Canadian Forestry Magazine, October, ig20. 



489 



In 1891, 24 mills were in operation 

 with a capital investment of $2,900,907, 

 employing 1,025 persons, and with an 

 output valued at $1,057,10. 



1901 and To-day. 



In 1901 there were 25 mills with a 

 capital investment of $11,558,560, em- 

 ploying 3,301 people and with an output 

 valued at $4,246,781 . 



The most recent census, covering the 

 year 1918, a complete digest of which 

 follows, reports the existence of 37 pulp 

 mills, 31 paper mills and 26 combined 

 pulp and paper mills, a total of 94 mills, 

 in operation. The total capital invested 

 in the industry is given-as $241,344,704, 

 of which $12,520,765 is invested in paper 

 mills exclusively. $71,708,223 in pulp 

 mills and $157,115,716 in pulp and paper 

 mills combined. By provinces Quebec 

 leads in the amount of capital invested, 

 with $101,456,296; Ontario. $88,576,807; 

 British Columbia, $42,705,988; New 

 Brunswick, $7,852.225 ; Nova Scotia; 

 $753,388. 



The prairie provinces, Manitoba, Sas- 

 katschewan and Alberta, and the Pro- 

 vince of Prince Edward Island are not 

 represented in the industry. Tentative 

 proposals have been made from time to 

 time for the erection of one or more pulp 

 and paper mills in Manitoba. An offi- 

 cial statement furnished from that pro- 

 vince for the purpose of this review 

 says, "There are considerable tracts of 

 pulpwood in different parts of the pro- 

 vince, notably in certain sections of 

 northern Manitoba not remote from the 

 new Hudson Bay Railway. Projects for 

 the erection of pulp mills or paper mills 

 have been discussed at one time and an- 

 other, and it seems more than likely that 

 these will take some definite form in the 

 near future, but as yet they have not ven 

 gone so far as the incorporation of any 

 company for this specific i)urpose.'' 



From the foregoing, it will ])c seen 

 that Canada is to-day one of the greatest 

 paper-producing countries in the world. 

 It is probably destined in time to l)e the 

 greatest. Canadas supermacy in this 

 field rests upon the ])ossession of exten- 

 sive forest resources and adequate and 

 abundant water-powers. The import- 

 ance of the latter element may be 



gauged from the fact that it takes practi- 

 cally 100 h.p. to make a ton of paper and 

 that Canada's water-power development 

 is probably the most economic in the 

 world. 



The great development of the indus- 

 try, which has been a matter of compara- 

 tively few years, may be traced to several 

 circumstances, not the least important be- 

 ing enactments by the Governments of 

 the several provinces requiring pulp 

 wood cut from Crown lands to be manu- 

 factured within the province ; the growth 

 in population and the spread of educa- 

 tion which have increased the per capita 

 consumption of paper in every civilized 

 country ; the great increase in the num- 

 ber of newspapers and periodicals, parti- 

 cularly on the North American Contin- 

 ent; the proximity of the United States 

 with its rapidly growing population, its 

 gradually diminishing supply of paper- 

 making materials and its consequent in- 

 creasing reliance upon other countries 

 for its paper supplies, and lastly the im- 

 provement in paper-making processes, of 

 which Canadian paper manufacturers 

 have been among the first to take full 

 advantage. 



Spruce the Idckil JFood. 



Rags were formerly chiefly used for 

 the manufacture of paper, followed bv 

 straw, esparto grass, cotton waste and 

 other substances. The Chinese, who are 

 credited with originating the art of 

 paper-making centuries ago. used both 

 vegetable fibre and rags. They also 

 used nuilberry and other woods success- 

 fully in the production of pulp. W'ootl 

 pulp is saitl to have been first used by 

 the paperniakers of Europe and America 

 about the year 1860, but it was not until 

 several years later that its use had be- 

 come commercially successful. Out of 

 the necessity of the time came the de- 

 velopment of the chemical processes by 

 w hich a good and cheap paper was evolv- 

 ed, but in the early attempts it was diffi- 

 cult to find the proper wood. Pine and 

 poplar were tried, but without great suc- 

 cess. The world was ransackcil for 

 wood better adapted for the purpose. 

 I'inally the chemist discoveretl that 

 spruce and balsam were most suitable 

 for the production of the ideal cheap 

 paper and the difficulty was solved. 



