| Transcript |
- 38 VICTORIA ILLUSTRATED.
TRIBUTARY RESOURCES.
AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, LUMBER AND THE MINES.
NOTWITHSTANDING the great commercial and financial prestige, and the superb harbor and location enjoyed by Victoria, the brief review
already given of other resources can convey but an indistinct idea of the magnitude and varied resources standing at her back ; these we
now propose to enter into more fully, and we will take them in the order named above :
AGRICULTURE.
Probably in no country in the world are the climate and other natural conditions more favorable to the successful prosecution of man's
natural industry?that of farming than those which present themselves in the Province of British Columbia. It is true that the settler does
not find the country all cleared and ready to the hand of the ploughman, as in the prairie Provinces ; but he has to hew his way through
dense forests, studded with trees of the most gigantic magnitude. He has frequently to pick his way over repelling rocks to the feet of
towering mountains, in whose bottom lands he discovers the soil and the shelter, which, combined with his own industry and enterprise,
never fail to give him happiness and wealth. If he is only contented to labor and to wait, almost all things are his. Years ago it was
supposed that the limits suited to the prosecution of farming were within very narrow compass. The country was described, by some who
professed to know all about it, but were utterly ignorant of the subject, as a sea of mountains that could only with the utmost difficulty
be brought to contribute its quota towards the production of the ordinary fruits of the soil. The world knew little of this Pacific coast
country, except as a land rich in minerals of all descriptions, but, in consequence of that, utterly unfit for the man of pastoral
pursuits. With, however, the advent of population, and the necessity which arose for interior communication, the surveyors and
prospectors announced that there was wonderful agricultural and horticultural wealth to be developed, the soil being among the richest,
and most practically inexhaustible that it was possible to find. The rich loam here, there and everywhere is deep, and capable of producing
numerous successions of crops, without in any way deteriorating or giving out. Many of the lands are described as being well watered and
well sheltered, and, at but moderate expense, can be reached and turned to the best advantage. To-day it may
almost be said that British Columbia has cattle upon a thousand hills, revelling in green pastures, and creating wealth at almost
every step they take. On the mainland, which is an important feeder to Vancouver Island, the far-famed bunch grass produces the
best pasture known, and everything points to stock-raising as being specially adapted to the land and climate. In some parts the red top,
blue joynt and other grasses are the varieties most easily produced, and their nutritious qualities are evidenced by the condition of the
live stock that finds its way to the market, or by the milk and butter that are produced. In the Province there cannot be less than 10,000
square miles of the
"THE COLONIST" BUILDING
|
|---|
