BRITISH COLUMBIA

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION, RESOURCES,
POSSIBILITIES & OPPORTUNITIES.

RITISH COLUMBIA, the western maritime province of the Dominion

B of Canada, is an irregular quadrangle about 700 miles from north
to south and averaging 400 miles in width, lying between latitudes

40 and 60 degrees north. Its northern boundary is formed by Yukon
and Mackenzie territories, the eastern by the Province of Alberta, the
southern by the States of Montana, Idaho and Washington and the Strait
of Juan de Fuca, its western shores by the Pacific Ocean. The area of
British Columbia has been set down at 395,000 square miles, equalling
252,800,000 acres. Estimated population 320,000 exclusive of Asiatics.

Four principal ranges of mountains traverse the province from north
to south, these being the Rocky and Selkirk on the east, the Coast and
Island on the west. Portions of the Selkirk range are known as the Purcell,
Gold and Cariboo mountains. Between these and skirting the western
base of the Rocky range is a remarkable valley some 700 miles in length.
Extending northward from the International boundary and westward of
the Selkirks to the Coast Range is a vast plateau varying from 200 to 3000
feet above sea level, broken by mountains seldom rising above the timber
limit and forming slopes and benches of fine agricultural and pasture
land. This interior plateau is bounded on the north by a cross range
gradually merging into the Arctic Slope. Of this interior plateau Professor
Macoun writes: ‘The whole of British Columbia south of 52 degrees and
east of the Coast Range is a grazing country up to 3500 feet and a farming
country up to 2500 feet where irrigation is possible,” and this statement
has been shown to be well founded by actual experiment.

LAKES AND RIVERS.

The lake system is very extensive and important as providing largely
for local transportation. Some of the principal lakes are: Atlin, 211,000
acres; Babine, 196,000 acres; Chilco, 109,700 acres; Kootenay, 141,120
acres; Upper Arrow, 64,500 acres; Lower Arrow, 40,960 acres; Okanagan,
86,240 acres; Shuswap, 79,150 acres; Harrison, 78,400 acres; also the
Windermere, Upper Columbia, Adams and Kamloops Lakes are of con-
siderable extent.

A very noticeable feature of British Columbia is its position as the ©
watershed of the North Pacific slope. With the exception of the Colorado,
all the large rivers flowing into the Pacific Ocean have their sources in this

rovince. The Columbia, which rises within 150 miles of the International
Boundary, traverses the province 600 miles before entering Washington,
U. S. A., where it becomes the principal waterway of that state. The
Fraser is 750 miles long; the Skeena 300; the South Thompson 130; and
the North Thompson 300 miles, while scarcely less important are the
Kootenay, Naas, Stikine, Liard and the Peace. These rivers with their
tributaries drain an area equal to one-tenth of the North American con-
tinent.2S*