BRITISH COLUMBIA Y

tion, but suited to fruit growing and all kinds of grain and vegetables.
Most of the land is well timbered, and lumbering, next to mining, is the
principal industry. There are considerable areas of fertile land in West
Kootenay, a good deal of which is being utilized for fruit growing. The
fame of the Kootenay mines is world-wide, the mountains being rich in
gold, silver, copper and lead, and the eastern valleys are underlaid with
coal and petroleum. British Columbia has reached its highest develop-
inent in Kootenay and as a consequence, many prosperous Cities and towns
have been established. The development of the Crow’s Nest coal fields
and the revival in metalliferous mining has caused a rapid increase in
population, especially in East Kootenay, where it is estimated to have
more than trebled since 1901.

THE VALLEY OF THE EAST KOOTENAY.

Golden, a pretty little prairie town situated close to the Canyon of
the Kicking Horse River, which forms the means of ingress of the Canadian
Pacific Railway, is reached from the East after seven hours of doubling
and twisting amongst the monster peaks of the mighty Rockies. The
range on the West side of the Columbia River Valley is that of the Selkirks
standing in massive array en echelon for many a mile. Between the
Rockies and the Selkirks flows the Columbia River, one hundred miles
of which southward is here navigable. The trip occupies two days and

“‘ Hives of Industry.” Bee Keeping is profitable in British Columbia.

nights and is one of the finest river trips in the province, the banks show-
ing prosperous ranches flanked by mountain ranges. The large lagoons
and creeks tributary to the Columbia River are teeming with wild fowl
and well stocked with mountain trout. One mile west of Golden and
immediately north of the Canadian Pacific Raiway main line the Railway
Company has erected a number of houses for the accommodation of their
Swiss Guides. This village is on the lines of a village in Switzerland
and each house has sufficient land apportioned to it for the raising of
vegetables, poultry, etc. Heretofore these Guides have been imported by