muskrat, mink, skunk, raccoon and other pelts, and the 

 indications are that the demand will grow during the com- 

 ing months. It is also expected thai this season's catch 

 will be of better quality than last season's, the weather of 

 which was extr lOrdinarly mild. This w-ntrr, according to 

 the prognostications of experts, will be colder, more akin 

 to the bracing atmosphere which imparts the rich, luxuriant 

 coat to the fur-bearing animals which has placed the Domi- 

 nion in the premier place among producers. 



A Purely Winter Pursuit 



Canada, in general, has more summer occupations than 

 winter ones, but in trapping she possesses a purely winter 

 pursuit which can only be followed when the snow 

 has fallen and the denizens of the wild have arrived at the 

 full growth and luxuriance of the clothing which Nature 

 gives them for protection against the inclemency of the 

 winter months. On the American continent trapping has 

 come to be almost exclusively a Canadian line of activity, 

 followed each year by a host of men with a satisfying profit. 



Each fall, as the days decline and signs of the inevitable 

 approach of winter are imminent, in the north of the Cana- 

 dian provinces, there is an Out 'o Door army of men, who 

 have lounged and lazed through the summer months on 

 their winter's profits, who begin to look once more to their 

 traps, repair their snowshoes, prepare their bait, lay in 

 provisions and ammunition, and investigate the territories 

 for their winter's trapping operations. The antithesis of 

 the farm laborers and harvest helpers, they are winter 

 workers whose activities begin with the first snow and 

 cease when it begins to disappear in the spring, and whose 

 calling is profitable and remunerative enough to keep them 

 handsomely without work for the remainder of the year. 



The ranks of these professionals are supplemented 

 materially at the approach of winter by homesteaders and 

 others whose activities on the land, ceasing to a great extent 

 -with the advent of frost, are anxious to make that period 

 profitable to themselves and through the securing of greater 

 financial resources make greater headway in their first 

 years upon the land. Workers on farms, harvest helpers 

 and laborers, often follow this winter pursuit, returning 

 south in the spring to the areas where farming settlement 

 has driven the wild fur-bearers northward. 



$20.000,000 of Raw Pelts 



Though continuous and extensive agricultural settle- 

 ment is fast curtailing the wildernesses which are the haunts 

 of the valuable fur-bearing animals, trapping is still a very 

 profitable pursuit and will be for many years to come. 

 More than twenty million dollars worth of raw pelts were 

 taken by trappers in Canada last year. Saskatchewan 

 trappers received more than two million dollars for the furs 

 they secured during the winter; the annual pack of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company and Northern Trading Companies 

 shipped to London from Northern Alberta were worth 

 about a million dollars, and about one and a half million 

 dollars worth went from the same province to the United 

 States; the value of the catch in Northern Manitoba was 

 worth approximately two million dollars; and that of 

 Northern Ontario, the richest trapping ground of Canada, 

 is worth each year much more than any of these. 



Trapping is an engrossing and romantic pursuit which 

 any one can enter upon with a minimum of outlay, and 

 experience which can be speedily acquired. A line of traps, 

 a winter's provisions, bait and ammunition, and the trapper 

 is set up for the season. The wildernesses belong to nobody 

 or anybody ; the trapper is free to profit through whatever he 

 may secure through his efforts or ingenuity. He is his own 

 master, monarch in a peculiar respect of the breadth of his 

 trapping domain, to pursue his calling in the free open all 

 winter, and with a profitable bag follow his own in- 

 clinations for the summer. 



Across Canada Victoria. 



If the city of Victoria, the capital of British 

 Columbia, were ever seeking a descriptive slogan, 

 the natural one to suggest itself would be "The 

 city where roses bloom at Christmas time," for 



no account of the beautiful island port would 

 appear to be complete without this very pithy 

 and comprehensive phrase. Victoria's peculiarly 

 mild and even climate sets it apart from other 

 Canadian cities and towns. The temperature- 

 is rarely over 75 degrees or below freezing. 

 Bathed in almost continual sunshine, the soft 

 warm breezes of the Pacific wafted over it, with 

 every variety of flower and shrub blooming about 

 it regardless of season, Victoria is indeed a charm- 

 ing city, a comfortable place of residence, and 

 fit site for the first city of a province so fair 

 and wealthy. 



Victoria is situated on Vancouver Island, 

 which with its adjacent smaller islands contains 

 an area of about 15,000 square miles. It is 

 reached from the mainland from Vancouver, a 

 delightful ocean voyage of about seven hours on 

 comfortable steamers, in the course of which the 

 traveller passes innumerable little islands on 

 either side, verdant and tree-clad. From the 

 city three railway lines radiate into the interior 

 of the island which contains a wealth of natural 

 resource to a large extent as yet undeveloped. 

 Steamer services give it contact and communi- 

 cation with the Orient, Seattle, Prince Rupert, 

 Puget Sound and Alaska. 



The Capital of British Columbia 



Victoria's prime importance in Canadian 

 national life naturally arises from its being the 

 capital city of British Columbia, the centre of 

 the affairs of what is generally conceded to be 

 potentially Canada's wealthiest province. It 

 has become a favorite residential locality particu- 

 larly with people from the British Isles, whilst 

 the exquisite beauty of its surroundings attracts 

 yearly to it thousands of tourists from all parts. 

 It has many splendid hotels, excellent schools 

 and churches and a university. 



Industrially the city is not insignificant, 

 featuring largely as the commercial centre of 

 Vancouver Island which has been favored with 

 much natural wealth. It is the headquarters of 

 the Pacific whaling fleet, whose activities have 

 greatly increased since entering upon the utili- 

 zation of waste fish products. Its industries 

 number nearly two hundred, comprising biscuits, 

 boats, brass, carriages, furniture, machinery', 

 cement, tile works, soaps, dry dock, rubber 

 roofing, jams and preserves. The value of its 

 imports last year was $10,538,841 and of its 

 exports $22,286,473. 



Victoria is prominent in national life and 

 widely attractive as a centre of unparalleled 

 cultivated and wild beauty. Separated from the 

 mainland it has not received its full share of the 

 province's commerce and industry, and before 

 arriving at its due importance in this regard, 

 awaits the more adequate development of the 

 wealth of Vancouver Island to which it acts as 

 outlet. For beauty of location and environs, 

 for equableness and tranquility of climate, for 



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