418 Canada. 



important as soilcover and for local use in the 

 mining districts, but lacking in commercial value. 



If much of the forest area in the settled provinces is 

 burnt over and damaged by forest fire, much more 

 extensive destruction is wrought in this northern 

 forest by fires sweeping annually over millions of 

 acres unchecked, many of them said to be started by 

 lightning. About 50 per cent, of this country is said 

 to be fire-swept. 



Among the large notable forest fires the great 

 Miramichi fire in New Brunswick in 1825 destroyed 

 more than 6,000 square miles in a few hours. In 1880 

 the loss by forest fires in the Ottawa valley alone was 

 still estimated at $5,000,000 annually. In 1909, 

 reports indicate over half a million acres burnt over 

 in that year. 



The river systems of Eastern Canada, with the 

 mighty St. Lawrence permitting sea-going vessels to 

 come up to Montreal, have been most potent factors 

 in the development of the lumber industry and export 

 trade, without the need of railroads. Yet although, 

 as a consequence this trade was early developed to a 

 relatively large figure, it has not grown at as rapid a 

 rate as might have been expected, and to-day with an 

 export in excess of imports of less than 40 million 

 dollars is considerably below that of the United 

 States. 



The small export trade of earlier times, having been 

 stimulated by exempting Canadian timber from pay- 

 ing duties in the home country, or at least allowing 

 it a preferential tariff, had by 1820 grown to 15 

 million cubic feet, all squared timber, and sent to 



