32 CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

Hauling Ore in British Columbia.

1909 258,703 tons. During 1908 1,677,849 tons of coal were mined. This
quantity was increased to 2,006,476 tons in 1909.

The coal deposits of the province are of immense size and of great
commercial importance. Coal mining promises to remain permanently

the basic mineral industry of the province. The largest production is from

the Vancouver Island fields at Nanaimo and Comox where several large
companies are operating. Their production was 1,476,735 tons of coal in
1909. Next in order comes the Crow's Nest Pass field in East Kootenay
with a production of 923,865 tons of coal, of this 365,464 tons were used in
making 245,017 tons of coke in 1909.

The Crow’s Nest field comprises'an area of unique’ value owing to its
high grade and splendid coking quality. The coal is used not only by
Canadian consumers but by the American railways, since it excels in quality
the coal of the North Western states. The production promises to increase
at a rapid rate. Other large developments are now going on, notably the
new C. P. Railway colliery at Hosmer which is mining 800 tons per day
(1910) and on the Elk River where the same railway company is opening
up an extensive area of excellent coal, of similar quality, to be connected
with their Crow’s Nest Branch line by means of a 45-mile branch on easy
grades up the Elk River.

There are a number of other fields in the Province. Of these the Nicola
field is the most developed, producing 500 tons per day. It is connected
with the main line of the C. P. R. at Spence’s Bridge. Numerous other
deposits occur in the Province, notably at Granite Creek, Midway, Quil-
chena, Cold Water River, Enderby, Telqua and Morice River. On the
coast there are several smaller areas on Vancouver Island, in addition to
the larger Nanaimo and Comox fields and an important large undeveloped
area on Graham Island. This has largely been taken up in 1909 and 1910.