r-IMTlSH COLUMBIA. 



BULGARIA. 



69 



completed is the Shuswnpaml Okanagan Railroad. 

 This lint- is about sixty miles long, and extends 

 from Sica moose station, on the Canadian Pacific 

 Kail mail and Sliuswap hike, via the Spallmna- 

 rliacn river to Okanagan lake. This railway 

 opens up what is probably the most fertile and 

 ni tractive agricultural country in the province. 



Mines. In former years mining for the pre- 

 cious metals in Mritish Columbia was practically 

 restricted to placer digging and washing. Until 

 MTV recently no other process was really prac- 

 ticable, although gold and silver, in their native 

 matrix, in situ, were known to abound. This 

 was owing to the very rugged character of the 

 country. Thus, in some instances, districts that 

 were really rich had to be abandoned, owing to 

 the enormous expense in transporting even the 

 plainest and most condensed of human food to 

 the sites of operations. As for transporting 

 heavy machinery to those sites, that was found 

 to be quite impracticable. The opening up of 

 the Canadian Pacific Railway has very much re- 

 duced the expense and difficulty of the miner in 

 these respects, especially in the midland and 

 southern sections of the province. Then, even 

 so short a line as the Kootenay and Columbia 

 Railway has given easy access to an immense 

 tract of rich mining country, comprising the 

 whole of the Kootenay district proper, the Slo- 

 can and Salmon river valleys, and other tracts 

 in the vicinity. Nelson, Ainsworth. Pilot Bay, 

 Kaslo, and Slocan are centers of mining opera- 

 tions. For the most part, the ore consists of a 

 native alloy of gold, silver, and copper, in vary- 

 ing proportions, and sometimes one or other of 

 these metals is found wanting. These ores are 

 found in a stratified schistose rock, which is said 

 to be always surrounded by granite. These ores, 

 of which argentiferous galena seems to be most 

 abundant, vary widely in value ; but we are as- 

 sured that those of lower grade are most easily 

 accessible, and are usually found in compara- 

 tively large veins. The product of gold for the 

 whole province in 1891 amounted to $429,811 

 in value, being slightly less than that of the pre- 

 ceding year. But, owing to the heavy duty im- 

 posed by the McKinley bill, added to the cost 

 and difficulty of transportation, no shipments 

 of silver ore were made in 1891, although ore to 

 the value of several hundred thousand dollars 

 lia^ lieen mined and is still lying upon the 

 dumps. Heretofore it was necessary to send 

 this argentiferous galena out of the country, if 

 only to be smelted ; but a smelter, with all the 

 necessary requirements, is now about completed 

 at Pilot Bay, on great Kootenay lake. Kxten- 

 sive preparations for quartz mining have been 

 made at West Kootenay, and also large hy- 

 draulic works, in the Cariboo country, in antici- 

 pation of the succeeding year's mining operations. 



The coal deposits of British Columbia that 

 have been opened and worked are all on the east 

 side of Vancouver Island, and in the vicinity of 

 Nanaimo and < 'omox. The total output of coal 

 in ISDI was 1,029.097 tons, against 678,140 tons 

 in 1890. The total output for the past year 

 was produced by the several collieries as fol- 

 lows: Nanaimo colliery. 527,457 tons ; Welling- 

 ton, 345482 tons; East Wellington, 41,666 tons; 

 Union (Comox), 114,792 tons: total, 1,029,097 

 tons. Of this total, 806,479 tons were exported, 



and, for the most part, to California; the re- 

 mainder represents the home consumption. The 

 progress of the coal-mining industry of the prov- 

 ince is shown by the following statistics : 



Preparations have been made for the opening 

 of a coal mine on Tumbo island. This island is 

 almost directly in the route of the Japan steam- 

 ers and all other vessels passing to and from 

 Burrard inlet. 



The yield of platinum for 1891 is estimated 

 at $10,000 in value. 



BULGARIA, a principality in eastern Eu- 

 rope, tributary to Turkey, created a self-govern- 

 ing state by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, which 

 ordered that the Prince of Bulgaria should be 

 elected by the population and confirmed by the 

 Sublime Porte, with the consent of the powers. 

 Ferdinand, Duke of Saxony, born Feb. 26, 1861, 

 the youngest son of Prince August, Duke of 

 Saxony, and Princess Clementine, daughter of 

 Louis Philippe, King of the French, was elected 

 Prince of Bulgaria by the unanimous vote of 

 the Great Sobranje on July 7, 1887, and on Aug. 

 14, 1887, he assumed the government without 

 the sanction of the great powers or the confirma- 

 tion of the Porte, which were withheld because 

 the objection of the Russian Government pre- 

 cluded a unanimous agreement among the 

 powers. The Treaty of Berlin provides that 

 Bulgaria shall have a Christmn government and 

 a national militia. The legislative authority, by 

 the Constitution of 1879, is vested in a single 

 elective representative chamber, the Sobranje or 

 National Assembly, elected by universal suffrage 

 in the proportion of one member to every 10.- 

 000 inhabitants. Its duration is three years, 

 unless dissolved by the Prince, in which case 

 new elections must be held within four months. 

 The executive authority is vested in a council 

 of ministers responsible to the Prince and to the 

 Sobranje. Eastern Roumelia or South Bulgaria 

 was created an autonomous province of Turkey 

 by the Berlin Treaty, to be administered by a 

 governor-general appointed by the Sublime Porte 

 for five years. On Sept. 17, 1885, it was annexed 

 to Bulgaria by a revolution, and as the result of 

 a conference of the signatory powers the Sultan 

 issued a firman, on April 6, 1886, recognizing the 

 fait accompli by appointing Prince Alexander, 

 then Prince of Bulgaria, Governor-General of 

 Roumelia. A commission was appointed to 

 amend the organic statute in order to make it 

 conform to the changed circumstances, and al- 

 though it never concluded its labors, the prov- 

 ince has been practically incorporated in the 

 principality. 



Area and Population. The area of Bul- 

 garia proper is estimated at 24.:i60 square miles 

 and that of South Bulgaria at 13.500 square 

 mili>s. The census of Jan. 1. 1888, made the 

 total population 3,154,375. of which number 

 JMiO.441 lived in South Bulgaria. There were 

 l.ti().\:589 males and 1 ,548,1)80 females. Of the 

 total population, 2,326,250 were Bulgars, 607,- 



