is very nearly double that
of the average of the three years 1869 to 1870.
Assuming a similar development to have occurred in
the other provinces, the total annual value of minerals
raised in the Dominion would now be considerably over
eight million dollars, of which the provinces of British
Columbia and Nova Scotia yield more than two-thirds.
This arises from tlieir productive coal and gold mines.
The former, however, are destined in the near future to
be surpassed in productiveness by the vast coal-fields of
the territories east of the Eocky Mountains, but in
which as yet no mines have been established.
k\
^'?
I
H
III ) \f.
(
H
510
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
CHAPTEE IX.
I'M
CANALS AND RAILWAYS POSTAL SYSTEM, TELEGRAPHS, ETC.
The canals of Canada are among its most important
public works, and are evidence of the energy and deter-
mination of the people to provide facilities not only for
their own internal communication, but also such as will
eventually control the carrying trade of the whole south-
west of the American continent.
Their cost is stated by Sir Alexander Gait at
$37,500,000, and by P. Forten, who includes incidental
works, at $60,000,000.
These canals are too numerous to admit of a detailed
description. As engineering works, they are the pride of
Canada ; but they are remarkable for their capacity rather
than for their length, and are invaluable as forming a
communication with the great lakes. Vessels of con-
siderable tonnage pass through these to the interior of the
country. Ships of 4500 tons burden, for example, can
enter the harbour of IMontreal through a canal unsur-
passed in magnitude by any other canal works, excepting
those on the Clyde ; and it is this system which renders
navigation practicable from the strait of Belle Isle, by
the river St. Lawrence, through Lakes Ontario, Erie, St.
Clair, and Huron to Duluth at the head of Lake Superior,
a distance of 2384 statute miles.
The total length of canal and river improvement
THE CANADIAN CANAL SYSTEM.
511
IW
emhraces about 250 miles upon the St. Lawrence, Ottawa,
Kideau, and liiclielieu rivers.
The canal systems of the Dominion, under Govern-
ment control, are as follows : —
1. The river St. Lawrence and Lakes.
2. The river Ottawa.
3. The liideau Navigation from Ottawa.
4. The Trent Navigation to Kingston.
5. The river Eichelieu to Lake Chaniplain.
G. St. Peter Canal, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Among canals projected is one to connect the Bay of
Fimdy with the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and another to
connect the St. Lawrence with Lake Huron, as follows: —
1. The Ottawa and Georgian Bay Canal, from
]\Iontreal, vid the Ottawa and Lake Nipissing, to French
liiver.
2. The Toronto and Georgian Bay Canal, by way of
Lake Simcoe.
;j. Tiie Hur- Ontario Canal, from Hamilton to Lake
Huron, near I'ort Franks.
The competit(jr with the St. Lawrence system of
canals for the western trade is the Erie Canal, between
the foot of Lake F2rie and New York.
The works for the enlargement of the canal, com-
menced in 1871, comprise the construction of locks 200
feet long and 45 feet wide, with 9 feet of water on the
sills; the main channel having a depth of 10 feet and a
mean width at bottom of 40 feet, varying at the surface
from 50 to 80 feet.
Canada has faith in her canal system, and expects
that when she has reduced the cost of inland cnrriage to a
luiiiiunnn, European and American capital will avail itself
of the shortest and cheapest route from the Atlantic to the
interior of the North American continent. The distance
h'oui Chicago to Liverpool vid Montreal is 300 miles
'!i
it
« \ n
ill
:ii
512
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
I
shorter than vid New York. The differeace in time in
favour of the lake aiul river route a«j;ainst the Erie Canal
is seven to eight days. The Erie Canal is closed l)y
frost several days earlier tlian the St. Lawrence canals,
and the cost of transport by the latter is considerably
less. For transatlantic trade the canals of Canada oiler
a communication with the great lakes, the inland portion
of which is superior to that vid New York ; but the sea
portion of the route is inferior in rates of freight and
insurance.
By this system of canals, vessels of 4500 tons can
enter the harbour of Montreal, and propellers of 1500
tons can pass thence to the head of Lake Superior.
The tolls on these canals are almost nominal, intended
simply to defray the cost of maintenance, and the policy
of the Government is, as far as possible, to make them
free, and thus through the increased traflic to secure an
indirect profit to the country.
1. Railways.
Canada owes her first railway, as well as her first J
steamboat, to IMontreal.
In 1831, on the announcement of the success of the|
Liverpool and Manchester Ilailway, a charter was gouu'lit^
from the Parliament of Canada, and was granted in the
following year, for a short line of railway between Laj
prairie, on the south bank of the St. Lawrence, nearly oppoj
site to ]\lontreal, to St. John's, on the Eichelieu Vaxax,
the outlet of Lake Champlain. "Work was conmnncej
in 1835. In tlie following year the line was used wit]
horse-power, and in 1837 with locomotives. It may
here remarked that one of the engines first used on thj
road was the handiwork of the celebrated Eobert Stopher
son, and this engine is still in use on a branch of the lii]
ttO'
^'^NE W Vprlf^'o'h A
IlIKS
I
^-.■"^,f'^*^'*'
LiA/erpo^
*<*,
.1^^ .^v
y»^
7^
.»»*
o*
.v.v^
o
tp
J.-v'^
.grf"
,00"
^b3
.^
l4»^
<^ «^
^
^
fl6
>
1
70
^*
St2n/brci'.9 Otv^J' J!6tai*, Zondorh
h>
Ul
\ U.\H.WAV MAI' Ol' Tin: IKIM I > I ON OK CANADA AND OK Til
IKI
ViO
100
Scale of Sruflifth Milas
liUiitluii: K<lnui'<l Hliuil'nriJ, r>5 CI
kiN'AUA \N1> »)|- TIIK NOirrilKHN I'AUT <H<' TIIK UNITMII STATKK
Stan/brti',f G^cg^' £^tah\ Zonthn,
K*l>\ni'«l Sliiulni'il, Oil CJiJU'iii^i Crciris.
^■•"- -" '-iMM iilfci
t I
i^ t
V i
I Q
4i
If, i !
1>i
Li'W(.Ui'i"
Li
I
- .■P T > i w ^i» i^
TIIK RAPID GHOWTFI OF ('A\AT)IAN r\-i,WAYS.
ni;;
between Quobec uikI Moiitruiil, on tliu noitli .sliuiu of the
St. Liiwivnce.
Tlie first riiihviiy in Ontario was built between
(^Mieenston ami ('lii|»|»ewa, on tbo Nia;^'aiu liivut. It
was ojiened as a horsu railway in IH.'Jl).
Tilt' proj^'ress in railway construction lias been as
follows : —
18.10 ....
\Si>'> ....
IHrto ....
IKW ....
1.H70 ....
isrr) ....
1878 ....
1881 ....
Areordincj to the statement of the Minister of Jlail-
wiiys, there are at jncsent —
Iviiilwiiys in oporntion . . . 6931 milos
l)i). uiultr loiistnirtion
(with tm.k liii.l) . 3:58 .,
Do. do. do. . . 1U77 ,,
Total . . . 8396 „
38
nilos
lUlS
'2173
'2231
'2'!7y
48iM)
.1700
0981
<
u
and tills niilea,i,'e is beinLj increased with ^nvat ra])idity
iidt only in the older jtrovinces, but also in the Ncjrth-West
Territories. 'i'he total contributions paid and voted to
railways in Canada is estimated at not loss than one
hundred millions of dollars. An idea of tht! ra])idity of
constnu'tion may be realised when it is stated that on the
Canadian Pacitic, or <,'re;it transcontinental road, an aver-
a''e of two miles of track is laid dailv at the end of each
line; the materials of construction, accom])anied by the
engineers and navvies, with the commissariat, advancing,'
iu the construction carria,L,'es in reijular succession, and
Itroceedinjj; on the road bed as it is laid.
JJeference is made to the accomiumyinij ^lap as show-
ing the extent and location of Canadian railways in 1882
2 L
'^111
!l
iSlMm
514
c'lnirKxniuM of geography and ti:avkl.
« , I
1 '
:i
■f ; ,
'i I
. \
i'l i;i
betwoi'ii tlio Atlantic Oroait ami ^Taiiitoba, and the con-
noctiniis with the Uniti-d Statos lines.
This map, however, I'liils to show all the y)r()joeto(l
lint»s, iuid it is nece.ssarv to ex])l;un that the rapid develnp-
nienl of the North-West has sf^inndated an etloit on the
]iart of the American coinpan.e'- to secnre the antici-
]y,\U'd ]>rotits hy visitors from the west alont^ the south
shore of Lake Superior ; whilst (Canada is hiiildintj her lines
aloiiif the north shore of the sanu' lake, and jtreparim^ to
ta]» the American system at the Sault St. Marie, on Lake
Sn]terinr, ami thence thronjj[h Ontario to connect with
the Si. Lawrence navi^Mtion or the Atlantic lines,
II is necessary to ^rasp this idea to realise the yro-
sent stru'julc in railway eonstructi(»n hetwien the I'liitcil
States ao'l ('aiiada foi- the tratlic of the North-West, as
wcjl as for transcontinental transitoit. I'lach is strivini,'
to its utmost to utilise its ueo^raphical jtositiou, ami id
take aihanla'ic of hdili land and watei- I'outcs.
The railway is a com]it'titor with the waterway, hut
each has special ail\ aiilai^cs. As a rule the one is a suj)-
plement to tlie (ither, and the iticreased facilities for the
trans]iort of passengers and mails by the former, and of
ju'ttduce and heavy nu'ndiandise by the hitler, iuduce an
increase of business whieh benetits hoih.
Canaila has ju>t com|ileied an e.\tensi\(' systi'Ui of
iidand na\i;^ation by eanals. as adjniicts to her rivers and
lakes, and she is imw busily enua^ed in makiii'j her rail-
way sy-^teiu eipiall\- (lUiijilete. The siuall icturns of
some of the I'ailways already constructeil miuht (H^cour-
au'e any fnrtlier extension, excejit on the luain routes of
ira\el ; liut tlie incidental advantaj^'es tt) aui'iculture ami
eonunerce in the o|ieinn'.r and settlement of the country,
and the ant icijuitions of future tratlic, fully justify the
course adopted.
As has been fullv established in the I'nited States,
iJi
Il
t f
THE CHEAT WESTERN AND (iHAND TUUNK UA[LWAY. 515
tilt' railway is the )»ioiu'er to the settler, and introduces
civilisation to the wilderness.
The followinjjj list of some of the first railways, in tlie
order of their construction, is here ffiven.
1. The Gn'(d Western lid ill i'<iy (eonimeneed in 1853).
— This line was built to connect the New York (,'entral
llailroad with the MicliiuMii and Illinois lii>es rver Cana-
dian soil, and has always much sought after the through
tratlic from t'liiciigo to New Yoj'k.
The (ireat Western connects at Detroit with the
Michigan lines, and has magnificent ferry steamers there
which carry a whole train at a time across tlie river. It
connects with the Xew York Central at Clifton, by means
(if a sus])ensi()u railway bridge across the Niagara — a
structure which is as gix'iit a triunij»h of engineering art
as the Yictoria Ihidge itsilf. It connects with the (irand
Trunk, ]>rinci)ially by means of a liranch from Hamilton to
Toriiuto, also by a branch from llarrisburg, through Gait,
toCuelph. Another imjtortant branch runs fiom Komoka
td Suiiiia, on Lake llurt)n, when' and at HamiltdU the
(■oni]>any owns line grain st(»res and elevators. A short
line has also bei'n o))ened to the oil regions at Ti'trolia.
2. TItr (i'ri(/ii/ Tninh Ji'fn'linn/ (commenciMl in 185G).
— If the Creat Western was originally built to carry
Western trallic to the Atlantic at New York, the (Irand
Trunk Railway was built for th(> o]»i»osite, purpose of
ctirrying it as iar as jiossible through Canaila.and deliver-
ing it at the seaboard at ^baitreal, C^hiebec, Tortland, or
if necessary, even IVjstim. The acconnnodation and de-
vcldpnient of the local tratlic of Canada was also a lead-
iiii; idea of the ]irojectors of this line.
Tlu^ fusion of these lines into one great company has
jiNt hccn etfccted, and great results are contidt'utly anti-
eipateil; but it is much to be regretted that at the building
of the (Irand Trunk the (Jreat Western was not amal-
li|
•,■ 1
I!
i I
r
•Csi >
I "
Ws
51G
COMrENDIUM OF GKO(iHAI'HY AND TRAVEL.
i
w
n
: 1
j^iunaU'd witli it as w;us at lirst iiitciidtMl, and luado ils
western sect ion. 'I'lie niisundiTstandin^ wlii<'li then oc-
curred lias liad p'ievous consec^uences; the railways whiih
should have heeii friends have always been rivals, to tln'
detriment of their sharehohU'rs, and thus ultiniattdy to tliut
of the dominion as well. The (ii-and Trunk Ilailway owns
a hnuu'h from Detroit to Tort Huron, opjxjsite Sarnia, so
that it competes at Detroit with other lines for the trallic
of the "West. It has tine ferry steamere at Sarnia, and an
unbroken line from this place to (^)u(d)ec on the St. J^aw-
rence, and to Tortland on the Atlantic. The line crosses
the St. Lawrence at M<uitreal by means of the Yictoriii
Jh'id^fe, and bifurcates at Jlichmond. The (Jrand Trunk
ha.s reci'Utly acijuired control over the Uull'alo and Lake
Huron L'ailway, from (loderich to JWillalo, when; it has
ferryboats connecting,' M'ith the Xew York railways. Also
over the Montreal and Chain])lain Jfailway, which j^ives it
an alternative routes to IJoston and New Voi'k. It has
branches from St. Mary's to London, and from Arthaluiskii
to I)(iucct"s Landin<^', oj)posite Thrt-e Rivers.
',\. The London and Port HtunUif JiaUway. — This line
Wius built to all'ord to the City of London, and the rich
ai;ricullural country around it, an outlet to Lake Erie.
Lrom Port Stanley, its lake terminus, IWillalo, ('levelaml,
Krie, Dunkii'k, etc., are easily accessible.
4. The Wdldiid Jixiiir'tj/. — The Wclland K'ailway is
one of a class of railways ])eculiar to Canada, viz. i^raiii
])ortaLre roads, wliieh are called for in coiisc(|ucnce of tlh-
brt'ak in laki; navii,Mtion caused by the Nia;4ara Falls.
'J'lii' llnu. W. H. Meirilt's name will always be assuciatcl
with the Wtdland Jfailway. Aflt-r having' brought ahuiu
the construction of tin,' Welland Canal, to ])ass vessels
between Lakes Erie and Ontario, he pi'icci\ (m| that llie
car^'oes of vessels too lar^'e to <:o through the canal woiiU
call for railway accommodation, whi<;h would l)e all the
'^*13^TJ'-JS,»«Q»«»I^'^i^
THE EASTERN AND NORTH EKN RAILWAYS.
517
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moro ufioil, hoeaiiso jrrjiin is Lonofitcd 1)V hoiiicj nired in
tnmsfeniii^f it by inciins of elevators from the liold of a
vessel to the railway, and a^^ain to another vessel. This
tnillic is what the AVelland l{ailway was dcsiLjned to do.
The Niaf^ara and Krie llailway, from lUill'alo to Niagara, is
iiiiother of the same cla.ss. The Hamilton and Port Dover
Railway is another; so is the Xorthern Kailwiiv ; and so,
[ii a measure, is the Sarnia Imuieh of the (ireat Western.
r>. Thf Nora Scotia Jiai/tmi/ extends from Halifax to
rictou, on the (iulf of St. Lawrence, 145 miles, with a
branch line from JIalifax to "Windsor, on the Uay of
!Mine3.
G. The Xcw BrunsiLiick and Canad(( Ilailvny extends
from St. Andrews on the sea-cojist to Richmond, 88
miles, with hranch lines to St. Ste])hen, AVoodstock,
and Iloulton.
7. 2'lic European and XoriJt American liniJiray con-
nects St. John on the Ikiy of Fundy with Shediac on the
tlidf of St. Lawrence.
8. The Western Extension is a branch of this railway
westward tiom St. dohn to the Maine boundary, 1>0
miles in len^fth. This line is now conijileted on the
Vmerican side of the boundary to llanyor, ]\Iaine, .i^ivinj^
I throu,i;h line from the United States railways to thosi'
(if llie maiitime ])rovinces,
9. The Xorthern lUdhctoj was built to enable the
tratlic of the ujiper lakes to ])ass I'rom Lake Huron to
Lake Ontario by railway finm ( oUin^jwood to 1'oronto,
ami vice versii ; also to afford an outlet to the front for
the country throui^h which the road runs. To secure
the "Western trallic it heavily sulisidised steand)oats to
uiul fmm Lake Michigan jiorts, and so invtdved itself in
ptrnniiiry ditliculties ; but recently, under the able maii-
ai^'iMuent of tlu^ late Mr. Cundierland, who si'dulously
euUivated the local trallic, it has retrieved its position.
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COMl'KNDIUM OF (JKiXJUAI'lIY AND TUAVKL.
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10. 77/'' Citnnthi Souf/irrn liailwai/ extoiids from tlu>
Niiis^iira IJiver at Fort Erie to Aniliorstbur;^', on tlu; De-
troit River, and Mooni on tlio St. Clair llivcr. Tli", dis-
tanco to Amlicr.stburg is 229 ndle.s, and tlic l)rancli line
to Moort^ ()0 mile.s. It connects with tlio MicluL^iui
railwavH on tlu> west, and the New York tm th*; east, and
is shorti^r hy some 40 nuh's than any othtT route lioiu
liullido to ( 'hica|j;o.
1 1. T/tr Qnehcr, Mmifnal, Oitmirt, tinil Oiridaitnl
Rdiliray^ tVoni Quebo(3 to Montreal, by the north shore of
the St. J.awri'iice, and theuce along the north shore m'
the Ottawa River to Hull.
To this necessarily inijKM'fect list of existing lines miulii
be added a larger innni)er of ]»rojected railways, of gnat
importiince to tlije country, some of which are now under
constiaiction, but a want of S]>ace oblige-' us to contiiu'
our descri}»tiou to the railways which constitute the niaiu
trunk lines and through routes.
12. 'I'he Int(!i'coloidal road is a continuous line be-
tween Quebec and Halifax, following the smith short; nt
tiie St. Lawrence a short distance below Kiniouski, and
thence crossing N(!W IJrunswick to the Nova Seoliaii
peninsula iis rliown in the j)receding map.
1 )). Thr Ciinadian Pdcifw Jlaihi'dii now to be moii-
tioneii will add immensely t(j tlu; railway mileage of the
country.
J'y this railway it is intemlcd to form a conntM'tinii
with the iiresent svstem of railways, in the Ottawa
N'alley, passing westward along the north shore of Luke
Sujierior, reaching and crossing the Trovinct! of Manitolia,
th(!n Hweejiing over the great Saskat'-hcwan plain, gain-
ing the passes of the llocky Mountains, crossing Ih'itisii
Columbia, and landing on the shores of the I'acilic Ocean
at Burrard Inlet.
This railway, with its branches, may bo consiilered
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THE CANADIAN rACIFIC ItAILWAY.
519
as tlie jJTcat colonisation road of Canada, as well as one
uf the most important In'uhways across the continent.
Altliout^li it was early foreseen that the extension of
tlie Canadian jurisdiction over the vast territories occii-
])icd by the Hudson IJay Com])any would enforce the
construction of a transcontinental railway, it was not
until 1871, when Jiritish Cohunhia became a member of
the Canadian Confederacy, that the great undertaking
was determined n])on.
A survey was then commenced by the Covernment,
and has been continued to the ju-esent time. This has
involved the ex]>loration of 4(),000 miles (of which
11,500 liave been measured), the ex}>enditure of seven
years of time, $3,000,000 of money, and the loss of some
thirty-four lives. The estimated cost of the entire work
nuities from 100 to 120 millions of ilollars.
iietween Lake Superior and the Kocky Mountains the
line will Ibrm an outlet to a territorv estimated to contain
1 (iO millit)ns of acres of land available for farming ])ur{)oses,
niie half of which is arable ; a great ])art of this 80,000,000
acres is not exceeded in fertility by any part of the world.
In 1878 the CJovernment, having taken advantage uf
the reviving commercial i»ros})erity of the times, and the
confidence of the i)eo]tle in what is known as Canada's
"national })oliev," made a contract with an enterprising
and strong syndicate of European and Canadian caj»italists,
to build this missing link in the railway line between tlk
two oeeans on Ih'itish territory. 'This contract is under
the l)ominion Act, ca]). 1, 44 Victoria, 1881.
The route is indicate<l on the accom])anying map, to
M'hich reference is maile ; under the clause, however, which
empowers the com}>any to vary the direction between the
t'.Ktreme jjoints, subject to the ai)]>roval of tlu' Governor
ill council, considerable variation from the course indi-
cated will probably be -made.
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COMPEXIUl'M OF GEOCKAPHY AND TRAVKL.
The lint' is cliisscd under four sections.
The Eastern extends from tlie terminus of the Canada
Central Kaihvav, near the I'ast end of Lid<e Ni])issin<'
westward towards the head of Lake Superior, about 050
miles.
The Lal<e Superior section, from Lake Superior to
Selkirk on the lied River, ahout 40() miles.
The Central, from Selkirk, in tlu; ])rovince of ^fanitolia,
to Kandoops on the wi'stern slope of the JJocky Moun-
tains, ahout 1350 miles.
The Western, from Kandoops to Port Moody on
Ihiriard lidct, ahout 'l\'l miles.
The entire lenj^fth of the line, from Lake Xijiissiii^ to
I'ort ^L«»dy on the I'acitic Ocean, will he aliout LH»L'0
miles. The company's section i.s ahout 10.")- miles. Tiie
renuiinder is to he completed hy the (}ovt'rnmenl.
Acc<»rdin^ to the terms of tlu; contract, the entire
lino is to Ite comjticted iiy 1st May 180 1,' while tlu'
(iovernmcnt undertake to complete the western section
hv the i'.dlh June 188.").
It is as well to note the connections this railway is
forming to the cast oi Lake \ipissin,u'.
The t "anada Central follows the south shore of tli(!
Ottawa from Lake Kipissinu, and conntcts, near the
capital, with tlui " Cihudiec, ^lontreal, Ottawa, and Occi-
dental Lailway," which contimu's to t^)uel)ec and hranclics
tf) ^^>ntreal. Here the St. Lawrence liiver has to ])e
crossed.
'The St. Lawrence Liver constitutes a .serious harrier
in the railway route hetween tin; east and west. It is
overcome in the Nia^^ara liiver at Lulfalo, and a^^ain at
Xia^'ara, by sus])ension bi'id^es. These lirid^^es afford a
connection in the western part of Canada with the Ameri-
^ The prtsiilciit (»f tilt' com puny has ncciitly stalt'il that the whole
road will be coiuitluteil in live ye.ir.s inhUail ul Un.
TIIK HUDSON 15AV UAILWAY,
521
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ran systom of railways. In Eastern Canada tlie only
t'oniu'ction is by the Vi.'toria Uridine, uikUt the control ot*
tlie (Irand Trunk Kailway Company. In order to allord
t'artlu'r railway facilities, a hridiic; is ])rojected across the
St. LawriMice at Morrislairi,' in coniu'ction with tlie Ottawa,
Wadinn'ton, and New York liailway, and a fuither con-
iK'clion, by a nt!W bridj^e, across the St. Lawrence; at the
I.acliine Kajiids just aliove ]\rontreal, which is to be
nminienced ininu!(Uately by the "Atlantic and North-
western liailway Company," a stronj^ oruMiiisation inti-
mately allied to the Canadian I'acilie JJailway in its
iiiana,i,H'ment and interests. 'J'his "North-Western liail-
way" is now en;j;a^ed in viiforously completing its surveys
and ]»reliminary arrangements to open a free connection
lor the Canadian Tacitic liailway south of the St. Law-
reiice, and unitt; with the Atlantic system of railways
iiiih']iendently of the CJrand Trunk liailway and the
Victoria bridge.
1-1. The next railway to be mentioned is that ]tro-
]i(ised to be built, and now under survey, between 11 ud-
Miii ]'>ay and AVinnipeg, thereby opening a new route
from Kurope to the interior of North America, and
sh(»rtening the distance, as com))ared with tiie CJnebec
imite, about loOO miles, or, rid New York, aljout 2000
miles. This scheme has taken even the Canadians by
surjtrise.
AVhy, it may be asked, has this route remained so
Iniig unused and ignored i The answer is, For tlie same
reasons which have until now kept the fertile lands of
lilt' North-West unsettled and imperfectly known. The
lludsou Hay Com])any have, until lately, liekl the whole
I'f the North-West as a hunting ground for its Indians,
iiiul the interest of that Company lay in discouraging
settlement or intrusion on its domain. As a consequence,
ii has been the universal belief that the territory was
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sterile and the climate arctic in i(s character: these are
now pmvi'tl to he delusions. The naviu;ati(in of Hudson
I'ay has hitlicrto hccn eonlincd to the re^undar traders i»f
the Hudson Uay ('onii)any, and to the American whalers,
lioiii i)t" M JKirn had a stroni,' interest in maunifyiuji; its
dauLjers. Jts o])eninj^ to commerce could not have })re-
ceded the settlement (if tlie country , hut there are excel-
lent reasons for In-lii'vinj.^ it entirely ]»racticahlc no\..
In the s])rin,u of 18S(l llu; I'arlianient of Canada
^'ranted a very lilteral and com]»rehensivc chart t {4',\
Vict. cap. 57) to the Nelson Valley IJaihvay and Trans-
])ortation Con ''any, which was formed for tiie ])jr|)()sc of
opening,' up the Hudson Uay route. This charter ^'ives
the com})any ]iower to construct a railway from ( hurchill
Harhour to the foot of Lake AVinnipei;, with a hrancli or
continuation south-wostwanl to connect with the v'anadiuii
I'acitic IJailway ; also ])owc,r to construct telcL;ra])h lines
and connn<m roads, to run steamers on the lakes and
rivers and ships on the si-a, together with \aii(ms other
jtrivile^es. The whole length of the line will he ahuiit
o50 miles.
A glance at the aeeom]>anying ma)) will show that
the route from hiverj)0(d, hy way of Hudson Uay, is hy
lar the shortest one to the Xorth-AVesl Territories of
Canada. Churchill IlarlMuir is situated near the centre
of the North American contim-nt, and yet, owing to the
convergence of the meridians towards the north, it is
actually nearer to Liverpool than eitlier "Montreal or Xew
York. The distance from Churchill Harhour to Liver-
]){)o\, vid Hu<lson Strait, is ahout 21>2t) miles; from Mon-
treal, rid Ca])e llace, it is 2*J0O, and fror,i Nt'W York,
rid Ca])e Clear, ;'.04O miles, .showing (>4 miles in hivour
of Churchill as comjiared with Montreal, and 114 miles
as comjiared with New York.
The fact of a seaport existing in the very heart of tln'
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522
ntMi'KNiiUM OF (;KO(;RAniY and tijavkl.
I
sterile niid tlu; cliinato arctir in its cliaraotcr : tlieso aro
iiKW provi'il to be delusions. The iiaviLjiition of lludsun
I'iiy has hithertc) been eontineil to the regular tradeis of
the Hudson I Jay Conipany, and to tlie American \v]iah'i-s,
both of whom had a stroni,' interest in magnify Imlj its
dangers. Jts ojH'nin^ to comnieri'e eould n(»t have ])re-
ceded the settlement of the country, but there are .'xeel-
Knt reasons for believinjj; it entirely ])raetieable no\>.
In the spring of ISSO tlu; Parliament of Canada
jjjrantetl a vny libi-ial and eom]»rehensive cliart t (4l?
Viet. eap. 57) to the Nelson Valh'y Ifailway and Trans-
portation C'on'"any, M'hieh was formed f<tr tlie ])Ui'pose of
o]>enin^ \\\) tin Hudson I5ay route. This chart'^r ^'ives
the comj)any jiower to construct a railway from ( hurcliill
Harbour to the foot of Lake AV^innijJeL,', with a branch or
continuation south-westward to connect with tlu; V'anaiHan
I'acitic Kaihvay ; also ]>(»wer to construct tele,i;ra])h lines
and common roads, to run steamers on the lakes and
rivers and ships on the sea, to^u^ether with various othei'
jirivilem'S. The whole length of the line will be uhuiit
850 miles.
A glance at the accomjianying maj> will show that
the route from biverjiooj, by way of Hudson IJay, is by
iar the shortest one to t!ie North-West Territories of
Canada. Churchill Harbour is situated near the centre
of the North Amci'icau continent, and yet, owing to the
convergence of tlu^ meridians towards the north, it is
actually nearer to LiveriH)ol than either Moritreal or Xew
York. The distance from Chunhill Harbour to biver-
]HKi\, vid Hudson Strait, is about 292tJ miles; from Abm-
treal, rid Cajte llace, it is 21100, and frora New York,
rid Ca])e Clear, ;504O miles, showing i'A ndles in favour
of Churchill as comi)ared with Montreal, and 114 miles
as com])ared M-ith New York.
The fact of a seaport existing in the very heart of the
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u:E<.)wiml Stnni'oTHl.or) CbavLufj Cross.
NEW ROUTE TO THE NORTH-WEST.
523
continent, more than 1500 miles nearer than Quebec to
the centre of the Nortli-We-st Territory, has scarcely l)e<,Min
to be realised by the public ; yet its importance can hardly
bo overrated. Churchill Harbour is only 400 miles
from the edge of the greatest wheat-field in the world, or
not so far as from Quebec to Toronto. The lands of the
North-West capable of supporting an agricultural popu-
lation exceed 200,000,000 cf acres. An available sea-
port which will, as it were, bring this enormous tract so
much nearer the markets of the world, may become the
means of developing it in a way which cannot be accom-
phshed by long railway lines.
The distance from the central part of the agricultural
lands of tlie North-West Territories, say from a point
between the North Saskatchewan and the Peace River to
Churchill Harbour, is about the same as to the city of
Winnipeg. Now, as the sea voyage from the former to
Liverpool is rather shorter than from Montreal to Liver-
pool, it follows that, by adopting the Hudson Bay route,
the whole distance from Winnipeg to Montreal is saved.
By way of Lake Superior this amounts to 1291 miles,
aud by way of Chicago to 1698 miles.
For immigrants to the Canadian North-West this
route presents advantages offered by no other. To say
notliing of the saving in time and money, it is really the
most independent route to these territories which Canada
possesses. The original colonists and traders of Manitoba
came this way, and it has been found throughout America
that the course of trade and travel pointed ovit by nature,
and first adopted by the pioneers, is sure to become event-
ually the great highway of the region.
By the proposed route immigrants from Europe may
reach their destination on the Saskatchewan or Peace
River almost as soon and as cheaply as they could reach
Western Ontario vid Quebec, and much more cheaply and
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524
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
expeditiously than they could arrive in the Western States
vid New York.
2. Postal Systems.
The postal system of Canada extends to every village
and hamlet in the land, no matter how remote from the
centres of business and population. The rate of postage
is 3 cents per half ounce prepaid. The number of letters
carried in a year between Canada and the United King-
dom is oxev two millions ; newspapers and books number
about the same. The ocean postage is 5 cents (2 !■,(].
sterling) per half ounce prepaid. The average passage
of the mail steamers is about nine days. I'ostal cards
can be sent between Great Britain and Canada for 2
cents (Id. sterling).
Canada was admitted into the International Postal
Union on the 1st July 1878.
The money -order system in operation is similar to
that of England. The money -order offices in Canada
issue orders payable at money-order offices in the United
Kingdom, and vice versd, for any amount up to ten
pounds sterling, and grant as many orders under and up
to that sum as the applicant may require.
The offices in connection with the Post Office at
which deposits may be made number 294. The amount
standing to the credit of depositors on 30th June 1881
was $6,208,226.77. This represents part of the savings
of the working classes, belonging, as it does, chieHy to
mechanics and working servants. AVhile on deposit the
money bears interest at the rate of four per cent per
annum, and it can be withdrawn at any time without
notice.
3. Tclegraplis.
The older provinces of Canada are served chiefly by
THE DOMINION TELEGRAPHS.
525
two Canadian companies, the larger of which, the Mon-
treal Telegraph Company, was tlie first to introduce into
America the system of a uniform rate irrespective of
distance, and was also the first telegTaph company organ-
ised in Canada, It commenced operations in 1847 with
540 miles of wire and $60,000 capital. It has now
21,568 miles of wire, 1674 offices for the transmission
of messages, and a capital of $2,000,000.
The Dominion Telegraph Company has 13,051 miles
of wire, and 600 offices for the transmission of messages.
The Western Union and Anglo-American own respec-
tively 5100 and 200 miles of wire, and 147 and 25
offices. The telegraph system in British Columbia is
now owned and worked hy the Dominion Government.
It embraces 676-^ miles of wire, 25 stations, and 26
miles of cable. The cost of maintaining this system is
nearly $10,000 in excess of the revenue derived from it.
In Manitoba and the North-West there are about 1200
miles of wire and 30 offices, and the line is being rapidly
built westward to connect with the British Columbia
system. 45,000 miles of wire and 2550 ofiices are
given as the totals of the telegraph systems in operation
in Cauada.
The ])rogress of telegraphy in Canada has thus been
rapid. With it is associated the telephone, which is
used in the larger cities.
The connection of the submarine witli the overland
telegrapli systems may be considered comjdete, and the
highly ])erfected Clulf of St. Lawrence telegra])li and
electric light stations recently constructed will make this
main gate of the Atlantic as easy to traverse as an inland
canal. The indefatigable friend of the sailor, tiie Hon.
Pierre Fortin, is also urging on the CJovernment tlie use
of the heaviest guns as substitutes for fog-signals. There
can be no doubt that the damper which has hitherto attended
526
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
the navigation of the Gulf and River St. Lawrence will
be in large measure averted by the telegraphic system
which now connects the islands with the mainland.
"It has been estimated that $1,500,000 are paid
annually as premiums for insurance on vessels and their
cargoes entering and leaving the St. Lawrence. With the
improved submarine telegraphic system it will be safe to
say that the rate of insurance will be reduced at least 2 Z
per cent. Such being the case, a saving of $375,000
will in one year be effected, to say nothing of the many
other advantages which will follow. Although the cost
of construction and the future maintenance of the system
must be borne by the Dominion Government, the benefits
will be shared by the shipping of the world.
"Another and very important feature of Dr. Fortin's
telegraphic system is its application to the interests of
the fisheries. Along the southern shore of the St. Law-
rence, between Cap de Chatte and Paspebiac, there will
be thirty fishing stations established, each being con-
nected with the coast telegraph line of the Montreal
Telegraph Company. It will be the duty of the officer
in charge of the station to collect each day information
regarding the state of the fisheries, whether there appears
to be any fish in the neigb.bourhood of his station,
whether the supply of bait is good or poor, the state of
the weather, and in fact all information that would be
of service to those employed in the fisheries. This in-
formation he telegraphs at ten the next morning to the
other twenty-nine stations." ^
^ Montreal Gazette.
MANUFACTURES.
CHAPTER X.
527
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MANUFACTUKES.
Trade, Commerce, etc.
TiTE manufactures of Canada are but in tlicir infancy,
and are limited by the comparatively small population
of the country. Nevertheless, as shown by the census
returns of 1871, they then gave employment to 187,942
people, and represented a gross value of manufactured
articles of $221,617,773.
The population is increasing rapidly ; foreign markets
are being opened in the West Indies and Brazil, and a
healthy and rapid progress is being made in several im-
portant branches.
A large business is being established in the manu-
facture of beetroot sugar and in the preparation of fertil-
isers from native apatite. These industries are being
fostered chiefly in the Province of Quebec by French
capital, and it is anticipated that trade with France will
follow in the export of these products.
Our manufactures may be classed as products from
cereals, timber, fish, oils, minerals, metals, coal, clays,
building stone, phosphates, gypsum, petroleum, woollen
fabrics, cotton goods, hemp and flax products, hides and
leather, dairy products, as butter and cheese, prepared
meats of cattle, sheep, and pigs, preserved and canned
fish, lobsters, oysters, and fruits, not omitting ship-
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
building and agricultural implements, carriages, slei^lis,
fur goods, hats, caps, boots and shoes, as well as ex-
plosive materials for blasting, and all railway and tele-
graph materials ; the whole constituting a list which
comprises all the manufactures of older countries, and
promises to grow to vast proportions under the energy
and ingenuity of the people, encouraged by the pros-
perity of the country and the fostering care of the
Government.
Theorists discuss the question of free trade and pro-
tection, but the national policy of Canada is to raise
a revenue to maintain the credit of the country, to
prosecute its public works, to encourage manufactures
and the employment of the industrial classes, and to
levy the taxes in a manner which will be as generally
and evenly distributed as possible over the entire
population.
Under this system Canadian manufactures are daily
and rapidly increasing, and capital and population are
being attracted to the country. In this prosperity of
the industrial classes the agriculturist in common with
other classes shares ; and the free trade theory, how-
ever true when applied to the whole world, is ap-
parently inapplicable when applied to sections of it
isolated by nature and not admitted into a general
partnership.
Fisheries, — From the banks of Newfoundland and
the Atlantic provinces over the Gulf of the St. Lawrence,
along the coasts of Labrador and Hudson Bay, around
the shores of the three great oceans down to Vancouver,
through innumerable straits, seas, and inlets, thickly
studded with islands and archipelagoes on the grandest
scale, Canada possesses thousands of miles of sea -coast
swarming with fishes. Her inland fisheries too are of
great value. Apart from the lakes on the United States
THE FISHERIES.
529
boundary, all the larger lakes of the continent are in
Canadian territory, as well as innumerable rivers abound-
ing in salmon.
By the treaty of 1818 the United States has the
vvjht to take fish on some 380 miles of the south and
west coasts of Newfoundland, from the Eameau Islands
on the south to Quirpon Islands on the north ; on the
shores of the Magdalen Islands (in the Gulf of St, Law-
rence), which have 100 geographical miles of coast, and
indefinitely along the shores of Labrador. But the treaty
gives her no such rights on the shores of Quebec, Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick, Cape Breton, or Prince Edward
Island. The cession to the United States of the right
to fish on these coasts also for ten years, from 1st June
1874, is made in the Treaty of Washington, July 1871.^
This treaty allows Canadians, down to latitude 39° on the
coast of the United States, the same rights as Canada
grants to the fishermen of the States ; and to compensate
us for the superiority of the privileges ceded, $5,000,000
has been awarded to Canada.
The total value of the exports of fish and oils from
the Dominion in the year 1879 amounted to $7,072,203.
A supplementary report issued by the Department of
Marine and Fisheries contains some interesting statistics
of the shipping of Canada. From it we learn that the
total number of vessels remaining on the registry books
of the Dominion on the 31st of December 1880, includ-
ing old and new vessels, sailing vessels, steamers, and
barges, was 7377, measuring 1,311,218 tons register
tonnage, being a decrease of 94 vessels and 20,876 tons
register as compared with 1879. The number of steamers
on the registry books on the same date was 918, with a
gross tonnage of 190,159 tons and a net tonnage of
^ Shoulil cither party ilcsiro to terminate tliis agreement, two years'
notice must be given after the exjjiry of the tun years.
2 M
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530
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
120,141 tons. Assuming tlie average value to be .$30
per ton, the value of the registered tonnage of Canada on
the 31st December 1880 would be $39,336,540, or
£7,809,308 sterling.
From a statement compiled from the Repertoire GMnd
for 1880 and 1881, it appears that the tonnage upon the
registry" books of the British Empire, including Canada
and the other colonies, was 8,259,748 tons register. The
United States of America comes next with a tonnage of
2,438,912 tons, followed by Norway with a tonnage of
1,420,788. Canada stands next with a tonnage of
1,311,218 tons, followed by Germany with a tonnage of
1,157,178 tons. From this statement it appears that
Canada is fourth on the list of the ship-owning countries
of the world ; but these figures do not include the tonnage
of inland sailing vessels or of steamers under 100 tons
register, except in the case of Canada. The Canadian
figures include registered vessels of every description and
registered steamers of every tonnage.
This report contains also much interesting informa-
tion in relation to the value of the fisheries of Canada.
The kinds of fish which abound most largely in Canadian
waters can be ascertained by the following table for the
year 1880, when the yield was one of the largest re-
corded : —
Cod
$4,.534,009
Mackerel .
2/ -8,966
Salmon
ti;55,427
Herrings .
1,511,012
Haddock .
406,075
Lobsters . ,
2,143,312
Whitefish .
203,0i8
Trout
134,897
Notwithstanding the large dimensions which tliis in-
dustry has already assumed, as shown by the foregoing
figures, it may safely be predicted that when the prolific
"0C3^
breedii
fr I
THE FISHERIES.
531
lan
the
re-
L2
(5
10.
IS in-
going
rolifio
fishing ground of Hudson Bay and of the Arctic and
Tacific coasts are entered upon, these figures will soon be
doubled. At the mouth of the Mackenzie Kiver and
along the 7 0th degree of north latitude, the Americans
many years ago stated that they had taken in one season
$8,000,000 to $10,000,000 worth offish.
The codfish is obtained chiefly in Nova Scotia, and
in the Gulf within the Province of Quebec ; mackerel and
haddock are obtained most largely in Nova Scotia, herrings
in New Brunswick, lobsters in New Brunswick, Prince
Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, salmon in British
Columbia, and trout and whitefish in Ontario. The
number of men employed in 1880 and the number and
value of vessels and boats were as follows : —
Vessels.
Men. No. Dols.
57,421 1,181 1,814,688
Boats.
No. Dols.
23,848 708,563
Averaging a family at five persons, it would appear that
287,105 persons, or one-fifteenth of the population, are
directly sustained by fishing, and that the capital em-
ployed in the industry, irrespective of tackle, amounts to
82,523,000. It is not probable, however, that all those
engaged in fishing are heads of families, inasmuch as the
aggregate value of the catch represents an earning of
only $250 per annum for each engaged, — an amount too
small to maintain a family, although sufficient to afford
a comfortable living in cases where two or more of a
family prosecute the industry. There are twelve fish
hatcheries in the Dominion, the expense of maintaining
which was, in 1879-80, 829,109.61. From these breed-
ing establishments there were distributed, in the spring of
1880, 21,520,600 young fish, of which 14,300,000
were white fish, and 0,300,600 salmon, and last fall
there were deposited in the hatching troughs of these
breeding establishments 26,212,000 vivified eggs, of
r^ i
" I
!:||| ii
m
532
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
"f^
(■■ !'■■
'i 'i
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which 18,000,000 were white-fish, and 8,084,000 sahnon
and salmon trout. The wliole expense of the fishery
department of Canada was $86,162.55 in 1880, and
from this amount has to be deducted collections amount-
ing to $19,423,16, leaving the net expenditure only
$66,739.39, a remarkably small outlay considering the
importance of the industry.
Dairy products form an important item in the exports
of the Dominion, the aggregate annual value of butter
and cheese shipped averaging over 10 per cent of the
whole value of domestic exports. The value of these
articles exported during the fiscal year 1878-9 was
$5,8 92,1 97, being a decrease of about half a million dollars
from the previous year, and a million dollars less than
1876-7, which is the largest year, by value, on record.
The cheese trade has assumed its present proportions within
a decade. The total quantity exported during the year
1878-9 was 49,616,415 lbs., showing an increase of
10,000,000 lbs. over the previous year, and about double
the average of the years 1870-77. Cauadian cheese has
gained a high reputation, and at the International Dairy
Fair, held at New York, carried off the prize of $100 for
the best cheese made anywhere.
The principal customers of Canada for butter, in
1879, were — Great Britain, to the extent of 12,859,274
lbs.; United States, 292,852 lbs.; and Newfoundland,
1,161,508 lbs. Of cheese, in 1879, 47,160,808 lbs.
were shipped to Great Britain, and 2,311,776 lbs. to the
United States. Of eggs, the bulk of the export is to the
United States, which received from Canada in 1878-9
more than five million dozen.
Poultry-raising is only beginning to be much looked
after in Canada, probably because .poultry is so cheap.
In course of time, however, as the market extends, and
as means are found of exporting fowls, geese, and turkeys
f "
THE EXPORT OF CATTLE TO GREAT BRITAIN.
633
to England, lienneries on a large scale will be established.
The exportation has already begun.
Bee-keeping is profitably carried on in many parts of
tlie Dominion, and the late introduction of Syrian and
other foreign bees is likely to make bee culture in Canada
an important industry.
Near the large towns, market gardening is profitably
carried on. A comparatively small capital is necessary,
and with industry and perseverance, backed up by ex-
perience, a good income is assured. Like everything
else, however, none but those who have had experience
in Canada should attempt it.
These few points show that what may be termed the
smaller branches of farming are not neglected by the
Canadian husbandman. Still much remains to be done
in this respect.
The export cattle trade has made rapid strides in the
last few years. The total value of live stock exported
for year 1878-9 was $2,648,983 more than in 1874-5,
nearly the whole of which is in exports to Great Britain,
which were almost nominal in the earlier year, that trade
then being in its infancy. The bulk of the exports
were formerly to the United States and Newfoundland.
Another cause for congratulation is that, while the ex-
ports have been increasing, the imports from the United
States have been decreasing: in 1874-5 they were
$999,787, or about 50 per cent of the exports; in
1878-9 they had fallen to $441,930, or less than 10 per
cent of the exports, showing that this large increase in
the trade was supplied by home-raised cattle.
We may add that the latest returns show an extra-
ordinary increase in the production and consumption of
home industries, and the statement of the Eevenue and
Expenditure of the Dominion for the fiscal year 1880-1
gives a large surplus of revenue. Canada, like the mother
'1
! •!
I
iJJI
534
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGItAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
country, is not without a public de])t, but the pacific
purposes for which it has been incurred cannot fail
ultimately to promote the prosperity of the country. The
debt is not, says Sir Alexander Gait, as is the case in
every other country, excepting always the various Britisli
colonies, the melancholy record of blood and treasure
squandered in foreign or intestine wars ; but, on the
other hand, registers the peaceful progress of a people
conscious of the vast resources of their country, and
earnestly devoting themselves to its development.
B:
:i ■ ..'!
THE PEOPLE.
535
CHAPTER XI.
THE PEOPLE.
1. Mimhers.
By the Census Act, 42 Vict. cap. 21, a decennial census
is taken in Canada. Under the last one in 1 8 8 1 , we find
the population of the older provinces to be as follows : —
Dominion of Canada, ordinary population
Indian population — Census, 1871 .
Newfoundland — Census, 1874
4,324,810
102,3r)8
161,374
The increase under the French regime between 1605
and 17C0 was slow, as shown in the following table.
Since then there has been a steady and fair increase in
spite of many hindrances, the greatest being a want of
knowledge of the geography, climate, and resources of the
country. At last a new era appears to have dawned,
and it is reasonable to expect that there will be hence-
forth a large influx of population into Canada.
The following table shows the progress from the first
settlement in 1605 to the present time, 1881 : —
In 1605, Port Royal had a population of
1608, New France (Quebec)
• •
44
.
28
1613, St. John's (Newfoundland) .
» ,
62
1701, Acadia . . . .
, ,
1,134
1698, Newfoundland, English
. 1,600
French
466
1,966
1706, New France . . . .
• •
16,417
1739, „ . . . .
• •
42,701
1741, Newfoundland, English
• ■
6000
1749, Acadia
. 13,000
Cape Breton . . . .
. 1,000
New Brunswick . .
. 1,000
Prince Edward Island
. 1,000
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
Mk>i
In 1700, New Franro .
1702, Nova Scotia, English
1790, Canada
18(il,
1871,
1881,
70,000
8,104
>»
78,104
1<31,;311
3,0<)li,5»il
3,485,7tn
4,271,424
The population of the four provinces forming the
Dominion at the Census of 1871 consisted, to the
extent of more than four-fifths, of natives of ISritish
Nortli America. These numbered 2,900,531, of whom
1,138,794 were natives of Ontario, 1,147,664 of Quebec,
360,832 of Nova Scotia, 245,068 of New IJrunswick,
405 of IManitoba and British Columl)ia, and 7768 natives
of Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. Of alien
born inhabitants the most numerous at the Census of 1871
were 210,451 natives of Ireland, 144,999 of England
and Wales, 121,074 of Scotland, 64,447 natives of the
United States, and 24,162 natives of Germany.
The following table shows the growth of the five
older provinces during the past forty years : —
1842.
1851-62.
1800-1.
1871.
1881.
Ontario . . . 487,053
952,004
1,396,091
l,62ii,S.51
1,913,469
Quebec . . . 697,084
890,261
1,111,566
1,191,516
1,358,469
New BrunsAvick
—
193,800
252,047
288,594
321,129
Nova Scotia
—
276,854
330,857
387,800
440,585
Prince Edward Island
—
—
80,857
94,021
107,781
Increase of population in the cities of Canada —
1871.
1881.
Increase. Pei- i^t.
Montreal
107,225
140,682
33,457
31
Toronto
56,092
86,445
30,353
55i
London
15,826
19,763
3,937
25
Ottawa
21,545
27,417
6,872
27
Hamilton
2ti,716
35,965
9,249
34
Kingston
12,407
14,093
1,686
14
Quebec .
59,699
62,447
2,748
4i
Halifax
29,582
36,102
6,5-JO
22
St. Jolui
28,805
26,128
-2,677
-9
The increase in the past ten years has been 664,337
in the five older provinces, or 18'02 per cent against 15
per cent in 1861-71. This growth may perhaps be
thought unsatisfactory when it is compared with the
GROWTH OF THE POPULATION.
i37
inorease of 30 per cent made by the Unitod States in tlie
same period ; 1»ut it is manifestly unfair thus to compare
the two countries, since the increase in the United States,
which oives tliis hirge percentage of growth, occurred ahnost
wliolly in the Western States. Witli the (Canadian North-
West now opened for settlement, with railway comnuinica-
tion throughout that territory being ra])idly pushed to
completion, and with more active energy in promoting
emigration to that country, there can hardly be a doubt that
the decade upon which Canada has recently entered will
witness ciuite as large a percentage of growth as has been
enjoyed by the Western States in the past, or will bo made
in the future. But the percentage of increase in the five
older provinces of the Dominion is about equal to that of
the New England States of the United States, viz. 14*55
per cent against 1 5 per cent ; while Ontario shows a growth
of 3 per cent more than the New England States, and only
about 2 per cent less than that of the Middle States.
It will be noticed from the terms of the Census Act
that the census details required are very comprehensive.
Each census according to the Act shall be so taken as to
ascertain with the utmost possible accuracy, in regard
to the various territorial divisions of the country, their
population, and the classification thereof as regards age,
sex, social condition, religion, education, race, occupa-
tion, and otherwise ; the houses and other buildings
therein, and their classification as dwellings, inhabited,
uninhabited, under construction, and otherw'se; the occu-
pied land therein, and the condition thereof, as town,
village, country, cultivated, uncultivated, and otherwise ;
the produce, state, and resources of the agricultural, fish-
ing, lumbering, mining, mechanical, manufacturing, trading,
and other industries thereof; the municipal, educational,
charitable, and other institutions thereof; and whatever
other matters may be specified in the forms and instructions.
.,
Si
IS
'1
i!;^!: !IJ!
ml
538
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
!l:
( it I
i I,:
:!■ ■
I
The extent of the Dominion and the wide distribution
of popuhition add to the ordinary difliculties of census
enumeration ; still, the care taken under the system
adopted secures a near approximation to the facts, and
should there he any error it is probably on tlie side of an
under estimate in the number of the population.
It is useless to attempt any calculations as to future
increase from the data of the past, but Canada's position
at the present time is very favourable for a large and
rapid increase, in consequence of the forced exodus of the
European nations from overcrowding, and the ad^'autages
for settlement which this country affords.
Placed as we are beside the United States, it becomes
of interest to compare our position with theirs, and tlie
following figures show that the Dominion in 18G1 had a
population about equal to that which the States possessed
when they achieved their independence. In 1790 the
population of the United States was 3,929,827. The
population of the Colonies comprised in the Dominion of
Canada was, in January 1861, —
Males.
Females.
Total.
Upper Canada (now Ontario) .
725,.')7'^
670,516
1,396, Jl
Lower Canada (now Quebec) .
567, 8t
543,702
1,111,566
New Brunswick
129,948
122,009
2,52,047
Nova Scotia ....
165,584
165,273
330,857
1,588,971
1,501,590
3,090,561
To this we must add, if wo de-
sire to si)ow til? *'i]\ strength
of the British popuhition in
North America at that date :
Prince Edward Island .
40,800
39,977
80,85"
Newfoundland (1857) .
65,118
59,170
124,288
British Columbia and Van-
couver's Ishuul .
20,862
13,954
34,816
Rupert's Laml, including the
1
Ked lUver Settlement .
Total .
51,000
50,000
101,000 ;
1,766,751
1,664,691
3, '•31,522
m
ill
niYSIQUE U¥ THE rOPULATION.
539
The decenuial censuses of the United States are as
follows : —
In 1790 .
. 3,929,827
In 1840 .
. 17,069,453
1800 .
5,305,925
1850 .
. 23,191,876
1810.
. 7,239,814
ISGO.
. 31,445,0S9
18-20 ,
. 9,638,131
1870.
. 38,555,983
1830.
. 12,86G,U20
1880.
. 50,155,783
From this comparison, coupled with the great natural
increase of the population independent of i/innigration, it
may be anticipated that in two decades from now, or at
the end of the present century, Canada will have attained
a population of 7 millions; and m CO years from now,
or two generations hence, of 23 millions. The sparseness
of the present population to the square mile, compared
with the exter_^ of territory, is seen by the following
table : —
Ontario . .
Quebec ,
Kew Bru .swick
Nova Scoiia
The Dominion
15 souls
6
11
21
II
10
Princ3 Edward Island 44 isouls
Newfoundland . 3 ,,
British Oolumbia and
V. Id. . 1 to 5 sq. miles
Rupert's Land 1 to 50 sq. miles
General average
of B.N. A., 1 to the sq. mile
These figures appear almost ludicrous when we com-
pare them with the 253 souls to the square mile of
Great Britain and Ireland, the 177 of France, the 432
of Belgium, the 320 of China, etc. etc. They show us
liow much has yet to be done to fill up the vast territory
of British America.
2. Phjsiue of the People.
Harvey J. Philpot, M.D., Assistant Surgeon to Her
Majesty's Forces in the Crimea and Turkey, says in his
Guide Book to Canada (London, 1871), p. 67 —
" Canada is an exceptionally healthy country. I do
not hesitate to make the statement after seven years in
m}
540
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL.
li!
i4<
the country engaged in an extensive medical practice. Ag
a race the Canadians are fine, tall, handsome, powerful
men, well built, active, tough as pine knot, and bearded
like pards. The good food upon which they have been
brought up [with the invigorating climate], appears to
develop them to the fullest proportions of the (jcnus
homo."
Marshall, in his recent work on Canada, says — "I
am persuaded that, despite its severity, the climate of
Canada is one of tlie healthiest in the world. It is ex-
pressly fitted to develop a hardy race. For the bringing
up of a young family, it is to be preferred very decidedly
to the climate of almost all the states of the Union south
of the chain of Canadian lakes. The fact of the generally
healthy condition of the people, the splendid develop-
ment of the men, the preservation of the English type
of beauty of the women, may be taken in proof of the
excellence of the climate" (pp. 237-8).
" The Canadian, whether English, Irish, or Scotch, is
well-proportioned and vigorous, often tall, with broad
shoulders, sinewy frame, and capable of great endurance.
He is quick of resource, enterprising, sober-minded, per-
sistent, and trustworthy. The races of the British Isles
and of Norway have certainly not degenerated here"
(P- ^)- . .
There is a point worthy of special notice by the
English people, who suffer so severely from throat and
lung diseases, that the dry bracing air of Canada, and
particularly of the North-West, affoKls a greater security
against consumption and more curative results than the
balmy south. Tliis fact is being recognised by the leading
physicians of Great Britain.
As compared with the Western States, where the
bane of the country is ague, it may be stated that affuc
and bilious fevers are unknown on the prairies of Canada.
n
^p'
MILITARY POSITION AND MILITIA.
541
It does exist in some of the low parts of Ontario, but not
in Quebec or in the North-West.
The natural increase of the population is extraordinary,
particularly among the French Canadians, many families
numbering twenty, and sometimes more, children.
3. Military Position and Militia.
" The position of Canada for defence is the strongest
possible. With her north inaccessible, lier east and west
resting upon the Atlantic and Pacific, Labrador on her
left, and the mountains of Columbia — the coast range, the
Blue and Eocky Mountains — on her right, she never
could be approached, by the most powerful nations, except
from the south ; and here she has fastnesses more inac-
cessible than Scythia in her Ottawas, St. Maurices, and
Lake regions. Even admitting that these, defended by a
hardy population, could be overcome during the summer,
the winter frosts and snows would force back the enemy
and limit the invasion to half the year. When our
interior shall have been settled, the country, from its
very extent, would defy conquest.
"Let the reader run his eye over the map of the
world, and he will see that there is no country so im-
penetrable and invulnerable as Canada. Every nation of
Europe and Asia has, in turn, been ovennin — the enemy
meeting few obstacles but opposing armies ; a Northern
army marched through the Southern States ; a Southern
army penetrated the north, and was checked only by
superior force. Eussia is the only country at all resem-
bling Canada in the strength of its natural defences ; but
European Eussia is a vast plain, and Napoleon laid it
waste, against the whole force of the empire, for 700
miles from its western frontier to the ancient capital.
Winter, however, did for the liussians what their armies
:*;'•
liF'ii*;
;\
i|'
!* 1
542
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAniY AND TRAVEL.
could not do, Canada, in addition to winters of Russian
severity, is everywhere studded with barriers to an invad-
ing army, and with the strongest strategic positions for
defence."
Tlie Canadian militia cc^sists of all male British
subjects between the ages of 18 and 60 years, not
exempted or disqualified by law. These are divided into
four classes, establishing the order in which they will be
called upon to serve.
1st Class : Unmarried men, or widowers without
children, between 18 and 30 years.
2d Class : Unmarried men, or widowers without chil-
dren, between 30 and 45 years.
3d Class : All married men, or widowers with chil-
dren, between 18 and 45 years.
4tli Class : All between the ages of 45 and 60 years.
The Militia is divided into " Active " and " Reserve."
The Active consists of Volunteer, Regular, and Marine
Militia.
The Volunteer is composed of corps raised by volun-
tary enlistment.
The Regular consist of volunteers for that service, or
of balloted men.
The Marine or seamen of sailors on steam and sail-
ing craft of the Dominion,
The Reserve embraces the whole not serving in the
Active Militia for the time being.
The active force is by law fixed at 40,000 men — the
reserve at 600,000,
Provision is made for annual paid drills from 8 to 16
days of 40,000 men in addition to officers of the Reserve,
the number being regulated by the money vote of Par-
liament each year. Por the present tlie nunibex is
30,000.
The Active Militia is clothed, armed with breach-
THE MILITIA AND VOLUNTEKRS.
543
> II
loaders, and equipped ready to take the field at short
notice.
The numher called out for annual drill has ranged
from 20,000 to 40,000 and over, according to the money
voted for the purpose.
The returns of the Reserve show a force of over
700,000 men upon the rolls.
After the Fenian invasion the Volunteer force tender-
ing service was 45,040 men. In 1809 the Active force
was as follows : —
Ofllcers nnrt Men,
Cavalry
1,500
10 Field Batteries (42 guns, 441 horses)
750
Garrison Artillery ....
3,558
4 Companies Engineers
232
Naval Brigade, Halifax
233
73 Battalions Rilles and Infantry .
37,268
Total ..
43,541
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1 ' ■' ''
In 1870 the Fenians entered the Province of Quebec
at two points, and were met in both cases by Volunteers
in sufiicient force to defeat them. The men were called
out on the 24th of May, and on the 27th 13,540 otiicers
and men were reported at the posts assigned them.
Dominion Artillery Corps have replaced 'he Imperial
troops at Quebec and Kingston, at both of \\hich places
there are schools of gunnery. Infantry schools are estab-
lislied at Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, Quebec, Fredericton,
and Halifax, at which thousands of officers have obtained
certificates.
A military college for the education of cadets, with a
four years' course of study, is established at Kingston.
In his report on the Canadian IMilitia to the Dominion
Government in March 1870 Colonel P. Itoljertson-Koss
says — " The rural battalions are almost entirely composed
of the agricultural population, the bone and sinew of the
H
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544
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TIIAV. '..
In
■fill
land, who have a stake in the country, and in many
instances are the proprietors and sons of proprietors of
the land ; and it is imiwssihle to see a hardier race, or
finer material for soldiers. In many instances their
physique is most remarkable, and they all ap])ear imbued
with a spirit of ^reat loyalty to tlieir Queen and country ;
and the same spirit and aptitude for military service are
exhibited by the city battalions." These facts justify the
statement of Sir John A. Macdonald, that Canada is a
source of strength — not of weakness — to the empire.
4. Visitors.
When so many thousands of the 1)etter classes of the
English people seek health or recreation on the Continent
— especially during the summer and autumn of each year
— it is a matter of surprise that so few ever think of
visiting the New ]5ritain on the other side of the sea.
Though all who have taken a run through Canada in the
holiday season give a glowing account of the magnificence
of the scenery, the perfection of the means of travel, and
the comparative cheapness of living, tourists from the
mother country are not nearly so numerous as the
attractions of the journey would lead one to expect
The Americans, who are always in search of pleasant
resorts, are wiser in their generation than tlieir English
cousins. Thousands of them visit Canada every summer.
They come even from the States in the far south, and
are to be met with at the watering-places, in the towns
and cities, and on the railways and steamboats, in every
part of the Dominion. The Englishman will run off to
the Continent, see Paris and Eome, " do " Switzerland, or
swelter in a little German watering-place, and return
little blotter in health and much poorer in pocket, entirely
oblivious of the fact that he midit have crossed the
111.
ATTRACTIONS FOR VISITORS.
54.-)
Atlantic and spent a few weeks very profitahly and
pleasantly, and certainly more chea]>ly, ainon<^' people of
his own race and nationality. The number of English
pleasure-seekers who visit Canada is, however, increasing-
year by year, and it only recpiires that the attractions of
the journey should become more widely known to make
this one of the chief holiday excursions for Englishmen
and their families. Let us, in imagination, make the trip
with the reader.
On a pleasant summer's afternoon, say about the
middle of July, we find ourselves on the deck of one of
tliose moving villages, a transatlantic steamer, in the
Mersey. All is bustle and noise ; everything seems
topsy-turvy, for the last of the passengers, with moun-
tains of luggage, has just come aboard, and the ship is on
the point of sailing. In a few moments the last good-
byes are said, the tender casts off, the machiuciy moves,
and the great ship glides slowly down the broad stream,
bound for the Far West.
On the fifth or sixth day out from Ireland the rugged
coast of Newfoundland is sighted, and another day's run
takes us through the Strait of Belle Isle into the Gulf
of St. Lawrence. A few hours later the island of Anti-
costi is seen on the right, and the first signs of civilisation
appear in the shape of a tishing hamlet or two at the
water's edge. Farther on the mighty St. Lawrence itself
is entered, and thence to Quebec tliere is land on either
side, though at certain points, so great is the width of
this majestic river, it cannot be seen except in very clear
weather. Ascending the stream, village after village of
the French inhaltitants is passed, their white houses
nestling in pleasant gardens, with a glorious background
of deep green, stretching away in the distance as far as
the eye can reach, and forming a characteristic and
charming picture. And so we move on, the towns in-
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
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111.
creasinfT in nuinljer and size, till, on the eighth or ninth
day out, the j^rand old fortress of Quehec looms up as we
round Point Levis ; a little later the uol»le ship is at the
landing-stage, and the traveller steps ashore ou Canadian
soil.
C^uehcc is the most Old World city, and one of the
most interesting on the American continent. Here a day
or two can be most agreeably spent in visiting the Falls
of jMontmorenci, the Plains of Al)raham, the citadel, and
other interesting sights inside and outside the walls of
this venerable city, which, because of its strength as a
fortress, is called " the Gibraltar of x\merica." Thence
the traveller goes westward, either by rail or by river
steamer ; if by the former, some very fine agricultural
districts are traversed ; if by tlie latter, a charming trip
of 180 miles up tlie St. Lawrence is made under the most
favourable circumstances in one of those "floating palaces"
for which the lakes and rivers of the Xew World are
famous.
Two or three days may be profitably spent at ]\Ion-
treal, the commercial metropolis of Canada, and one of
the finest cities on the American continent. The drives
around the town are delightful, ihe churclies are massive
and grand, while the Victoria Bridge, which crosses the
St. Lawrence here at a point where the river is two miles
wide, is one of the most wonderful structures in the
world. From ^Montreal to Ottawa by rail or river is our
next stretch. The capital of the Dominion is well worth
visiting, for its artificial as well as for its natural beauties.
The Houses of Parliament and departmental buildings are
justly ranked amongst the best in America. A well-
known writer has described them as being among the
" architectural glories of the world." The Eideau and
Chaudiere Falls are wonderfully beautiful. The saw mills,
which are here by the score, turning out their millions of
ihl
ATTRACTIONS FOR VISITORS.
547
t ^Ion-
one of
3 drives
massive
sscs the
miles
in the
!!■ is our
.11 ^Yorth
leavities.
lugs are
I A weii-
long the
[oau and
lw mills.
lilliou3 of
ft'et of hoards each day, never fail to prove full of interest
to the European tourist. This is the ceutre of the tiniher
trade — one of the leading industries of (Janada ; and at
auy time liunih-eds of acres of "lund)er," as the hoards
are called, may he seen ]uled over the islands and on the
river hanks. I»y rail from Ottawa to I'rescott, thence
westward by the Grand Trunk through a fine agricultural
country and past many tlourisiiiug towns, any of which
would he well worth visitinj:? if time permitted. The run,
however, is made through to Toronto, 3133 miles west of
Montreal. This is the second city in Canada in wealth
and population, and one of the most attractive. Its public
buildings and institutions are numerous ; and, in visiting
these, as well as driving through the wide and beantiful
streets, a few days are pleasantly passed. From this
point many routes are open, bnt we choose the Northern
llailway, and go by steamboat and waggon as far as pos-
sible into the ]\Iuskoka country ; in other words, into the
backwoods of Canada. It was onlv a few years ago that
these townships were thrown open for settlement, and
now they contain a very considerable population, with
several flourishing towns and all necessary branches of
industry. This is known as the " Free Grant District,"
as the land, which belongs to the Ontario Government, is
given absolutely free of all charge to actual settlers. The
scenery along the numerous lakes and rivers is unsur-
passed in rugged beauty. But this district is attractive
chiefly for the reason that it affords opportunities for
getting an insight into what is called " roughing it in the
bush;" in other words, the sort of life the first settlers
in the backwoods of Canada lead, with all its hardships
and its drawliacks, as well as its pleasures and its free-
dom. We shall be compelled to rough it ourselves, but
this will only make our experience the more enjoyable.
A week or 6o here, then out into civilisation again, up the
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548
COMrENDlUM OF OEOGHArilY ANT) TRAVEL.
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X(jrtlu!in liaihvay to tlio town of Collin^wooil, and thence
by steamer to the head of Lake 8u])enor. Tliis trip
tlir(»ii;^h the upjier lakes is snrnmndeu witli i\iany attrac-
tions. Traversing tlie hirj^est body of fresh water in the
worhl, throu;:,di j^roups of charniinj^ islands of every size
and shajie, we enjoy the grandly massive scenery of Luke
Superior, visit the copi)er and silver mines for whicli tliis
region is famous, go to the very limit of civilisation in
this direction, and at the various stojiping places see
many families and villages of the Canadian Indian little
removed from his original condition of barbarism. The
head of Lake Superior reached, we may return by another
fine line of steamers to Sarnia, and back to Toronto by
the Grand Trunk Railway, through one of tha linest
farming districts in Canada. This trip will occupy about
ten days from Toronto.
A two hours' sail across Lake Ontario brings us to
the old town of Niagara, formerly the capital of Upper
Canada, now a summer resort. Thence we run l)y rail
up the west bank of the majestic river, a distance of al)out
twelve miles, passing through scenes of historic interest,
and alight at Clifton, within sight and sound of Niagara's
mighty cataract. Two or three days will be suthcient
here, though we should be glad to spend as many weeks,
did time permit. Taking the Groat Western train at
Clifton, we run westward through one of the finest fruit-
growing districts in the world. On every side are orchards
of apples, poaches, plums, and berries, vineyards witli
their wealth of clustering grapes, and garf]ens bright with
a profusion of Howers. A day at the beautiful city of St.
Catherine's ; thence on to Hamilton, Avliere another day
may be most pleasantly spent. Here, if time presses,
either train or steamboat can be taken for Alontreal, about
400 miles distant. It will be better, however, to run
on to London by the Great Western, and thence by the
(' ,
ATTRACTIONS FOR VISITORS.
149
(Irnnd Trunk to Guolpli. This will a<,'ain take us
tluonf^'li the very best I'ariniiif? district in Ontiirio, and
iiiable us to form some idea of the a<,n'ieultural wealth of
the province. At Guelph the Model Farm, Mhirli is
(•arri(!d on under the provincial government, may be visited,
as well as some of the s])lendid farms for which the
county of Welliniiton is remarkable. A few hours' run
hy the (irand 1'runk brings us once more to Toronto.
Should time permit, we may take a trip over one of the
narrow gauge raihvays into the beautiful country north-
west and north-east of Toronto, and returning take a lake
steamer for ]\Iontreal. Steaming along the shores of Lake
Ontario, we halt at many beautiful and flourishing towns,
and enter the St. Lawrence at Kingston. Between tb.is
point and Montreal is one of the most charming excursions
imaginable, through the ever-varying but always beautiful
Thousand Islands, and over the boiling surging rapids.
Xothing can be conceived more enchanting and more
exciting than " running the rapids ;" and, when the plea-
sure and danger are past, and the steamer is moored to
the wharf at Montreal, our hope is that we may soon be
able to repeat the trip.
If time permits, a run should be taken from Montreal
to Lake Mem})hremagog, which is remarkable for the
beauty of its surroundings. Then having come from
Quebec by water, we return by rail. The ship is in the
stream ready to start, and an hour later we are ploughing
our way down the mighty river. Two hundred miles
below Quebec the mails are taken on board, and in eight
days more we are home again in " merrie England."
This is a holiday trip that any Englishman of mode-
rate means may safely undertake. It can easily be done
\vitliin eight weeks ; the cost is not so great as if the same
time were spent on the Continent, or even at a fashion-
alile English watering-place ; while the attractions which
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the trip presents are so varied, so novel, and so numerous,
as to far surpass those of any ordinary European tour.
6. Artists.
As in all new countries, the fine arts did not make
much headway in Canada until within the last few years.
Men were too much taken up with trade and commerce —
too eagerly struggling for wealth,, to give up any portion
of their time to art studies. Yet as wealth accumulates,
and as education elevates the mind, the puhUc taste be-
comes refined, and a desire for such things manifests
itself. Canada is a country fitted by nature to make
its people love the grand, the beautiful, the sublime.
Her vast rivers, her mighty waterfalls, her lovely lakes,
her grand forests, her beautiful valleys, her toweriii;T
mountains, and her charming pastoral scenes, present a
variety of scenery that cannot be surpassed. Such sur-
roundings as these must tell in time on the tastes of any
people. And so, we are glad to say, it is in Canada.
Not many years ago, before the present degree of
refinement and culture had been reached,, a painter could
hardly make a living in Canada. Now there are scores.
In the province of Ontario there is a society for the pro-
motion of native talent ; and there is annually a very
pleasant re-union, at which tlie works exhibited are drawn
for as in the London Art Unions. The subjects are
generally Canadian water-colours, though a few artists
confine themselves to oil paintings. It would be unrea-
sonable to expect them to rival the works of European
painters, yet there are several very promising artists in
the Dominion, some of whom may yet be heard of on the
other side of the Atlantic.
The English painter in search of new subjects cannot
do better than go to Canada. There he will find every
ATTRACTIONS FOR SPORTSMEN.
551
variety of scenery imaginable, while at the same time he
will enjoy an " outing " that cannot fail to invigorate and
strengthen both body and mind.
6. Attractions for Sportsmen.
Canada offers a splendid field for the sportsman.
Game and fish are abundant. All game is common pro-
perty ; the sportsman is at liberty to shoot where he
hkes, what he likes, and when he likes, with this excep-
tion, that during a certain time of the year it is illegal to
take game. This is necessary in order to preserve it from
total destruction.
However, no true
sportsman — law
or no law — would
kill game out of
season. The cli-
mate, as we have
already said, is
invigorating and
healthy ; and ex-
perienced guides
and assistants can be engaged in any part of the country.
The sportsman need experience no difficulty in suiting
his taste. He can have any form of sport he likes, from
bagging squirrels and partridges and pigeons in the old
settlements to tussling wdth grizzly bears in the wild
canons of the Rocky Mountains. The royal tiger and
the lordly lion he will not find ; but if he be sufficiently
venturesome he may gather together a collection of
hunting trophies of w^hich he will have no reason to
be ashamed, and at the same time undergo excitement
and danger sufficient to satisfy any reasonable mortal.
In the way of wild animals there are in the old pro-
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COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
vinces bears, foxes, wolves, moose, cariboo, red deer, otter,
mink, pine marten, sable, hares, racoons, squirrels, etc. ;
while in the Far West there are immense herds of buffa-
loes on the plains, and grizzly bears and other animals in
the Rocky Mountain region. Of feathered game there
are woodcock, snipe, pigeons, plovers, partridges, quail,
geese, ducks, brant, curlew, and prairie fowl ; while of
eagles, hawks, owls, and other such birds there are many
varieties.
On arriving in Canada, the sportsman, if he has no
friends in the country with whom to consult, should at
once call on the nearest government agent, wlio, even
though he may not know much about sporting matters
himself (though most agents do), will place him in com-
munication with persons who will afford every assistance.
The half-breeds are, as a rule, trustworthy, honest, and
respectful; still it is always the best policy to have
the advice of one in authority in making your arrange-
ments.
In the forests of New Brunswick and Quebec, moose,
to say nothing of other game, large and small, are abun-
dant; but it would not be safe to enter on the chase
without experienced guides. These can be had without
difficulty and at a small cof^t. Most of them are
Frenchmen, or a cross between the French and the
Indian. They are active, enduring, shrewd fellows,
thoroughly trustworthy, hardy in camp, and cunning on
the trail. They will find the game if it is to be found
at all, and when brought down they know how best to
treat such parts as are to be preserved as trophies, and
how to cure the choice cuts of the meat. The French
and half-breeds are to be preferred to the full-blooded
Indian, because they are more cleanly as a rule, and
much better cooks than the latter. It is not well, how-
ever, to allow any of them, especially the Indians, too
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ATTRACTIONS FOR SPORTSMEN.
553
!'
much liberty with the spirit flask. After a liard day's
work on the trail, they are deserving of a glass of whisky
and water, but let it be one and no more. ^Moose and
cariboo hunting is a hard, tiresome, and occasionally a
very exciting amusement.
While on the moose trail the hunter comes across a
variety of other game, beasts as well as birds, and thus
lie is enabled to form an interesting and sometimes valu-
able collection.
Duck shooting is to be had in every part of Canada.
The birds come north in the spring of the year, and make
their homes for the summer in the numerous small lakes
to be found in the interior of every province. They
hatch their young on the shores, bringing them up on the
wild rice and other food with which the lakes abound.
In the autumn they are to be seen in countless thousands.
Two men well up in the sport may easily bring down
three hundred brace in a day. Such shooting does not
compel one to go beyond the confines of civilisation.
Many of the best lakes for the purpose can be reached
from the large towns in a few hours by rail or coach.
At or near the lakes there are clean, comfortable, M-ell-
kept hotels, where one may be accommodated for four,
six, or eight shillings per day, everything included. Wild
geese are frequently killed in these lakes, though as a
rule they spend the summer farther north ; while in the
woods near the lakes a day's shooting is almost certain to
bring the sportsman a well-filled bag of miscellaneous game.
It is essential, however, to have one or more well-trained
dogs, and these are not readily procured in the country.
The best and most exciting sport on the American
continent is buffalo hunting, and the best fields are the
grand prairies of the North- West. The party should be
provided with good breech-loading rifles, a revolver each,
and an abundant supply of ammunition.
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554
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL,
The hunting grounds may be reached by Canada
Pacific railroad from Prince Arthur's Landing Tiiumler
Bay to Winnipeg, or by way of Sarnia and Collingwood
and the Great Lakes to Duluth ; thence by the Korthern
I'acific to Glyndon ; and thence by the St. Paul and Pacific
llailway to Winnipeg. There is also the choice of an all-
rail route vid Chicago and St. Paul, in the United States.
The Lake route will be found particularly pleasant, and
the time taken is very little longer.
There is a class of men in Manitoba known as " plain
hunters," from the fact that they live chiefly by buffalo
hunting. They are nearly all half-breeds, a cross between
French or English and Indians, and are undoubtedly the
most expert and successful buffalo killers on the American
continent. The services of a few of these men can lie
secured without difficulty and at a moderate cost. Their
horses, an active, wiry breed, are trained to the sport, and
appear to take as much pleasure in it as do their masters.
At Winnipeg, men, horses, tents, camp furniture, and
everything else necessary for a hunt over the prairies,
can be either hired or purchased.
It is not intended here to describe a buffalo hunt,
with all its excitement, danger, and novelty. Enough to
say that it is the perfection of hunting ; and as horse,
rifle, and revolver are brought into service, it will at once
be seen that it has special attractions for Englishmen,
accustomed as they are to both hunting and shooting.
To the genuine sportsman nothing can be more enjoyable ;
and he returns after his two months on the plains feeling
that he has at last, for a time, been in reality a dweller
in " the happy hunting grounds."
Those who have time and who have made the neces-
sary preparations may extend their trip westward to the
Eocky Mountains in search of bears and other large game.
They may even pass onward into British Coliunbia, the
^ 'i
ATTRACTIONS FOR SPORTSMEN.
• 00
forests of which afford splendid sport ; or northward to
the land of the musk ox and the reindeer.
I'rairie fowl may be killed in any number on the
plains, while the lakes swarm with ducks and geese.
Canada has the best fisheries, inland and marine, in
the world. A recent pamphlet issued by the Nova
Scotian Government says : —
" In some seasons our bays and harbours teem with
fish of various kinds — mackerel, herring, cod, haddock,
halibut, hake, pollock, shad, smelt, perch, eels, etc. Lob-
sters are abundant, and are usually sold in the Halifax
market at about one shilling per dozen. Good sport is
afibrded in spearing lobsters at night by torchlight. We
have a plentiful supply of shell-fish, viz. oysters, scallojis,
clams, quahaugs, mussels, etc. Indeed, no country in tiie
world can produce a greater variety of sea fish, or in
greater abundance ; while the rivers and lakes afford
salmon, trout, and grayling. Any boy with a bean-pole,
a half-dozen yards of twine, with a hook on the end of it,
and a few angle worms or grasshoppers, may go out in
the morning and kill as many trout as will supply a large
family for breakfast. In some lakes they are quite large,
and are taken as heavy as four or five pounds. In other
lakes they are small, seldom weighing more than one
pound. The little brook trout is an excellent pan fish.
The prince of all the trout tribe is the sea trout ; this
fish is taken in large numbers at the mouths of rivers
emptying into the Atlantic."
All the rivers in Canada connecting with the sea, on
the Atlantic as well as the Pacific coast, contain splendid
salmon. The fish were taken indiscriminately and at all
seasons up to a few years ago, when the Government
stepped in and put a stop to the slaughter. The best
salmon streams are in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
Quebec, and British Columbia. In the upper lakes there
H
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556
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
are numerous other varieties of fish which make capital
sport. Some of the salmon rivers on the Lower St. Law-
rence are leased from the Government ; but permission
for a week's fishing can be readily obtained. The lakes
and rivers up the country are all free.
Brook trout may be taken in all parts of Canada, but
the trout-fishers' paradise is to be found in the rivers on
the north shore of Lake Superior, especially the Nipigon.
This is a large, clear, cold, and rapid stream, affording
splendid fishing from its mouth to its source. The fish
run from one to seven pounds in weight ; they are firm
and hard, beautifully marked, and always " die game."
To reach the Nijjigon the fishermen go to Colling-
wood or Sarnia from Toronto by rail, thence by steamer
to lied Eock at the mouth of the river. At Sault Ste.
Marie, on the way up, it is well to engage a couple of
half-breeds and a canoe, having previously laid in the
necessary camp furniture and provisions at Toronto.
From Eed Rock the party proceeds up the river about
eight miles and there camps out. As the country is in
a state of nature, one must rough it and live under canvas.
Three weeks on the Nipigon will make glad the heart
of any disciple of old Izaak Walton. It is glorious sport,
and, as the surrounding scenery is grand in the extreme,
the student of nature will find much to admire and think
of in after days. The fish that are taken need not be
wasted. The half-breeds know how to cure them so that
they will keep for months.
•:..^'-
»y
clearly
CHAPTER XII.
INDIANS AND INDIAN TREATIES.
1. General View.
It is a matter of great difficulty to obtain reliable
information respecting the Indian population ; their
migratory habits, and the great extent of country over
which they are spread, misleading all calculations. ]\Iost
of the estimates of the aboriginal population made by both
early and modern writers, from information given by
Indians themselves, or by travellers and traders, are
doubtless over-estimated, so difficult is it to realise the
fact of the enormous extent of territory necessary to
supply man "with food by the chase.
Tlie question as to tlie past and present Indian popula-
tion in what is now the Dominion of Canada has been
clearly stated in the "Census of Canada, 1870-1," and it
is there explained that, taking the whole of the aboriginal
population of British North America, including the few
triljes wlio live chiefly by agriculture and industrial pur-
suits in the older provinces, as well as the tril)es placed in
exceptionally unfavourable conditions in arctic climates,
the mean inhabited superficies is thirty-four square miles
558
COMPENDIUM OF OEOGRAniY AND TRAVEL.
n \
per liead. Eliminating from the calculation those two
extreme classes in the scale of comparison, the mean falls
to about twenty-five square miles per head, the minimum
being about ten sijuare miles per head. This maximum
is found in the most rigorous cliumtes, and the minimum
exclusively where there are abundant sea-coast fisheries.
In the best hunting grounds with a temperate (climate, in
the absence of extensive fisheries and of cultivatidu of tlie
soil, the increase of the Indian population to a larger
ratio than one inhabitant to fifteen square miles causes
misery and disea.se, or incursions upon neighbouring
territories, and consequent warfare. Sir Cicorge SimiJSon,
in 1857, in his replies to the Special Committee of the
Ihitish House of Commons appointed to inquire at
that date into the affairs of the Hudson Vtay Company,
jioints out the fact of these periodical oscillations of
increase and decrease among the Indians. He states tliat
the tribes of the western woods, after having been
decimated by diseases for several years, were at that
time passing through a period of increase ; whilst the
prairie tribes were at the same time suffering from
decrease caused by tribal wars and disease. It is also
evident that Indian populations keeping to the habits of
hunting tribes diminish in number, in the ratio of the
extent and frequency of their relations with civilised
nations, by the destruction of their primitive means of
existence and the introduction of vices and diseases, or by
absorption in the creation of a half-breed race. Some
of the earliest records (1611) are found in the Jesuit
accounts. Charaplain has also given estimates of certain
tribes with which he held intercourse, but the most
reliable statistics have been afforded by the records of the
Hudson Bay Company, connected with their several trading
posts throughout the country, and from the census eiuime-
ration of 1870-1 in the settled provinces of Canada.
|l .1 T
TIIH INDIAN TllIUKS.
559
It would "be iini>()ssible to givo the names ap])lie(l
by tiavullers, or by tlie natives themselves — sometimes
aoeurdiiii,' to locality or to dialect — to each of the tril)e3
and sub-tribes of the Indians. The names sanctioned by
the authority of ethno<;ra pliers are classed as enibraciuf^
four aboriginal famiHos, and include all the native popula-
tion of the Dominion, riamely : —
1. The Eskimos, or Innoit.
2. The Den6-I)injiL\
3. The Al,i,'onquins, or Algic.
4. The Huron- Iroquois.
Tlieir locations may be broadly stated thus : —
Tiie Eskimos inhabit or frequent tlie coasts from
Labrador on the north-east to Bering Strait on the north-
west.
The Den6-Dinjies are found south of the Esquimaux
and west of Hudson IJay, occujn'ing all the territories
uorth of latitude oS"" N. as far as the I'acitic, and passing
southwards to the United States boundary, over all the
territory west of the 115th meridian.
The Algonquins are distributed over the remainder of
British Xorth America, with the exception of a compara-
tively small portion held by tlie Huron-Iroquois family
on their reserves at the Grand Eiver, between Lakes
Ontario and Erie, and on the St. Lawrence River at
Caughnawaga, and at the Lake of the Two Mountains.
Those who lately entered Canada in the neighbourhood of
the Souris River, known as the Sioux, are now returning
to the United States.
The Algonquins have always been the largest tribe
in British North America, and still occupy the most
extensive area. This was also the case in the Linited
States, but the American Indians are being gradually
forced westward towards the head -waters of the Missouri
«.o
1^
'1 d
If
5G0
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
anil the sjnirs of the Kooky Mmmtains. Many, howcvor,
have retired before the whites to the plains of the North-
West Territories.
The respective nunihei"S of these four divisions are
estimated thus : — -
i
.J h
Eskiiiiiis, or Iiiiioits .
.
4,000
H
Dc'iii'-Dinjit^ ....
•
42,000
■
Al^'oiKluiiis, or Alyio
,
4(i,02.S
Huio;i-Iro(|uoi3
•
]o.:!:f0
H the
H (iobatr
102,358
_-
1 hi 17
And their territorial divisions thus • —
■ to Ce
Provinco of Priiu-c Edward Island .
,T23
■ ns mil
,, Nova Scotia
i.iit;(i 1
1 flocreas
„ Now Hruiiswick
„ Quebec .
^,m
■ be doul
„ Ontario .
12,978 1
1 ^ii(
,, ^Manitoba
500 1
H
„ liritish Columbia (ostiniatod)
23,000 1
■ mifirrato
,. l{u|HU't'.s TjMud ,,
33,500 1
I century
I,abrador and Arctic Watershed
22 000 ■
1
■ tmcnt t
102.:!5S 1
1 Strait 01
I
1 in laiirri
Or, East of the Rocky Mountains
•
70 •)5S 1
1 tribes, m-
West ,, „
■
2t;i(ioo 1
^1
1 the Japa
102,358 f
Tlie
■ H
As compared with area : —
I
ilorived i
SuporRciPs in H
^'oiiiniuni
Siiiiarc Mil(/s. H
Newfoundland
none
42. Olio 1
•ire only
Prince Edward Island (Census, 1871)
Nova Scotia ,,
New Urnnswick ,,
323
l,6(i8
1,403
III; 1
t'le nortl
of the tei
I'rovince of (Jiicliec ,,
6,988
19:!, 35,') H
ft-'niples (
„ Ontario ,,
12,978
lorjrso H
,, Manitoba (Census, 1870)
500
14!o()0 ■
t'licircliii.,
,, IJritisii Columbia
23,000
350,000 ■
Teak
Liibiador, Tlujiert's Land, and the
\
^1
North West
Islands in Arctic Ocean and ''n
> 5;', 500
2,405,712 ■
^slanders,
1) ■/»
Hudson Bay
)
310,000 fl
^"cihc sh
It is
^^H
102,3.'J8
3,540.000 ■
althouirli J
THE INDIANS.
661
As regards mode of living : —
By fishing, say
In caiiips and liy iimirio hunting .
In villagos in sfttli'il districts
In faniilius iu thu womls .
2n,ooo
18,000
i7,;ir)0
41.000
102,3r)0
Whether the aborigines have increased or not since
the occupation of North America by tlie whites is a
debatable question. Judging from the estimates made
iu 1730, and the immigration from the United States
to Central Canada, it i» probable that they are now
as numerous as ever in Canada ; but that they have
decreased in the United States and its territories cannot
be doubted.
The Eskimos or Innoits are supposed to be a
migratory tribe, who about tlie begiiuiing of the tentli
century passed from the arctic coasts of the Asiatic con-
tinent to those of the American continent by Ik'ring
Strait on the west, or Greenland on the east. They diU'er
iu language and appearance from the other aboriginal
tribes, who resemble the Mongolians, or more particularly
the Japanese, in appearance and customs.
The language of thesit last tribes ap[)ears to have Innm
derived from a conmion source, and they must have htdd
communication among themselves, as cowry shells, which
are only found in the south, are in general use among
the northern tribes. They have no knowledge, however,
of the temple-builders of Central Amerii'a, whose terraced
temples correspoml in form with those which are found
eucircling the world about the line of the tropics.
Teak canoes, such as were made ])y the South Sea
Islanders, have been found embedded in the sands of the
Pacific shore of Southern California.
It is dillicult, however, to trace their origin, and
although many of their customs as to the burial of the
2
'if5
^"P'i!i|
I
562
COMPENDIUM OP GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
11
w^^'i
iif
II!
dead and the observance of seasons correspond with those
of Eastern nations, still their mats made of rushes, and
their bark boxes ornamented with porcupine quills, in
imitation of plaited straw, and sometimes with straw
itself, resemble, in material, style, colour, and pattern, the
work of the Japanese.
As with other nations, there is much difference
between the tribes, according to location and occupation ;
but the free air and warlike habits of the prairie Indian
make him one of nature's noblemen. Brave, intelligent,
courteous, dignified, an orator in council, faithful hi
friendship, fierce in war, using stratagem to overcome an
enemy, patient, stoical, and scorning death when himself
overcome, he chaunts his " war song " under the most
cruel tortures, and dies, as he lived, untamed and unsub-
dued.
The Huron-Iroquois, although classed together, have
waged incessant war with each other until, from being
the most powerful of the tribes, they are now the weakest
in numbers, the Huron branch having been almost exter-
minated by their brethren, and the Iroquois much reduced
in numbers.
The Hurons originally occupied the northern sliores
of Lake Huron, and of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence
rivers as lar east as Quebec.
The Iroquois occupied a broad extent of territory to
the south of Lakes Erie and Ontario, and to the south of
the St. Lawrence as far east as the Eichelieu or Iroquois
Eiver, and had established a confederation known as tlio
" Five Nations." Their history is beautifully told by
Parkman, who has contributed so much to the early
history of Canada. This confederation played an imiioi't-
ant part in the English and French occu])ation of this
continent — at war first with tlie one and then with the
other, and courted alternately by each. Led by Biaudt
'iir.
THE " FIVE NATIONS."
663
they made a desolation of Wyoming, as sung by Campbell
in his " Gertrude of Wyoming " : —
" Accursed Brandt ! he left of all my tribe
Nor man, nor child, nor thing of living birth."
Carrying at other times the tomahawk into the homes of
the French, massacring them incessantly, so that around
the villages, as the settler, gun in hand, sowed his seed,
the Iroquois often reaped his scalp ; — hunting their kins-
men, the Hurons, the allies of the French, from Detroit
to Quebec, and destroying the last of their bands under
the very walls of that citadel ; — such were the Iroquois
in war.
The rallying of the tribes by Pontiac, to avail them-
selves of the antagonism between the French and the
English and drive them both from the continent, was a
piece of statecraft worthy of " advanced civilisation."
This confederation of the Iroquois is supposed to
have been the model of the United States confederation,
and in its latest application of the Canadian one. The
last of the Huron chiefs died at Lorette village, near
Quebec, a few years since. The names of Tecumseh
and Brandt will ever be associated with the heroic age in
Canadian history. The remnants of this Indian nation
in the older provinces are engaged in agriculture, or act
as wyageurs and pilots. ]\Iany of them are being amal-
gamated with the French inhabitants of the province of
Quebec. A band of Sioux, of this same tribe, sought
refuge in Canada, after the Minnesota massacre, in 1862,
and a second band under " Sitting Bull " after the destruc-
tion of "Custer's command," in 1877, but most of this
band have lately returned to the United States.
The enmity of the Indians in the United States to
the Americans is natural, as they consider themselves
deprived of their lands and their means of support, and
unfairly used under the treaties made with them.
m
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564
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
When Canada had to deal with the quieting of the
Indian tribes to the North-West Territories, the difficulties
in the way were apparent.
Here was the last refuge of the Indian on the con-
tinent. Under any circumstances, treaty-making witli
the warlike tribes of the prairies would have been a
delicate matter, but this difficulty was increased by the
experience of the American tribes, who had carried their
evil report of the white man north of the international
boundary.
Whilst Canada was desirous of having these terri-
tories opened to the settler, she was not prepared to run
the risk of a conflict which would certainly have been a
serious one, and might have impeded for an indefinite
time the occupation of the North-West Territories of
Canada by the " white man."
Treaties were, however, made for the transfer of the
Indian title to the whole of these territories, which
treaties appear not only just but politic, aud affi^rd good
grounds for belief that the bargain will be equally
advantageous to both parties.
It is a satisfaction to be enabled to say that the
Indians' faith in the British Government is unbounded,
and has paved the way for the treaties with Canada.
From an account given by the Hon. Alexander Morris,
who acted as the Commissioner for the Government in
the negotiation of the most important and difficult of
those treaties,^ we gather the following facts : —
Since 1870 no less than seven treaties have been
made with the aborigines in Canada ; but three treaties
must be first mentioned as preliminary to the late ones.
1. That of Lord Selkirk in' 1811, whereby he
purchased the Indian title to the tract of land acquired
* Treaties of Canada with the Indians of the North ■ West. Hon. Alex*
antler Morris, P.O. Toronto. 1880.
'!^
THE INDIAN TREATIES.
565
by him from the Hudson Bay Company, for the pur-
poses of settlement.
2. The treaty of 1850 for certain portions of the
sliores of Lakes Huron and Superior, where rich deposits
of copper had been found ; and
3. The treaty of 1862 for the Great Manitoulin
Island on Lake Huron.
The late treaties by the Dominion may be summarised
thus : —
1. A relinquishment to Canada in all the great region
from Lake Superior to the foot of the Rocky Mountains,
of all the Indian right and title to the lands covered by
the treaties, saving certain reservations of land for the
exclusive use of the Indians ; and
2. In return for such relinquishment, permission to
the Indians to hunt over the ceded territory, and to fish
in the waters thereof, except such portions thereof as
should pass from the Crown into the occupation of
individuals or otherwise.
3. The annual payment in perpetuity of $5 per head
to each Indian man, woman, and child; $25 to each
chief; and $15 to each councillor.
4. The allotment of lands to small bands instead of
to tribes, each family of five persons receiving 640 acres
to be held by them, and only sold with the consent of
the band.
5. The gift of fishing nets, agricultural instruments,
seed, grain, and oxen and cattle to form the nucleus of
herds.
In the negotiation of these treaties the Indians ex-
hibited much intelligence, good judgment, and tact, and
displayed wonderful oratorical powers. They have a
ohildlike reverence for their great " mother over the
water," and point with pride to the medals received by
their forefathers from her grandfather George III.
i
f
1
> ^
))
V
If J
i
566
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
A little incident •which occurred at the Qu'AppeDe
Treaty ^vv '11 exemplify tliis. It must; be borne in mind
that an Indian treaty is nut lightly broken by the Indian,
and that he is not inclined to sign a bond until e\ -ny
stipulation is complete. The terms of the treaty had
been settled, the bond was ready for execution, but the
money stipulated " to be paid down " was not in hand,
and in the midst of the prairie was not to be had. The
chiefs hesitated, but the commissioner, Governor Morris,
was equal to the occasion, and extending his hand, said,
" See the money in this open hand which I extend to
you." The treaty was signed.
The future of the Indian depends on the possibility
of a gradual civilisation without demoralisation. The
bison, their mainstay for food, is being rapidly exter-
minated, and they will have to adopt the habits of tlie
white man to secure tlie means of sustenance. The
object of the Government is to induce them to adopt an
agricultural or pastoral life, and to educate their children.
This they are eager to do, and already give good earnest
of their sincerity. As they are prone to the abuse of
alcohol, every precaution is taken to keep " fire-water "
out of the land ; schools are provided, agricultural colleges
established, the tilling of the soil encouraged, and even
justice secured to all. As far as possible they are not
treated as a distinct class, but as citizens of the Dominion.
They are under the superintendance of the Minister
of the Interior, who is the Superintendent- General of
Indian affairs, and as such has the charge and care of
their lands and property. There are about fifty schools
for Indian children established in the Dominion, prin-
cipally in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Some
of the teachers are paid out of the Indian Fund ; others
are supported by various societies. The number of
pupils is about two thousand.
II !'
INDIAN MISSIONS.
567
!•!
In the annual report of the Department of the Interior
for 1876 the following encouraging statement is made by
the Minister of thij Department aa to the condition of
the Indians in the Manitoba and the North-West super-
intendencies : " The moral and material condition of the
Indians in the North-West has been steadily and surely
progressing since the North- West Territories were included
within the Dominion. The liquor law and the Mounted
Police Force have together succeeded in stamping out
almost entirely the vice of drunkenness. Crime is com-
paratively rare. The irritation and distrust which existed
in certain localities, or among particular bands of Indians,
have been replaced by an almost universal feeling of
contentment, and of gratitude to the Government for its
liberality and benevolence."
The interesting question of the care of the Indian is
attracting much attention, and there are philanthropists
and statesman in the United States who join with those
in Canada in hopefulness for the result.
In this meeting of the eastern and western peoples
in the Dominion of Canada, let us hope that the subjects
of our noble Queen will recognise a brotherhood with the
" untutored Indian," and that so long as " the sun shines
and the rivers flow," the faith pledged between them will
be maintained.
2. Indian Missions.
The Moravian Missions — Government. — The Mora-
vians, who first attempted to settle amongst the Eskimos
in 1752, founded the station of Nain (56-30 N. lat.)
in 1771, and that of Okkak, north of it, in 1776. In
the same year the first " medicine man " was baptized.
In 1782 was founded Hopedale, the southernmost — in
1838 Hebron, the northernmost — of their stations; and
lastly, in 1866, Zoar, between Nain and Hopedale. But
V
tr
568
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
there would seen to be still some imbaptized Eskimos
even in Hopedale. The Christian Eskimos conform to
the practices of tlie Moravian community, and are content
and grateful for the teachers residing in their midst.
Although their conduct may still fall far short of the
evangelical precepts, there is nevertheless a great differ-
ence between these converted Eskimos and those in the
north, who have not yet adopted the Christian religion.
3. Games.
The Indians are much addicted to gambling, which
they practise generally in a game with small pieces or
sticks of wood. This vice leads them, through their
impulsive nature, to stake everything they possess, and
rather than desist they will part with goods, horses, wives,
children, and even their own liberty.
Without describing their sports generally, it may be
allowed here to introduce a description of their favourite
game of Lacrosse, now adopted as the national game of
Canada, and attracting much attention abroad.
The following account of the game is from the pen of
a gentleman connected with the Hudson Bay Company,
who has lived a Ufetirae among the Indians of the North-
West : —
" I first had the pleasure of seeing the gar.:o of
Lacrosse played at Fort William, on Lake Superior, in
the summers of 1820 and 1821, perhaps in both. It
was a favourite pastime amongst the ' Sautteux ;' that is
the general French name of the natives in that quarter
of the country and around the north shore of Lake
Superior, and as far westward as Lake Winnipeg. The
Indians themselves style their nation the Ojibiweyuk,
including the tribes immediately south of the Crees, or
Killisthenaux, who are of cognate extraction and speak a
. Wl Wt
THE GAME OF "LACROSSE.
569
language of similir derivation, bnt differing in dialect.
In the time of the North- West Company, Fort William,
like ' La Grande Portage,' was a summer rendezvous of
the Ojibiweyuk. At the time referred to we had Indian
families camped around us coming from their wintering
grounds, close to Fond du Lac, others from the I51aok and
Xipigon Bays, and bands from up the Current River
towards the Dog Portage, as far as IMille Lacs. These
again had connection with the Ojibiweyuk of llainy Lake,
where the old Sachem, or head of the tribes, was wont to
hold his court in former times, amidst the united bands,
from the Vermilion and Eed Lakes to the sources of the
Albany River. It may be said, then, that I saw the
pure Ojibiweyuk at their favourite pastime of Lacrosse.
" I have ever considered the game, as I saw it then
played, as peculiar to the Ojibbeway and Cree tribes, anil
natives from the same stock. I have understood that it
was played at Isle k la Crosse, in English River, a part
of the north possessed by the great Cree nation, after
they had driven the Chipewyans (quite a different people)
back to the Peace River. Lac Isle k la Crosse must have
rjot its name from the first Canadians who passed under
Frobisher having seen the game played there.
" I have never heard of the game being played north
of the Crees, nor did I ever see it played on the waters of
the Columbia, or at any of the great gatherings of Indians
west of the Rocky Mountains. Foot races among men,
as well as horse racing, were the principal and absorbing
sports there. The Sohauptues and Kayuses were always
occupied with these, as well as the Spokans, Ivullespelins,
and Flatheads, whenever they met together, whether it
might be between iadividuals or in a more extended way
between the tribes. The unfriendly terms on which the
above-mentioned races were with the numerous Shoshonees
or Snake nation prevented any intercourse with them.
1
^H
'
'
^B
1
i
^H
1
!.1
iiiii^
570
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
The lattiT were kept to their lands on tlie southern
tributaries of the south branch of the Colunil)ia. As for
the Indians of tlie ' prairies ' proper — say, the Sioux and
their various bands, and the lilackfeet, Piegans, Grog
Ventres, etc. — T cannot speak definitely as to their not
havin<^ the <,'ame anion<^ them, for I know but little about
them ; but 1 have never heard it mentioned in the travels
of any one, nor spoken of by those wlio have sojourned
amonf^t tliem. And I may say the same of the nations
south of the Missouri, the Pawnees, Cheyennes, and
Piccarees, and others. Should it be found that any of
these prairie tribes possess, or ever possessed, the game of
Lacrosse, it would still be a difticult matter to prove
whether it had originated with them or with the eastern
nations.
" The crosse used at Fort William by the Ojibbeways
was different in shape from the one usually played with
at Fort "William. The stick was of the length of a long
walking cane, the wood thinned off at the end until it
could be turned to an exact circle, or small hoop slifjhthj
larger than the ball. Across this round little hoop were
tied two small pieces of whip-cord sufficiently loose to
form a bag wherein tlie ball rested, but not deep enough
to allow it to sink far in below the middle, but so as to
keep it easy for delivery, or the casting of it. The ball
when in the air may be sometimes caught in the hoop,
and if on the ground has to be lifted up by the hoop
being placed over it and a quick turn of the wrist. The
principal difficulty appeared to me to consist in keeping
the ball within the cup in running, and the throwing of
it straight where required. The crosse had to be held
obliquely, high in the air, to keep the ball uppermost hv
a bend of the wrist. Then in running, at each step the
arm had to be moved backward and forward by the action
of both shoulder and elbow, so that the ball might not
THE GAME OF " LACROSSE."
571
jump out. Even when runniii;T alone this was not easily
prevented, Init when the otlier lacrosse sticks wore ruttliiii^
about, the possessor of the ball had a most dilHcult task
to keep it. The slightest touch might unshij) the ball.
Every opponent had to be dodged in some mode or other,
however marvellous, that being the safest game. In
delivering the ball to another from the cup, or throwing
it to the goal, it was necessary to discharge it with a jerk
or check that it might leave the hoop freely and in the
direction wanted.
"You will perceive that with the cup lacrosse, as
with the raquette, a great amount of agility is necessary
to play the game well ; but in the matter of stopping the
ball in the air, or catching it in the cup, as is sometimes
done, great exactness of eye and expertness are called
for. This and the projecting the ball freely and straight
constitute the most skilful play. I had seen much of
cricket, football, and hockey in my day, but I can safely
say that I have never witnessed such elasticity and elegant
exertion of body and limbs in men as I saw in these pure
Ojibbeways at their favourite pastime. As regards the
rules or regulations amongst the Indians in playing the
game I can say nothing.
"I was quite new to the Indian country, and could
not speak the language, and left Fort William for the
interior, after my second summer there. Any differences
or quarrels over the game I cannot recall. I believe
there were none. On such occasions of amusement the
Indians met each other for enjoyment, and probably on
that account their passions were laid still. Many of
them had families, with whom a quarrel at such a time
would have been all loss and no gain. Besides, quarrels
for them were very serious things, and when they did
occur, unhappily, were frequently settled with the gun
abroad, or the knife or tomahawk if in the camp. This
\
a
iW
ill
572
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
of course would tend to keep tliem gciitlemon in their
li^dit sports, and I must say I do not renieniher to have
seen any rovyh treatment of each other, or foul play at
lacrosse amon<,'st these children of the forest."
From this interestinj,' statement it may he inforrod
that the game of lacrosse is peculiar to thrj Ojibbcway i/"
Algonquin and Iroquois Indiai'S (to whcMU may be adtlcd
the Hurons).
Wliether this game is of native oiigni or has been
derived from the ancestors of the AmeriL >n In "lian cannot
be stated. Catlin in his valuable vvork on the American
Indian does not mention the game. It is distinctive from
" hockey " and " golf," both Celtic games, and to which it
bears sonie resemblance, inasmuch as the ball is picked
up and carried with the croase. Some one has well
remarked tliat the physical and mental characteristics of
a people may be inferred from their games and ballads.
In this game, where running, throwing, catching, and
dodging are developed, it is indicative of a system of life
peculiar to a race of hunters and skirmishers whose occu-
pations were the chase and war.
This game is well suited for outdoor exercise, and
is likely to prove an excellent means for training skir-
mishers to act in concert or independently.
4. The Mdiis or Mixed Races.
The power of France in North America h.is passed
away, but the memory of its rdgime still endures through-
out the vast territories discovered and colonised by the
hardy Canadian pioneers, with the blood, language, and
character of a large proportion of its inhabitants.
Always the friends of the Indians, the French ex-
plorers, traders, and wyagcurs often became iilentified with
their interests and fortunes, and freely intermixed witli
i: 1'
^iT
THE IIALF-BREED8.
573
tlicin. Tlieir mixed blood descendants, found mostly
north and west of the «,'reat lakes, scattered thron<flH)ut
the B'itish possessions and the Nortii- Western States,
have been in their huml)le way playing' an important
part in the colonisation and civilisation of the Far West.
Sailini,' down the Ifed liiver of the north into the province
of Manitoba, the traveller finds himself at their head-
nuarters. Ho observes men and women with almost
the dusky complexion of the aborigine, but dressed in
a civilised garb. They speak a French dialect readily
understood, but unlike any of the patois of France. He
is surprised at their demonstrativeness and pleased with
tlieir urbanity. He discovers in them the instincts of
the Indian blended with and modified by many of the
moral and mental traits of the white, so that he is often
unable to tell which blood predominates. (V. Havard,
M.l)., U.S.A., Smithsonian Report, 1879.)
Tlieir origin is easily traced to the hardy race of French
Canadian fur traders, canoe men, and adventurers of the
seventeenth century, M'ho found a vent for their restless
activity, and freedom from the restraints of civilised life,
among the native tribes, with whom they naturally inter-
mixed by marriage. The contrast is noticeable between
the French and P^nglish colonies in their relations with the
hulians, that the latter, independent of the Indians, from
whose watercourse they could derive no benefit, regarded
thuni as an obstacle to their progress — a natural foe,
against whom they waged a war of extermination ; whilst
the former, from the first, recognised in the red man a
fellow-being, and as such entitled to consideration, and
whom they treated with firmness tempered by strict
justice. As the result of their intercourse with the
Indians, there was not in New France a single tribe whose
alliance and friendship they did not win and retain even
long after their power had passed away. The example
ill
•f
574
COMrEXDILM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
set by the French in Canada has been followed by the
English since the conquest, with like satisfactory results.
The oil'spring of this union of tlie nices is styled
m^tis, traceable through the Spanish mestizo to the Latin
mivtus. Sometimes the term hois-hriXU (burnt wood), from
their dusky colour, is applied to them. The majority
of this class are from an admixture with the Freucli
voyagcurs or eourcnrs dc hois, but in Manitoba a small pro-
portion are traceable by their names to Scotch fathers,
probably some of the Earl of Selkirk's colonists.
They are intelligent and industrious, and engage in
handicraft as well as agriculture, but are fond of tlie
excitement of the chase. They combine many of the
faculties of both white and Indian, and still form a dis-
tinct class of the population. They are kind -hearted,
genial, and sympathetic, practising hospitality, and are
generous to a fault. They may be said to have a clear
sense of morality, but a weakness in will, and to be fickle
and impulsive, generally preferring pleasure to duty, and
thus unable to resist temptation. The amount of illegiti-
macy and crime among them is, however, less in propor-
tion than in most civilised countries.
Their language consists generally of one or more of
tlie Indian dialects, to which they add English and a
French ixdois, with a large admixture of obsolete French
words and some words expressive of local ideas or objects.
In physicpie they {)re of middle stature, well pro-
portioned, with dark complexions, and are, like the Indians,
beardless.
The Earl of Duffe:'" on his visit to Manitoba in 1877,
paid a just and appreciative tribute to the metis for their
conduct in the transfer of the North-West Territories to
Canada, in the following eloquent remarks : —
" There is no doubt that a great deal of the good
feeling thus subsisting between the red men and ourselves
"r- '^i"- 11
THE HALF-BREEDS.
575
ii? due to the influence and interposition of tliut invaluable
class of men, the half-breed settlera and pioneers of
Manitoba, who, combining as they do the hardihood, the
emlurance, and love of enterjnnse generated by the strain
of Indian blood within their veins, with the civilisation,
the instruction, and the intellectual power derived from
their fatliers, have })reached the gospel of peace, and good-
will, and mutual res])ect, with equally beneficent results
to the Indian chieftain in his lodge and to the Kritish
settler in the shanty. They have been the and)assadors be-
tween the east and the west; the interpreters of civilisation
imd its exigencies to the dwellers on the prairie, as well
as the exponents to the white men of the consideration
justly due to the susceptibilities, the sensitive self-respect,
the prejutlices, the innate craving for justice, of the Indian
race. In fact, they have done for the colony what other-
wise would have been left unaccomplished, and have
introduced between the white population and the red
man a traditional feeling of amity and friendship, which
but for them it might have been impossible to establish."
i:ndun wiuwau.
i
57G
COMrEUDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
CHAPTEE XIII.
IMMIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT.
These subjects are among the most vital which have to
be considered in the policy of a new country, and it is
generally felt that their importance as regards the Do-
minion extends to the empire of which it forms a part.
This is so ably stated by Sir Alexander Gait, the High
Commissioner for the Dominion, in his late address before
the Colonial Institute, London, that we shall quote some
of liis remarks : —
" What, it may be asked, is tlie true interest of
Great Britain in the future of her greatest colony ? Is
it not true that, while portions of the same empire, all that
belongs to Canada belongs equally to England — the vast
forests, the boundless fertile prairies, the mineral wealth
of Canada ? Are they not the common heritage of every
British suliject — differently administered, but yet the
same ? Has England no interest in the prolific fisheries
on the coasts of her American possessions, and should she
not feel how largely her naval strength may be augmented
from the thousands of hardy fishermen who earn a pre-
carious livelihood on the stormy shores of Newfoundland
and Nova Scotia ? Should she not desire to share in
establishing a new route to India, Australia, and China
through her own possessions, free from all risk of inter-
ruption by foreign hostilities ? I might answer one and
all of these questions affirmatively, by saying that her
IMMIGRATION.
577
interest is truly an imperial one ; that by the possession
and speedy development of Canada, England most surely
maintains her power, and widens and strengthens her
influence. But in these days Imperialism is at a discount ;
strangely enough, I find in many quarters that the material
interests of the mother country are supposed to be more
connected with foreign nations than with her own colonies ;
and I must try to find within tlie admitted necessities of
Great Britain and Ireland some reason which shall supply
an adequate motive for her aiding Canada in the great
work that has been devolved upon her by British states-
men. The reason is to be found in the over-population
of the United Kingdom, and in the absolute necessity of
providing against the evils — ever increasing and daily
becoming more threatening — which are traceable to this
cause. Emigration, continuous, progressive, and system-
atic, is the only certain remedy, and forms, at the same
time, the only boon Canada asks from the mother country.
Rarely, indeed, can any remedial measure be applied which
does not involve some painful sacrifices on one side, or
perhaps on both ; but here the blessing will rest both with
the giver and the receiver.
" The returns show the singular circumstance that
until 1841 the actual emigration to British North America
was absolutely larger year by year than to the United
States. After 1841 two causes operated to turn the flow
of emigration more largely to the United States : the first
was the condition of Ireland up to and succeeding the
famine, the other was the contemporaneous opening up of
the vast prairie States of the Union, which began to
attract general notice after 1840. The latter cause was,
I think, much the more important, and to it, I believe,
the United States are indebted for the rapid strides the}'
liave made in population and wealth, and the great attrac
tion they have offered to the emigratmg class of ti
2 P
578
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TV, VVEL.
United Kingdom, of Germany, and of Scandinavia. If I
am correct in this view, the Dominion of Canada may
well look forward with great confidence to the effect to
be produced by the speedy opening np of the Xorth-West
Territory — a district prol)ably quite as extensive as tho
prairie region of the Union, and certainly as well fitted for
the maintenance of a large population. My conviction
therefore is, that the tide of emigration whicli turned so
strongly after 1840 to the United States will soon resume
its former direction to British Xortli America, as, otlier
material advantages being equal, I cannot think a lUitisli
subject would prefer a licpublican form of govenunent
to that happy Idending of freedom and law which he can
enjoy under his own Hag.
" Were^ the question only that of relieving tlie con-
gestion of population in the United Kingdom, it would
certainly be immaterial where the emigrant went, provided
he went at all. But beyond this point arises tiie most
important inquiry of — How can the exodus be made
serviceable to the mother country in other respects ? to
whicli the reply is manifest : As consumers of the products
of British labour at home. I might instance tlie Aus-
tralian colonies, which olfer an infinitely stronger illustra-
tion ; but as I may be told that their distance forbids their
being chosen by the mass of poorer emigrants, I will take
Canada and the United States, whose conditions are in
many respects equal as fields for emigration, and it will
be seen by the Board of Trade returns that on an average
of the last three years, every person, and tlierefore every
emigrant, in the United States has consumed only Ss. 4J.
worth of British manufactures, while in Canada he has
consumed ;)2s. ; it is therefore in the interest of Britisii
labour at home, in the proportion of 32 to 8, tliat emi-
gration should go to Canada rather than to the United
States."
IMMIGRATION.
579
Emigration may he reasonably regarded as the easiest
and cheapest means of relief from connnunism and pauper-
ism, which are making headway in consequence of the
overcrowding and necessities of the people, and possibly
a large number of persons who are dependent on parish
aid might in a new country, where circumstances favour
their advancement, become producers instead of paupers.
At present the evils of pauperism are continued from
generation to generation by the " poor-rates," whereas the
children certainly, and many who have become demoral-
ised from want of hope, would in a new field develop
their energies.
The effort is being made by a few philanthropists to
rescue the children of the poor, as shown in the following
statement of the number of immigrants, chiefly children,
brought to Canada under the auspices of charitable
societies and individuals during the last five years : —
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
Total
303
430
384
478
672
2267
These children all do well, but it is for some states-
man who realises the importance of this great social and
political question to lay it before the Parliament of
Britain, and to crown with utility and philanthropy the
colonial policy of the Empire by a judicious and system-
atic aid to colonial settlement.
At one of the debates of the Eoyal Colonial Institute,
Mr. Labilliere essayed to put a financial value on the
loss which the l^ritish Empire had sustained during the
last fifty years by emigration to the United States.
Taking the statement of Sir Alexander Gait, that in the
time mentioned not less than 4,000,000 of people had
580
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
transferred their homes and allef^iance "rom the United
Kingdom to the American Republic, as the basis of his
computation, and valuing the average healthy industrious
emigrant (on the authority of an American publication) at
£166:13:4, he reckoned that England had virtually
made a gift of £666,666,666:13:4 to the United
States. The reflection which he made on this result was,
that if the population referred to had been diverted to the
British colonies, the latter would be' to-day in a very-
different position. There is no doubt that British states-
men are beginning to look at the q.uestion of emigration
from the same standpoint.
The total number of acres sold and taken up from the
acquisition of the North-West Territories, etc.,. to the 31st
October 1880 is as follows: —
Homesteads
Acres 1,819,456
Pre-emptions
„ 1.007,104
Sales (scrip and casli)
922,515
Total
3,749,075
For which there has been paid : —
Homesteads
Pre-emptions .
Sales (cash) .
Do. (scrip)
Receipts
Hereafter to be received
$113,716 00
12,908 00
125,153 50
570,670 34
$251,777 50
356,761 23
$608,538 73
$822,447 84
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NEW BRUNSWICK, NOVA SCOTIA,
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HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA.
581
CHAPTEK XIV.
CITIES OF THE DOMINION.
:'
%
1. Halifax {Nova Scotia).
Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, and the Atlantic
seaport of the Dominion, is situated in latitude 44° 39'
42" north, 63° 35' 30" west longitude, on the west side
of Chebucto Bay, usually called Halifax Harbour. The
harbour itself is 6 miles long by about a mile wide,
and is connected by a narrow arm with Bedford Basin,
an inner harbour 6 miles long by 4 miles wide. No
harbour in the world is more accessible, more capacious,
or better suited for shipping. The entrance to this
harbour and the city are protected by eleven separate
fortifications, and here is the great North American naval
station of Great Britain, and the only part now occupied
by British troops in Canada. At the north end of the
city is a large dockyard for the repair of ships of war.
It covers 14 acres, and is the finest dockyar^^ in Canada.
In rear of the city a hill 250 feet high is crowned by a
citadel, which stands second only to Quebec for strength.
Opposite to the southern extremity of the city is the
weU-fortified George's Island. Halifax was settled under
Lord Cornwallis in 1749, and here the Duke of Kent,
who was much attached to the place, resided for sonie
time. The city stands on high land, and the scenery
around is very picturesque. Many villas are scattered
about the outskirts and on the shores of an inlet of the
•(■MMiaai
■Mil
582
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGllAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
sea, about three miles long by half a mile wide, known as
the north-west arm. Halifax is an old-fashioned city,
and the people, until awakened from colonial quiescence
by confederation, the building of the Intercolonial rail-
road, and the utilisation of their grand seaport, confined
their attention chiefly to the fisheries, to trade with the
West Indies, and to the gaieties of a naval station. Now
they are developing the immense coal deposits of the pro-
vince, the beds of iron, the rich gold-fields, and the in-
exhaustible fisheries of the adjacent seas. As the terminal
point of the transatlantic system of railways and the
eastern seaport of the Dominion, as well as the centre of
the vast coal and mineral resources of Nova Scotia,
Halifax, independently of the European and North
American trade naturally attracted here, cannot fail to
become one of the most important seaports on the conti-
nent, and a great manufacturing city.
This result would be accelerated were the people to
realise the importance of exertion in availing themselves
of their great natural advantages, and not allow trade to
be diverted from them into other cliannels artificially
created by enterprise and skill. Under all " Sam Slick's "
humour lay this patriotic advice to his countrymen,
" Wake up, and avail yourself of your advantages."
Halifax is essentially English in its style, and is a
charming place of residence. On the east side of the
harbour is situated the town of Dartmouth, settled in
1750.
2. Frcdricton (New Brunswick).
Fredricton, a city and port of entry of New Bruns-
wick, and the capital of the province, is situated on the
west side of the river St. Jolni, GO miles in a direct line
N.N.W. of St. John, lat. 45° 55', long. 60° 31' 30". This
St. John Eiver is three-quarters of a mile in widtli here, and
.wvj'Bvr''.'?""''^'''''."'^*)'^'
ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK.
583
is navigable for vessels of 120 tons, but small steamers
ascend to Woodstock, 65 miles further up the river; or,
during high water, to Grand Falls, 75 miles above Wood-
stock. It has raih\ay connection with the United States
railways, and with the intercolonial railway companies of
Canada.
It is a pleasantly situated city, well built, and has a
university, a very beautiful Episcopalian catliedral, and,
as the seat of government, Parliament Buildings. It is
the see of the Episcopalian bisliop, the present metro-
politan of the old provinces of Canada and the Atlantic
provinces. Population, 6000.
7 Bruns-
on the
ect line
". This
lere, and
3. *S^^. John {New Brun&ioiclc).
St. John, a city and seaport of New Brunswick, and
the connnercial metropolis of the province, is situated
on a high rocky peninsula at the mouth of the St. John
liiver, which entei-s into the Bay of Fundy. It is in lat.
45° 14' 6" K, long. 66° 3' 30" W; 190 miles X.W. of
Halifax vid Annapolis, or 276 vid the Intercolonial Eail-
way, and 370 miles due east of Montreal. The tides of tlie
Ijay of Fundy here rise 2 7 feet, and cause a reversible cas-
cade in the river about a mile and a half above the city
according to the level of the tide. It is the great ship-
building and shipowning city of the province, and is the
rival of Halifax in the fisheries and in the West India
and foreign trade. It is subject to fogs at certain seasons
of the year, but is otherwise easily approached, and has
a safe and commodious port. The city is well built, and
presents a striking appearance from the river mouth.
It is connected by railway with the United States
and the Dominion, and is a prosperous city. In 1876
it was almost entirely destroyed by fire, but has been
since rebuilt, and in an improved style.
584
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
It was visited by Champlain in 1604, when it was
occupied by the Indians under the name of Ouangondy.
The French established settlements in 1635, and after
several vicissitudes of fortune, it fell to England under
the Protectorate in 1654, but was restored by the treaty
of Breda in 1749. The French were again driven out
of it in 1754, but the city was not actually settled by
the English until 1783. Population, 26,128.
4. Cliaiiottdoion {Prince Edward Island).
Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island,
is well situated on the Hillsborough Paver, near the
southern coast, 46° 15' north lat., 63° 11' west long.
It is well built on a gently -rising ground, and has a
population of 10,000. The island is fertile and well
settled, and now enjoys the advantages of a railway run-
ning from one end of the island to the other as a back-
bone to the narrow stretch of land on either side.
The island is named after H.E.H. Edward, Duke
of Kent, and Charlottetown after H.RH. the Princess
Charlotte.
No more beautiful island can be found in the St.
Lawrence estuary. The climate is delightful, and with
the facilities for bathing on its sandy beaches, and of
yachting in its waters, attracts a large number of visitors,
who easily reach it by rail to Pictou or Shediac, and
thence to Charlottetown by steamer. Here the merchants
and citizens dispense their hospitality so pleasantly in
the old English style that the charms of the place are
intensified by the charms of the society.
The island is well cultivated, and the oyster beds of
the estuary are famous ; whilst the fisheries, shipbuilding,
and general commerce engage the attention of the people
and render them prosperous and contented.
1? !
it was
jondy.
after
under
treaty
m out
led by
i
Island,
ar the
t long.
L lias a
id well
ay rnu-
1 back-
, Duke
Princess
the St.
id with
and of
visitors,
iac, and
erchants
antly in
ilace are
• beds of
building,
le people
. If'
ji
i
■^mm ■■" ^vi, j^wmmw^w
QUEBEC.
585
5. Quebec {Quebec).
This liistoric city of Canada, with which the names of
Wolfe and Montcalm will ever be associated, stands with
its towering citadel as the sentinel in charge of the
entrance to the St. Lawrence. When the French mariners
first approached it they exclaimed " Quel bee !" (What a
cliff !), from whence the present name of the city has been
adopted. This cape, now known as Cape Diamond, forms
the extremity of a tableland, with a precipitous face of
333 feet m height, and is surrounded by the fortifica-
tions of Quebec, by the upper town, and in rear by the
celebrated l*lains of Abraham. Under the cliff is a
narrow strip of land gradually extended by wharves, on
which flat is the lower town. In front is the river St.
Lawrence, narrowed between the Cape of Quebec and the
high shores of Point Levi to 1314 yards.
Below the city enters the small river of the St.
Charles, gliding through a beautiful valley, in rear of the
high tableland, and eastward lie the gentle slopes of the
Beauport shores, and the noble lake-like basin apparently
barred at the lower end by the large island of Orleans.
This city has a population of 62,447, chiefly French,
who glory in this their ancient capital, and feel at home
when attending the legislature of their native province in
their now British provincial capital.
It is almost impossible to avoid a feeling that you are
in Normandy when visiting Quebec ; and from its European
characteristics, picturesque beauties, fortifications, French
population, and Norman style of architecture, it attracts
the attention of all visitors, who do not find its parallel
for quaintness on the continent of America.
The fortifications cover an area of about forty acres,
and several squares adorn the city. Immediately below
the main bastion is the artificial terrace overhanging the
n
M
I
■
i
U:^tlVJ|!9eWlM;-«,Uw.>I.WHllUIMH ■..
;86
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TPvAVEL.
cliff and tlie harbour. This terrace was commenced by
Lord Durham and completed by Lord Duff'erin. Several
monuments mark the histories of the great battlefield by
which the Dominion of Canada fell from France to
Britain. These are in the upper town, whilst in the
lower town the timber merchant has his office, and along
the river on either side are coves for receiving and over-
hauling large logs of squared timber, and in the roadstead
ride large timber ships ready to receive their freight, and
occasionally a vessel of war resting on a peaceful cruise,
or paying a friendly visit.
Quebec, named by the Indians " Stadacona," was first
visited by Cartier in 1535. The city was founded by
Champlain in 1608. In 1629 it fell into the hands of
the English under Keith, but was restored in 1632 with
the rest of Canada. In 1690 an English attack failed,
but in 1759 it was conquered by Wolfe. In 1775 the
Americans under IMontgomery failed in their attack, and
lost their brave leader.
It is not the seaport of the St. Lawrence, nor is
it commercially a progressive city, although its position
is favourable and its citizens not wanting in enterprise.
Possibly the new railway lines with which it is identify-
ing itself, and the industries, — specially in the manu-
facture of beetroot sugar, — as well as the introduction of
French capital, may stiumlate them to advance more
rapidly.
Meanwhile, Canada without its Quebec would be
incomplete, and the Frencli Canadians without a home.
Quebec is the see of the Eoman Catholic archbishops,
and the cliief French University, namely that of Laval,
is in this city.
If the English population of Canada excel in
scientific and practical work, the French distinguish
themselves in literature, in the professions, and in music
..J iMum
ed by
leveral
eld Ly
lice to
in the
[ along
1 over-
idstead
[it, and
cruise,
Ji
as first
ded by
ands of
2 with
: failed,
'75 the
,ck, and
nor is
position
terprise.
dentify-
1 nianu-
Lction of
se more
ould be
home,
ibishops,
if Laval,
jxcel ill
itinguish
n music
,!;, Mmmii^^
iifi!l!ir":if!ii|j|i|
""%
^^■V'V.- ••:.;,■:;.,
MONTREAL.
587
m
1 1'
now as they did in chivalry and in explorations nndor tho
French n'r/ime ; and Quebec is the C(iiitre around which
the associations of the past circle and the representatives
uf the old noblesse delight to conj^'regate.
As a city where hospitality is dispensed by the hand
of beauty, Quebec stands unrivalled in America.
Quebec is in lat. 46° 49' K, long. 71° 13' 45" AV.,
is 200 miles from the mouth of the St. Lawrence at
Point des IMonts, 180 miles N.E. of Montreal, and 328
miles N.N.W. of Portland.
fm
6. Montreal (Qitchec).
]\Iontreal, the chief city in the province of Quebec,
and the present commercial and linancial centre of the
Dominion, with its population of 140,082, is the lar'^jst
and most attractive city in Canada. It is situated in
hit. 45° 31' N., long. 73° 34' W., on the soutliern shore
of the island of the same name, at the junction of ocean
and river navigation, and is the sunnner seaport of the
vast inland system of the St. Lawrence river and lakes,
[t is 620 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, 180 miles
south-west of Quebec, 320 due north of New York, and
has extensive railway connections with the whole Dominion
of Canada and with the United States. Tlie island of
Montreal is a beautiful and fertile island 32 miles long
by 8 to 10 miles wide, lying at the confluence of the St.
Lawrence and Ottawa rivers ; and the city, whether seen
from the river front, where the St. Lawrence is about 2
miles wide, or from the park covering the heights of
Mount Eoyal, about 2 miles back from the river, has
a picturesque and imposing appearance. The harbour
stretches from the entrance of the Lachine Canal at the
west, to i town of Hochelaga on the east, a distance of
about 3 miles, and is lined by a raised roadway or terrace
588
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAniY AND TRAVEL.
fronted with a parapet u? masoniy, and backed by ware-
houses. Behind tliis roadway the city is built on a
succession of gently-rising terraces, surmounted imme-
diately in rear by the wooded heights of Mount Royal,
720 feet above the level of the river St. Lawrence. Tlie
buildings are imposing, and with their material of grey
marble and tinue<l roofs give a striking character to this
Canadian city. It is well paved, and very generally
ornamented with trees. An aqueduct of 7 miles in
length from the rapids of Lachine provides by gravitation
an unlimited supply of pure water. Gas and electricity
are used to secure light, and the telegraph a'ld telephone,
with all the ordinary city api)liances, are generally adopted.
The harbour is under the control of a Board of Commis-
sioners, and every facility is afforded to the ever-increas-
ing shipping which lines the wharf. Access is afforded
to the south shore by the Victoria Bridge, and extensive
improvements are projected, one by a tunnel under the
river bed, another by a coml)ined roadway and dam from
the city to St. Helen's Island, as well as by a railway
bridge immediately above the city for the Atlantic and
North- Western Ilailway, and a third bridge across the
foot of St. Helen's Island, just below the city.
Montreal is chiefly devoted to conmierce and manu-
factures, but one cannot fail to notice the number and
niassiveness of its public buildings, and the elegance of
the private ones. The population is a mixed one of
French and English, the former being the more numerous,
but the latter possessing more wealth, and generally con-
trolling both trade and manufactures. It is a favourite
resort for both summer and winter tourists, and each
season affords special attractions. The social and educa-
tional advantages the city affords, combined with good
and cheap markets, make it a favourite place of residence;
while the climate is delightful, and the four winter
MONTREAL.
589
ware-
on a
imme-
Iloyal,
. The
3f grey
to this
merally
liles in
vitation
3ctricity
lephone,
adopted.
3ommis-
-increas-
affovded
3xtensive
[uder the
am from
railway
ntic and
cross the
id manu-
nber and
gance of
one of
mmerous,
ally con-
favourite
and each
nd educa-
svith good
residence;
iiT winter
months, from December to March inclusive, have charms
which strangers appreciate after havin<j lived iu the
country.
The history of Montreal dates from 1535, when
Jacques Cartier iirst landed on its shores and gave the
name it so worthily bears of " Mount Iioyal." The
Indians of the Huron tribe here had their chief village
and rendezvous, to which they gave the name of llocheluga,
and relics of this ancient race are still occasionally dis-
turbed in the excavations in the neighbourliood of tlie
mountain. The way to the Inilian village was through
large fields of Indian corn (maize). Its outline was circu-
lar; and it was encompassed by three separate rows of
l)alisades, or rather picket fences, one within the other,
well secured and put together. A single entrance was
left in this rude fortification, but guarded with pikes and
stakes, and every precaution was- taken against siege or
iittack. The cabins or lodges of the inhabitants, about
fifty in number, were constructed in the form of a tunnel,
each 50 feet in length by 15 in breadth. They were
formed of wood covered with bark. A1)ove the doors of
these houses, as well as along the outer rows of ])alisades,
ran a gallery ascended by ladders, where stones and other
missiles were laid ready for the defence of the place.
Each house contained several chambers, and the whole
was so arranged as to enclose an open courtyard, where
fire was made. It first began to be settled by Europeans
in 1542, and exactly one century afterwards the spot
destined for the city was consecrated with due solemnities,
and called " Yille Marie," a name which it retained for &
long period. In 17G0 it was taken by the English. At
this time it was a well-peopled town, of an oblong form,
surrounded by a wall flanked with eleven redoubts, a
ditch about 8 feet deep and a proportionate width, but
dry, and a fort and citadel, the batteries of which com-
590
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
1^
l!
\
manded the streets of the town from one end to the
other. The town was at this time divided into an upper
and a lower town, the upper town being on the level of
the present court-house. In the lower town the mer-
chants and men of business generally resided, and here
were situated the royal magazines, the armoury, and the
nunnery hospital. In the upper town were the principal
buildings, such as the palace ol the Governor, the houses
of the chief ofSicers, the convont of the Eecollets, the
Jesuits' Church and Seminary, the Free School, and the
Parish Church. The houses were solidly constructed in
that semi monastic style peculiar to Eouen, Caen, and
other towns in Normandy. Early in the present century
vessels of more than 300 tons could not ascend to Mont-
real, and its foreign trade was carried on by small brigs
and barges. In 1809 the first steam-vessel, The Accom-
modation, built by the Hon. John Molson, made a trip to
Quebec; she had berths for about twenty passengers.
Years of industry, intelligence, enterprise, and labour,
have produced a mighty contrast. Ocean steamers of
COOO tons, and ships from 700 to 2000 tons, from all
parts of the world, and innumerable steamers and river-
craft, now lie alongside the wharves of the harbour,
which are not eqiuilled on this continent in point of
extent, accommotlation, approach, and cleanliness. In
1832 the cholera raged in Montreal with great violence,
carrying off 1843 inhabitants in a popidation of little
more than 30,000. In April 1848 a political niol>
burned the Parliamentary buildings, which were situated
on the site of the present St. Ann's Market, and the seat
of government was in consequence removed to Kingston,
and then, by alternation, to Quebec and Toronto, and
finally to Ottawa. In July 18 5 2 a destructive five laid
waste a large part of the city, burning 1108 houses, and
destroying property valued at Jj^ 1,3 03,204. in ISlJl)
MONTREAL.
591
the city was visited 1 )y the Prince of Wales, in 1 8 G 2 by
the Dnke of Edinbnrgli, and in 18(3 9 Prince Arthnr
made it his residence for several months. The Htjtel-
Dieu was founded in 1644 by Madame de Bouillon, and
six years afterwards the Convent of Notre ])ame was
founded by Mademoiselle ]\Iarguerite de Bourj^eois.
The island of ^lontreal, originally granted in fief by
the King of France to the company of the Cent Assuci^s,
was restored to the Crown, and in 1033 was conferred
on the Order of St. Sulpice of Paris, who estal)lislied a
branch in jMontreal. After the conquest tliis local branch
claimed the right of representation of the parent society.
This claim was objected to, and it was not until 1840
that an ordinance was passed confirming their claim, but
at the same time providing for the gradual extinction of
this seignorial burden. Hubserpient legislation has been
adopted for the early and complete extinction of the
feudal system, but the Seminary of St. Sulpice by this
grant has become a very wealthy corporation in the city
of ^Montreal.
Tlie two oldest churches in ^Montreal are the Bonse-
cnurs (lioman Catholic) and St. Gabriel (Clmrch of Scot-
land). The former was erected in 1658, was burnt in
1764, but rebuilt in 1771 ; the latter was built in 1792.
]\b)ntreal is surrounded by villages, whose population
numbers over 40,000.
]\Iontreal is the see of the Anglican as well as of the
Pioman Catholic l)isliops of JNEontreal. The Englisli cathe-
dral here is one of the finest specimens of church archi-
tecture on the continent.
As ]\lontreal merchants were the pioneers in steam-
shi]) and railway enterprise in Canada, so are they still
the leaders in industrial progress and connnercial exten-
sion, both home and foreign. Witli much conservatism,
they nevertheless anticipate, initiate, and make liberal
;:li
592
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
provision for utilising and maintaining the natural facili-
ties which their position affords, and they fully appreciate
the fact that trade established in a certain route continues
naturally therein. It will not he their fault if in com-
mercial rivalry with their sister cities they do not make
great additions to their present trade, and render this
city of the Dominion of Canada what New York is to
the United States — its financial centre and commercial
capital for all time to come. It is now becoming as
much the centre of the vast system of railway traffic
for the Dominion and with the United States, as it is
the seaport of the Dominion.
7. Ottawa {Ontario).
Ottawa, in the province of Ontario, and the capital
of the Dominion of Canada, was in 1858, on the reference
of the parliament of the old province of Canada, elected
by Her Majesty the Queen as the seat of government,
and under the Confederation Act has been continued as
the Dominion capital.
It is beautifully situated on the right or southern
bank of the Ottawa, here 150 feet above the river, and
ac the confluence of the Rideau and Ottawa rivers. It is
immediately below the falls of the Chaudiore, once
beautifid in a state of nature, but now surrounded and
almost hidden by immense saw-mills and timber slides,
which indicate the industrial character of the poj^ulation,
and the extent of the timber trade, but certainly mar the
aesthetic appearance of this once picturesque cascade.
The city has a population of 27,417, which is rapidly
increasing, not only on account of its industrial advan-
tages as the great entrepot of the timber trade, but also
by reason of the attractions of a capital, with its re})re-
sentative of the Crown, its ministers, statesmen, aud
PT ■• ■^^■"■^"'F
OTTAWA.
50.".
['acili-
eciate
:iniies
coni-
make
r this
is to
iiercial
departmental bureaux, all occupied in the management
and organisation of a vast country. Again, the I j-
minion Parhament Lilnvary, the Geological and Natural
History Survey Museum, and the Art Academy, are
special attractions in making Ottawa a literary, scientific,
and art centre.
During the war of 1812 with the United States, it
was found that gunboats were exposed on their way
through the St. Lawrence to the great lakes, between tlie
point wliere tlie international boundary strikes the St.
Lawrence Eiver near Cornwall and J\.ii'gston at the
entrance to Lake Ontario. To obviate this, Colonel V>y,
an officer of the Royal Engineers, planned the route by
the Ottawa River, across tlie peninsula, using the Rideau
Elver and a succession of lakes to Kingston. This route
was adopted, the Rideau Canal with its succession of locks
was constructed, and in 1827 a commencement was
made under the name of Bytown, of the present city,
which was changed in 1854 to Ottawa.
Tlie Houses of Parliament, by their prominent
location, size, and architectural beauty, necessarily con-
ptitute a striking object in the appearance of this city.
They stand on the old " BaiTack Hill," overlooking the
river Ottawa, and cover, with the ornamental grounds
surrounding them, about 25 acres. The foundation
stone was laid by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales in 18 GO.
The style is Italian Gothic. The main building 500 feet
long, and the two departmental buildings each 375 feet
in length, form an open parallelogram, in rear of which
stands a beautiful semi-detached octagonal library building.
The several erections cover 4 acres, cost 64.000,000, and
are specimens of modern architecture which would do
credit to any country. In fact it would be dilHcult to
indicate any other recent structure of which the general
effect is more harmonious or striking.
2 Q
■ \
594
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
Ottawa is a curious example of transformation from a
lumberman's shanty to a beautiful city, and this within
a space of fifty years.
Ottawa is in lat. 45° 25' 59" K, long. 75° 42' 4" W.,
and 126 miles W.N.W. of Montreal, 95 miles N.N.E. of
Kingston, and 450 miles from New York. The town of
New Edinburgh forms a suburb of the city, lying about
two miles to the east of it, and is the centre of attraction
in a social point of view, as at the Government House, now
occupied by the Governor-General, the Marquis of Lome,
and H.R.H. the I'rincess Louise, is disj)ensed royal
hospitality, coupled with a fostering care of art and
literature, and crowned, as is the home of their royal
mother, by a noble Christian example.
" It needs no royalty to hedge her round
AVlio stands supreme in woman's grace."
8. Kingston {Ontario).
Kingston, a city of Ontario, at one time the capital
of Upper Canada, situated at the outlet of Lake Ontario,
172 miles west of Montreal, lat. 44° 12' K, long. 7G° 41'
W. The city occupies the site of the old Fort Frontenac on
the north-east shore of the river (opposite Wolfe Island),
which here enters the lake. The west shore is bold, and
shipping of any size may lie here in perfect safety. I^ast
of the bay the land projects southward, terminating in
l*oint Frederick, or Navy Island, beyond which is Haldi-
mand Cove, a deep basin of water protected by this point
on the west, and Point Henry on the east, and guarded
from southerly winds by Wolfe Island in front. Kingston
is, after Quebec and Halifax, the strongest fort in the
Dominion of Canada. There is a fort on Missessaga
Point, and all other accessible points are secured by
batteries. There are extensive military works on Navy
KINGSTON.
595
L'om a
vitliiu
t" W.,
J.E. of
)VV11 of
about
ractiou
se, now
Lome,
I royal
xrt and
tr royal
Point, and on Point Henry is a fortress which completely
commands the harboiir and town. A long bridj^e across
("ataraqui Bay connects Kingston with Pittsburg, besides
which there are the su1)urbs of Barrietield French village
and Williamsville. The city is reguhirly laid out with
streets crossing each other at right angles. It is chiefly
built of blue limestone, which underlies the town. The
streets are lighted with gas, and the houses are partly
supplied with water. The Kideau Canal, connecting this
port with the Ottawa Eiver, has made Kingston a place
of considerable commercial importance.
A settlement was begun here by the French, by De
Courcelles, as early as 1672, under the name of Fort
Cataraqui, and the fort subsequently received the name
of Fort Frontenac in honour of the French count of that
name. This fort was afterwards in the possession of the
French and the Indians, until it was destroyed by the
expedition under Colonel Bradstrut in 1758. In 1762
the place fell into the hands of the British, from whom
it received its present name. It was incorporated as a
city in 1838. Population (Census 1881), 14,093.
Kingston is a see of the Anglican and Roman
Catholic bishops.
A military college, adopting an organisation and
curriculum similar to Woolwich, and under the direction
of officers of the British service, has been established here
for the purpose of training officers to take charge of the
public works of Canada, and protect them if necessary
with military defences. There are now about 100 cadets,
to whom four prizes are annually offered of commissions
in the British army. The other cadets who graduate are
much sought for as civil engineers.
It was at this place that La Salle built the first
vessel for the navigation of the lakes. It was, however,
lost on its first trip.
596
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
9. Toronto (Ontario).
Toronto, formerly York, is the capital of the Province
of Ontario, and the leading commercial city of Western
Canada. It is situated on Lake Ontario, behind a sand-
bar which affords shelter to a large and safe harbour, and
is in latitude 43° 49' 4" K, longitude 79° 31' 5" W.,
333 miles W.S.W. of Montreal, 161 miles from Kingston,
39 miles N. by E. from Hamilton, and 500 miles N.W.
of Washington. Its proximity to the waters of the
great lakes renders the climate here milder than in Mon-
treal. The mean temperature of the year is 44° 4';
winter 26° 4', summer 63° 8' Fahrenheit^
The bay is entered by a narrow opening, and is
separated from the lake by a low peninsula, about 6 miles
long, flanking a bay one mile and a half across. The
site of the town is low, but rises gently from the water's
edge, the observatory being 108 feet above the level of
the lake. The streets are wide, and are laid out verv
regularly. The buildings are substantially built, chiefly
of white brick ; and many of them, particularly the pubhc
ones, are of very good architectural design.
There are several well-built common schools and
grammar schools. In connection with higher education
there is the Uuiveriiity of Toronto, one of the finest
buildings on the .'ontinent of America, and reckoned
second to none on this side of the Atlantic as a seat of
learning. It is of Norman architecture, with a massive
tower and richly-sculptured doorway for its main entrance.
It is beautifully situated at the western side of the
Queen's Park — a noble public park for the recreation of
the citizens, whose spacious avenues are ornamented with
rows of statelv trees. There is a monument erected here
in honour of those Toronto volunteers who fell in defence
of their country during the first attempted invasion of
-#P kH>iV<V.IJIJ«>l'VI I ¥1."
TORONTO.
597
Cancada by the Fenians in 1866. Trinity College is
finotlier educational institution, in connection with the
Kl)isco])alian Church ; and there is also Knox College for
the theological training of students in connection with
the Canada Presbyterian Church. The Upper Canada
College is an extensive range of buildings, and has a high
repute as a grammar school and boarding school for boys.
There are two schools of medicine, each having its staff of
professors. There is also an ably-conducted Veterinary
College.
Toronto was founded by Governor Simcoe in 1794.
Parliamentary buildings were erected, and the Legislature
assembled there for the first time in 1797. In 1813 it
was captured by the Americans under General Pilce, who
was killed in storming the fort ; but it was held only for
a few days. Since that period the city has made steady
progress, and has assumed considerable importance as a
mart of trade and commerce. In 1834 it was incor-
porated as a city, and its name changed from York to
Toronto. Population (Census 1881), 80,445. Toronto
is a see both of Anglican and Eonian Catholic bishops
of Toronto.
Toronto has increased in population more rapidly
than any of the older cities of Canada, and had in 1871
but 56,092. This progress is due mainly to the rich
agricultural country by which it is surrounded, the rail-
way facilities it afibrds, the shipping by the lake ports
to and from the United States, and the enterprise of its
citizens and merchants.
The citizens of Toronto are not admirers of their
French brethren in the Province of Quebec, and are per-
liaps somewhat inclined to provincialism. They are
extending their railways to tap the great North-West
Territories, and hope to become the "^nmercial centre of
the Dominion.
598
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGUAI'IIY AND TUAVEL.
Whatever be tlie relative proj^ress of tlie city as
compared with others, it is certain to he deservedly j^a-eat ;
and its educational facilities, the pride of the ]*]ii^Hsli
population, are hearing tlieir fruits in the rapid advance
of the whole province of Ontario, and the consetiuuiit
importance of Toronto as its natural centre.
10. Winnipeg {Manitoba).
"Winnipeg, or Fort Garry, the seat of government of
the Province of Manitoba, is situated at the junction of
the Assiniboine with the Red Eiver, in latitude 49° 55'
north, longitude 97° 8' west.
It is 40 miles south of the lake of the same name,
65 miles north of Pembina, the frontier town of the
United States on the lied Paver, and 1180 miles north-
west of Montreal, vid the Canadian Pacific Pvailvvay, but
1843 miles by the United States route.
It is the representative city of Central Canada, and of
the great North- West, and has sprung suddenly into
existence, resembling in this respect Chicago and San
Francisco in the United States, and Melbourne in Aus-
tralia. Prior to 1870 it was an important post and the
headquarters of the Hudson Bay Company, where the
Governor, Sir George Simpson, had been accustomed to
summon an annual council of the officers of the Company.
At that time it had a population of about 300 souls,
many of whom were descendants of the early settlers
under the Earl of Selkirk, and many were half-breeds.
All trade was then monopolised by the Hudson Bay
Company ; from hence the hunter started on his buffalo
hunt, and to this point he returned to enjoy the gaieties
of society.
Within the last six years, owing to the knowledge of
the resources of the country, and to improved facilities of
II IM «'«•■«*'
WINNIPEG.
599
ity as
•ireat ;
Mi^lisli
dvance
Tient of
iction of
49° 55'
le name,
1 of tlie
:s north -
way, but
a, and of
Illy into
and ftau
in Aus-
and tlie
lere the
,oined to
onipauy.
00 souls,
settlers
df-breeds.
son Bay
us buffalo
le gaieties
wledge of
icilities of
access through the United States, it has increased to
15,000 ; but as railway connection is now completed
with the older provinces of Canada, and an innnigration
and land fever is raging, it is quite probable that it will
double its present population within twelve months.
What gold was to California and Australia, wheat is
to IManitoba ; the harvests of the latter, however, attract-
ing a class of settlers superior to the former, and ail'urding
more certain and satisfactory returns.
Of this new and vast field for enterprise, in whicli
failure is not dreamt of, Winnipeg is the centre of attrac-
tion and radiation. The Canadian Pacific Itailway here
crosses the Eed Kiver, and the latter river, as well as the
Assiniboine, drain the golden harvests gatliered over wide
stretches of territory. Moreover, branch railways and
radiating lines are being rapidly built, and more are pro-
jected. Even the trade by the Great Xorthern or Hud-
son Strait route is sought to be attracted here by a
railway to Churchill. The construction of all these rail-
ways, and particularly of the great transcontinental road,
leads to large disbursements of money, and every one here
is busy in making his fortune, if not his " home."
The Anglican and Roman Catholic missionaries had
wisely established churches, schools, and colleges, and
now under the direction of a joint board Winnipeg pos-
sesses in the University of Manitoba a well-managed and
well-attended university, with the Most lieverend Robert
]\Iachray, the metropolitan of Rupert's Land, as Chan-
cellor, The city also enjoys municipal institutions, civic
government, and legislative halls, like the older capitals.
Winnipeg is situated on a " dead level " prairie on
the left bank of the Red River, which river, as well as
the Assiniboine, has eroded broad but ditch-like gulleys
through the alluvial plain.
The prospects from the city are extensive, but far
GOO
COMPENDIUM OP GEOGUAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
from picturesque. The streets are wide and long, and
may be extended indefinitely. The first houses were all
l)uilt of wood. The new ones are of stone, or chiefly brick,
for which the chiys in the neighl)ourhood afford abundant
material. Some of these buildings are of superiur style,
and building ()})erations, considerable though they be, fail
to su])])ly the wants of the i)e(»ple.
]>y the time that the present excessive stimulus given
by railway construction has abated, Winnipeg will be
fully estal)lished as the commercial centre of the villages,
towns, and cities springing up all over this vast country,
and will doubtless even then maintain its supremacy.
Such at least is the belief of the people, and this faith
materially help.-> to secure the anticipat(jd result.
11. Victoria {British Columlia).
Victoria, the seat of government and capital of
British Columbia, is situated near the south-east ex-
tremity of Vancouver Island, where the adjoining strait
of Juan de Fuca is 17 miles in breadth. It is 14o miles
from Olympia (Puget Sound), 3 '20 miles from Portlaiul
(Oregon), and 3000 miles from Monti-eal. Latitude 48°
25' 20" north, longitude 123° 22' 34" west.
The surroundings of Victoria are singularly beautiful.
To the south is a wide stretch of sea closed by the mag-
nificent range of the Olympian Mountains. To the east-
ward is Mount Baker, which at a distance of nearly 100
miles rears its snowy peak amidst the clouds. To the
westward is a wide stretch of sea, bounded on one side by
the Olympian range, and on the other by the mountains
of Vancouver ; whilst to the north are ranges of hills and
mountains, prominent amongst which, and within five or
six miles of the town, are the peaks of jMount Tolmie and
Cedar JMountain. From these heiuhts the most beautiful
VICTORIA.
601
, and
re all
] trick,
utlant
style,
)e, fail
1 given
/ill bo
illages,
ountvy,
cy-
lis faitl^
pital of
east ex-
y strait
3 miles
Portlanil
ude 48°
cantifvd.
die mag-
the east-
udy 100
To the
side by
lountains
hills and
1 five ov
Imie and
beautiful
panoramic vinvs of the southern end of the island, the
surrounding ocean, the Olympian liange, and the coast
range on the mainland, far away to the westward, may be
obtained.
The country in the neighbourhood of Victoria is
remarkably picturesque, with its parks of aged oaks, its
inlets, bays, and l)eaches, and groves filled with a profu-
sion of roses, ferns, and wild flowers. The climate re-
sembles that of the south of England, being clear, cool,
and fresh during the summer, and mild in the winter.
Three miles from Victoria is the harbour of Esqui-
mault, one of the finest on the Pacific coast. Here is the
Pacific station of North America for the British Xavy,
with a graving dock capable of admitting vessels of the
largest size.
The city boasts of some good streets, with fine drives
over excellent roads, in various directions. Adjoining the
town a large extent of ground has been reserved for a
public park. This picturesque locality, known as Beacon
Hill, borders on the strait. Here is the public racecourse
and cricket ground. On the outskirts of the town are
many attractive residences, and every cottage displays its
])retty garden. There is very little of the past to record
of this youthful city, as it was not until the capital had
been removed here from New Westminster that it became
the chief city of British Columbia.
Nova Scotia was said to be somewhere " east of sun-
rise," and British Columljia " west of sunset." The
Canadian Pacific road Avill, however, soon link these distant
provinces ; and as Halifax will represent the one on the
Atlantic, so Victoria will represent the other on the
Pacific, and this citv will doubtless have a future and
satisfactory history when the rail-car shall traverse the
continent, and the steam-ship lines now being prepared
shall carry the merchandise of the East to it,s wharves.
C02
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAniY AND TRAVEL.
ik
12. Kew Westminster {British Culionhia).
Now \Vostininst(!r, the former ca])itiil of TJritisli
Colmiil)iii, is beautifully situatiid on the north biuik of
the Fraser lliver, 75 miles from Victoria. Latitude 49
12' 47", longitude 122° 5:3' west. At present the
princi])al industry is salmon -fishin;,'. Salmon, sturf^eon
of fal)ulous size, trout, and otlufr kinds of fish, are cau«;ht
in f^reat abundance. New Westminster, when the capital,
was a ])rosperons and busy place; since the removal
of the seat of government to Victoria it lias materially
decreased in business and population, but nothinj,' can
deprive it of its magnificent site, .and of its fine climate
and scenery. The steamers from Vancouver Island make
it their forwarding statit)n for all passengers and freight
from al)road ; and the river steamers their headquarters
.vheiice they convey passengers and freight to Yale, 100
miles distant, the head of navigation on the Fraser River,
and supply the demands of the whole of the interior,
liurrard Inlet, one of the finest harbours (tn the Pacific
coast, and the ])roposed terminus of the Canadian I'acific
Iiailway, is only a few miles from New Westminster.
Population, 4000.
Tabulau Statement of the Population of Pbincipal Cities.
Census 1881.
Province of New Brunswick —
St. .John . . 26,128
'Fredricton . . 6,218
Province of Nova Scotia —
^Halifax . . . 36,102
Province of Prince Edward Island —
'Charlottctowu . , 11,485
Summersido , . 2,853
Province of Quebec —
Montreal . . . 140,682
'Quebec . . 62,447
Province of Quebec —
Three Rivers
Levis
Slicrbrooke
Hull
St Henri .
Sorel
St. Hyncinthe .
Province of Ontario —
^Toronto
Haniilton . .
9,296
7,597
7,227
6,890
6,415
5,792
5,314
86,445
85,9t)5
1 Provincial Capital.
:f^»|'^';,io:|;;S[]i'f
Ivitish
ink ol'
Ae 49^
it tho
cau<i;ht
ca])itul,
■omoviil
Lttn'iivlly
.ii<Z can
climate
id make
I freight
quarters
ale, 100
31 Eivev,
interior.
Tacitic
Tacific
Lminster.
Cities.
9,206
. 7,507
. 7,2-27
6,800
. 6,415
. 5,3U
. 86,445
'i
2
Li
-J
:4
H
■^
y.
y^'^aiWki'- * j^MJimw'^"."^'"
m'
|||*"P .^^ii*num
POPULATION OF PEIXCIPAL CITIES.
603
Province of Ontario—
^Ottawa
Loiidon
Kingston
Gael 1 ill
St. Catlu'i'ine's
Brantt'ord
Bdleville
St. Thomas
Stratfonl
Brockville
Chiithani
Teturljoro'
Windsor
Doniiiiion Capital.
27,417
19,763
14,093
9,880
9,642
9,626
9,516
8,370
fc\240
7,608
7,fc'81
6,815
6,567
[ Province of Ontario-
Port Hoj)e
Woodstock
Gait .
Lindsay .
Proviiico of Jranitoba—
-Winnijicf^ .
Emerson . . . ^
Proyinco of British Columbia—
''Victoria (Vancouver) . 5,02.")
Xew Westminster . 4'(juo
Province of Xewfoundland— '
St. John . . . 23,81)0
- Provincial Cajjital.
5,588
5,373
5,189
6,081
7,985
1,500
4 1
'iii
604
COMPENDIUiM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
CHAPTER XV.
CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY, RELIGION, EDUCATION, ETC.
1. General Outline.
A REVIEW of the early history of Canada, and of the
French r^yime, is ahnost necessary to an understanding
of its constitutional history.
No one who studies the early progress of this country
can fail to remark tlie weak attempts at colonisation, and
the trials and vicissitudes through which the first settle-
ments passed. At the date of what may be called the
beginning of European settlement on the territory now
occupied by the Dominion, these efforts, feebly sustained
by the parent States, were impeded by the wars in which
these nations, as well as the colonists themselves, were
constantly engaged.
Spain liaving led the way in the discovery of a New
AVorld, and excited the envy and rivalry of the other
nations of Europe, En^jdand hastened to secure her sliare
in the new territory, and planted colonies in Newfound-
land and on the shores of the present New England and
Virginia sections of the United States. Holhuid also
established settlement? in the New Netherlands, at tlie
mouth of the Hudson. France, equally eager, and profess-
ing like zeal with Spain for the conversion of the heathen
to Christianity, landed her colonists in Acadia, and whilst
her intrepid missionaries baptized the astonished Indians,
DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY.
605
ETC.
. of the
staudiuf^
country
tion, and
st settle-
ailed the
tory now
sustained
iu which
s-es, were
)f a New
the other
her share
ewt'ouud-
land aud
land also
As, at the
d profess-
e heathen
nd whilst
d Indians,
explorations were puslied westward, trade with the natives
estaltlislied, and New France occupied.
The territorial claims of the colonising nations were
extensive hut uncertain from want of geographical know-
ledge. Tliey were, however, so comprehensive that tlie
Inthans inquired what portion of the continent had been
reserved for them.
Tliese European claims, liroadly stated, were — Mexico,
Florida, and Louisiana by Spain ; the New Netherlands
by Holland ; the Atlantic coast between Acadia and
Florida (the New Netherlands excepted) by England, as
well as the Hudson Bay territories ; and New France,
from the Arctic Ocean to the G ulf of Mexico and west-
ward to the Mississippi, by France. This boundary to tlie
Avest was limited rather by geographical ignorance than
otherwise.
The discoveries and settlements specially affecting
Canada are as follows : —
In 1497 the Cabots, then in the service of Henry
VII. of England, reached North America, and landed on
a coast they named Prima Yista, supposed to have been
either Newfoundland or Nova Scotia. This was several
months before Columbus landed on tlie shores of the
continent. In 1535 Cartier entered the St. Lawrence
and ascended the river to the site of the present city of
Montreal. He is supposed to have first adopted the name
of Canada, having mistaken the meaning of the Iroquois
word " Kanata " (a collection of huts), and assumed that
it was the Indian name of the country. In 154::!
lioberval attempted a settlement at Cap Eouge, near
Quebec, and in 1583 Sir Humphrey Gill)ert tried to
found a colony at St. John's, Newfoundland, while
Chauvin in 1599 eml. ., >, juxed to establish a settlement
at Tadousac. All these eflbrts failed, and the first per-
manent settlements made were those of the French iu
606
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
1605 at Port Royal in Acadia, and at Quebec in 1608,
and the English settlement at St. John's, Newfoundland,
in 1613.
Constant wars were waged between the French colo-
nists of New France, as Canada was then called, and the
English colonists of New England.
Quebec was taken by Kertk in 1629. Louisbourg
was captured for the second time in 1758, and althougli
the greater part of Canada was actually wrested from the
French by the English more than once, prior to its final
capture in 1759, it was always restored to France.
Pending the struggles, a deportation of about 6000
Acadians took place from Acadia to the several English
colonies to the south. These French colonists would
neither take the oath of allegiance to England nor observe
the duties of neutrals, and in spite of the sentiment in
their favour, which has obtained poetical expression in
the pleasing fiction of " Evangeline," their expulsion from
the country was a political necessity. Parkman, in his
charming history of the French r<!f/ime, gives an account
of the weak support afforded the French colony by the
parent State, the conflict in authority between the military
and civil heads of the State, the struggle for supremacy
between the Ilecollet and the Jesuit missionaries, the
severity of the laws, the restrictions on tracle, the burdens
of the feudal tenure, and the military service which
constant wars entailed on the people, so that the treaty of
Paris, which in 1763 transferred New France to England,
really enfrancliised a burdened but chivalrous people.
By the terms of the capitulation, the French colonists
were guaranteed the free exercise of their religion, subject
to the supremacy of tlie Crown, but the civil and criminal
laws of England M^ere introduced.
The British military administration lasted from 1759
to 1763.
CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOIIV.
607
l608,
Hand,
colo-
id the
ihougli
)m the
;s final
France.
6000
English
woukl
observe
nent in
;sion in
on from
, in his
account
by the
military
)reniacy
ies, the
Ijurdens
which
[treaty of
Kn gland,
iple.
Icolonists
subject
criminal
bm
1759
From 1763 to 1774 the government of all the settled
parts of Canada, then styled Quebec, was by a governor
and council aj (pointed by the Crown.
In 1774 the lU'itish Parliament passed what is known
as the Quebec Bill.
The sjurit of the Act may be summarised thus —
It continued to the lioman Catholics the freest reli-
gious liberty, and restored the old civil laws of the French
It deprived the people of trial by jury in civil cases,
as well as of the right to Habeas Corpus, and shut the
door to local parliaments.
As the colonists, Ijoth English and French, desired a
House of Assembly, the Bill was highly distasteful to all,
and its baneful effect in giving cause for distrust to the
British colonies to the south of Canada afterwards culmi-
nated in the independence of the United States of America.
The appeal of the revolted American colonists in
1774 to the Canadians was unsuccessful, as well as their
attempted con(|uest of Canada in 1775, which attempt
only failed of success by the defeat of Montgoi.iery in
front of tlie walls of Quebec.
In the American Iievolution the distinction was
strongly marked between the descendants of the Puritans,
who were inclined to republicanism, and tliose of the
Cavaliers, inclined to monarchy. This led many of the
latter to side with the British arms, for which they suf-
fered at the end of the war in the confiscation of their
properties ; and some 40,000 persons, including disbandtnl
soldiers, sought refuge in Canada and Nova Scotia. These
loyalists were well received, and provisicui made for them
in lands and moneys.
Many of them settled in Xova Scotia and in the
eastern townships adjoining the American frontier, but
the majority of them went westward to Ontario.
COS
CUMPENDlLM OF GEOOKAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
These refugees have been since distinguished as "U.K.
loyalists," and politically their descendants are still stauncli
conservatives.
In 178-4 New Brunswick was separated from Xova
Scotia, and erected into a distinct province by a special
constitutional charter.
In 1785 the law of Habeas Corpus was irregularly
introduced into Canada.
In 1791 the Constitutional Act 31 Geo. III., cap.
3, was passed, making more eHectual provision for the
government of the Province of Que1)ec,
The most important provisions to be noticed are as
follows : —
1. The Provincial Council M'as abolished.
2. Tlie tlien I'rovince of Quebec was divided into
Upper and Lower Canada.
3. A legislature, composed of a Legislative Council
and an Assembly for each province, was authorised.
4. All persons of 21 years of age and over, holding
lands of the annual value of forty shillings or upwards,
not ecclesiastics or priests, were eligible for election.
5. I'ro vision was made for the support of a Pro-
testant clergy in each province, and the accustomed dues
and riglits with respect to such persons only as should
profess tlie Pioman Catholic religion were confirmed to
the Church of Eonie.
6. All lands to be thereafter granted in Upper
Canada were to be in free and common soccage, the
seignorial tenure and the French civil law according to
the coutume de Paris being restricted to Lower Canada.
7. The taxing power was renounced by the Imperial
Parliament, except only in cases where it might be ex-
pedient to impose the same for the regulation of com-
merce.
8. The Habeas Corpus Act was indirectly confirmed.
CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY.
GOO
3"U.E.
itauneli
na Nova
special
eyularly
III., cap.
for the
ed are as
ided into
e Council
ised.
r, holding
upwards,
tion.
of a Pro-
)med dues
as should
utinned to
m
Upper
occage, the
ccording to
Canada,
le Imperial
(vht be ex-
on of corn-
confirmed.
It may be remarked here that at the second session
of the Parliament of Upper Canada in 179;3 an Act was
passed suppressing negro slavery. No Act was passed
in Lower Canada, but Clnef- Justice Osgoode di'clared
"negro slavery to be at variance with tlie law of the
country." A continual struggle prevailed under this
system of government between tlie executive councils
appointed by the Government, and the legislative assem-
blies elected by the people, each striving for suin-emacy.
In 1837 this struggle cvdminated in a rebellion of a
section of people, both in Upper and in Lower Canada.
The Imjjerial Government suspended the constitution,
and authorised the appointment by the Governor-General
of a special council. The rebellion liaving been easily
repressed, an Act was passed, known as the " Union Act,"
reuniting the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada
under the name of the Province of Canada, and conferring
a free constitution and responsible government.
In 1854 the seignorial tenure in Lower Canada was
abolished.
In 1859 the statutory law of Canada was con-
solidated, and that of the old province of Lower Canada
revised, preparatory to its codification in 186G.
The foresight of Fox had anticipated the difficulties
which were afterwards experienced through the separa-
tion of the provinces, namely, an antagonism between the
English and French sections of the peojtle ; and Pitt
likewise had foreshadowed the dead-lock in the govern-
ment of the country by a united assembly, composed of
the same parties when evenly balanced. Both these
forecasts liaving been verified, the question arose how to
overcome these difficulties.
The history of the development of confederation is so
well stated in the Year Book of 1868, that we again
avail ourselves of its contents.
2 n
1
GIO
COMrENDIUM OF GEOnRAPIIY AND TRAVEL.
A federal nuioii of tlie Piritish North Anierieiiu
Provinces was first vaguely foreshadowed in 1784, at the
time of the separation of Xova Scotia and New Pruiis-
wiek. It was looked u])on then by practical men as a
far-off possibility, and liad been su,^,<;'ested, doubtless, as a
count('ri)oise to tlie newly-estalilislied federation of the
Uniteel States. Such a scheuie has since from time to
time been advocated by some of our ablest colonial
statesmen. A proposal is recorded as having been made
by th(i Hon. II. J. Tniacke, of Nova Scotia, who, al)()ut
the year 1800, lirought colonial union under the notice
of the Impei'ial authorities. In 1814 the late Chief-
Justice Sewell, of (Quebec (who enjoyed tlie friendship of
the Duke of Kent, father of Her ]\Iajesty the (^ueeu),
addressed to His Koyal Highness a letter on the subject
of a union, strongly reconnnending it — a document to
which allusion is nuxde by Lord Durham in his lieport
on the Affairs of the Uritish North American Provinces.
In 1822 Sir John Beverly I'obinson, at the request of
tlie Colonial OlHce, submitted a scheme of a similar
nature.
In Lord Durham's celebrated Peport on Canada and
Ihitish North America generally, his lordship laitl great
stress upon the absolute necessity of a federal union, and
expressed his gratification upon "finding the leading minds
of the various colonies strongly and generally inclined to
a scheme that would elevate their (;ountries into some-
thing like a national existence."
In reference to the influence of the United States as
hemming us in on every side, he observes : — " If we wish
to prevTut the extension of this influence, it can only be
done by raising up for the North American colonist some
nationality of hi-- own, by elevating these small and uii-
importaiit communities into a society having some objects
of a national importance, and by thus giving their in-
niSTOKY OK Tin: ieiikkal union.
611
at tlm
livuns-
iS, as a
of the
lime to
Ljolouial
;U iiuule
0, about
i iKjtice
3 Cliief-
ilsliip of
Queen),
i suV)ject
nuent to
s lleport
^'rovinccs.
e^uest of
a similar
.uada and
|lai(l great
|\nion, and
lin;j; miiuls
inclined to
uto some-
|\ States as
Lf we wish
In only be
lonist some
111 and un-
Ime objects
k tlieir in-
habitants a country -which they will he unwilling to see
al)Sorl)ed even into one more jiowerful. A union for
common defence against foreign enemies is the natural
bond of connection that holds together the great com-
nnuiities of the world, and between no parts of any
kingdom or state is the necessity for such a union more
obvious than between the whole of these colonies."
Colonial jealousies and dissensions prevcmte'd the
accomplishment of Lord Durham's recommendations at
that time, but there is no doubt that this lleport was the
means of preparing the public mind for the adoption of a
measure similar in many respects to that proposed by his
lordship.
In 18.54 the question was discussed in the Nova
Scotia Parliament, the Hon. IMessrs. Johnston and Howe,
the leaders of the rival parties, vying with each other
in their advocacy of a measure which, in their opinion,
would be the means of constituting a great nation, by
combininr' the elements of strength iind wealth which all
the isolated provinces possess. In 1858 the Hon. A. T.
(Jalt revived the subject in the Canadian I'arliament, and
eloquently dilated on the benefits to be derived from a
union of the provinces ; and when, in the summer of
that year, he became a member of the ministry he insisted
on its being made a Cabinet question, with what success
is shown by the following paragraph of Sir Edmund
Head, the then Governor-General's speech at the closing
of the session of 1858 : — " I propose in the course of the
recess to communicate with Her Majesty's Government,
and with the Governments of the sister colonies, on
another matter of very gr.at importance. I am desirous
of inviting them to discuss with us the principles on
which a bond of a federal character uniting the Provinces
of liritish Xorth America may perhaps hereafter be
practicable."
(312
COMI'ENDIU.M OF GEO(tltAl'nY AND TltAVEL.
This was followed ])V a despatch addressed to tln>
Imi)t)rial authorities, which i)(jiiitcd to u federal uiiioii (jf
the provinces as a solution of the grave dilliculties which
]>resent(!d themselves in carrying on the Queen's govern-
ment in Canada. The defeat and subsequent resignation
of the Derby-Disraeli Ministry in England prevented
any decisive action at that time on the part of the
Imperial authorities.
A resolution favoural)le to union was passed unani-
mously by the Nova Scotia Parliament in April 18G1,
and having been transmitted to the Colonial Ollice, was
forwarded by the Duke of Newcastle, the then Cidonial
Secretary, in a des])atch, dated Gth July 18G2, to the
Governor-Ceneral, and to the Lieutenant-Governors of the
several provinces. His Grace, after stating that Her
Majesty's Government was not pre])ared to announce any
definite policy on a question which had been taken up by
only one province, expressed his own oj^inion in the
following M'ords : — " If a union, either partial or com-
plete, should hereafter be proposed with the concurrence
of all the provinces to be united, I am sure that the
matter would be weighed in this country both by the
public, by Parliament, and by Her Majesty's Govern-
ment, with no other feeling than an anxiety to discern
and promote any course which might be the most con-
ductive to the prosperity, the strength, and the harmony
of all the British communities in North America."
The Lieutenant-Governors of the several provinces
brought the subject before their respective legislatures, at
the commencement of their several sessions of 18G4, for
the purpose of appointing delegates to confer as to the
practicability of establishing a legislative union between
the Maritime Provinces.
Delegates were accordingly appointed by the Govern-
ments of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince
HISTORY OF THE FEPKIfAL IINIOX.
613
to tlu>
union of
iS which
jToveru-
signutiou
)rcvetitu(l
t of the
3(1 nnani-
ril 1801,
)tUce, was
I Colonial
12, to the
lors of the
that Her
lounce any
liken lip hy
ion in the
al or com-
-oncun-ence
•e that the
oth by the
^'s Govern-
y to discern
most cou-
le harmony
>»
;iea.
al provinces
_;islatvires, at
3f 1864, for
;r as to the
jion between
the Govern-
and rriiice
Edward Island, and it was arranged thai on U'C Isl of
Si'j)teinl>t'r they slioidd meet at Charlottetown.
iMeanwhile Canadian statesmen were en^ai^cd in eon-
sicU-rin^ the feasibility of effecting sneh clianLjcs in tiieir
constitution as would reconcile the contlicting interests of
the eastern and western seetions of the ])V()vin(i'. Tarty
government had becinne wellnigli ini])(»ssil)lo, and ministry
after ministry had to retire from the seemingly hfipelesa
attempt at eaiTying on the government, when, on the
defeat of the Taehe-jMacdonald ministry, in June 18G4,
overtures were made by the leaders of the J^eform party
to the Hon. John A. INIaedonald with a view to the settle-
ment of the sectional dilliculties by the adoption of a
federative system, applying either to Canada or to all the
Ih'itish Xorth American Trovinces. These overtures were
cordially received, and the result was the formation of a
coalition govennnent, pledged to the introduction of the
federal system, ]*>y a fortnnate coineidenec, within a
month of the formation of the coalition ministry in
Canada, the Charlottetown Conference was arranged, and
the Canadian Government hastened to ask permission to
send delegates. Their request was promptly comjilied
with, and, in accordance Avith previcms arrangement, on
the 1st September the delegates met at Charlottetown.
The Canadian delegates, not having been authorised
to consider the question of a 'sUifivc union, were
informally present. The proposal to unite the Maritime
Provinces in a legislative union was looked upon as
impracticable ; but the delegates were unanimously of
opinion that a union on a larger hasis might be effected ;
and for the purpose of considering the possibility of a
federal union and its necessary details, the Canadian
I^finisters proposed that a fnrther conference should be
l.eld at Quebec, subject to the consent of the govern-
ments of the Maritime Provinces, and at such time as
IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)
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23 WEST MAIN STREET
WEBSTER, N.Y. )4SB0
(716) 872-4503
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614
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TKAVEL.
His Excellency the Governor-General might name. This
arrangement being agreed to, the Charlottetown Conference
suspended its deliberations.
The delegates to the Intercolonial Conference at
Quebec met in the Parliament Buildings on Mondoy, the
10th of October ; the whole of the members, thirty-three
in number, being present. There were seven delegates
from New Brunswick, five from Nova Scotia, seven from
Prince Edward Island, two from Newfoundland, and
twelve, comprising the whole Canadian Ministry, repie-
senting Canada.
The conference sat eighteen days in Quebec, and
the result of their deliberations was the famous " Seventy-
two Eesolutions," which, in accordance with the final
resolution, were authenticated by the signatures of the
delegates, and were ordered to be submitted by each
delegation to its own government, the chairman submit-
ting a copy to the Governor-General for transmission to
the Secretary of State for the Colonies. After a tour
through Canada, during which the delegates from the
Maritime Provinces were fUed in princely style, they
separated, each delegation being pledged to use every
legitimate means to ensure the adoption of the scheme
by their several legislatures, and by the Imperial
Government.
The Canadian Legislature met in January 1865.
On the 3d of February Sir E. P. Tache in the Legislative
Council, and Hon. J. A. Macdonald in the House of
Assembly, simultaneously moved : — '* That an humble
address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that slie
may be graciously pleased to cause a measure to be sub-
mitted to the Imperial Parliament for the purpose of
uniting the Colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island, in
one government, with provisions based on certain resolu-
HISTORY OF THE FEDERAL UNION.
615
tions which were adopted at a conference of delegates
from the said colonies, held at the city of Quebec on the
10th October 1864." After a debate of over a fort-
night's duration, the resolutions were adopted in the
council on the 20th of February, by a vote of forty-five
to fifteen ; and in the Assembly, after a most exhaustive
and exhausting five weeks' debate, tliey were agreed to on
the 10th of March, by a vote of ninety-one to thirty-
three. After the close of the session in April 1865, the
Hon. Messrs. Brown, Cartier, J. A. Macdonald, and Gait
proceeded to England, in order to confer v/ith the
Imperial authorities upon the subject of confederation
and other matters connected therewith of colonial and
national importance. The Imperial Government again
renewed their assurances of their approval of the con-
federation scheme, and their desire to promote its adop-
tion by every legitimate means.
In New Brunswick the Quebec scheme was brought
before the people at the general election in March 1865,
and a House of Assembly hostile to that scheme was
chosen. An anti-confederation ministry came into
power, and things looked ill for a speedy success of the
union cause. However, after events proved that the real
sentiments of the people of New Brunswick upon the
subject of confederation had not been obtained, and that
the elections of 1865 had been carried in a great measure
by side issues.
Ultimately a resolution was adopted in both Houses
favourable to confederation, and thus the question was
settled so far as the Government and Legislacure of New
Brunswick were able to further it.
To Nova Scotia belongs the honour of having taken
the initiatory steps which led to the adoption of the con-
federation scheme. In the session of 1861 a resolution
which received the unanimous assent of the Legislature
616
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
was the means of bringing about the Convention at
Charlottetown, which, as has been seen, resulted in an
adjournment to Quebec. After the Quebec Conference,
the Government of Nova Scotia took no immediate steps
for the furtherance of the confederation scheme. Early
in 1866, however, the following resolution was submitted
to the House of Assembly by Hon. Dr. Tupper, and
carried by a considerable majority : —
" Whereas, in the opinion of this House it is desirable
that a confederation of the British North American
Colonies should take place:
" Resolved therefore. That His Excellency the Lieu-
tenant-Governor be authorised to appoint delegates to
arrange with the Imperial Government a scheme of
union which will effectually insure just provision for
the rights and interests of this province. Each pro-
vince to have an equal voice in such delegation, Upper
and Lower Canada being for this purpose considered as
separate provinces."
In Newfoundland the subject of confederation was
brought before the Legislature by His Excellency the
Governor in his speech at the opening of the session,
30th January 1866 ; and the House in Committee of the
whole on the address in reply to His Excellency adopted
the following paragraph in answer thereto, 16 th February
1866, Mr. Knight in the chair : —
" On the important question of confederation, in
recognising the solicitude of Her Majesty's Government
for the welfare of this colony, we concur in the view of
your Excellency that the abstract advantages of union are
so obvious as to be almost necessarily acknowledged;
whilst with regard to this colony and on the details of so
grave a measure it is natural that much diversity of
opinion should prevail. This is a matter which shall
engage our serious attention."
HISTORY OF THE FEDERAL UNION.
617
L at
I an
snce,
steps
iarly
itted
and
Lrable
jrican
Lieu-
;es to
rae of
)n for
1 pro-
Upper
;red as
m was
cy the
ession,
of the
opted
bruary
ion, in
rnment
view of
lion are
ledged ;
ils of so
rsity of
ih shall
On the 8 th March the House of Assembly, after
sitting in Committee of the whole House for several days,
adopted the following resolution : —
" Whereas this House has recently, in reply to the
speech of His Excellency the Governor, on opening the
present session, abstained from pronouncing any decision
on the proposal for a union of the colonies, or on the
details of the measure as regards this colony, and consider-
ing the present uncertain state of public sentiment on this
grave question, and being unadvised of the action thereon
that may be tak^n or contemplated by the other provinces :
"Resolved, That wliilst duly regardful of tlie moment-
ous character of this subject, and of the promise to
His Excellency to give it attention, yet, as no information
has been received demanding its immediate reconsidera-
tion, this House does not deem it expedient to enter
upon its discussion with a view to any decision thereon."
Had the course which was shortly afterwards taken
by New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, in appointing
delegates to confer with the Imperial Go\'ernment, been
adopted somewhat sooner, or had the meeting of the
Legislature of Newfoundland taken place a few montlis
later, so as to give the members an opportunity of know-
ing what was being done on the subject of confederation
in the sister colonies, it is more than probable that a
similar course would have been adopted in Newfoundlantl.
The Legislature of Prince Edward Island repudiated the
action of its delegates at the Quebec Conference, and that
island was the latest province received into the Dominion.
Just about the time of the final struggle in Nova
Scotia, the Legislature and people of British Columbia
were taking steps to secure their admission into the
sisterhood of colonies forming the new Dominion. On
the 18th of March the Legislative Council of that pro-
vince unanimously adopted a resolution expressive of their
618
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
desire that British Columbia should be admitted into the
Canadian Confederation. And on the 19tli March, at
a large public meeting in Victoria, Vancouver Island,
resolutions were adopted urging that steps should be
immediately taken for the furtherance of the wishes of
the colony in that direction.
During the summer of 1866 the colonies who had
pronounced in favour of confederation made arrangements
for the meeting of a conference of delegates from the
several provinces to settle the details and determine the
precise terms of the Act giving effect to the union of the
provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia,
which should be submitted for adoption by the Imperial
Parliament, The several Governments duly appointed
delegates, and these gentlemen met, according to the
appointment, in London, early in December 1866, and
immediately proceeded to business. The Hon. John A,
Macdonald was elected chairman by the unanimous voice
of the conference, and for several weeks they were
engaged late and early in their arduous task of framing a
nation's constitution. Lord Carnarvon afterwards bore
testimony to the statesmanlike qualities which were dis-
played in the settlement of sectional difficulties, the
unravelling of knotty points, the mutual forbearance and
the zeal and assiduity displayed during the prolonged
sittings of the conference.
The Imperial Parliament met on the 5th of February
1867. On the 7th the Bill for the Confederation of the
North American Provinces was introduced into the House
of Lords by Lord Carnarvon, the then Colonial Secretary,
and was received with approbation by all parties. On the
19 th it was read a second time, was passed through Com-
mittee of the whole House on the 2 2d, and on the 26th
February was read a third time. It was at once brought
down to the House of Commons, and on the 28 th
tj
p|
aj
l{
Bl
li
P^
01
Bj
til]
ofl
sei
■ THE DOMINION Oi CANADA " PROCLAMATIOX. G 1 9
'ebruary
1 of the
e House
Bcretary,
On the
jh Corn-
he 26th
brought
lie 28th
Februaiy was moved to a second reading. After a long
and interestmg debate, during vvhicli no member of any
prominence, with the exception of Mr. Jhight, opposed
tlie measure, the motion was agreed to without a division.
It passed through Committee of tliC whole House on the
4th of March, and was read a third time and finally
passed the House of Commons on the 8th of JNIarch. On
the 28th of that month it received the royal assent and
became one of the laws of the empire. The name cliosen
for the united provinces was " The Dominion of Canada,"
Upper Canada to be henceforth called Ontario and Lower
Canada Quebec.
The work of legislation being finally completed. Her
Majesty was graciously pleased to issue her proclamation
on the 2 2d of May, declaring that tlie Dominion of
Canada should commence its existence on the 1st of July
1867, and appointing the members of the Senate.
By this proclamation the two provinces of old Canada,
now designated Ontario and Quebec, were united with
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick under the name of the
Dominion of Canada. On the 15th July 1870 the vast
territories in the occupation of the Hudson Bay Com-
pany were incorporated with the Dominion, which ex-
tinguished the title of the Company by a considerable
payment, and assumed the formal Imperial responsibilities
attendant on the management and control of the numerous
Indian tribes of the interior. On the 20th July 1871
British Columbia entered the Confederation, and on the
1st July 1873 Princ'3 Edward Island joined her sister
provinces, thus finally completing the consolidation under
one Federal Parliament and Government of the entire
British possessions in North America from the Atlantic to
the Pacific Ocean, with the single exception of the island
of Newfoundland, which thus far has maintained its
separate political existence.
620 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
Under this Act the complete control of everything
pertaining to their internal affairs was conferred upon the
people, subject only to their allegiance to a common
sovereign, and their duties as members of the British
Empire. These powers are exercised under tlie Federal
system, by which the united Parliament, consisting of the
Governor -General as the representative of the Queen,
with the Senate and House of Commons, enact all the
laws in which the public at large may be said to have a
common interest, such as trade and commerce, navigation,
fisheries, indirect and direct taxation, postage, criminal
law, and the establishment of a suitable government for
the vast regions of the interior.
Under the United States system the Central Govern-
ment is the delegate of the sovereign States, whilst under
the Canadian Confederation the ImperiaL/rovernment is
supreme, and has delegated to the Dominion and Provin-
cial Parliaments a limited sovereignty, with control in the
departments entrusted to them respectively.
It was feared that the heavy strain put on the Ameri-
can constitution by the late civil war would have been
fatal to their system. The Central Government, however,
maintains the national existence, and the United States
developed astonishing recuperative power. The opponents
of Canadian confederation objected to what they assumed
to be excessive powers conferred on the Central Govern-
ment as tending to prejudice provincial interests. So far
no inconvenience has been felt on this point ; and whilst
the older nations of Europe are watching with interest
these two systems of confederation, the people of Canada
feel assured of the fitness of their system to the wants of
the country, and rejoice in what they enjoy, namely,
actual independence, a responsible government under their
own control, and a close and loyal alliance with the
British Empire.
EDUCATION.
621
CHAPTER XVI.
EDUCATION.
Canada offers a fair and free education to all who attend
her public schools ; a higher education in her grammar
schools at a trilling cost ; and the highest education in
arts, sciences, and professions in her universities at a very
moderate expense. Military engineering and science are
taught at the Military College, Kingston, open to all
British subjects who pass the prescribed competitive
examination of this Canadian Woolwich.
Agricultural colleges, combining a sound literary edu-
cation with practical agriculture, and almost free of cost,
train the youth of the country to agriculture, and have
been established in the Provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and
Manitoba. The higher education of women is not ne-
glected, and separate colleges or special courses with
graduation have been adopted in some of the English-
Canadian universities. Free schools of art and design,
in connection, with industrial pursuits, as well as an
academy for the cultivation of the higher branches of art,
are in active operation. Even the blind and mute have
at their service the means of education devised for their
benefit by philanthropists ; and when to this list is added
the several organisations for education in technical
branches, and the private seminaries and schools which
abound throughout the land, Canada may be said to afford
educational advantages equal to any country in the world.
C22
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
In the Provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia,
and Manitoba, the denominational system obtains in the
pubHc schools, the rights of universities being protected
under the Confederation Act, so that a certain number,
constituting a minority, may establish a separate school,
and apply their rates exclusively to itfi support. Each
public school receives from the Government of the pro-
vince an annual grant, on the basis of the average
attendance.
In New Brunswick, and in Prince Edward Island,
provision was omitted under the Confederation Act for
separate schools, which has caused dissatisfaction on the
part of the minority of Eoman. Catholics, but will pro-
bably be remedied by legislation.
The Province of Ontario ranks first in primary in-
struction, not onlv in Canada, but in the world, as the
attendance of scholars in her public schools has reached
23 per cent of the total population, the highest per cent-
age ever attained in any country.
Under the Ontario Education Acts all public schools
are free, and the gradation from primary or common
schools to grammar schools and collegiate institutes,
with the university in perspective, is by competitive
public examination.
Every child from 7 to 12 years of age has the right
to attend school for four months in the year, and a
penalty is imposed on parents or guardians neglecting
this provision.
Pupils are not required to observe religious exercises
objected to by their parents, but they may receive such
religious instruction as their parents desire.
Religious education does, however, receive equal care
and attention with secular education in Canada. Apart
from the several churches, Sunday schools for the young
and training schools for Sunday school teachers are a
EDUCATION.
C23
a
jcting
,1 care
Apart
young
are a
noticeable feature in the Canadian educational system.
The Sunihiy school, ori<,nnally used as an elementary one
for children not havinj,' the benefit of ordiiiary day
schools, is now recognised and adopted as l)enelicial to
all, so much so that it has become the broad foundation
on whicli the Protestant churclies in Canada gather their
supporters around them. Clergy and laity vie with one
another in this field, and their influence for good is felt
in the family and in the State. The Komun Catholics
adopt the religious training of their youth as an essential
part of their system in their universities, colleges, con-
vents, and schools, but do not fiivour lay teaching. The
universities of the several provinces are well attended,
and well managed. Those of Ontario, in Toronto, King-
ston, London, Ottawa, and Coburg, would do credit to any
country. Even Manitoba has its colleges, both Protestant
and Poman Catholic, In the Province of Quel)ec M'Gill
and Laval, the former in Montreal and the latter in
Quebec, are flourisliing institutions. j\PCJill University
has several colleges affiliated with it, and is governed,
under an amended charter, by a board who are the repre-
sentatives of the " Poyal Institution for the Advance-
ment of Learniug." It was founded by the late James
M'Gill in 1811, received its charter in 1821, obtained a
new charter in 1852, and was reorganised in 1854. It
is specially referred to here as having received its original
endowment, and as having been maintained almost en-
tirely, by the munificence of the citizens of ]\Iontreal. Its
characteristics are — that it is Protestant but not denomi-
national, and that under the management of Principal
Dawson, LL.D., C.M.G., F.R.S., it has developed facilities
for literary, scientific, and professional training, and has
maintained so high a standard for graduation that it sheds
a lustre on the educational system of Canada.
Already the several denominational colleges are crys-
624 COMl'KNDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
tallising around it ; the names of some of its professors
and associates have more than a local reputation in science;
and it is attracting to Montreal the scientific associations
of the neighbouring republic and of the leading nations of
Europe. .
The accompanying sketch of University College,
Toronto, is illustrative of the style of building and size
of an Ontario university
>
jiiy
Landan: Edward Stanford, 55 Charing Cross.
S2
^DLAND
flHUU
ical Map
HAV, i'.G.S.
lish Miles
4o ao 8o
_i 1 1
wTttkus
if Colours
HSlburian,
JSounf,
'Innaa
62
heeb
ftwta„
.^1
'jtBcnayirta ^
^ fCatidiaiSr.
Wof Gi-«iOTich
If^
AND
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\f
.i'-
£
f^U'.S! Bmias
/sT JOHNS I
VBhtMuUs
Cape Race
4 N
f Grwmwich
48
NEWFOUNDLAND.
625
CHAPTER XVII.
ROl
\*A
|l*S
NEWFOUNDLAND.
This island is the outpost of the continent of North
America, and the nearest land to Europe, being only
1650 miles from the west coast of Ireland. It is the
largest island in the Atlantic, and lies between 46° 38'
and 51° 40' north latitude, and 52° 35' and 59° 35'
west longitude. Lying across the mouth of the Gulf of
the St, Lawrence, it divides it into the Strait of Belle Isle,
with the coast of Labrador to the north, and the main
entrance with the island of Cape Breton to the south.
It is supposed that it was the first land in the New
World visited by Europeans. The Icelanders are said to
have landed on its shores in a.d. 1000 ; and the English
in 1536 attempted the first settlements. In oui day it
has maintained the lead to which its geographical position
entitles it, and received the first telegraphic cable on its
shores which was laid across the Atlantic Ocean in 1861.
The superficial area of the island is 42,000 square
mQes, with a circumference of 1200 miles, and a coast
line of 2000 miles. Its widest point between Capes
Ray and Bonavista is 300 miles, and the extreme length
from Cape Race to Griguet Bay is about 419 miles,
measured on a curve. The form of the island is that of
an irregular triangle, with indentations of several deep
bays, the most remarkable of which are Hare, White, and
Notre Dame Bays, Bay of Exploits, Bonavista, Trinity, and
2 s
i
1
626
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
Conception Bays, on the east coast ; St. Mary's, Fortune,
and riacentia Bays on the south coast ; and St. George's
and the Bay of Islands on the west coast ; with several
smaller bays and hnrbours. Most of these bays are com-
modious and well sheltered, with numerous streams run-
ning into them, and nearly all of the harbours have safe
anchorages, with clear and good channels.
The interior of the island has never been fully
explored, but from the reports of Mr. Murray, the geolo-
gist, who has been for many years past, and is stiU,
engaged in its exploration, there is reason to believe that
its resources, both agricultural and mineral, are of very
considerable importance. The greater portion, however,
appears to be rocky, with numerous tracts of moss, much
intersected by rivers and lakes, and but thinly wooded
except on the banks of the rivers. Great boulders or
loose rocks, scattered over the country, increase its general
roughness. Hills and valleys continually succeed each
other, the former never rising into mountains, the highest
not exceeding 1500 feet, and the latter rarely expanding
into plains. The " barrens " of Newfoundland are those
districts which occupy the summits of the hills and
ridges, and other elevated and exposed tracts. They are
covered with a thin and scrubby vegetation, consisting of
berry-bearing plants and dwarf bushes of various kinds.
Bare patches of gravel and boulders, and crumbling frag-
ments of rock, are frequently met with on the " barrens,"
which are generally destitute of vegetable soil. The sea-
cliffs are, for the most part, bold, lofty, and witli deep
water close to the shore.
The rivers of Newfoundland are numerous, and
though the majority are small, yet some attain to respect-
able size. The largest are the Humber, Eiver of Exploits,
Gander and Terra Nova rivers. The Humber in its
main branch is about 80 miles long ; in its second, or
De
Nel
aA
entj
sys[
micl
ceni
comi
GoJ(|
cadiJ
homl
petr(
JiiarH
oriiaj
GEOLOGY OF NEWFOUNDLAND.
(127
are
of
inds.
frag-
:ens,"
sea-
deev
and
Ispect-
Iploits,
lin its
Grand Pond branch, it is aboiit 48 niil-^.s long. Tho
Exploits is about 150 miles long, and drains about 3000
square miles of country. The Gander is somewhat over
too miles long. Nearly all the rivers issue from lakes
or ponds in the interior. Many of them abound with
excellent salmon. Fresh -water lakes and ponds are
numerous over the face of the entire country, and on the
very tops of hills. The surface covered with fresh water
has been estimated at one -third of the whole island.
Sixty-seven ponds have been counted from one spot on
the north-east mountains of Avalon, some of them two
and three miles in extent, none less than 100 yards.
The principal lakes in the island are the Gander Pond,
Deer Pond, Grand Pond, and Eed Indian Pond. The
Grand Pond contains an area of about 185 square miles ;
this includes an island at its south-west end, which con-
tains an area of about 50 square miles. Deer Pond has
an area of about 3 square miles. The Eed Indian Pond
has an area of 64 square miles. The Gander Pond is sup-
posed to be of large extent, but has not yet been measured.
Except some limited areas of Carboniferous and
Devonian strata in the north-western parts of the island,
Newfoundland is exclusively occupied by formations of
Archean and Lower PaliBozoic age belouging to the Laur-
entian, Devonian, Cambrian, Cambro-Silurian, and Silurian
systems ; the first, consisting chiefly of granite, gneiss, and
mica-schist, being the most prominent, especially in the
central and southern districts. The economic minerals
comprise ores of iron, nickel, copper, lead, and manganese.
Gold has also been found, and traces of bismuth and
cadmium. Gypsum has been largely worked both for
home consumption and also for export. Coal, jilumbago,
petroleum, peat, shell marl, salt, red ochre, limestone,
marbles, building stone, brick clay, serpentine and other
ornamental stones, are also mentioned by Mr. Murray,
!'i
>r
r
628
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEI*.
and it seems probable that nearly all of these useful
mineralfi are in sufficient quantity to be utilised.
The principal mines are the Tilo Cove Mine (copper),
the Notre Dame Mine (copper), both on the eastern side
of the island ; and La Manche Mine (lead) on the south-
ern coast. The first- named has-been very productive;
the other two have not been so successful, though there
is no doubt they are rich in mineral.
The climate is not liable to so great changes in tem-
perature as that of the neighbouring continental provinces,
the winter being much milder, and the summer not
nearly so warm.
The mean of the various months at St. John's, New-
foundland, is : —
Jan.
Feb.
Marcli.
April.
3Iay.
June. 1
1
St. John's
23°3
20°9
o
24-2
33°4
39°3
o
48 '0
July.
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
Year.
St. John's
o
56-2
o
57-9
53°0
o
44 -.5
34°0
o
25-3 !
38°3
The temperature is thus like that of Halifax, singularly
even, but considerably lower in the summer months, a
difference which is probably less on the Gulf shores than
it is on the Atlantic. Bishop Mullock gives the highest
reached temperature at 96°, on 3d July 1859 ; but the
records sent to the Smithsonian Institution give 88°, in
August 1859, and 86°, in July 1834, as the two highest
markings. The Smithsonian tables give -14°, in Feb-
ruary 1834, as the lowest point reached, a degree of
cold which is of rare occurrence. The fogs which prevail
on the banks do not extend to the island, except with
certain winds, and the mean obscuration of the sky at
St. John's is not more than in the other chief cities of
rais
ras]
foui
agrii
acrej
islai
settlJ
AOrJCULTURAL CAPABILITIES.
629
lie
in
.est
eb-
I of
Hvail
H^ith
Hr at
■so!
North America. Some \ irts of the island grow fair hard-
wood, but the neighbourhood of the fishing stations is
generally of poor soil, and supports, in addition to moss,
only a small growth of spruce.
In a recent report, 1876, on the timber lands on the
Humber and Gander rivers, the pine timber is thus
described : — To give a rough estimate o. the extent of
fine timbered land from the mouth of the Humber to the
Grand Pond brook, I should say that in all there is less
than twenty square miles which would on the average
yield five trees of from one thousand to two thousand
five hundred superficial feet each to the acre, or three
thousand two hundred trees to the square mile. The
principal trees are, however, spruce, birch, larch, and
willow, which do not generally attain a large size. Great
varieties of evergreens and other heavy growing bushes
abound.
The agricultural capabilities of Newfoundland are un-
doubtedly considerable ; wheat will grow in some places,
and has been known to yield 3 bushels per acre ;
barley and oats everywhere ; and the even temperature
permits of the regular growth of grasses, so that it ought
to be as well adapted for sheep farming and grazing as
any other part of North America. Potatoes are product-
ive and of excellent quality ; and all garden vegetables,
such as cabbages, carrots, turnips, are brought to the
highest perfection. Apples, plums, and cherries, are
raised with success, also gooseberries, strawberries, and
raspberries. There appears to be no reason why New-
foundland should not, some day, be the home of an
agricultural population numbered by millions.
The timber lands, amounting to nearly one million
acres, and situated principally on the western side of the
island, and by the chief lakes and rivers, are wholly un-
settled and ungranted, though they are of high importance
^
630
COMrENPIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
with a view to settlement. What may be the extent and
nature of the lands of the interior it is impossible to say,
as they have never been fully surveyed. No lands are
let for lumbering purposes ; the laws provide that they
shall be disi»osed of for settlement alone. With the ex-
ception of the grant to the New York, Newfoundland,
and London Telegraph Company, which consists of one
hundred square miles in blocks of three miles each, no
land has been given to purchasers in quantities exceeding
200 acres, save in very few instances.
The only animal peculiar to the island is the New-
foundland dog, famous the world over. Among the wild
animals may be enumerated the deer, the wolf, the bear,
the beaver, the marten, and wild cat. Land and aquatic
birds are numerous. Seals are numerous on the coasts, as
are also whales, grampuses, and porpoises ; while for fish
there is no place in the world comparable to Newfound-
land, especially for cod. The famous Grand Banks
swarm with cod and every other variety of fish. These
banks form the most extensive submarine elevation on
the face of the globe ; in their full extent they occupy
6"^ of longitude, and nearly 10° of latitude, being over
600 miles in length and 200 miles in breadth, with a
depth of water varying from 10 to 1 6 fathoms. The
mean depth is estimated at 40 fathoms. The prosecution
of the fishery on the Grand Banks has of late years been
left exclusively in the hands of foreigners, principally
French ; whilst the shore fishery, which, with less risk,
is more convenient, is depended upon by the fishermen
of the island for their support. The cod fishery opens
in June and lasts till the middle of November, and may
be said to form the chief occupation of the inhabitants of
the island. The seal fishery is next in importance.
The imports of Newfoundland consist of all articles
used for food and clothing, as well as for domestic and
les;
of
coL
cat
RAILWAY ACHORS THE ISLAND.
631
py
1 a
he
on
en
■uy
en
ens
lay
of
Icles
laud
fishing piirpnsos. The principal exports are fisli and fish
oils, seal oil and skins.
The (Jovernincnt of Newfoundland pays $120,000
annually for the steam service of the colony. The
steamers sul)sidi.si'd are the Allan Line to and from
Liverjiool and Ilalifa.x, or some port in the Dominion or
United States, once a fortnight ; one steamer once a fort-
night from St. John's nortlivvard ; one steamer once a
fortnight from St. John's westward; one from St. John's
to Conception Uay ; one to convey the judges on circuit
to the several courts held on the island ; and one on the
Lahrador coast, running once a fortnight along the shore
from south to north, and vice versd, giving information to
the fishermen where the fish is most abundant.
The puhlic aCt'airs of Newfoundland are administered by
a Governor, an Executive Council of six members, a Legisla-
tiveCouncil of thirteen members, and a Legislative Assembly
of thirty-one representatives. The judicial department
comprises a Supreme Court, with a chief and two assistant
judges ; a Vice -Admiralty Court, and a District Court.
The inhabitants of Newfoundland are principally the
descendants of the settlers from England and Ireland.
The first Governor was appointed in 1728, and the
first Legislative Assembly met on the 1st of January
1733. The most noteworthy town on the island is St.
John's, the capital. It has telegraphic comnuuiication
with Canada, the United States, and Europe, as well as
with the principal places in the island.
A railway, now under contract, and intended to cross
the island from east to west, promises, it is said, to bring
about the extension of agriculture and the consequent
lessening of the present drain caused by the importation
of nearly all the agricultural produce required by the
colony. It is calculated that at present farm produce,
cattle, and horses are imported to the annual value of a
632
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVrL.
million and a quarter of dollars, all of which could be
raised in the island were the fertile lands rendered acces-
sible by a railway. As an illustration of the necessity
of a railway for the purpose referred to, the Geolof^ical
Surveyor, writing of a district lying round the Gander
Lake, says in one of his reports : " Within this region
there probably are nearly or quite seven hundred square
miles admirably adapted for the pursuits of agriculture,
and a not much smaller area still covered with pine and
spruce, where a great trade in lumber might be prose-
cuted with profit to adventurers and immense aa 'ant.age
to the country at large. A very large proportion is of
rich and fertile soil." Mr. Howley, assistant geologist,
says : " The soil here, over a vast area, is of excellent
quality, and capable of yielding rich harvests. Takmg
everything into consideration, I do not think a more pro-
mising country, or one more easy of access, could be found
in British America. In all my travels about the island
I have nowhere seen anything like the quantity of pine
timber to be met with here." At present this splendid dis-
trict of 1400 square miles is a complete solitude without
a single settler, and from the want of roads it is entirely
inaccessible. The same is true of the Exploits Valley,
containing 1020 square mUes, most of it favourable for
settlement. This too will be traversed by the railway.
The extent of arable land and grazing lands which will
be rendered accessible by the railway will be about five
millions of acres. Iii fact, there is no reason, either in
regard to soil or climate, why Newfoundland may not
become very largely an agricultural country. Of course
there are large districts comparatively barren, and which
will never be reclaimed, but the same is true of every
province in British America ; and, be it remembered, this
island has an area of 42,000 square miles, and is one-
sixth larger than Ireland. When its inexhaustible
THE FISHERIES AND THE TUEATIES.
C33
Ive
in
lot
cse
tch
jry
lis
le-
fislu'iies, its forests, iiiinumls, and a<;i'icultuml lands, aro
all taken into account, it is evidently capable of sustain-
ing a very lar^^e poi>ulation. At present the population
is only 180,000.
The small islands of St. Tiorre, ]\Ii(|U('l()n, and Lan^loy,
lyinj,' off Fortune Bay on the southern coast, and distant
from the mainland about 7 niles, are the last of the
French possessions in North America, being held under
the treaty of Utrecht as a fishing station, with certain
fishing rights hetween Cape Ray northward thrcjugh the
Strait of Belle Isle, and then eastward to Capo St. John,
and the right of drying fish on the coa.t within these
limits. No fortifications are allowed on the island, and
only a garrison of 50 men.
The Americans had also certain treaty rights under
ihe several treaties of 1783 and 1818. The reciprocity
treaty of 1854 was abrogated by the United States in
18GG, and the present treaty of Washington gives them
the right to the shore fisheries, and of curing their fish
on the unoccupied shore, and in fact equal rights with
British subjects, but no more, as they would sometimes
assume. The rights of the Americans under the treaty of
Washington will continue for 12 years from the 1st June
1874, and then it is probable that the "headland" ques-
tion will be revived, unless some arrangement be made
by further treaty.
Great Britain has always held the fisheries of New-
foundland in high estimation on account of their com-
mercial value, as well as justly considering that these
coasts afford a training ground for her seamen. The
French and the Americans covet these " preserves," and
constant difficulties arise between the seamen of the
several nationalities, the islanders being inclined to inter-
pret the treaties strictly, and the others Uberally.
634
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
Si. John's, Newfoundland.
St. John's, the most eastern seaport and city of North
America ar ^ the capital of Newfoundland, lies near the
extremity of the easternmost of the numerous peninsulas
which project from the eastern portion of the island.
It is IG60 miles W. by S. of Galway, Ireland, this being
the shortest distance between any two seaports of Europe
and America, 107G miles N.E. of Montreal, lat. 47° 33'
6" N., long. 52° 45' W. The harbour is one of the very
best on the Atlantic coast. It is inclosed between two
mountains forming the entrance called the " Narrows,"
only 95 fathoms wide in its narrowest part, and 100
fathoms long. This entrance is defended by several for-
tifications, and cculd easily be made impregnable. It
has 12 fathoms of water in mid-channel, but only one
vessel can pass at a time. Within there is ample space
for shipping in good anchorage, with perfect shelter.
There are no perceptible tides ; a light on Cape Spear
(distant 3 miles from the harbour) is visible 30 miles at
sea. In foggy weather a 32-pounder is fired every half
hour, and a compressed air-trumpet is sounded continu-
ously for seven seconds in qvk^i:^ minute, enabling vessels
to enter the " Narrows " at all times. The town is
situated on an acclivity, and consists chiefly of one street,
1^ miles in length, rather irregularly built, but containing
many good shops and warehouses.
The trade of St. John's consists chiefly in supplying
fishermen with clothing and fishing and hunting gear.
During the spring season the harbour is thronged by
merchant vessels from almost all par<"s of the world,
loaded with goods and provisions renuired in the
fisheries.
British sovereignty was established in Newfoundland
as early as 1582 by Sir Humphrey Gilbert. The French
Se
EXPORTS.
G35
subsequently took possession of the island, but it was
again taken by the English in 1762.
The construction of a railway across the island of
Newfoundland, the working of immense deposits of copper
on the eastern and north-eastern coast, the discovery of
large beds of coal, and the development of the timber
lands in the interior, and access to good agricultural lands
on the western side of the island, are giving an impetus to
Newfoundland, of which St. John's will reap the benefit.
Population of St. John's in 1874, 23,890.
Statement of Exports from Newfoundland and Labrador fur the
year ending 31st July 1880.
IS
iet,
ing
rr
Im
iar.
by
Irld,
Ithe
md
Inch
Quantities.
Value.
FisJi, and Fish Products —
Blul.bcr
60 tuns
at
70s.
£210
Codfish, dried
. 1,419,505 quintals
17s.
1,206,579
„ green
372 „
6s.
111
Cod oil .
4,483 tuns
£25
112,075
,, refined
172
£45
7,740
Cod roes
760 barrels
Us.
670
Caplin ....
440 „
2s. 6d.
5r>
Cod sounds .
28 pat'kages
7
Halibut, pickled .
88 cwt.
20s.
88
Herrings, frozen .
2,398 barrels
4s. 6d.
539
,, pickled .
56,197 „
20s.
56,197
Haddock
712 cwt.
13s.
46J
Lobsters
1,124,580 lbs.
5d.
23,428
Mackerel, pickled
5,766 baiTcls
15s.
4,324
Salmon, pickled .
6,765 tierces
£5
33,825
,, in ice
1,512 lbs.
37
,, in tins
34,884 ,, tins
6d.
864
Trout, pickled
1,080 baiTels
30s.
1,620
Turbot, pickled .
7 „
20s.
7
Cod dregs
7 tuns
£12
84
Skins, Oil, Copper Ore, etc
—
Seal skins . . . .
223,795
4s.
44,759
,, oil . . . .
4,849 tuns
£31
150,319
Whale oil .
44 „
£25
1.100
Other oils
£22
44
Copper ore .
25,545 tons
£5
127,725
Uneuuinerated articles .
1,000
£1,773,769
636
COMPEX.DIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL.
Labrador.
Not entered in Newfoundland returns.
Codfish, dried
398,397 quintals
£338,637
9
green
337 „
101
2
Herrings
31,690 barrels
31,690
Salmon
264 tierces
1,320
Trout ....
'^ barrels
4
10
Seal oil
11 tuns
341
Cod oil .
78 „
1,950
Seal skins
101
404
£374,448
1
£1,773,769
374,443
Total .
. £2,148,217
The average catch of cod in the French colonies of
St. I'ierre and Miquelon, during a period of five years
ended 1871, was 15,425,080 kilogrammes, a kilo, being
equal to 2205, or a triile less than 2-^- lbs. The average
number of ships employed in these French fisheries, during
five years ended in 1874, was 76, and 590 men — total
tonnage 12,386, the number of fishermen being 5335.
The yearly catch on the banks and on the shores of
Newfoundland amounts to 2,750,000 quintals.
NEWFOUNDLAND DOG.
INDEX.
Ahie.^, or Douglas pine, li. 385
Abittibi' river, ii. 305
Ac'^adian liighlands, ii. 330
Adams inouiit, i. 112
Adelaide cape, ii. 3'Jl
Adironacks mountaius, 1. 6,
ii. 329, 339
Admiralty, Canadian woods
at the, ii. 493
Agoomska island, ii. 304
Akpatok island, ii. 303
Alabama, minerals in, i. 13
A la Crosse lake, ii. 425
Alaska, formerly Russian
America, i. 270; ii.
289
agriimlture, i. 278
acquisition, i. 276
climate, i. 278
coal-bccis, i. 279
export of ice, i. 285
geology of, i. 283
inhabitants, i. 277
minerals, i. 284
seal fisheries, i. 279
timber, i. 279
Albany river, ii. 305
Alberta, district of, ii. 290
Albreda lake, ii. 442
Aleutian islands, otter and
seal hunting, i. 281
Aleutians, i. 278
Alexandria, ii. 447
Algonquins, or Algie tribes,
ii. 559
locations, ii. 559
numbers, ii. 560
Aliaskiin range, i. 277
AUeghanies, the, i. 7 ; ii. 329
Alleghany coal-fleld, i. 15,
17, 28
river, i. 24
Allumette lake, ii. 364
Amargosa range, i. 108
Avielanchier alnifolia, ii. 400
America, continent of North,
i. 1
census returns, i. 203
colleges, i. 242
Cornell university, i. 244
Danes in, i. 206
discovery of, i. 163
Dutch in, i. 165, 205
education, i. 240
America, first English settle-
ments, i. 164
Flemings in, i. 200
Germans in, i. 200
ground-plan of towns in,
i. 181
Iri.sh in, i. 207
names of towns in, i. 182
national debt, i. 269
New Englanders, i. 204
Norwegians in, i. 200
prehistoric, i. 232
principal cities in, i. 181
Puritans and Quakers in,
i. 166
religion in, i. 246
Russian, or Alaska, i. 276
Kusso-Germans in, i. 206
schools, i. 240
social relations, i. 239
Swedes in, i. 165, 200
Swiss in, i. 200
Tertiary age, i. 54
universities, i. 242
Amorpha. cancsccns, ii. 401
Ampelopsis qu inquefolia, ii.40O
Amur river, i. 278
Anapolis basin, ii. 295
Anderson lake, ii. 443
Anthracite, first discovery of,
i. 10
amount obtained in fifty
years, i. 17
Anticosti island, ii. 298, 361
area of, ii. 298
Antigonish, ii. 297
Appalachian mountain sys-
tem, i. 5 ; ii. 329
coal-fields, i. 14
geographical structure of,
i. 5
mineral resources, i. 11
ranges, vegetation of, i. 8
region, geology of, i. 8
valley, the Great, i.
Aravapa caflon, i. 129
Archipelago between 125th
meridian and Baffin bay,
ii. 321
Arctic coast, ii. 291
commiTcial value, ii. .324
general account, ii. 318
result of the Franklin ex-
peditious, ii. 320
Arctic ocean, shores of, i. 4
Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi, ii,
402
Arizona, Indians settled in,
i. 218
gold and silver in, i. 13t)
Arkansas river, i. 23, 128
"hot springs," i. 27
Arrow lakes. Upper, ii. 443
Artemisia, i. 40, 81
Assiniboia, district of, ii. 290
general account of, ii.
397-407
Assiniboine river, botany of,
ii. 400
clay of, ii. 421
Astrala^us, ii. 402
Athabasca, district of, ii. 290
or Elk river, ii. 430
lake, ii. 432
or Lake of the Hills, ii.
433
landing, ii. 477
river, ii. 349, 429
Athikesipich6gan or Frog
jwrtage, ii. 431
Atlantic coast, general ac-
count, ii. 295
length of ahore-line, ii.
295
Attahwahpiskat river, ii. 305
Aux Coudres island, ii. 361
Avalon, mountains, ii. 627
Aylmer lake, ii. 335
Aztecs, ruins of cities of the,
i. 235
cave-dwellings, i. 237
pottery of, i. 238
Babine lake, il. 440
or Kit-koin, orNa-to-bun-
kut, ii. 446
or Simpson river, ii. 437
vegetation, ii. 476
Back or Great Fish river, ii.
320, 321
"Badlands,"!. 49
Baffin's explorations, li. 319
Baffin island, ii. 321
land, ii. 322
Bale des Chaleurs, ii. 298
Bale Verte, ii. 298
Baker mount, i. Ill ; ii. 600
Baker's park^ i. 90
638
INDEX.
Balsam, Great, mountains, i. 7
BaltiiiiDre, tlic Mouuiiiental
City, i. 100
education, i. 190
paries, i. I'JO
jioimlation, i. 181
public builiUnt^s, i. 190
Banks land, ii. 3'j;t
" Barr';ii Grounds," the, ii.
427
flsh, ii. 428
fruits, ii. 428
game, ii. 427
Barrielleld, ii. 595
Basin, Anapolis, ii. 295
of Mines, ii. 295
St. Lawrence, ii. 291
Bathunst cape, ii. 321
Battle river country, ii. 290
Battleford, ii. 290
Bays—
Bellinghaiu, i. 160
Cataraqui, ii. 595
Chebucto.or Halif.ix Har-
bour, ii. 581
Chedabucto, ii. 296
Chesapeake, i. 190
Conception, ii. 626
Darnley, ii. 320
Esquimaux, ii. 299
of Exploits, ii. 625
Fortune, ii. 026
Franklin, ii. 320
Frobisher, ii. 301
of Fundy, ii. 295, 583
Georgian, ii. 371
Griguet, ii. 625
Hare, ii. 625
Hudson, ii. 300
Invertoke, ii. 299
of Islands, ii. 626
James, ii. 300
Khogochaik, i. 278
M'Intyre, ii. 375
Mackenzie, ii. 320
Mosquito, ii. 307
North, ii. .302
Notre Dame, ii. 625
Ombabika, ii. 374
Saginaw, ii. 372
St. George, ii. 297
St. George's, ii. 626
St. Mary, ii. 295
St. Mary's, ii. 626
of St. Paul, ii. 300
St. Peter, ii. 296
Siniahinoo, ii. 445
South, ii. 375
Thunder, ii. 461
of Toronto, ii. 596
Trinity, ii. 625
of Ungava, ii. 302
White, ii, 025
Beacon hill, Victoria, ii. 601
Beacon point, ii. 409
Bear river, i. 104
Beaver or Churchill river, ii.
424
Becher's chart, ii. 302
Bedford basin, ii. 581
Bee-culture, ii. 533
Bell, Profe.s.sor, ii. 376
Belle Isle strait, ii. 297
Belleville, ii. 309
Bellingham bay, i. 100
Bellot strait, ii. 320, ;!23
Belly river country, ii. 290
Benicia, i. 200
Bering strait, discovery of, i.
270
whale fisheries, ii. 429
Betsiamite river, ii. 336
" Big Bend," the, ii. 445
Big Horn mountains, i. 82
Big Horn river, i. 82
Big river, ii. 305
Birkenhead river, ii. 443
Bitter Hoot range, i. 58
Bizard island, ii. 357
Black or Westroad river, ii.
441
Black Dome, i. 7
hilLs, i. 47
mountains, the, i. 7
river, ii. 364
Blackfeot Indians, ii. 570
Blanc Sablon, ii. 361
Blodgett, Lorin, ii. 459
Bloniidon, cape, ii. 295
Blue Uidgo, the, i. 7
Boat Encampment, ii. 430
"Bonanza" and "borrasca,"
i. 155
Bonavista cape, ii. 625
Boothia Felix peninsula, ii.
320, 323
Boothia gulf, ii. 320
Borax found in California, i.
135
Boston, population, i. 181
Boularderie island, ii. 296
Boundary - line of United
States, i. 33, 34
Bow river country, ii. 290,
407
Brandt, leader of Indians, ii.
502
Brandy Pots islands, ii. 361
"lirnsd'dr" lake, ii. 296
Brier island, ii. 295
British America, "formid-
able " climate, ii. 483
plains in, i. 49
British Columbia, ii. 437
area of, ii. 290
climate, ii. 294, 448, 471
general view, ii. 437
gold in, ii. 294
Indians in, ii. 560
interior mainland, ii. 447
lakes, ii. 446
minerals, ii. 501
population, ii. 290
trade, ii. 327
vegetation, ii. 447
British Museum, Canadian
woods at, ii. 493
Brooklyn, population, i. 181
Bross, mount, i. 157
Broughtoii mountain, ii. 334
Buffalo, i. 196
peak, i. 88
wheat market, ii. 486
" Buffalo " grass, i. 45
Buffalo, or American bison, i.
51
hunting, ii. 553
Burns lake, ii. 446
Burrard inl(;t, ii. 318, 445
Button islands, ii. 302
Brown mount, ii. 340, 430
Bryant, poem on the prairies
by, ii. 390
By, Colonel, ii. 365, 593
Cabot, John, re-discoverer of
America, i. 163 ; ii. 605
Cacti, i. 46
California, gold and silver in,
i. 136
Japanese in, 217
valley, formations of, L
134
Calavaras grove, i. 123
CalysUgia sepiuvi, ii. 400
Cambie, J. H., ii. 474
Canada, Dominion of—
agricultural capabilities,
ii. 382
area of, ii. 293
art in, ii. 550
Atlantic division, ii. 293
backwoods of, ii. 547
bee-culture, ii. 533
boundaries, ii. 291
British military adminis-
tration, ii. 606
canals, ii. 510
cattle trade, ii. 533
census of 1881, ii. 535
Centennial Exhibition, IL
496
central division, ii. 291,
294
climate, ii. 292, 294, 453
coal, ii. 501
coast of, ii. 320
colleges, ii. 623
constitutional history, ii.
607
dairy products, ii. 532
Dominion proclaimed, ii.
619
early history, ii. 604
eastern division, ii. 291
education, ii. 621
English in Newfound-
land, ii. 605
expulsion of PVench from
Acadia, ii. 606
first settlements in, i. 164
fisheries, ii. 292, 528
forest section, ii. 294,
488
fruit-growing, ii. 495
game for sportsmen, ii.
551
general view of, ii. 289,
32S
grasses, the, ii. 494
INDEX.
G39
Canada, Dominion of—
grazing region, ii. 405
licaltliinens of, ii. ,0.'!'.)
history of tliu Federal
Union, ii. 010
immigration, ii. 570
iron, ii. TiOo
lakes, ii. o;i5, ;!:!S, :m, 440
landing of tlic C'abots, ii.
CO')
Laurentiiles, tlie, ii. 335
length of boundary, ii.
292
mainland of, ii. 320
manufacture.s, ii. 627
market gardening, ii. 533
military i>o.sition, ii. 541
militia, ii. 542
minerals, ii. 501
mines, ii, 501
mountain ranges, ii. 328
natural divisions, ii. 21>1
navigable water-jiartings,
ii. 347
northern division, ii. 201
north-western division, ii. i
291
origin of name, ii. r.o'i
raciflc division, ii. 294
petroleum, ii. 502
jihysique of people, ii.
539
j)opulation, ii. 203
postal system, ii. 524
jirairie section, ii. 294,
489
public debt, ii. 533
Quebec Dill, the, ii. 007
railways, ii. 512
roads, ii. 341
red and white pine, ii.
307
routes for immigrants, ii.
623
salt, ii. 503
shipping, ii. 529
silver, ii. 504
tour forvisitors, ii. 545-50
1 trade and commerce, ii.
527
the"U.E. loyalists," ii.
608
" Union Act," conferring
goverinnent on the Pro
vince of, ii. tiOO
universities, ii. <i23
vegetation, ii. 292
volunteers, ii. 543
waterways of the North-
West, ii. 347
western division, ii. 291
wheat markets, il. 4S5
ild animals, ii. 551
Canadian Indians, fancy work
of, ii. 502
" Canadian moon," ii. 367
Canadian river, i. 24
Canals i;; Canada, ii. 510
Erie, ii. 611
projected canals, ii. 511
Canals in Canaila —
Hidt-au Navigation from
t)ttiuva, ii. 511
river Ottawa, ii. 611
river Uielielieu to Lake
Chamiilain, ii. 511
river .St. Lawrence and
lakes, ii. 511
St. Peter canal, Cajie
Ureton, Nova Scotia, ii.
511
Trent Navigation to
Kingston, ii. 511
Canoe river, ii. 438
Cailons of Colorado and Green
river, i. 90
Capes —
Adelaide, ii. 321
IJathurst, ii. 321
131oinidon, ii. 295
llonavi.sta, ii. 025
Boothia Felix, ii. 321
llreton island, ii. 290
Cluidleigli, ii. 295
Diamond, ii. 359, 686
Dutl'erin, ii. 300
Jones, ii. 300
Henrietta Maria, ii. 300
Kent, ii. 321
Melville, ii. 321
North, ii. 297
Hace, ii. 026
Hay, ii. 207, 025
Rouge, ii. 006
Sal)le, ii. 330
Saddleback, ii. 310
St. George, ii. 207
San Lucas, i. 100
Simpson, ii. 321
Spear, ii. 034
Tourmente, ii. 457
Walsingham, ii. 322
Wolstenholme, ii. 302
Cariboo mountains, ii. 443
Carleton, ii. 200
Cartier, Jacques, i. 104 ; ii.
006
Cascade mountains, i. 40
Ibrmations of, i. 134
range, i. 110;ii. 329,3;:!
road over, ii. 341
Cataracpii bay, ii. 595
Cattle r.mgo on Great Plains
and California, etc., i. 120
Cayonsh river, ii. 444
Cayuga, ii. 504
Cedar lake, ii. 350, 303
mountain, ii. OUO
river, i. 24
trees, i. 2()6
Chanibly, ii. 367
Cliamplain lake, i. 6
Chaniiilain's estimates of
Indians, ii. 568
Chajipell, Lieut., R.N., ac-
count of Hudson bay by,
ii. 301, 310
Cliarl(ittetown,PrinceEdward
island, ii. 584
Charlton island, ii. 304
Chatte river, ii. 334
Chaucliere river, ii. 307
i'liiiuklasmus atrcjKrus, ii. 398
Chauvin, ii. 006
Cliebucto liay, or Halifax
harbour, ii. 681
Cliedabucto liay, ii. 200
Chesai'eake bay, i. 100
Chestatta lake, ii. 440
Chestertield inlet, ii. 304
Clieyennes Indians, ii. 570
Chicago, i. 198
Germans in, i. 207
]io])ulation, i, ISl
railways, i. 109
wheat market, ii. 486
Cliicoutimi, ii. 3(iO
Cliigneeto channel, ii. 296
Chilcotin river, ii. 441
Chilukweyuk ri\er, ii. 445
Chinese, the, i. 211
character, i. 213
habits, i. 212
industry, i. 212
in tlie Pacilic Stjites, i.
215
social state, ii. 213
"Chinook" or dry winds, ii.
400
Chipowyan or Tinneh tribe,
ii. 427, 509
Chudleigh or Chidley cape,
ii. 295
Churchill river, ii. 304, 383,
424
Cincinnati, i. 196
Germans in, i. 207
Civil War, the American, i.
170
Claire lake, ii. 433
Clarke river, ii. 440
Clarke's Fork, I'end d'Oreillo
or Hitter Hoot river, ii. 439
Cleveland, i. 100
Clifton, ii. 648
Climate of California, i. 201
in Canada, ii. 453
of tlie Cordilleras, i. 45
near Mackenzie river, ii.
46()
north shore of the St.
Lawrence, ii. 456
near I'elly river, ii. 460
near Red river, ii. 466
south shorts of the St.
Lawrence and gulf, ii.
467
Clinton, ii. 444
Clingman jieak, i. 7
Cordilleran plateau vegeta
tion, i. 46
Coal, i. 160
Bellingl>am bay, i. 100
California, i. 101
Cordilleras, i. 159
Elk mountains, i. 139
Evanston, i. 100
Oregon, i. 161
Rocliy mountains, i. 1.59
Upper Missouri, i. 159
640
INDEX.
Coal-
Vancouver island, i. 161 ;
ii. 295
Washington tcmtory, i.
161
Coal basins in Colorado, 1. 160
New Mexican, i. 160
Northern, i. 159
Pacific, i. 160
Wyoming, 1. 160
Coast, eastern, 1. 3
Gulf, i. 2
Pacific, i. 3
Coast ranges, the, 1. 45, 120 ;
ii. 329
formations of, i. 184
Coats, account of Hudson
bay bv, ii. 301
Cobequid hills, ii. 320, 331
Coburg, ii. 369
Cockburn island, ii. 322
CoUingwood, ii. 548
Colorado or Front range, i. 84
caftons, i. 94, 96
Chiquito or Flax river,
i. 92
fauna of plateau, i. 102
flora of plateau, i. 102
gold and silver in, i. 130
parks of, i. 86
plateau region, i. 92
river, i. 41
table of silver yield, i. 157
Colounge lake, ii. 364
Columbia, British, area of, ii.
290
climate, ii. 294
gold in, ii. 294
population, ii. 290
Columbia river, ii. 438
gold in its tributaries, ii.
440
Combustion of pyritous
shales, ii. 433
Comstock silver lode, i. 151
yield for seven years, i.
155
Constitution, Federal, i. 270
of the States and Terri-
tories, i. 272-3
district of Columbia, i.
273
Commerce —
cattle trade, ii. 533
decline of mercantile
marine since the ^Yar,
i. 267
increase of exports, i. 267
inland trade, i. 267
lumber trade, ii. 493
trade in petroleum, i. 19
trade of British Colum-
bia, ii. 327
Comox district, ii. 326
Conception bay, ii. 626
Congress —
administration of justice,
i. 272
the Cabinet, i. 274
component parts, i. 270
Congress-
executive, i. 271
President, i. 271
Cook's inlet, i. 278
Copper mines, ii. 504, 505
Coi)permine river, ii. 320, 321,
470
Cordilleras, mountains, i. 40
Coiililleran i)latcau, i. 40
climate, i. 43
natural vegetation, i. 45
Cordilleran region, agricul-
tural resources, i. 124
cattle and .sheep raising,
i. 125
geology of, i. 127
minerals of, i. 134
Cornwall, ii. 357
Coronati(m or Duke of York's
gulf, ii. 320
Coteau Mis.souri, ii. 306
Cowitchaii, ii. 326
Cranberry lake, ii. 439
Crane island, ii. 360
Cratcegus coccinea, ii. 400
Cree tribe, ii. 569
Cross lake, ii. 414, 446
Cumberland, Mr., ii. 617
house, ii. 394
river i. 24
SOU' id, ii. 322
" Custer's command," ii. 563
Customs of the Indians, i. 222
Cypress hills, ii. 397
Dairy farming in Canada, ii.
494
Dairy produce in Canada, ii.
532
Dakota, gold and silver in, i.
136
Danes, the, i. 206
Darnley bay, ii. 320
Dartmouth, Halifax, ii. 582
Dauphin lake, ii. 300, 418
Davidson, Mr., report by, ii.
310
mount, i. 153
Davies, W. H., account of
Esquimaux bay, ii. 300
Dawson, Dr. G. M., ii. 437,
471
Dease lake, ii. 435
strait, ii. 321
Death valley, i. 108
Decker lake, ii. 446
Deer Pond lake, ii. 627
Delaware, State of, ores in,
i. 12
Demarcation point, ii. 451
D6n6-Din,jie tribe, ii. 559
locations, ii. 559
numbers, ii. 560
Dennis, Lieut.-Col. J. S., re-
port on Hudson Bay by,
ii. 301, 309
Des Moines river, i. 24
Destruction of timber, i. 265
Detroit, i. 196
river, i. 34 ; ii. 352
Deux Montttgncs lake, il. 357
Diable, Monte, i. 120, 161
Diamond cape, ii. 359
DIgby Gut, ii. 395
DIgges islands, ii. 302
" Uirty Devil" river, i. 02
Divide, the continental, i. 91
Dixon's entrance, ii. 451
Dog river, ii. 434
Dolphin and Union strait, ii.
321
Dome, Black, i. 7
Douglas tir-trees, ii. 325, 489
Dove's charts, ii. 465
Dschenew, discoverer, i, 276
Dubaunt river, ii. 304
Dufferin caiie, ii. 306
Dufferin, Ijord, visit to ami
description of Manitoba by,
ii. 345
Duke of York or Coronation
gulf, ii. 820
Du Liard river, ii. 435
or River of the Moun-
tains, ii. 4,35
Duluth wheat market, ii. 485
Du Uocher river, ii. 434
Duncan, Mr., ii. 473
Dutch, the, i. 205
"East Main," ii. .300
peninsula, ii. 301
river, ii. 305
East Tennessee, i. 6
Eastern townships, ii. 45S
climate, ii. 459
products, ii. 459
Eboulemens mont, ii. 337
Echimamish river, ii. 415
Kchinocystis lobata, ii. 400
Edinburgh, Industrial Mu-
seum of, Canadian woods
at, ii. 403
Edmonton, ii. 416
Education in America, i. 240
Egg lake, ii. 477
EUvagniis argentea, ii. 400
Elbert peak, i. 89
Elk range, i. 89
Ellesmere land, ii. 322
Embarras river, ii. 433
Equan river, ii. 305
Eric canal, ii. 511
lake, i. 32; ii. 350, 369,
370
Eriophormn polystachyon, ii.
402
Erskine sound, ii. 320
Eskimos, the, i, 278 ; ii. 32:i,
559, 660, 5t)l
or Innoits tribe, ii. 5.09
character of, ii. 562
locations of, ii. 559
Esquimaux bay, ii. 299
Exploits, bay of, ii. 625
river of, ii. 627
Eyebrow mouutain, ii. 396
Faroo, ii. 487
Father point, ii. 361
INDEX.
G41
I350, 360,
ii. 32:!,
J ii. 5&9
|56i!
5lj',)
201)
1625
ii. 300
Federal Oovernment, i. 273
Feilernl Union, tlie, i. lO'.t
File hills, ii. :isis
Finlay river, ii. 434
Firehole or Miulison river, i.
tU
" Five Nations " Inilian Con-
federation, ii. fii'i^
" Fish Spring," Yidlowstone
lake, i. Vii
Fisheries in Canada, ii. 528,
cxjjort.?, ii. 529
hati'lieries, ii. Ml
table of llsh varieties, ii.
030
treaty withUnited States,
ii. 029
Flatheads, Indians, ii. 500
Flathead lake, ii. 430
river, ii. 430
Flemings, the, i. 206
Fleming, Sandford, C.E., ii.
382
Forests in Canada, ii. 4S8
aretie shores, ii. 4!i0
Athabasea river, ii. 4S0
British Columbia, ii. 480
Dominiou, the, ii. 400
Fraser river, ii. 489
Ijibrador, ii. 400
list of habitats of trees,
ii. 400
Mackenzie river, ii. 4S9
maples, sugar, ii. 401
New Brunswick, ii. &52
North Pacific shores, ii.
490
Peace river, ii. 489
Quebec, ii. 552
Rocky mountains, ii. 490
Saskatchewan, ii. 489
specimens of wood at
Kew Gardens, from
Canadian, ii. 492
varieties of trees, ii. 492
Fort Assiniboine, ii. 430
Chipewyan, ii. 429
Churchill, ii. 301
Colville, ii. 440
A la Come, ii. 395
Edmonton, ii. 424
EUice, ii. 290
Frontenac, ii. 505
Garry, ii. 418, 4(i2
Upper, ii. 421
George, ii. 441
Laramie, temperature, ii.
406
Liard, ii. 436
Norman products, ii. 470
Felly, ii. 2i)0
Shepherd, ii. 439
Simpson, ii. 43(5
Vermilion, heat at, ii. 405
William, ii. 4(U, 569
temperature of, ii.
461
York, ii. 30'
Fortin, P., ii. i '
Fortune bay, ii. 626
l-'o.x channel, ii. 300
size of, ii. 303
.strait, ii. 321
Fox island, ii. 321
I'nuH.'ciiH lake, ii. 441, 446
Franklin, lien.jamin, i. I'iS
bay, ii. 320
strait, ii. 321
Franklin, Sir John, relics
found, ii. 321
Fraser hike, ii. 446
river, ii. 349, 3,''.0, 441, 444
Fredricton, New Brunswick,
ii. ,582
" Free Grant District," ii. 547
Fremont jieak, i. 78
Frobisher bay, ii. 301
or Hudson strait, ii. 321
Frof; portage, ii. 425
Fruit-growing in Canada, ii.
495
Fuca, strait of, ii. 325
Fiilica Ameriauid, ii. 30S
Fundy, bay of, ii. 295
agricultural products, ii.
463
Fur trade, i. 279
Fury and Hecla strait, ii. 322
Galena, productions of, i. 31
Gallatin river, i. 59
Gait, Sir Alexander.G. C.M.G.,
High Commissioner for
Canada, account of
Canada by, ii. 293
account of Manitoba by,
ii. 387
on emigration, ii. 576
Gander Pond lake, ii. 627
Gander river, ii. 027
Gardiner's river, i. 75
Qasp6, ii. 297
Gatineau river, ii. 364
Genessee river, ii. 369
German populations, statist-
ics of, i. 206
emigration to America, i.
207
Germans, list of States in-
habited by, i. 206
George river, ii. 303
George's island, ii. 581
Georgia, minerals in, i. 13
strait of, ii. 441
Georgian bay, ii. 371
Geyser basins-
Beehive, i. 65
Castle, i. 66
Firehole river, i. 64
Giant, i. 07
Giantess, i. 65
Gibbon river, i. 71
Grand, i. 67
Grotto, i. 67
Lower Gev.ser basin, i. 68
Old Faithful, i. 05
Red Mountain, i. 71
Shoshone, i. 70
The Minute Man, i. 71
2 T
Goy.<icr liasins—
Turban, i. 67
Wyoming, i. 59
Yi'llowstoiie river, i. 71
Gibbon river, i. 71, 75
Gila rivt.'r, i. 02
Gilbert, Sir Humplirey, ii.
605
Gillam's island, ii. 410
CSoat island, i. 34
"Goblin City," i. 49
Gold in California, i. 138
in Colorado, i. 142
in the Cordilleras, i. 137
ill Dakota ami Wyoming,
i, 142
formerly at Leadville,
15H
in Montana and Idaho,
142
mining, methods of,
144
hydraulic, i. 146
([iiart/, i. 147
prospecting for, I. 147
a year's proiluctof, i. 137
Gold Range mountains, ii.
441
"Grama" grass, i. 50
Grand island, i. 34
lake, ii. 338
river, i. 02 ; ii. .370
Grand Pond lake, ii. 027
river, ii. 6;i7
Grasses, species of prairie, ii.
402, 494
Gray's jieak, i. 84
Great American desert, cur-
rents of air over, ii. 4t'>6
basin, the, i. 42, 103, 130,
131
Balsam mountains, i. 7
Beiir lake, ii. 422, 434
Falls of the Missouri, i.
Kanawha river, 1. 24
lakes, the, i. 32
geology of region of,
i. 38
Manitoulin island, ii, 56.">
Playgreeii lake, ii, 412
Salt luk;,', Utah, i. 106,
132
analysis of the water,
i. 107
Slave lake, ii. 422
Smoky mountains, i. 7
Great Plains, the, i. 47, 126
arable land, i. 124
cattle range of, i. 126
fauna, i. 51
geology, i. 54
grazing on, i. ."iO
Green island, ii. 303, 361
lake, ii. 447
mountains, i. 6 ; ii. 329
river, i. 78, 92
river caiions, i. 90
Greenhorn or Wet mountains,
i. 85
642
INDEX.
Grey Goose ialan<l, ii. 303 '
Gi-i(,'uet bav, ii. 02')
GriiinuU land, ii. :«2
Unwso iHlaml, ii. .'tiiO
Grove, Calavaras, i. l'J3
Gueli)!., ii. f)4lt
Gulf, Boothia, ii. fi-JO
Duke of York or Corona-
tion, ii. 820
of Mcxie^o, i. 2(i
Hiulinioiul, ii. 300
8t. Lawrence, ii. 207, 302
Gut of Canso, ii. 2iii>
Digby, ii. 29&
Haldimand cove, ii. 694
Halifax, ii. 581
harbour, ii. 20(5
mean temperature, ii. 4(V2
Hall, explorations by, ii. 322
Ham mountain, ii. 334
Hamilton, ii. 548
Hamilton inlet, ii. 209
area of, ii. 299
Harbours—
Canso, ii. 298
Churchill, ii. 522
Esquimault, ii. 325, tiOl
Grand River, ii. 370
Halifax, ii. 290, 581
Kingston, ii. 594
Leamington, ii. 370
Lepreau, ii. 295
Liverpool, ii. 206
Louisbourg, ii. 296
Lunenburg, ii. 206
Miramichi, ii. 208
Montreal, ii. 512, 587
Nasse, ii. 437
New Glasgow, ii. 293
Pictou, ii. 208
Port Colborne, ii. 370
Port Dover, ii. 370
Port Stanley, ii. 370
St. John, ii. 295
Bhediac, ii. 298
Shelburne, ii. 296
Sydney, ii. 296
Torbay, ii. 291)
Whitehaven, ii. 200
Yarmouth, ii. 296
Hare bay, ii. 625
Island, ii. 301
Harrikanaw river, ii. 305
Harrison lake, ii. 443
river, ii. 443
Harvard mount, i. 89
Havard, Dr. V., ii. 573
Hay lake, ii. 436
river, ii. 436
Hayes river, ii. 305
Uazelton, Skeena river, ii.
449
Hearne, reports by, ii. 303
Hebron Mission, ii. 567
Hecla and Fury strait, il. 322
Hector, Dr., ii. 397
Henrietta Maria cape, ii. 300
Henry mountains, i. 130
house, ii. 430
Higgins, Professor D. P., ii.
4112
Hills, Lake of the, ii. 433
Hiiul, Professor, ii. 381
Ilnchelaga, ii. 5S7
Holy Cross mountain, i. 80
Hood mount, i. Ill
Hooker mount, ii. 340, 430
Hooker, Sir William, ii. 402
Hoosuc mount, i. 200
Hope, ii. 443
Hopedale Mission, ii. 507
Hopewell chain of islands, ii.
30t)
Horetsky, Mr., Ii. 314
Horse lake, ii. 447
"Hot springs" of Arkansas,
i. 27
Hudson bay, ii. 300
extent of, ii. 370
general features, ii. 377
ice in, ii. 31l-li')
lakes around, ii. 345
navigation in, ii. 311
route, ii. 317
ti<Ies in, ii. 311
Hudson Hay C(jmpany, ii.
3U7, 378
table of ships of, ii. 313
Hudson river, i. 6
Hudson or Frobisher strait,
ii. 301
ice in, ii. 313
navigation in, ii. 300
tides in, ii. 312
Humber river, ii. 026
Humboldt river, i. 43, 105
Ilnmuhts FMpuliis, ii. 400
Hungrv Hall, ii. 424
Hurlbert, J. A., ii. 484
Hurlbert's Atlas, ii. 3S4
Huron, lake, i. 32, 33 ; ii. 350,
371, 401
islands in, ii. 373
river, ii. 370
Huron-Iroquois tribes, ii. 550
history of, ii. 502
locations, ii. 659
numbers, ii. 660
Idaho, gold and silver in, i.
136
Illinois basin coal-ilelda, i. 28
river, i. 24
luunigrants, routes for, ii.
523
Immigration, general view, ii.
576
number of children re-
ceived from societies,
ii. 679
statistics, i. 207 ; ii. 677
Indians—
in Alaska, i. 277
in Canada, general notice
of, ii. 557
character, ii. 562
customs of, i. 222
former treaties with, ii.
664
Indians —
games, ii. .568
lialf-breeds, i. 231
history of, ii. .'■>02
increase or decrease, ii.
658
in island.s in Arctic
ocean and Hudson
bay, ii. 660
locations, ii. 559
Metis or .Mixed races, ii.
572
character of, il. 574
missions, ii. 607
mode of living, ii. 561
Moquis, i. 220
noniailic tribes, 1. 220
numl)ers, ii. 600
observations on their
condition, i. 224
present condition, ii. 567
Pueblos, i. 219
recent treaties with, ii.
505
schools for, ii. 560
Sioux, i. 228
on Skeena river, ii. 450
statistics of, i. 218
territory, i. 230
traits of the, i. 221
treatment of i)redatory
tribes, i. 228
tribes, ii. 559
now civilised, i. 226
uncivilised, i. 227
Inlet, Burrard, ii. 31S, 445
Chestcrtield, ii. 304
Cook's, i. 278
Wager, ii. 303
Innoit or Eskimo tribe, ii. 559
iMvertoke bay, ii. 200
Irish, ntimber and position of
tlie, i. 207
Iron, where found, i. 29
mountain, i. 30
ores, ii. 505
Iroquois Indians, sec Huron-
Iroquuis
history of. ii. 502
Iroquois or Richelieu river,
ii. 3t)7
Island, AnticostI, ii. 20S, 301
Agoomska, ii. 304
Akjiatok, ii. 303
Aux Coudres, ii. 361
Baffin land, ii. 322
Banks land, ii. 321
Boularderie, ii. 206
Bizard, ii. 357
Brier, ii. 295
Cajie Breton, ii. 296
Chariton, ii. 304
Cockburu land, ii. 322
Crane, ii. 360
Fox, ii. 321
George's, ii. 581
Gillam's, ii. 420
Goat, i. 34
Grand, i. 34
Great Manitoulin, ii. 665
.---.-wlp*
INDEX.
643
lurou-
rivcv,
Lis, 301
61
96
322
I, li. 565
Islaml, Green, li. 303, 861
Grey Goose, ii. y03
Grnsse, ii. .'<60
Hare, ii. ;i(il
Jesus, ii. :ij7
Kftinomiislsa, ii. 361
King Cliarle.s, ii. 302
King William, ii. 3'.>3
Ijiiigley, ii. 2S!>, 633
LoiiK, ii. 303
MaiiHllfld, ii. 302
Slifiuclon, ii. 2S'.), C33
Minitrcal, ii. 307, 587
Navy, ii. ,0114
North SoiiierHct, ii. 321
Ndttinnhaiii, ii. 302
of Orleans, ii. 360
I'arry, ii. 323
Pcrrot, ii. 357
Petit Anse, i. 31
Pilgrims, tlie, ii. ;,'61
Prince I'Idwaril, area of,
ii. 2'JO
Prince of Wales, il. 322
Red, ii. 301
Resolution, ii. 301
Rhode, i. U
Ross, ii. 413
Salisbury, ii. 302
St. George, i. 27\)
St. Heleiie, ii. 358
St. Helen's, ii. 588
St. Paul, i. 279
St. Pierre, ii. 280, 033
Heal, ii. 410
Southam]iton, ii. 303
Tory, ii. 305
Vancouver, ii. 325
Victoria and Albert land,
ii. 321
Wolfe, ii. 356, 594
Islands, archipelago of, near
Uattin bay, ii. 321
Aleutian, i. 280
in Arctic ocean and
Hudson bay, area of,
ii. 290
Brandy Pots, ii. 301
Button, ii. 302
Digges, ii, 302
French, ii. 289, 633
Hopewell chain of, ii. 306
Magdalen, ii. 298, 362
Manitounuck, chain of,
ii. 306
Middle Savage, ii. 303
Mingan, ii. 298
Nastapoka, ii. 306
Queen Charlotte, ii. 326
Saddleback, ii. 303
Savage, ii. 302, 311
Snowyland, ii. 303
Southern Southampton,
ii. 302
the "Thousand," ii. 356,
549
Upper Savage, ii. 311
Island portage, ii. 425
Islands, bay of, ii. 626
Isle 4 la Crosse, ii. 425
Isle Royale, i. 33; ii. 373
Islington .\lisniiin, ii. 419
Ita.Hca lake, i. 21
JAfyrKs Cartier riser, ii !'.67
ilanies, t'aiitain, ii. 3rj
James bay, ii. 300, 304
' size of, ii. 303
timber near, ii. 307
JapancHc^ in Cnlifornia, i. 217 !
cultivation ol tea, i. 217 j
j mulberry trees, i. 217 '
Jajianese current, the, or
Kuro-fSiwo, ii, 473
Jasper house, ii. 430
JelftTSon river, i. 59
Jehovah People, account of
tlie, i, -Jol
Jesus isle, ii. 357
Jones cape, ii. 300
coast near, ii. 304
islanils near, ii. 305
Jornado del JIuerto, i. 50
Kabitotiquia river, ii. 375
Kaniinisti((Uia river, ii. 347
Kaniloops lake, ii. 442
Kaniouniska island, ii. 361
Kanawha, Great, river, i. 24
Kane, exidorations by, ii. 322
Kansas or Kaw river, i. 23
Kayoshk or Gull river, ii. 375
Kaynses Indians, ii. 569
I Keejjawa lake, ii. 338
river, ii. 363
Keewatin, ii. 2S9
Kent cape, ii. 321
Kentucky, ores in, i. 13
river, i. 24
Kew Gardens, Canadian wood
in museum, ii. 492
Khogochaik bay, i. 27S
Kildonan, ii. 487
Killisthenaux Indians, ii. 568
King Charles island, ii. 302
King William island, ii. 323
Kingston, Ontario, ii. 269,
694
forts, ii. 594
history, ii. 595
militiiry college at, ii.
543, 595
population, ii. 595
Kispyox river, ii. 449
Kit.salas cafion, ii. 474
Kitseguecla river, ii. 449
Kitsunigallum river, ii. 450
Kitwungah, ii. 474
Klamath lakes, i. 132
Koksoak or South river, ii.
3C3
Kootanie or Flat Bow lake,
ii. 439
river, ii. 438
Kosciusko, i. 168
Kullespelins, Indians, ii. 569
Labrador coast, ii. 299
exports, ii. OSii
ice currents of, ii. 315
Labrador, temperature of, ii.
456
Labrador and Arctic water-
shecl, Indians in, ii. 560
I-achine canal, ii. 587
Lacdoclie mountains, ii. 337
" lacrosse," Indian game, ii.
5t)8
Ijic la Biclie, ii. 477
I^ic Plat, ii. 424
Lafayette, i. 168
|ji Grande portage, ii. 569
l.a Ilache lake, ii. 447
Ulke Albreila, ii. 442
Allumette, ii. 3ii4
Andersofi, ii. 443
Athabasca, ii. 422, 432
Aylnier, ii. 335
Babine, ii. 446
" Bras d'Or," ii. 296
Burns, ii. 446
Cedar, ii. 350, 393
Champlain, i. r>
Chestatta, ii. 446
Claire, ii. 433
Colounge, ii. 364
Cranberry, ii. 4.'!9
Vross, ii. 414, 446
A la Crosse, ii. 425
Dauiiliin, ii. 350, 418
Dease, ii. 435
I>ecker, ii. 44i)
Deer Pond, ii. 627
Deux Montagues, ii. 357
Kgg, ii. 477
Krie, i. 32, 38 ; ii. 350,
369
Flathead, ii. 439
Fraii(;ois, ii. 441, 446
Fraser, ii. 446
Gander Pond, ii. 627
(Jrand, ii. 338
Grand Pond, ii. 627
Great Bear, ii. 422, 434
Great Playgreen, ii. 412
Great Slave, ii. 422
Green, ii. 447
Harrison, ii. 443
Hay, ii. 436
of the Hills, ii. 433
Horse, ii. 447
Huron, i. 32, 33 ; ii. .i50
Itasca, i. 21
Kaiidoojis, ii. 442
Kecpawa, ii. 338
Kootanie or Flat Bow, ii.
439
La Ilache, ii. 447
Lesser Slave, ii. 430
Long, ii. 397
Lower Arrow, ii. 439
M'Leod, ii. 426
Mamawa, ii. 433
Manitoba, ii. 350, 417
Matapedia, ii. 335
Memphramagog, ii. 335,
549
Megantic, ii. 335
Michigan, i. 32, 34 ; ii.
352
644
INDEX.
Lake Na-tn-bun-kut, or Kit-
koiii, or i):il)ii>c, ii. 440
Nifiilii, ii. 417
Nijiinoii, ii. :i74, .OSiJ
Nipissiii^,', ii. XM
OUaimKHii, ii. 4:!H
Ontario, i. 3'J ; ii. 3J0, S.W,
StJS
Ootsalmnkut, L'liperand
Lower, ii. 44(i
Pi'iirl il'On'lllf, il. 4311
riiii'lii, ii. 44ii
I'ilu.'.stoiK^ ii. 413
I'itt, ii. 443
ryramiil, i. 132
(iiiil!, ii. 3!t7
Hainy or Ui'iic, ii. 317
Ul'iI Iiiilian I'oinl, ii. &27
lleiiiileiir, ii. 4.'U
St. Clair, ii. 3.'-)2
1st. Francis, ii. 33.''i
(St. Joiiii, ii. 33S, 3iii>
St. Hi'nis, ii. 357
Salt, i. 13-.>
Srton, ii. 443, 444
SliL'lianilowan, ii. 347
Shoal, ii. 34i>
Sinipsiin, ii. 435
Sipi-Wfsk, ii. 414
Soda, i. lOit
Stuart, ii. 44ii
Stnr^'con, ii. 4S0
Superior, i. 3J, 33, 39 ;
350, 372
Tacla, ii. 441, 440
Tcliti.siiikut, ii. 44ii
Teinnganiaiitt, ii. 338
TeniiHcaniang, ii. 338, 3ri3
Teniiscoiiata, ii. 335
Tczzi-r, ii. 440
Victoria, ii. 477
White-llsli, ii. 424
Winnipeg, ii. 348, 350, 416,
422
WinnepcRosis, ii. 3.50, 417
of the Wood.s, i. 33 ; ii.
347, 422
Woolaston, ii. 434
Yi'llow Head, ii. 441
Yellowstone, i. 72
Lakes, the, ii. 440
Great, the, i. 32, 38
Great and Little Shusli-
wap, ii. 443
Great Salt, Utah, i. 100,
132
Klamath, i. 132
Old Wives, ii. 403
Upper Arrow, ii. 443
Lakelse river, ii. 4.'50
Ijanca.ster sound, ii. 322
Langlands river, ii. 300
Langley, ii. 445
1m Plata Mount, 1. 89
Laprairie, ii. 512
Laramie plains, i. SO
range, i. 84
La Riviere Sal, ii. 422
Larix Americana, ii. 307
Lassen's peak, i. 110
I.iaurcntlde ninuntalns, ii. 32!),
335
Lead, where found, I. 30
Leiiclville, ('olonido, i. l.'iS
Lcatlier or Vcllowhead moun-
tains, ii. 42!»
LctVoy, (Jol., ii. 470
Lewis or Snake river, ii. 440
Liard river, ii. 420
liievrc, l)u, river, ii. 304
Lilloet range mountains, ii.
444
river, ii. 443
Up)ier, ii. 443
Lineoln mount, i. ss
Lindley, Mr., ii. 41i2
Llano Estacado, or Staked
I'lain, i. 4H
" liloyds," Canadian woods
at, ii. 4!t3
liondon, Kngland, table of u
year's temperature, ii. 455
Ijong island, ii. 303
Island sound, ii. 303
lake, ii. 31t7 |
point, fowl at, ii. 370 i
Long-Sault, ii. 303
Long's peak, i. 84
Lorette village, ii. 503
I^ouisbourg, ii. 000
Louisiana, salt deposits, i.
27, 31
Tiower Arrow lake, ii. 430
l<uml)er trade, the, ii. 4'.i3
liUtke, tiibles of temperature
by, ii. 472
Lyell, Sir Charles, ii. 3.05
Lytton, ii. 442
Mackenzie, Sir Alexander, ii.
431
Mackenzie bay, ii. 320
Mackenzie river, ii. 320, 321,
349, 350, 420
plimate, ii. 40!)
islanils in, ii. -i'^O
ju-oducts, ii. 470
or Slave river, ii. 427
or Stony river, ii. 427
M'Clintock channel, ii. 32,!
M'Clure, Sir Robert, ii. 31!i
Maedonald, Sir John A.,
K.C.B., ii. 400
M'Gregor, Mr., 300
M'Intyre bay, ii. 375
.Mackinaw or Michiliniacinac,
strait of, ii. 371, 372
M'Leod lake, ii. 420
Macoun, Professor, account
of the Saskatchewan region
by, ii. 397-404
Madawaska river, ii. 304
Madison river, i. 5!)
Magdalen islands, ii. 298, 302
Mahogany trees, i. 205
Maine, iron in, i. 14
Maimiwa lake, ii. 433
Manicouagan river, ii. 33t)
Manitoba, area of, ii. 2!>0
account of, ii. 340
ManitolMi, Indians in, il. 500
lake, ii. 3.^0
Metis in, ii. 573
jiopulation, ii. 2!t0
settlers in, 387
Manitoiinuck chain of islands,
ii. 300
sound, ii. 300
Mnnstluld island, ii. 302
Manufactures, i. 200
Marcy or Taharus mount,
i. 7
Markham, Clement B., C.B.,
on I'olarexiieditions, ii.
318
explorations by, ii. 322
Marquette, i. 33
.Maryland, ores in, i. 12
Massive mount, i. Wt
.Massiwailia river, ii. 305
.Matanne river, ii. 334
.Matapvdia lake, ii. 3.3)
Matawan river, ii. 304
Matta-gand river, ii. 305
.Maumeo river, ii. 370
Medecine Uow mountains, i.
128
Alegantic lake, ii. 335
Melville cape, ii. 321
peninsula, ii. 303
Meni]ihramagog lake, ii. 335,
549
Merced river, i. 117
Mirgu.i mrriittor, ii. 398
Merritt, W. IL, ii. 510
Mestigoes, half-breed Indians,
i. 231
" Mito Incognita," ii. 302
Methy |H)rtage, ii. 430
or a la Loche, ii. 431
Metla Katla, ii. 473
Mexican campaign, i. 170
Mexico, gulf of, i. 20
Michigan basin coal-Uelds, i.
28
lake, i. 32, 34
ores, i. 27
Middle park, i. 80
Savage islands, ii. 303
Miette river, ii. 430
Milford Haven, ii. 2!)0
.Mille Lacs, ii. 420
" Mine La Motte," lead-mine,
i. 31
Mines in Canada, ii. ,501
.Minerals in Canada, ii. 501
Mingan islands, ii. 2!)8
Minnesota climate, ii. 468
river, i. 24
Missessaga point, ii. 594
Mississippi basin, the, i. 24,
20
river, i. 20
Lower, i. 23
Upper, i. 23
valley climate, ii. 459
extent, i. 20
coal-flelds, i. 27
geology, i. 25
minerals, i. 20
i*»s"erM
.-rcx^M
INDKX.
045
303
Ld-iuine,
|oi
li. 501
Is
468
t94
|c, i. 2-1,
|4j9
27
lo
Missiniri basin conl-flclilB, I.
rdiiiinoiiiisc, (lie, i ITj
(iiviit Kails of, i. 77
(iivs, i. ^7
raiiKi', i. fiS
river, i. -^3
viillry, 1. 77
Mitclii'll's peak, i. 7
Mount Aihiiiis, i. ll'J
Hakrr, i. Ill; ii. ilOO
liniss, i. 1,')"
Hniwii, ii. :ilO, 430
Daviilsiiii, i. l.'^i
KlMiiili'iiifiis, ii. 337
Harvard, i. Sit
11 1, i. Ill
HcioUcr, ii. 310, 430
HiiDsat', i. "Ji'i'.t
La I'lata, i. S!>
Liin'olii, i. ss, loy
JIarcy (jr Taliariis, i. 7
Mas.sivc, i. M)
Ouray, i. S'.t
I'riiii'ctoii, i. SO
Kainii'r, i. 1 1 1
Koval, ii. .'jss
Kt.'Klias, i. Ill ; ii. 4r,2
St. Helens, i. Ill
IShasta, i. Ill
iSliavano, i. Kit
Tijiiiiie, ii. tidO
Washinj^toii, i.
Whitney, i. 133
Yale, i. S'.i
Mountain, limu^'liton, ii. 334
Cedar, ii. liOO
Kvebrow, ii. 3;m)
Ham, ii. 334
Holy Cross, i. S!)
Iron, i. 30
Orford, ii. 334
8r. Honaii's, ii. .331
Sutton, ii. 334
Tliunderdirecdinj,', ii. ■iW
Mountains, Adironaeks, i. ;
ii. 3'JO, 3:;;i
Allaskan raufje, i. 277
Allef,dianies, i. 7; ii. 3J',I
Aniargosa ran},'e, i. lOS
Aiii>alaL'luan, i. 5 ; ii. 329
.Vvnlnn, ii. &27
liif,' Horn, i. 82
Hitter Hoot range, i. 58
Black, i. 7
Ulaek liill.s, i. 47
Blue Uidj,'e, i. 7
Carilioo, ii. 443
Cascade, 1. 40
range, i. 110 ; ii. 320,
343
or St. Elias range, i.
277
Coast ranges, i. 120; ii.
320, 343
Colorado or Front range,
i. 84
Cordilleras, i. 40
Elk range, i. 80
Great Balsam, i. 7
Mountains —
tireat .Smoky, 1 7
(Ireeii, i. ii; H 3'j',t
(iold range, ii. 441
Henry, I. 130
Ijleliiclie, ii. 337
l.aramie range, 1 St
Laurent ide, ii. 3'J'.i, 335
l.illoct range, ii. 411
Medicine How, i. I'JS
Missouri range, i. 5S
Notre-Hanie, i. (i ; ii. 331
I'lyniiiian, liritisliColnni-
liia, ii. iido
raeillc ranges, i. 110
I'linamint range, i. lOS
I'ark range, i. S'J, 88
I'emliina, ii. 4'JO
I'laeicre, i. ICiO
riireuiiine, ii. 418
lii'ling, ii. 418
Uixliers belioule's range,
ii. 41'.'
Hoeky, i. .57 ; ii. 340
extent of, i. l'J7 : li.
li'J'.i
geology of, i. 128
sonthi'rn, i. 83
lionianzoll, i. 1^77
St. Klias or Cascade
range, i. 277
Kan Franeiseu. i. 130
Saiigro du Cristo range, i.
85
San .T'liin range, i. iU)
Sawateli or " Sierra
Madre" range, i. 80
Selkirk, ii. 343
rang(s ii. 442
Sliieksliiiek, ii. 3;!3
Sweetwater range, i. 42
"Three lluttes," i. 81
Vermont range, i. (3
Wahsatch range, i. 103
AVet or (ireenhorn, i. 85
White, i. (1
of Coleraine, ii. 334
Wind river, i. 78
Yellowliead or Leather,
ii. 42'.t
Yellowstone ran.gcs, i. 78
Zuni, i. ',10
M(mte Diahle, i. 120, Kil
Montreal, ii. 358, 54i), 587
ehurehes, ii. 501
foniier seat of Govern-
ment of Canada, ii. 500
liistory of, ii. 580
houses in, ii. 500
island, ii. 357, 587
liojiulation, ii. 500
railway, ii. 512
river, ii. 303
roval visits, ii. .501
or'" Ville .Marie," ii. 5S0
MormoiMsm, account of, i. 252
its constitution, i. 257 j
ctleet of I'acilic Railway '
on tlie toniniunity, i. I
200 I
Mormonism —
future iirospeets, i. 250
MormouM at Nauvoo, i,
254
jiolygainy, i. 257
schism niipears, I. 258
settlenu'Ut in Utah, i. 25,')
.1ose]ih Snuth, fiuiniler, i
253
Drigham Young, sueces-
sor, i. 25.'->
Moisie rivir, ii. :i3ii
.Monongaliela ri\er, i. 24
Montana, gold and silver in,
i. i3i;
Montmiirenci river, ii. 307
Moose Factory anchorage, ii.
307
river, ii. 305
" .Moose Woods," tlie, ii. 300
Sloravian missions, ii. 300, 5ti7
Munis, (lovcrnor, anecdote
of, li. ;'p('.('i
Mosi|uilo liay, ii. 307
Mossy jiortage, ii. 418
Mound-builders, ancient, i.
232
Mullock, Hev. Pr., ii. 483
.Muskoka country, ii. 547
Musk-ox, i. 54
Mushrooms, ii. 403
N.xiN Mission, ii. 507
Na-me-wa-miu-i-kan or Stur-
geon or I'ojilar l.,o(lge river,
ii. .375
Nana'Uio, i. Kil ; ii. .32(5
Nares, explorations by, ii. 322
" Narrows," tlie. ii. 034
Nastapoka river, ii. 300
islanils, ii. 300
Nation river, li. 434
National delt of America, i.
200
Navy island, ii. 504
Nechaco, Lower, Lake, ii. 475
Nechaco river, ii. 441
Negroes, the, i. 200
jiresent condition, i. 210
recognition by law, i. 211
slaves, i. 172
Nelson district, ii. 326
river, ii. 304, 350, 408
survey of, ii. 400-410
njilier part, ii. 412
Nevaila, gold and silver in, i.
130
Sutro tunnel in, i. 155
Newfoundland, ii. ti25
agricultural capabilities,
ii. 620, Ii32
area of, ii. 200, <',25
" barrens," ii. 626
climate, ii. 483, i>2S
cod-fisheries, ii. 630
coi)per mines, ii. 628
dog, the, ii. 6.30
exports, ii. 631, 635
tislieries and treaties, ii.
633
64G
INDEX.
Newfoiiiullaiicl —
llNllillK-KroOIKlH, I. l(i'l
foffH, tniu account ol' the,
il. (I'.'S
frcHli-wiitcr poiuN, ii. 027
Kmln^y, ii. 027
iin|>i>i'ts, ii. (i:m
Jit'HiMlatiirf, tlm, ii. 631
llli'iili triiilMTittliru, II. 0'i8
iiiiiii'iiijs, ii. ii'J7
)Mi|>uliiti<>ii, il. ^00, 0:i:!
rivers, ii. CrJii
Kial-llshiiiK, Ii. MO
tillllllT, Ii. f!'.".i
wtitcr.s, Hti'anii'rs in, ii.
■M4, (i:U
N<!W ArclmiiKcl, i. '27S
New Itrniiswick, ii. .10(1
ullii'rtitt: coal, ii. &07
nrca ol', ii. \i'M)
ImliaiiH III, Ii. .'jiiO
ores in, ii. fiOii
lioiHilatinii, ii. 'j'.io
Npw Kdiiilinryli, UtUwn, II.
6m
New KiiKlanrl, antliraclto in,
I. ir.
States, ores in, i. 14
New Kn^lanilers, I. 'J04
,\cw lianiiisliirc^, ores in, i. 14
New Jersey, minerals in, I. V2
New Mexico, pild ami silver
In, I. i:)(i
Indians settled in, I. 218
New Orleans, iioiinlatloii, I.
181
New Westminster, ISritlsh
Columbia, il. 4;i7, 445,
()()2
rllniate, II. fi02
llshiii},', ii. (iO'J
Iiopulation, 11. ()02
Nev/ York city, I. 18:i
coninii'rcc, i. 185
tMlncation, i. 185
furnierly New Amster-
dam, I. 105
Gerniana in, i. 207
Irish in, i. 208
population, I. 181, 18(5
State of, ores in, i. 12
Niagara town, II. !iti!», 548
escarpment, Ii. ;-i;ii)
falls, the, I. ;i4 ; ii. 353
river, i. 34 ; Ii. 353
Nicola lake, 11. 447
river, ii. 447
Nipigon lake, II. 374, 550
Nijiissin); lake, II. 3.18
Noddawal river, 11. 305
Nonwatan river, il. 375
Noot Sakh, the, ii. 445
North American coluuics, i.
104
Nortli bay, ii. 302
North blutr, ii. 311
North Carolina, ores in, i. 13,
17
North cape, il. 297
North Platte river, i. 84
North i>ark, I. Krt
North I'olar sea, coii,i(>rture«
respecting, ii. 31S
ex)>lorations In, II. iiVi,
322
ningnutli* pole, it, 310
North riviT, il. 3{)5
North Somerset island, il. .121
North-Wcst territory, ii. 381
liecount of, ii. 4ii4
ngricnlturul capabilities,
ii. 881
area of, ii. 2110
(diiiiate, ii. tii3
fertility of the, ii, 37!"
forests, il. 48S
fuel supply, il, 405
lioliulatioD, il. 2'.i0
Hcasons in, II. 4117
stock-raising, ii. 407
table of ai res aiipropri-
ateil in the, ii. 580
whcat-llclds, ii. 484-88
Norwegians, the, i. 20(1
Notre Dame bay, il. 025
ino\iiitains,'i. (i ; ii. 331
Nottingham islaml, ii. 302
Nova Neotia, area of, ii. 21'0
climate, ii. 4(i2
IiKliaiis in, ii. 5(>0
minerals in, Ii. 508
jietroleuni wells, ii. SOit
]io]iulation, il. 2'JO, 531)
jiroducts, Ii. 402
valley of, II. 331
Oak trees In the Sierra, I. 122
Ogdeii river, I. 104
Oggotlka river, il. 305
Ohio valley climate, II. 45'.i
river, 1. 23
O.jibiweyuk, Indians, ii. 508
Okaiiagan lake, il. 438
Okkak Mission, ii. 5i'>7
Ohl Wives lakes, ii. 403
()lyin|>la, I'uget sound, ii. 000
Olymjiian mountains, ii. 000
Oniliabika bay, ii. 374
Omincca gold mines, ii. 450
"Omnibus Hill," the, i. 175
Ontario, area of, ii. 2',iO
(diinate, ii. 401
cojijier mines, ii. 504
"Free Grant District"
at, Ii. 547
fruits, ii. 4()0
Indians in, Ii. 500
iron ore, Ii. 505
lake, I. 32; Ii. 350, 350,
308
petroleum, II. 502
jiopulation, ii. 2ii0
Ootsabunkut lake, Upiierand
Ijower, Ii. 440
Oregon, gold and silver in, 1.
130
Orford mountain, il. 334
Orleans, Island of, il. 300
Oswego river, ii. 309
Ottawa, il. 540, 592
Ottawa or Uytown, II. 305,
503
Chaudlero FaHs of, II. 304
Colonel Uy, II. 3115, 593
Uovernment House, II.
594
Houses of Parliament, 11.
5l»3
Iiopulatlon, II. 592
river, Ii. 330, 303
HJtnation, ii, 592
limber, Ii. 305
Otter- hunt In Aleutian is-
lands, i. 279
oiiray nmunt, i. 89
outarde or llustardc river, II.
33il
Owl's Head )icak, il. 334
I'AClFii' const, length of, ii.
;J4
general account, ii. 324
great archiiiclago, ij. ;)24
ranges, general view of, i.
110
Palliser, Captain, R.K., Ii. 382
I'aiiamint langc, i. 108
I'ark, llaktir's, i. 90
National, i. 59, 70
North, I. 80
Midille, I. 80
Range mountains, I. 82,
88
South, I. 80
Parks of Colorado, i. 80
Paria river, i. 92
Parr, explorations by, ii. 322
I'arry, Sir I'M ward, account of
Hudson bay, II. 311
chart, ii. 311
explorations, II. 312, 319
Islands, ii. 323
Parsnip river, ii. 434
Partridge hill, Ii. 415
Pasjiebiac, Ii. 520
Pas Mission, 11. 394
Pas(iuia river, ii. 394
Passes in Canada —
Athabasca, Ii. 429
Athabasca portage, ii. 340
Kicking Horse, ii. 439
Leather, il. 342, 430, 441
Tejon, I. 110
Vermilion, ii. 341
Pntapsco river, i. 190
I'awiiees Indians, Ii. 570
Peace river, II. 420, 434
or Ungigah, il. 434
district, Ii. 290, 470
valley, ii. 478
Peak, Uuttalo, I. 88
Klbert, i. 89
Fremont, i. 78
Gray's, I. 84
Lassen's, I. 110
Long's, I. 84
Mitchell's or Clingman,
i. 7
Owl's Head, il. 334
Pike's, i. 84
f. ■
^^^* 5y <»«>• ^— * ji*^^
INDEX.
G4"
Peak, Qufttidary, i. 8S
Mlii'iiiiati, i. U'J
Siiniir l.iiiif, ii. ;VM
Pi'nkH, .SimiiiMli, i, 85
IVi'os riviT, i. ts
Viilluy, i. ItH)
^l•^lil\Cll^ll^^])h(l.^i(nlelllts, ii. tOl
I'l'i'l riviT, il. -t'-'ri
I'fliiaii, Hwnii, iir Clcarwiitrr
river, Ii. 4;'.l
Pi'ily rivir, ii. i:.I
ri'iiilH'rIciii ]Miit.'i^'p, ii. 4i:i
Pi'iuliiiiii iiioiintaiiiM, ii. I'JO
Pl'iul (I'Olrillf lill<i', ii. 4 10
Pfliiiisula, llootliiu Kt'lix, ii.
;i'jo, :i'j:i
RnHt Muiii, ii. ;i01
Ijnlinnlor, ii. '.".ilt
Mclvill.', ii. ;(0:i
Pt'nii, William, i. liw;
rt'iiiisylviiiiiii, niitlinu'iti' in,
i. l,-i, 17
iiiiiicnil wc'iltli of, i. 11
rctisldiiiin, ii. -lOli
Pi rrc'cti(iiiiMts,ao(^ouiltof tlR>,
i. 2.M
Prnmso, A.liniral, ii. ms
IVrrot islaiiil, ii. X>7
Pftaw.'iliwi'h liviT, li. 'M'4
Petit Alise island, i. Ml
aiiciuiit reinniim found, i.
32
Petroli'imi, wlioro found, i. is
in Calil'iirnia, i. l:i."(
in Nnva Sciitia, ii. .''.OS
in I'l'iuisylvania, i. l:j.'>
statistics of, ii. fjO:!
trade in, i. li»
Petrol ia town, ii. .^0H
Philadi'liOiia, i. l»i
chief iiiannfaetnring city,
i. IS',1
f'XjHirts, i. ISO
formerly tlio capital, i. IPO
Germans in, i. ISS, -MT
]M)|>nlation, i. 1»1
pul)lic l)nildinKs, i. 188
streets in, i. I.s7
Philiiot, l>r. Harvey .T., ii. r,'M
Phos]iluite of lime or apatite,
statistics of, ii. ,''j()ti
Piegans Inilians, ii. ,^)T0
Pike's jieak, i. S4
PilKrims, tlie, island, ii. SiU
Pilot Knr>li nionntain, i. 'M
Pin<'hi lake, ii. 4l('i
Pine river, ii. 4:i.'), 477
Pines in tli(^ Sierra, i. V22
rinuK pimiiirusii, ii. 41iO
Pipestone lake, ii. 41.'i
Pitt lake, ii. 44;{
river, ii. 44.'t
Pittsburf;, i. liMl ; ii. .W)
Placierc monntains, i. 100
Plain, Staked, i. 4S
Plains in liritish America, i.
4i)
Great, i. 47, 12(5
Laramie, i. Sij
Snake river, i. 81
Plotenu, Cnnllllpmn, i. 40
t'ulorado, i. 112
on th livide," I. 82
region, I. 12S; ii. ;i:!0
or ColortKlu pluteAU,
i. 121>
Platte river, I. 2:t
North, i. M
South, i. Hi
I'ltilih/iiiliitH jHiilii'i-im, ii, ;uKs
I'oint Father, ii. :ini
Fred.'rick, li. .'-1)4
DiMi^las, ii. 422
Henry, ii. !i<Ji
Levi. if. .'.H.'i
de Monts, ii. .101
I'ontiac, ii. ,'iO;t
I'nindiia trniiuliiiile.i, ii. SS.'i
l'o|iulatiou of America, i. 20.'!
.\cadia, ii. .'■i:),'>, :i'M)
Anti<'osti island, ii. 2!kS
Kultiniore, i. I.'sl
lleUeville, ii. OOil
liostofi, I. 181
Jirantford, ii. 00:t
liritish Columtiia, ii. 200
and Vancouver iH-
lan<l, ii. .'>:is
Itrockvillc, ii. f.o:)
lirnnklyn, i. Ihl
( anada, il. 2i»:(, .'■);l,''), ;,M
lape lireton, ii. .''i.lrt
Charlottetown, ii. 002
Chatham, ii. i:03
Chicat,'n, i. LSI
comparative, of chief
citii'S, i. liO
Kniersoii, ii. oiM
I'redrictoii, ii. 5.s;t, 002
(ialt, ii. ('i(i:<
Great I'rairie territory, ii.
2110
Gnelph, li. OO.'t
Halifax, ii. .WO, 002
Hamilton, ii. !>'M, 002
Hull, ii. 002
Iiidian, ii. ,'i35
islanils in thu Arctic
ocean and in Hudson
liay, ii. 2H0
Koewatin, district of, ii.
2!'0
Kingston, ii. S.'iO, 50j,
ou:t
Lalirador, ii. 200
Levis, ii. 002
Lindsay, ii. OOH
London, ii. filiO, 003
Manitolia, ii. 200
and liritish Colum-
liia, ii. .'iiiO
Montreal ii .'.oo, 002
Ncwf.mndland, ii. 200,
,Mi5, .'i:iS, 033
Ni'w lirnnswick, ii. 200,
.'.30, .'il'S
New l-'ranco (Quebec), ii.
,')3,j, .^;!i>
New Drlcans, i. 181
New York, i. 181
Population of New Wefitmin-
Hter, ii. 0O3
Nortli-WcHt territories,
II. 200
Nova Scotia, II. 200, 630,
63S
Ontario, II 200, .'..10, 8.1H
Ottawa, li. .'.,30. ,'.02, 00;i
Pitcrboro', il. 003
I'hiladclpliia, i. l.Hl, I.SO
Port Hope, ii. 003
l'..rt Uoyal, li. .'.3.'.
Prince Kdward island.
li. 200, .'.3ii, .'i3S
Quebec, ii. 2'.MI, ,'.30, OlV.'
Knpcrt's land ami Ked
Hivcr Hcttlenieut, il.
&3S
St. Catlierlnes, li. 003
St. Henri, ii. 002
St. Hvacinthe, ii. 002
St. .lolin, ii ,'.30, .-(S-i
St.. lolin, New lirnnswick,
ii. 002
St. Jolm's, Ni'wfoun.l-
land, ii. ,'.3,'., 003
.St. Louis, i. 181
St. Thomas, ii. 003
San I'rancisc.., i. isi
Sherl.rooke, ii. 002
H(.rel, ii. 002
per s(|uare mile, ii. JJ30
Ht.alistics, ii. '.3:'.-0
Stratford, ii, 003
Snmmcrsicli', ii. 002
tables of, ii. ,'i3.'i, ,'.30
Three Uivers, ii. 002
Toronto, il. ,'.30, ,'.07, r.02
Lnitcd Stab'.s, i. 170
Victoria, Vancouver, ii.
003
WashinK'ton, i, isi
Windsor, ii. 003
Winnipeg:, ii. ,'.00, 003
Woodst(.ck, ii. 003
Porcupine or Stone river, ii.
434, 4.'.1
mountains, ii. 41S
PortaKc de la Traite, or Froi?
portage, ii. 431
Port KssinKton, ii. 474
Hood, ii. 207
Hope, ii, 3i;o
Nelson route, ii. 317
Portland, Oregon, ii. 000
cliaiinel, ii. 4.01
Powder river, i. 82
Prairie n'gion, ii. 382
country of thu West, ii.
402
descrijition, ii. 390
extent of, ii. 3S3
Grand, tlie, ii. 481
iidertilc region, ii. 390
)irairie dog, i. 53
produce, ii. 38i>
river system, ii. 383
tind.er, ii. 3S5
vegi'tation, ii. 384, 402
404
648
INDEX.
Prairies, the, i. 25
Prt'snitt, ii. 4S4, :.47
President of till) Unite. 1
St.'it.'s, llrst, i. Ill',)
Priliee Albert, ii. '.".10
Edward island, area of,
ii. 'J'.iO
Indians in, ii. ')(iO
1 ■ pulaliiin, ii. 2'.i0
]iroduets, ii. irtS
Henry foreland, ii. ;U)'2
of \Vale;i island, ii. liL'l
William, .slibnitu at, ii.
,">07
Princeton mount, i. 81)
Provoor Timjianogos river, i.
1(11
rniini.< Anin-icitiii', ii. -100
I'irijinhniii, ii, luO
Puek-\va liai;uii river, ii. 411
I'tlget sound, ii. (iOO
Pyramid lake, i. 132
Quandary peak, i. SS
Qu'Aiilielle river, ii. L'OO, 3!t;
jilaiiis iit'ur, ii. 40:(
Quatres Fourelies river, ii.
430
<2uatsalix eaflon, ii. 474
Ijueen Charlotte i-sland.s, ii.
!V_'0
agricnltural possibilitie.s,
ii. 472
elimate, ii. ■'!27
forests, ii. 327
Quchoe, ii. 3,'ii), .S4ii, .OSf)
area of, ii. 2'.'0
French inhabitants, ii.
:o()
history of, ii. S.SO
Indians in, ii. .WO
ores in, ii. .OOO
origin of name, ii. .IS.'i
Plains of Abraham, ii.
poimlation, ii. 200, fiSO
or Htadaeuna, ii. 5Si>
nniversity, Freiieh, ii. OSO
Qtlesnelle river, ii. 442
Quill lake, ii. 3'J7
Rack eape, ii. 02,5
roeks, the, ii. .'S2,')
. :'.il\vay bridges, ii. MO
J lihvays in Canada, ii. ;'il2
Canada Sonthern, ii. .OKS
Canadian Paeilic, ii. fiUS
Kuropeau and Nortli
American, ii. .'il7
Grand Trnnk, ii. .'il.')
Great Western, ii. U\r>
London and Port Stanley,
ii. 5U)
New IJrunswick and
Canada, ii. f)17
Nortliern, ii. ,''il7
Nova Scotia, ii. .117
Quebec, Montreal, Ot-
tawa, and Occidental,
ii. ,018
Railways in Canada
routes iirojected, ii. fi21
Welland, ii. .Mii
Western Kxtension, ii.
,117
Kainl'all in Arkan.sas, ii. 4'.il
California, i. 121
iMississijipi, west of, ii.
4!it
New Mexico, ii. 4',14
Texas, ii, 4'.i|
Hainier mount, i. Ill
or Taehonia glaciers, i.
112
Rainy or Rene lake, ii. 317
river, ii. 123
Raisiu river, ii. 370
Raleigh, Sir Waller, li.uMdi"!
colniiy in Virgini.i, i. Uil
Randolph co., gold iii, i. i (
Rapids of the ,St. Lawrence,
ii. 3,'i7
Rut Portage, ii. 410
river, ii. 420
Riitou hills, i. KiO
Ray <'ape, ii. 2'.i7, ti2.')
Recarccs Indians, ii. .170
Red I>ccr river, ii. 1 17
Red .Mountiiin springs, i. 71
Red luilian I'oinl l-'ic, ii. ('.27
Red islaml, ii. 3rd
Red river, ii. 417, 420
Red river, the, of Louisiana,
i. 23
Reindeer, i. ,14 ; ii. 427
Reindeer lake, ii. 434
Reno, i. 1.1.3
Resolution island, ii. 301
Rhode island, coal in, i. 14, 1,1
Richardson, Sir John, ii. 432,
470
Richardson, I>r., ii. 3S()
Uichelieu or Iroipiois river,
ii. 3(17
Richmond gulf, ii. 300
Uideau canal, ii. 511,1
river, ii. ,3il4
Riding mountains, ii. 418
Rigouh.'ttc, ii. 2110
Rio Grande <lel Norte, i. 87
Rivers
Abittibe, ii. :!0,1
Albaiiv, ii. 301
Allegliany. i. 24
Amur, i. 278
Arkansas, i. 23, 128
Assiidboiue, ii. 400
.■\thabasca, ii. 422, 42(1,
420
.\ttahwah]iiskat, ii. 30.1
Uabino or Simpson, ii.
437
Back or Great Fish, ii.
320, 321
Pattle, ii. 200
Dear, i. 104
liclly, ii. 200
Petsianiite, ii. 336
liig, ii. .30,1
Pig Horn, I. &2
l{ivcrs -
liirkenhead, ii. 443
Plack, ii. 3(14
Plack or Westroad, ii.
441
How, ii. 200, 4()/
Canadian, i. 24
Canoe, ii. 438
Cavoush, ii. 444
I'cdiir, i. 24
Chatte, ii. 334
Chaudicrc, ii. .'Iil7
Chllcolin, ii. 441
Chilnkwcvnk, ii. 441
ChiuvliilU ii. 304, 38:1,424
Clarke, ii. 440
Colorado, Chiipiito or
Flax, i. 41
Coluniiiia, ii. 43S
Coppcrniine, ii. 320, 321
Cumberland, i. 24
Dcs .Moines, i. 24
Oetroit, i. 34 ; ii. 312
Dog, ii. 434
" Dirty Devil," i. 02
Diibaunt, ii. 304
Du l.icvrc, ii. 3'''4
Du Ro.'licr, ii. 434
Kast .Main, ii. 3(i1
Mchiniamish, ii. -Ill
F.mbarr.as, ii. 433
Kip[an, ii. 301
of F.xploits, ii. (127
Finlav, ii. 431
Flathead, ii. 430
Fr![scr, ii. ,310, 441, 414
Gallatin, i. .10
(iander, ii. (127
Gardiner's, i. 7,1
Galincau, ii. 304
Gcm.isee, ii. 309
(ieorge, ii. ,".03
Gibbon, i. 71, 75
(iila, i. 02
(irand, i. 02
Grand Pond, ii. 027
Great Kanawha, i. 24
Green, i. 78
Ilarrikanaw, ii. .301
Harrison, ii. 443
J lav, ii. 43(1
Hayes, ii. 305
Hudson, i.
Hniiibcr, ii. 02i)
Humboldt, i. 43, 105
Huron, ii. 370
Illinois, i. 24
Jaeques dirtier, ii. 3(17
tlell'erson, i. .10
Kabitoliipiia, ii. 371
Kaministi(|(iia, ii. 347
Kansas or Kaw, i. 23
Kayoshk or Gull, ii. 375
Keepawa, ii. 303
Kentucky, i. 24
Kis])yox, ii. 440
Kitseguecla, ii. 440
Kitsunigallnni, ii. 410
Koksoak (U- Sonth, ii. 303
Kootauie, ii. 438
t^x-j; •^•LT-.jgji
INDEX.
049
Rivers—
Lakt'Ise, ii. AM
l.iiiiKlancIs, ii. ;10()
l.issci- Slave, ii. liiO
I.i'wis or .siialic, ii. 1 10
LianI, ii. iiil, liU, IJl
l.illoi't. ii. li;!
I'lipci', ii. ll;!
Little Whale, ii. :!(!.'>
I.owei' .Mississippi, i. l':!
Mackenzie, ii. :!-(', :i-l,
:i,"iO, -I'-'ii
.Mailawaska, ii. ;iiil
.Madison, i. .M)
M.'iniecinaKan, ii. :i!'4
Massiuailia, ii. :>0r>
Mataniie, ii. !i;il
Watawan, ii. :ti''l
Matla-Kaini, ii. 1105
Manniee, ii. :i70
Mel-eed, i. 117
Mii'ttc, ii. tliO
Jliniiesiita, i. 'Jl
Mississi|ri>i, i. "JO
Missouri, i. 'Jli
Moisie, ii. ;i:i{i
Jlonon-aliela, i. 21
Jloiilniorenei, ii. 'M7
Montreal, ii. :Ki
Moose, ii. ;i(l.')
Na-nie-wa-niin-i-knn or
Sturgeon or I'oplar
l.oil};e, ii. .'l"/i
Nastapoka, ii. .'100
Nation, ii. 4:il
Nechaeo, ii. 1 II
Nelson, ii. ;t(il, ;iMi, 103
Niaf;ara, i. :M ; ii. li.'jlt
Niiola, ii. 447
Noddawai, ii. liO.'i
Nonwatan, ii. ;u'i
Nortli, ii. ;U!5
Onden, i. 104
O^notika, ii. ;!0r>
Ohio, i. LM
OUana^an, ii. 4:!8
<)s\veK'>, '•• '"''•'
Ottawa, ii. ;t;n!, :iii:i
Outarde or liustard, ii.
;!:iti
I'aria, i. 012
Parsnip, ii. 4.^4
r.-isipiia, ii. :f!i4
I'ataiisco, i. llK)
I'eaee, ii. 4Jti, 4;!4
I'eeos, i. 4S
Peel, ii. 4l!ti, 4.-il
I'eliean or Swiin or Clear-
water, ii. 4:il
I'elly, ii. 4.M
Pet;iwaliweli, ii. :!04
Pine, ii. 4X>
Pitt, ii. 44:!
Platte, i. i!3
Pon'upino, ii. 4,M
Powder, i. S'J
I'rovo or Tinipanapis, i.
104
rn<k-wa-lia-^;nn, ii. 411
(iu'.\ppelle, ii. -JIK), ;ili7
Uivcrs— I liivers-
l^natren Foiuvhes, ii. 4:'.:) | Wlmle, ii. 303
(ine.suelle, ii. 44'J
Kainy or Uene, ii. 4-3
liaisin, ii. :<70
Hat, ii. 4'JO
Hed, ii. 417, 4l!0
Jied, of Louisiana, i. 'Jll
Heil Deer, ii. 417
Kiehelieii or Iroijuois, ii
:iii7
Uideau, ii. IKU
Hio lininde del Norte, i. j liiviere du Snd, ii. :i(iO
>'^7 HIviere la lilehe, ii. 477
Koek, i. '-'4 HoliertsonKoss, Col. P., ii.
liuperl, ii. nor) .M:t
.SaKnenay, ii. ICit!, :itil, iU'iii | H(d)erval, ii. tlo;.
Samlusky, ii. :i70 Uolj.son, aeeoiint of Hudson
Whirlpool, ii. 4:!0
Whit.', i. •J4, O'J
William's fork, i. 02
Wind, i. 7.S
Winnipc},', ii. 41S, 410
Wisconsin, i. "Jl
Yanipa, i. OJ
Y.i/.oo, i. '_',(
Yellowstone, i. •2'.i
Yukon, i. 'J77 ; ii. 451
Ste. Anne des Monts, ii.
!St. Clair, i. :i4 ; ii. 'S:<'2
St. I'Yaneis, ii. Hi
bay by, ii. .'110
Uochers Delioulc't) ran^e, ii.
440
" I!i»lics-iuiiiitiiiini\:t," i. 70
St. I'Yaneis, ArkansaSji.'J:! I Koek river, i. '24
St. .lohn, ii. :)S'.
St. Ijiwrenee, i. lij, ys ;
ii. :i:i0, ;!,')(), ;<k>
St. Marie, i. :i;t
St. .Mauriee, ii. ;iOj
Salmon, i. 81
San .luan, i. O'J
Saskaleliewan, ii. 204,
;!5(), :iOl
Great and Little, ii.
410
Soiil, ii. ;ior>
Sov'jru, ii. 305
Sevier, i. 105
Shuswap, ii. 447
SiniilkanuM'n, ii. 4;i.S
SUieua, ii. 437, 44S, 475
Smoky, ii. 435
Snake, i. 70
Souris, ii. 200
Soulli Platte, i. I'JH
Saskatchewan, ii. 200
Tliomp.son, ii. 413
Stiekeen, ii. 437
Btone, ii. 4.33
Stuart, ii. 441
Suniass, ii. 445
Suskwa, ii. 4.')0
Swan, ii. 417
Sweetwater, i. 82
Ti'iniessee, i. 24
Terra .Nova, ii. 020
Thompson, ii. 442
Tinipanogos ov I'rovo, i.
104
Ton^'ue, i. .'*2
Trent, ii. 3r,0
Trout, ii. 305
Uintji, i. 02
llplier .Mississi]»pi, i. 23
Vermilion, ii. 435
Vir^'eii, i. 02
Wabash, i. 24
Wati'rhen, ii. 41S
Watsonkna, ii. 410
W.'ber, i. 104
Weenisk, ii. 305
Uocky mountains, i. 57; ii.
340
extent of, i. 127 ; ii. 328,
340
glaciers in, i. 70
Kouthern, i. 8.3
Uoinan/oir mountains, i. 277
Hosti hliiiiihi, ii. 100
Hoss, explorations by, ii. 310
Itoss island, ii. 113
Uonte, Douglas, ii. 1 1 1
Houtes
Hudson bay, ii. 317
for innnigrants, ii. .'i23
Liverjiool to ,la[ian, two
routes, ii. ;!17
Port .Nelson, ii. 317
Iloyal nniunt, ii. 358, ,'>bS
Hoyale isle, i. .33
" Uunning a rapid," i. 100
Uupert river, ii. .)()5
Itupert's lutid, IiuIiauH in, ii.
500
metropolitan of, ii. 500
Kussvll, Lind.say, ii. 401
Itussian America or Ala.ska,
i. 270
Uusso-Uermans, the, i. 200
SaiiI.k cape, ii. 330
Sneramcnt." valley, i. 121
Saddlcb.'U'k eape,"li. 310
islands, ii. 3U3
"Sage brusli," or Artemisia,
i. 50
Saginaw bay, i. 33 ; ii. 372
Ste. Anne des Monts, ii. 334
St. Anil y, falls of, i. 21
St. Catherine's, ii. 548
St. Clair lake, ii. 35'2
river, i. 34 ; ii. 3.V2
St. Klian or Cttseiulo range, I.
277
St. Klias mount, i. HI ; ii.
452
St. Frnnei.s Inke, ii. 335
river, i. 23 ; ii 'M'
650
INDEX.
Bt. George, Utah, i. 125
bay, ii. 'J'J7
island, i. 279
Bt. George's bay, ii. 020
St. Heleiie isliiiul, ii. ;i.')S
St. Helen's island, ii. 58S
St. Helen's mount, i. Ill
St. John, New lirunswiek, ii.
583
lake, ii. 338, 306
river, ii. 582
St. John's, Newfoundland, ii.
034
harbour, ii. 63-t
population, ii. 635
trade, ii. 034
St. Lawrence basin, ii. 291
gulf, ii. 297, 302
gulf and river products,
ii. 457
St. Lawrence river, i. 32, 38 ;
ii. 351
or Detroit, ii. 352
or Niagara, ii. 351, 353
or St. Clair, ii. 352
or Sault St. Marie, ii. 352
islands in, ii. 301
lake.s and rapiils, ii. 357
length of, ii. 350
"traverse" of the, ii. 300
valley of the, i. 6
width of, ii. 360, 585
Louis, i. 196
Germans in, i. 207
population, i. 181
tubular bridge, i. 198
Marie river, i. 33
Martin's, Montreal, table
of a year's temperature, ii.
455
St. Maurice river, ii. 365
St. Mary's bay, ii. 295, 020
St. Paul, bay of, ii. 300
St. Paul island, i. 279
St. Peter bay, ii. 290
St. Regis lake, ii. 357
St. Ronan's mountain, ii. 334
Salisbury island, ii. 302
Salmon river ranges, i. 81
Salt Lake, i. 132
deposits, i. 27
mines of Louisiana, i. 31
statistics of, ii. 503
valley, i. 105, 125
Sandusky river, ii. 370
Sangre de Cristo range, i. 85
Sanguenay river, ii. 336, 301,
360
San Francisco, i. 199
bay, i. 120
climate, i. 201
or "Golden City," i. 200
Golden Gate, i. 201
inhabitants, i. 202
mountains, i. 130
population, i. 181
Ban Joaquin valley, i. 121
San Juan range, i. 90
river, i. 92
Ban Lucas cape, i. 100
Bt.
St
St,
San Luis valley, i. 87
Sanpere, Mr., ii. 470
Sarnia, ii. 548
Saskatchewan, district of, ii.
290
river, ii. 294, 348, 350, 391,
392, 397, 398
Great, ii. 416
Little, ii. 416
(North), ii. 408
(South), ii. 395, .397
valley temperature, ii.
402
"Sautteux" Indians, ii. 508
Savage islands, ii. 302, 31 1
Sa watch or "Sierra Madro"
range, i. 89
Scratching creek, ii. 422
Seal-fishing, i. 281
Seal river, ii. 305
island, ii. 410
Selkirk, Lord, treaty with
Indians, ii. 504
mountains, ii. 343
range, mountains, ii. 442
Sehvyn, A. R. C, F.li.H.,
F.G.S., account of Hudson
bay by, ii. 301
Semi-tropical regions, i. 25
Seton lake, ii. 443, 444
Severn river, ii. 305
Sevier river, i. 105
Shakers, history of the, i. 248
Shasta mount, i. Ill, 113
Sliavano mount, i. 89
Shebandowan lake, ii. 347
Shenandoah valley, i.
Shcpherdia argentea, ii. 400
Sherman peak, i. 112
Shickshock mountains, ii. 333
Shipping statistics, ii. 529
Shoal lake, ii. 349
Shoshonees Indians or Snake
tribe, ii. 509
Shuswap lake, ii. 447
Shushwap lakes, Great and
Little, ii. 443
Sierra, the —
" Big Trees " of, i. 123
vegetation of, i. 122
Sierra Abajo, i. 130
Blanca, i. 85
Carriso. i. 130
el Late, i. 130
Magdalena, i. 90
Mateo, i. 90
de las Mimbres, :. 00
Nevada, i. 110, 133
la Sal, i. 130
Silver, a year's product, i.
137
taV)le of production of, i.
150
Silver in —
Clear Creek county, i. 157
Colorado, i. 149, 157
the Cordilleras, i. 149
Georgetown, i. 157
Idaho, i. 150
Lake Superior, ii. 504
Silver in—
Leadville, i. 158
Nevada, i. 149
San Juan, i. 157
Sunnnit county, i. 1.57
Utah, i. 149, 150
Virginia, i. 151
Similkaineen river, ii. 438
Simjison cape, ii. 321
lake, ii. 435
Sir George, ii. 558, .598
Sinialimoo bay, ii. 445
aUiuK IndiaiKS, ii. 559, 503
liome of, i. 82
Sipi-wesk lake, ii. 414
Sitka, mean temperature, ii
471
" Sitting Bull," Indian, ii. 503
Skeena river, ii. 437, 44S, 47.'>
Slave lake. Lesser, ii. 430
river, Lesser, ii. 430
Slavery, abolition of, i. 170
introduced, i. 171
Smith sound, timber and
game at, ii. 323
Smoky river, ii. 435
vegetation, ii. 479
Smoky, Great, niountiiins, i. 7
Snake river, i. 79
or "Mad" river, i. 80
Shoshone, fall on, i. SO
l>lains, i. 81
Snowyland islands, ii. 303
Social relations in America, i.
239
Soda lake, i. 109
Soliau])tues Indians, ii. 509
Sorel, ii. 358
Sounds—
Cuniberlar-'l, ii. 322
Erskine, u. ..20
Lancaster, ii. 322
Long island, ii. 305
Manitounuck, ii. 300
Smith, ii. 323
Souris river, ii. 290
Soutliampton island, ii, 303
South bay, ii. 375
South Carolina, ores in, i. 13
Soutli I'ark, i. 84, 8ti
Soutli Platte river, i. 128
South Saskatchewan river,
ii. 290
Soutliern Southampton is-
lands, ii. 302
Southern States, blacks in, i.
209
whites in, i. 209
Spanisli peaks, i. 85
Spear cape, ii. 034
Spence's bridge, ii. 447
Sjiokans Indians, ii. 509
Spy hill, ii. 397
Stickeen river, ii. 437
Stone river, ii. 433
or Porcupine river, ii. 434
Straits-
Belle Isle, ii. 297
Bellot, ii. 320, 323
Dcase, ii. 321
.
straits —
DoIj)hin and Union, ii.
Vox oliannel, ii. 321
Fraiiljlin, ii. ;!2i
of Ftica, or Juan de Fuca,
ii. 325, 000
of Georgia, ii. 441
Hecla and Fury, ii. 322
Hudson, ii. 301
of Mackinaw or Midiihili-
niafinae, ii, 371, 372
&t. Mary or Saiilt St.
Marie, ii. 373
Victoria, ii. 321, 323
Struthiopteris Geniiaiika, ii.
Stuart lake, ii. 446
river, ii. 441
Sturgeon lake, ii. 4S0
Sujiar Loaf peak, ii. 334
Sunia.ss river, ii. 44.5
Superior lake, i. 32, 33, 30 ;
ii. 300, 372, 504
products, ii. 401
scenery, ii. 548
silver mines, ii. 374
tenijierature, ii. 401
Suskwa river, ii. 450
valley, ii. 475
Sussex- CO., ores in, i. 12
Sutton nmuntain, ii. 334
Swan river, ii. 417
Swedes, the, i. 200
Sweetwater range, i. 42
river, i. S2
valley, i. 82
Swiss, the, i. 200
Tacla lake, ii. 441, 440
Tadousac, ii. :wr,
Tahaurus or Marcy mount,
I. t
Tchesinknt ir.ke, ii. 440
Tccumseh, ii. 503
Tejoii ]iass, i. 110
Teniaganiang lake, ii. 338
Temis-cainang lake, ii. 338,
303
Temiscouata lake, ii. 335
Tennessee, ores in, i. 13
river, i. 24
Terra Nova river, ii. C20
Tete Jaune Cache, ii. 438
Tezzer lake, ii. 440
Thonijison, David, ii. 3i)2
river, ii. 340, 442
North, river, ii. 442
South, river, ii. 443
"Tliousand Islands," the, ii.
350, 549
" Three Buttes" mountains, i.
SI '
Three Rivers, ii. 359
Thtinder bay temperature, ii.
401
Thunder-breeding mountain,
ii. 300
TimjiatioKos or Piovo river,
i. 104
INDEX.
Toledo, i. 106
Tolmie mount, ii. 600
Tongue river, i. 82
Toronto, ii. 369, 647, 596
bay, ii. 596
history, ii. 697
population, ii. 597
rainfall at, ii. 467
temperature, ii. 590
university, ii. 596
or York, ii. 596
Tory island, ii 305
Touchwood hills, ii. 290, 897,
405
Tourmente cape, ii. 457
" Traverse," the, ii. 300
Trees, habitat of various, ii.
307
Trent river, ii. 309
Tributaries, .secondary, of
Mississippi, i. 23
Trinity bay, ii, 025
Trout river, ii. 305
Tunnel, Mount Iloosac, i. 269
Tunnel, Sutro silver-mine, i.
155
Turtle portage, ii. 424
UiXTA range, i. 42, f'6
basin, i. 96
river, i. 92
valley, i. 97
Ungava, liay of, ii. 302
f-squimaux near, ii. 303
tides in, ii. 303
Union restored, i. 170
spread of tlie, i. 170
Lnited States-
agricultural products, i.
171 '
agriculture, i. 261
boundaries, i. 179
canals, i. 267
cattle-breeding, i. 204
Civil war, the, i. 170
"colonial jiroduce," i. 203
confederation formed, i
108
expenditure, i. 274
Federal Union of the, i
169
fleet, i. 275
historical survey, i. 102
industrial collapse in, i,
177
land forces, i. 274
Northern free, i. 174
number, i. 179
population, i. 179, 180
railway system, i. 20S
revenue, i. 274
Southern slave, i. 174
timber, i. 205
wheat products, i. 201
wine and tobacco, i. 203
Upper Savage islands, ii. ;iii
Utah, gold and silver in, i.
136
silver first called lead in
Utah. i. 156
651
Vancouver, explorations by,
li. 324 ■"
Vancouver island, ii. 825
coal in, ii. 295, 326
discovery of, ii. 324
timber, ii. 325
Vermilion river, ii. 435
Vermont, marble in, i. 14
range, i. 6
Viburnum Lcntago, ii. 400
l^uhcscens, ii. 401
Victoria, Uritish Columbia, ii.
000
climate, ii. fioi
docks, ii. 001
lake, ii. 477
strait, ii. 321, .323
" west of sunset," ii. 001
and Albert land, ii. 323
\ irgen river, i. 92
Virginia city, i. 153
climate, ii. 459
colony founded in, by Sir
Walter Haleigh, i. 165
ores in, i. 13, 15
toba(H'o in, i. 164
Vilis riparia, ii. 400
Wabash river, i. 24
Wa.ger inlet, ii. 303
Wahsatch range, i. 103
Walsingham cai)e, ii. .322
Washington, i. 191, I95
Capitol, i. n»2
charitable institutions, i.
194
education, i. 195
George, i. 108
gold and silver in, i. 136
mount, i.
pojiulation, i. 181
public buildings, i. 192
White House, i. 194
Waterhen river, ii. 418
Waterways of Canada, 346-50
Wat-son-kua river, ii. 449,
475
Weber river, i. 104
Weenisk river, ii. 305
Welland canal, ii. 309
Westminster, New, ii. 437
445, 002
Wet or Greenhorn mountains,
I. 85 •
Whale river, ii. ,303
Whale, Little, river, ii. 305
Wheat in Illinois, ii. 487
Iowa, ii. 487
Kansas, ii. 487
Manitolw, ii. 4,so
Minnesota, ii. 4S8
Peace River region, ii.
488
Red River valley, ii. 487
Saskatchewan region, ii.
487
Texas, ii. 487
Wisconsin, ii. 487
Wheat markets, tables, ii.
485, 4S6
652
INDEX.
i. 63
Wheat markets-
Buffalo, ii. 4Srt
Cliicago, ii. 485
Dulutli, ii. 485
■Wliei'lock, J. A., ii. 4r,4, 46S
Wliirlpool river, ii. 4;iO
Wliiskey ■ Jack "mountain,
ii. 415
Whitc-llsh lake, ii. 424
White mountains, i. (>
of Colerai'iie, ii. .'i;H
White Mountain springs,
Wliite bay, ii. 025
river, i. 24, it2
Whitney mount, i. 133
Willamette valley, i. 120
William's Fork river, i. !''J
Williamsville, ii. 595
Willis, N. r., account
Niagara falls, ii. ;'i5,'J
Wind river, i. 78
mountains, i. "S
valley, i. 82
Windsor, ii. .'itiO
Windsor, Ontario, tahle
mean temperature, ii. 4(il
Winnipeg, Manitoba, ii. 421,
598
ajipearance, ii. COO
of
of
Winnipeg, Manitoba—
contliicnue of Red river
and Assiniboino, ii. 348
country about, ii. 419
education, ii. 5ii!>
or Fort Garry, ii. 598
hi.story, ii. 598
lake, ii. 348, 350, 416, 422
mouth of Saskatchewan,
ii. 34S
jiopulation, ii. 599
rainfall at, ii. 407
river, ii. 418
Winnipegosis lake, ii. 350
Wisconsin river, i. 24
Wolfe island, ii. 350, 594
Wolfville, mean temjierature,
ii. 462
Wolstenholme cape, ii. 302
Woods, Lake of the, i. 33 ; ii.
422
or Clearwater lake, ii.
423
or Lake of the Sandhills,
ii. 424
islanils of, ii. 423
Woodstock, New Brunswick,
ii. 5S3
Woolaston lake, ii. 434
"Wyoming, Gertrude of, ' ii.
503
Yale, ii. 444
mount, i. 89
Yampa river, i. 92
Yazoo river, i. 23
Yellowhead lake, ii. 441
Yellowh(!ad or Leather moun-
tains, ii. 429
Yellowstone lake, i. 72
geology, i. 70
Grand cation and falls,
i. 72
National park, i. 59
ranges, i. 78
river, i. 23, 72
vallcv, hot springs in, i.
01,"71
Yosemite valhiy, i. 117
falls, i. 119
York Factory, coast near, ii.
307
Yu(!ca, or Spanish bayonet, i.
40, 50
Yukon river, i. 277 ; ii. 451
ZoAU Missioii, ii. 507
Zuni mountains, i. 90
THE END.
Prinfed by Edward Stanford, JJ, C/iaring Cross, London, S.JV.
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ill, i.
ir, ii.
lot, i.
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