ALBERTA 



155 



ALBERTA 



more than half as great, considerable varia- 

 tions in climate are not astonishing. From the 

 northern to the southern boundary is as far 

 Vom New York City to Charleston, South 

 Carolina, and is almost as far as from San 

 Francisco to Portland, Oregon. The province 

 may be divided into three climatic parts, each 

 about 250 miles long from north to south, 

 each possessing a characteristic climate. The 

 southern third, which includes such well-known 

 places as Medicine Hat, Calgary and Banff, has 

 a moderate, changeable climate, with an aver- 

 age, or mean, winter temperature of 14 to 16 

 F. This is perhaps four or five degrees lower 

 than the mean winter temperature for North- 

 ern Illinois. 



The central section of Alberta, of which 

 Edmonton may be taken as a center, has an 

 average annual temperature about the same as 

 that of Minneapolis. The mean winter tem- 

 perature at Edmonton is about 10 F. The 

 northern third has a severe climate, with the 

 temperature hovering around zero during most 

 of the winter. This region is usually called 

 sub-arctic, but its low altitude, only 600 feet 

 above sea level, gives it an average summer 

 temperature less than two degrees lower than 

 that of Edmonton and Calgary. Throughout 

 the province differences in altitude produce 

 marked variations in temperature. 



While the climate of Alberta, in common 

 with that of the other prairie provinces, is 

 usually said to be extreme, the inner slope of 

 tin Rocky Mountains is affected by warm 

 western winds along *its whole length. The 

 effect is not so great in Central or Northern 

 Alberta as it is under the strong Chinooks of 

 Southern Alberta, but it is sufficient to make 

 cultivation possible far north in the valley of 

 Peace River (which see), and this area is being 

 rapidly settled. 



Drainage. There are three great river sys- 

 tems represented in the drainage of the prov- 

 ince. In the extreme south is the Milk River, a 

 tary of the Missouri-Mississippi system. 

 With this exception the entire drainage may be* 

 li\ i.i. .1 into two parts, the Saskatchewan and 



e Mackenzie systems, both of which have 

 >n on the Alberta slope of the Rocky 

 ntains. Between these two systems is a 

 heinht of land, or watershed, running in a 

 iieasterly direction between 53 and 54 N. 

 South of the watershed the land slopes grad- 

 ual ly to the east and is drained by the two 

 hes and numerous tributaries of the Sas- 

 katchewan. North of Kdmonton the slope is 



more to the north, and here the waters are 

 carried away by the Athabaska and Peace 

 rivers, the great tributaries of the Mackenzie 

 (see MACKENZIE RIVER; SASKATCHEWAN RIVER). 



There are numerous small lakes in Alberta, 

 most of them either the sources or enlarge- 

 ments of rivers. The largest of these are 

 Lesser Slave Lake, with an area of 480 square 

 miles, and Lake Athabaska, of whose total area 

 of 2342 square miles about one-third is in 

 Alberta and the remainder in Saskatchewan. 



Natural Resources. Nearly 190,000 square 

 miles, seventy-five per cent of the total 

 of Alberta, are suitable for cultivation. The 

 soil is generally fertile, and though subject to 

 variations in yield on account of differences in 

 rainfall, produces good crops. The best soil is 

 found in the central section, and consists chiefly 

 of black vegetable mould from one to three 

 feet deep. 



ALBERTA 



Map Indicate* bound.ui.s. hlef river*, prin- 

 cipal towns, highest point of land In the province 

 and moat Important coal fields. 



The dryness of the southern part and the 

 sub-arctic character of the north limit the lux- 



