THE FORESTS OF CENTRAL BRITISH COLUMBIA^ 

 By H. R. Christie; 



The forests of Central and Northern British Columbia, espe- 

 cially in parts of the interior, are so far practically untapped, 

 except for local uses, and their great extent and value are not 

 widely known. This is largely due to the fact that up to the 

 present transportation facilities have been lacking and the timber 

 has been, therefore, commercially inaccessible. For this reason 

 the lumber industry of British Columbia so far has been practi- 

 cally confined to the forests of the Southern coast and Southern 

 interior. Conditions have been changed, however. Some of 

 the best timber areas have been opened up by the completion of 

 the Grand Trunk Pacific. Further large areas will be made 

 accessible on the completion of the Pacific Great Eastern and 

 the Canadian Northern. Undoubtedly in that part of the prov- 

 ince a flourishing lumber industry will develop sooner or later — 

 how rapidly depending, of course, on the markets. 



Central British Columbia lies approximately between latitudes 

 51 degrees and 57 degrees, and takes in the whole width of 

 the province. (Latitude 51 degrees is at the north end of Van- 

 couver Island, and passes through Revelstoke or near it. Lati- 

 tude 57 degrees is north of Fort Graham, on the Finlay River. 

 It includes the forest districts of Kamloops, Lillooet, Prince 

 Rupert, Hazelton, Fort George, and Tete Jaune. In other words, 

 it includes all of British Columbia at present under forest admin- 

 istration except the southern tier of forest districts.) 



The total area of Central British Columbia is over 106 million 

 acres, or nearly half the province. This is little less than the 

 total area of Sweden, and all of it lies south of 57 degrees, while 

 nearly all of Sweden lies north of that latitude. The most south- 

 erly point of Sweden is about the latitude of Hazelton, or a little 

 north of latitude 55 degrees. (Most of Denmark also lies north 

 of this latitude.) The population of Central British Columbia 

 is now less than 25,000 ; that of Sweden is over 5,500,000. 



(Note: It should be remembered that north of Central British 

 Columbia there is an additional area of 70,000,000 acres. It 



* Before the British Columbia Section, Canadian Society of Forest 

 Engineers, 1915. 



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