BRITISH COLUMBIA 



933 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 



ELEVATION OF THE LAND, ACROSS THE PROVINCE 

 On the line of the Canadian Pacific Railroad 



number of communicants, closely followed by 

 the Presbyterians and the Methodists. 



Characteristics of the Surface. The predom- 

 inating physical feature is the great mountain 

 mass called the Cordillera. This belt of paral- 

 lel ranges is about 450 miles wide at the 

 southern boundary of the province, and 350 

 miles wide at the northern boundary. The 

 entire mass may be divided into the Rocky 

 Mountains and the Coast Range, between 

 which lies the Great Basin, or Central Plateau. 

 Most geographers also speak of the Island 

 Range, which is now almost completely sub- 

 merged; the only remnants are Vancouver 

 Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands. All 

 of these ranges have a general direction from 

 northwest to southeast. 



The Rocky Mountains. From the northern 

 boundary to latitude 54 N. the whole of the 

 Rocky Mountain system lies within the prov- 

 ince, but from this point southward to the 

 United States line the crest of the main chain 

 is the boundary between Alberta and British 

 Columbia. From an average altitude of 10,000 

 feet at the south these mountains decrease to 

 5,000 feet at the north, and the northern 

 boundary of the province practically coincides 

 with the end of the Rockies as a distinct chain. 

 The highest mountain in British Columbia is 

 Mount Robson (13,068 feet). The range is 

 broken by the Peace River Valley and by 

 a number of gaps, or passes. These include 

 Crow's Nest Pass and Kicking Horse Pass, 

 which are crossed by the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway, and Yellowhead Pass, crossed by the 

 Grand Trunk Pacific. 



The minor rangeg of the Rocky Mountain 

 system, in order from east to west, are the 

 Purcell Range, the Selkirk Mountains and the 

 Gold Range. The Selkirk Mountains, though 

 usually regarded as a part of the Rocky Moun- 

 tain system, belong to an older geological 

 period. Separating these ranges from the main 

 chain is a valley 900 miles long, and varying 

 from one to eight miles in width. In this 

 valley, called the Rocky Mountain Trench, 

 rise the chief rivers of the province, the Colum- 

 bia, Fraser, Kootenay and Finlay. 



The Central Plateau. This region is a con- 

 tinuation of the Cascade Range in the United 

 States. It has an average elevation of 3,500 

 feet, and lies between the Rocky Mountains 

 and the Coast Range. About midway from 

 north to south are several small ranges which 

 divide it into two sections, the southern half 

 of which has a special name, the Interior 

 Plateau of British Columbia. Here the Fraser, 

 the Columbia and other rivers have worn deep 

 valleys, whose rocky walls form miniature 

 Grand Canyons. The whole of the Central 

 Plateau is dotted with lakes, many of them 

 merely expansions of the larger rivers; chief 

 among them are the Babine, Tacla, Stuart, 

 Quesnel, Shuswap, Okanagan and the two Ar- 

 row lakes. 



The Coast Range and the Islands. The 

 Coast Range extends practically the whole 

 length of the province from north to south. 

 North of the Portland Canal its western slope 

 lies in Alaska. On the ocean side the moun- 

 tains rise abruptly, sometimes from the water's 

 edge, and the coast resembles that of Norway. 



