24 CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

ship-building, whaling and other industries are being rapidly developed.
The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway, running from Victoria to Cameron
Lake, serves a section of country which it would be difficult to surpass
anywhere in the world for beauty of scenery and natural wealth. There
are prosperous agricultural communities along the railway and in the
Comox and Alberni Districts, to which this railway is now being extended
to open up communication with the Nanoose, Newcastle, Englishman’s
River, French Creek, and Qualicum Beach sections of the country. Several
mines are now being developed there.

The deeply indented coast lines of Vancouver Island and the adjacent
islands, afford fine opportunities for the fishing industry, which is now
being developed on a considerable scale. Although sparsely populated as
yet, perhaps no other area of British Columbia of similar size contains so
much varied natural wealth, represented in timber, minerals, fish and
agricultural land. Many of the small islands contain good farmland, and
north from Seymour Narrows to the head of the Islands there are large
areas which, when drained and cultivated, will make valuable cattle ranges
and meadows.

The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Company has some 1,200,000
acres of timber, mineral and agricultural lands still unsold within its land
grant, which extends from Otter Point on the west coast of the island to
Crown Mountain on the north, with the east coast of Vancouver Island
as a boundary. This area is being systematically examined as to its re-
sources, about 350,000 acres of the finest merchantable timber being open
to application and purchase, while much of the interior of the Island has
not yet been examined. ~

THE ISLAND’S CENTRES.

Victoria is the seat of Government and the capital of British Columbia.
It is charmingly situated’on the southeast of Vancouver Island, and for
climate and surroundings has no rival in Canada. Victoria is the oldest
town in the province, dating back to 1846, when it was known as Camosun,

Hay Baler at work. British Columbia is modern in every respect.