THE CANADIAN DEPARTMENT 



895 



Mr. J. E. Rothcry, of the finn of 

 Vitale & Rothcry of New York, has 

 just finished the field work of a survey 

 and reconnaissance for the James 

 McLaren Co. of Ottawa, covering 

 about 2000 square miles. 



The Forestry Work of the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway, with Eastern Head- 

 quarters in Montreal, has been trans- 

 ferred from The Department of Natural 

 Resources to that of Operating. This 

 work is in charge of Mr. B. M. Winegar, 

 who studied at the University of 

 Michigan. 



Owing to the war it is probable that 

 the Forestry Congress which was to 

 have been called by the Premier Sir 

 Robert L. Borden, in Ottawa in January, 

 1915, will be postponed. 



All the lumber Companies in Eastern 

 Canada are curtailing their cut some- 

 what on account of the war. 



In common with the Pacific Western 

 States, British Columbia experienced 

 a very dry and bad fire season, the 

 worst in many years. 



Figures so far available are as follows : 

 Total area burned, over 300,000 acres; 

 of this over 200,000 was old burn or 

 slash. Nearly 50,000 acres was valuable 

 second growth. Over 15,000 was mer- 

 chantable timber. Over 60,000,000 F. 

 B. M. merchantable timber was killed, 

 of which over '/s is salvageable. Nearly 

 400 miles of fire lines were built in 

 fighting the different fires. The total 

 number of fires was about 1500, of 

 which over 400 cost money to extinguish. 

 The total cost of fire fighting was 

 approximately $100,000. 



In one big fire on the tributary of the 

 Barriere River a whole train was 

 chartered to carry fire fighters from 

 Kamloops, the nearest town, to the 

 scene of the fire. 



The figures above show that the 

 expense of fire fighting has been great 

 and that a large area has been burned 

 over. The amount of merchantable 

 timber destroyed is, however, comjiar- 

 atively small, the chief damage Ix'ing 



young growth. A good deal of the area 

 burned over was old logging slash and 

 in many cases this is actually a benefit, 

 since it removes a fire hazard and clears 

 the ground for reproduction. 



The Northern limit of white pine in 

 Interior British Columbia is at the 

 headwaters of Sand Creek, a tributary 

 of the Eraser River, near Tete Jaune 

 Cache. The head of Sand Creek is 

 near Albreda vSummit, in the pass 

 through which the C. N. P. Railway 

 goes on its way from the Eraser River 

 to the North Thompson River. 



A Forest Branch telephone, 65 miles 

 in length, connecting a number of 

 islands which are situated between 

 Vancouver Island and the Mainland, 

 has just been completed, and is working 

 satisfactorily. It crosses three different 

 channels (one of them being over 1000 

 feet in depth, and all of them with swift 

 tide current) by submarine cable, 

 totalling in length 16,000 feet. These 

 islands are central, in the zone of 

 greatest logging activity on the British 

 Columbian Coast. Besides rendering 

 valuable service in fire protection and 

 forest administration, this line gives 

 connection through a Dominion Govern- 

 ment telegraph line with Vancouver, 

 the financial and supply centre, to a 

 large number of logging operators. 



Another telephone line, 120 miles 

 long, has just been completed u]) the 

 Columbia River, from Revclstoke North 

 to the Big Bend of the Columbia, near 

 the mouth, of Canoe River, a tributary. 

 This portion of the Columbia lies in the 

 Interior Wet Belt, where the timber, 

 Douglas fir, cedar, hemlock, white pine, 

 s])ruce and balsam, is second only to 

 the Coast timber in size, quality, growth 

 and stand per acre. A large amount of 

 this timber is held privately under 

 lease or license, and the balance is 

 still the property of the Crown. This 

 Interior Wet Belt type of timber 

 extends Northerly up the Canoe River. 

 The Forest Branch has already built 

 a trail in the upper portion of the Canoe 

 Valley, and it is planned eventually to 

 com]:)lcte the trail down to the Cohmibia, 

 and to extend the telci)hone line up the 

 Canoe. 



