36 CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY

LUMBERING.

to that of mining. The vast forest of large trees west of the Coast

Range were for many years the supply market for the world in the
way of spars and masts, and at the present day much of the larger timber
used throughout Canada for works of importance necessitating the use of
large pieces of timber, is brought by rail or boat from the western slopes.
The province may now be said to possess the greatest compact area of
merchantable timber on the North American continent, this being roughly
estimated at 182,750,000 acres. It is only of comparatively recent years
that the lumbering industry of the interior has risen to importance, but
since the opportunities have developed, the mountain mills have become
one of the chief sources of supply for the immense demand that has opened
throughout the prairie provinces. The red cedar shingles obtain a ready
market as far east as the province of Ontario, while the beautiful grains of
the British Columbia fir have opened a way for the using of it for finishing
purposes throughout the whole of Canada and in the Northwestern States
of America. The western species of hemlock is much superior to that of
the east and is as serviceable in many ways as the highly prized fir. The
overseas trade is steadily growing, and with the opening of the Panama
Canal the coast trade will expand very rapidly.

At the close of 1910 there were 207 large and small saw-mills in the
province, with an annual daily capacity of 4,500,000 feet, or an average
capacity of approximately 21,500 feet. In addition to this number there
were 49 shingle mills with an aggregate daily capacity of 3,395,000 shingles.
The cutting throughout the province for 1909 being 755,000,000 feet shows
a marked increase over five years previously—1904 when the cut was but
325,271,500 feet. Of the 1909 production 450,000,000 feet came from the
coast mills and the balance 325,000,000 was cut in the interior.

The principal trees indigenous throughout the province are white
pine, larch, spruce, Douglas fir, cedar, hemlock, also some varieties of hard-
wood. The chief forest areas on the mainland readily tributary to railway
or water communication are situated in Southeastern Kootenay and in
the parts of West Kootenay tributary to the Arrow Lakes and the Columbia
River. These timber areas outside the private holdings are owned by the
Dominion and Provincial Governments and the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The growth of the forest trees upon Vancouver Island has always
excited the surprise of travellers and eastern lumbermen.

It is not, however, the excessive size of individual trees, but the very
high average of the growth and quality of timber which has placed British
Columbia in the front rank as a timber producing country. :

The lumber cut from the Douglas fir is admirably adapted for all pur-
poses in which strength and elasticity and quality are desirable. It con-
stitutes about 80 per cent. of the lumber that passes through the mills, and
the supply is practically unlimited. > r

The cedar attains a girth even greater than the Douglas fir. The wood
of the cedar is employed chiefly for fine dressed lumber doors, frames,
sashes, etc. The veining renders it well adapted for all interior work, and
it is now being extensively used in eastern Canada and the United States
for that purpose. Cedar piles, telegraph and telephone poles are also in
great request. Hemlock is found in considerable quantities in some lo-
calities. Being of clear grain and of great height, it also is largely used

“Eee Lumbering industry of British Columbia is next in importance