HISTOinCAI, SKETCir, 21 



iug roads and ln'idgL's and tor tlie ostablislunent and luainteuaiice 

 of education. Thi.s conce.s.sion was enlarged and conijileted in 

 1854 by the grant of Respon-sible Oovernniont. Tlie discovery 

 of valuable dei)t)sits of cop])er ore in Notre Dame Bay in 1857 

 and tlie opening of the tirst eopjter mine in 18G4 gave a great 

 imi)ul.se to the general i^rosperity of the country. A Geological 

 Survey of the island was initiated in 1864, and its natural re- 

 sources were foinid to be very great. The Atlantic Cable found 

 a resting 2»lace on its shores, and connected it with England and 

 America. 8te;im conununication direct with Europe and Am- 

 erica was established in 1873 ; and in 1880 the tirst decisive steps 

 towards the construction of a railway were taken. In 1882 a 

 splendid Dry Dock was constructed in the harbour of St. John's. 

 In 1884 the jiopulation had increased to 197,589. The annual 

 value of agricultural products is now about $'750,000, and the 

 value of land under cultivation, togi-tlier wWh tlie cattle, slieej) 

 and liorses, over -$^2,500,000. 



DEVASTATION IJY FIRES. 



St. John's has grown into a city of 30,00u inhabitants. It has 

 guifered terribly by tires which have recurred again and again. 

 In February, 1816, a fire broke out which destroyed 120 houses 

 and left 1,500 people homeless. On Xovendjer 7th of the same 

 year another fire destroyed 130 houses, and a third on the 21st 

 November laid in ashes a consideral)le part of the business j)or- 

 tion of the city which had escaj^ed former fires. These, however, 

 A\-ere small in comparison A\ith the great conflagration of June 

 9th, 1846, which in a few hours left three-fourths of the city a 

 smoking mass of ruins, and about 12,000 persons houseless. The 

 loss Avas estimated at a million pounds steiding. 



GKEAT FIRE OF JULY 8th, 1892. 



A still greater calamity, as far as loss of piojierty was concern- 

 ed, occurred on July 8th, 1892, when more than one-lialf of the 

 city was consumed. Sixteen hundred houses were destroyed and 

 some 10,000 people left without a home. The best part of the 

 business portion of the city was destroyed, the Church of Eng- 



