of Vancouver Island, with adjacent islands, and the mainland coast from Howe 

 Sound north to Bella Coola. In this great area settlement is sparse, and the energies 

 of the settlers are largely devoted to lumbering and fishing. There is one agricul- 

 tural community of long standing, viz., that of Bella Coola, but only a small portion 

 of the Bella Coola Valley is similar in conditions to the greater part of the Coast. 



Of the climate we have very few records. They indicate that in general it is 

 very moist, varying from 50 to 140 inches precipitation, with long but cool growing 

 seasons, and wet and occasionally cold winters. Great variations In conditions exist, 

 but so little development has been done, and that so recently, that little definite 

 information can be recorded as to climate. 



The soils are largely gravelly, and much of the same character as described for 

 Vancouver Island, but there are large areas of gravelly soil, as well as many deltas 

 of small size, now heavily timbered, composed of rich, deep, and fertile soils. As 

 on the west coast of Vancouver Island, timber is very heavy, and the cost of clearing 

 very great, while transportation facilities for the greater part of the territory are 

 meagre. 



The market available is a local one, and is far in excess of the local attempts 

 to supply it in any foodstuffs, while the fruit grown meets a very ready sale in 

 competition with fruit distributed out of Vancouver and Victoria. The present pro- 

 duction of fruit is quite small, and not very much planting of trees has been done 

 as yet. 



The list suggested for settlers on the West Coast of Vancouver Island is recom- 

 mended for this district also, the conditions being similar. 



(4.) NORTHERN COAST VALLEYS. 



This district includes the agricultural areas lying in the lower valleys of the 

 Nass, Kitsumgallum, and Kitimat Rivers, and Lakelse Lake. This is a new 

 district, attention to which has been attracted because the Grand Trunk Pacific 

 cuts through it between the Lakelse and Kitsumgallum Valleys. In size, none of 

 these valleys are large, but there is a total of probably half a million acres of 

 land which will eventually be brought under cultivation. 



The climate is unusually mild for a district of such high latitude, but it is 

 not nearly so moist as the Coast regions, only a short distance away, beyond the 

 Cascades. The total precipitation is probably between 30 and 50 inches, and a 

 great deal of it comes as snow, which lies from December till March over the 

 entire area. The summers are warmer than on the Coast, and June is the only 

 summer month having considerable precipitation. The winters, while fairly long, 

 are mild, probably not more severe than at Nelson, in this respect being suitable for 

 many kinds of fruits. The growing season, while of moderate length, is cool. No 

 figures have been kept as to either temperature or precipitation. 



The soils are extremely variable, and are largely composed of the wash of 

 the mountain-sides into the valleys. A great deal of the soil is of the highest 

 quality, though much of it is underlaid with open gravel, which detracts consider- 

 ably from its agricultural value. 



The timber is not heavy, but under present conditions of labour would cost 

 from $100 to $125 an acre to clear, and proportionately less as the district becomes 

 more settled and the cost of labour equalizes with that farther south. 



The market for whatever this district can produce lies at its door in the 

 growing city of Prince Rupert, and along the line of the G.T.P. east to Edmonton. 

 Interest centres in this district because it is likely to be the only large area in the 

 north which will produce a wide range of fruit in such commercial quantity as to 

 compete with the fruit from farther south, which it would be enabled to do by its 

 advantage of position. Prince Rupert is now supplied altogether with fruit by 

 boat from Vancouver, and the strawberries produced in this district for the past 

 three years sold at an average of $6 per 24-lb. crate delivered at the boat on the 

 Skeena River. 



The local population is small, but there was practically no one resident in the 

 district five years ago. The land is largely held by pre-emptors and by land com- 



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