able a pursuit in comparison with less valuable 

 fur-bearers, but with the rapidity of multipli- 

 cation to pest proportions, ranching under 

 Government permits is becoming increasingly 

 popular and promises to develop into an Alberta 

 industry of some importance. 



What is probably the largest fur farm in the 

 West is a beaver ranch at Edgerton in Northern 

 Alberta, where more than one hundred beavers 

 are being raised with the confident expectation 

 of providing a handsome yearly revenue as soon 

 as it is believed that they have multiplied 

 sufficiently to justify trapping. The ranch is 

 located on the banks of a small creek which has 

 been the home of a colony of beavers for years. 

 Government protection gave them opportunity 

 to increase to such proportions that they became 

 a general nuisance when the owner of the land 

 applied for permission to fence them in, breed 

 them, and sell the increase. This was given and 

 another line has been added to the diversified 

 sides of farming in this section of Alberta. 



At Lacombe, in Central Alberta, S. W. Paisley 

 became interested in two colonies of beavers on 

 his land, set out to study them, and became a 

 master of the knowledge of their habits and 

 ways. When they commenced to over-run his 

 farm, he got permission to fence them in and 

 "farm" them, and is now anticipating a sub- 

 stantial profit from his yearly toll. Three other 

 farmers along the Ribstone Creek, seeing profit 

 in the scheme and being annoyed by the large 

 numbers to which colonies on their farms have 

 attained, followed Mr. Paisley's example, and 

 by fencing them in and encouraging them to 

 build their dams, control the damage they do 

 and secure a fine source of revenue. 



An Economic Enterprise 



Beaver farming is an economic enterprise 

 when a colony has settled in a stream running 

 through a farm, and the expense of operating is 

 practically nil, it being only necessary to fence 

 above and below the dam with a meshed wiring, 

 and a few rods on either bank. Where several 

 farmers along a stream are desirous of co-opera- 

 ting in such a venture, all that is needed is to 

 fence the extreme ends of the watercourse, and 

 by trapping in their own territory are fairly sure 

 of getting the animals from their own colonies, 

 as beavers seldom travel overland. Nor do they 

 usually move their colonies so long as food is 

 plentiful, so that when a shortage of natural 

 nutriment occurs, the provision of a supply of 

 such vegetables as carrots and turnips, planted 

 near the banks where the sharp-toothed little 

 creatures can reach them readily, will keep them 

 from changing their location. 



Beavers reared thus are still to be trapped 

 under the regulations that cover "wild" beaver 

 trapping, but with the new industry proving 

 popular, it is possible that the Act will be 

 amended. 



Across Canada Ottawa 



In common with few other nations, Canada 

 possesses a capital which is in no wise its 

 metropolis. Ottawa owes its rise to national 

 eminence to the burning by a Montreal political 

 mob of the parliament buildings and the request 

 by the Canadian Government to Queen Victoria 

 to choose a site. Toronto, Kingston and Mont- 

 real all wanted it, and, as no settlement could be 

 arrived at, the matter was settled in the above 

 manner. And so, overnight, in 1857, the pic- 

 turesque but otherwise then unimportant little 

 city, situated between Toronto and Montreal, 

 and almost on the boundary between the 

 provinces of Ontario and Quebec, became the 

 first city of Canada of that date, and, ten years 

 later, the Capital of the Federated Dominion. 



Under the name of Bytown, Ottawa was 

 first incorporated a town in 1847 with 6,000 

 inhabitants, becoming a city in 1855 when its 

 name was changed to the present one. Queen 

 Victoria, in choosing it, probably was guided 

 by its central position as regards the two prov- 

 inces, its distance from the frontier, and its 

 striking beauty of site and surroundings. While 

 at the time, doubtless, its selection gave rise to 

 dissension and dissatisfaction, it has apparently 

 justified the choice, and, to-day, with general 

 satisfaction, all roads lead to Ottawa. 



The Heart of the Dominion 



From Ottawa, Canada is governed. Here 

 resides the Governor-General, the King's repre- 

 sentative and Canada's tangible link with the 

 remainder of the Empire; here sits Parliament, 

 senate and legislative assembly; here pulses the 

 governmental heart of the vast Dominion of 

 nearly four million square miles which sends 

 out its arteries to the nethermost portions of the 

 giant body circulating the blood which vivifies 

 it as a unit of the British Empire. 



Picturesquely situated on the Ottawa River, 

 set amid scenery which is typically Canadian in 

 its wild beauty, Ottawa is one of the fairest 

 cities of the Dominion and it is a continual 

 endeavor to maintain it in this respect, the rival 

 of older governmental centres. The city and 

 environs have thirty miles of laid-out drive-way 

 and two thousand acres of charming parklands. 

 Its legislative buildings form an imposing 

 aggregation, and the various departmental 

 offices and public utilities contribute to the 

 beauty of the city's possessions. Such are the 

 valuable institutions of the Royal Victoria 

 Museum, the Parliamentary Library, the 

 National Art Gallery, the Royal Observatory 

 and the Royal Mint. 



Ottawa has a population of 107,732 and a 

 total assessed property valuation of $120,463,606. 

 In the matter of transportation, it is admirably 

 served by nine steam railroads, giving it the 

 best possible communication with every impor- 



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