15 



PROVINCE OF QUEBEC. 



The timber districts of Quebec are that portion of it lying east of the 

 Ottawa River; the district of the St. Maurice, a river which, with its 

 tributaries, drains an area of 22,000 miles, rich in pine, spruce, birch, 

 maple and elm; the Saguenay country, with an area of 21,000 square 

 miles, affording pine, spruce, birch and tamarac ; and the Gaspe* penin- 

 sula. Important operations are also carried on upon the rivers north of 

 the St. Lawrenca The great forest of Canada, par excellence, says the' 

 Hon. Mr. Joly, is spread over the vast territory watered by the Ottawa, the 

 St. Maurice, the Saguenay and their tributaries, over one hundred thou- 

 sand square miles in extent, and the tables of exports of the rough pro- 

 ducts of the forest from Quebec show, to a great extent, the amount of its 

 production. The Province of Quebec in particular, is highly favoured 

 by its numerous streams and lakes, many of which are turned to good 

 account by the lumbermen, who build dams at the outlets of the latter, 

 thus creating great reservoirs of water, which are held in reserve to be 

 used when the streams get low, thus enabling them to get down their 

 logs and timber the first year after they are cut, whilst without these 

 artificial means they might not reach their destination for two or three 

 years. By the adoption of these dams, what are known as rear limits 

 have become almost as valuable as those fronting a main river. The 

 same wholesale destruction of the forests in Quebec has prevailed for 

 many years as in Ontario, and on this point the Hon. Mr. Joly, in his 

 valuable article on Forestry, eays : 



I do not fear so much on the score of deficient supply for our home 

 necessities, but it is our great export trade that is in jeopardy. We have 

 still got an enormous quantity of common timber on the Crown Lands, 

 and our people, beginning to appreciate the value of the wood that grows 

 on their own farms, have generally ceased to look upon it as an incum- 

 brance to be got rid of at any cost But it was not always so, nor is it 

 so everywhere even now. As far back as the year 1696 the attention of 

 the French Governors of Canada was drawn to the wasteful destruction 

 of the forests, and they were called upon to check it Nothing, however, 

 was done by them, and little has been done sinca The result stares us 

 reproachfully in the face, especially in the Province of Quebec, the oldest 

 in the Dominion. The old settlements are painfully bare of trees ; you 

 can sometimes go miles without seeing any tree worth looking at, and 

 the passing stranger fancies himself in a country more denuded of trees 

 than the oldest parts of Europe. There is a large district of very good 

 agricultural land, south of Montreal, where the scarcity of firewood, 

 which is a matter of life and death in our climate, has compelled many 

 a farmer to sacrifice a fine farm and leave the country ; there are many 



