>32 Our North Land. 



Ontario, and in Quebec, extensive tracts of fine lands have recently 

 been opened up to settlement. The Maritime Provinces, especially 

 New Brunswick, have room for hundreds of thousands more pros- 

 perous homes. But British Columbia with its magnificent climate ; 

 its five hundred miles of Pacific coast line ; its immense area of over 

 three hundred and forty-one thousand square miles ; its immense 

 mineral wealth ; its wonderful forest resources ; its splendid 

 harbours; its wonderful fisheries, and its agricultural and fruit 

 producing valleys, is destined to stand second only to the prairie 

 country as an attraction to the immigrant for the next quarter of a 

 century. And of the attractions of that Province, none hold or are 

 likely in the future to hold so important a place as the gold and 

 coal deposits which are known to exist there. The explorations 

 in connection with the Canadian Pacific Railway, which have 

 extended from the southern boundary north to Port Simpson and 

 beyond, have established the existence of gold over the whole 

 extent of the Province. Large values have already been taken from 

 the gold mines which have been worked. This precious metal is 

 found all along the Frazer and Thompson Rivers ; again in the north 

 along the Peace and Ominica Rivers and on the Germansen Creek ; 

 and on the Vancouver Island. Want of roads to reach them and 

 want of capital seem to have been the obstacles in the way of more 

 generally working the gold mines in the past. These obstacles are, 

 however, in the way of being overcome. Even with these insufficient 

 means of working, the yield of gold in British Columbia from 1858 

 to 1876 was $39,953,618, the average earnings per man being $663 

 per year. Copper is found in abundance in British Columbia ; and 

 silver mines have been found in the Frazer Valley. Further explor- 

 ations will undoubtedly develop more mineral wealth. 



The coal mines of British Columbia are probably even more 

 valuable than its gold mines. Bituminous coal is found in Vancouver 

 Island in several places ; and anthracite coal of very excellent 

 quality on Queen Charlotte's Island. This is said to be superior to 

 Pennsylvania anthracite, and although coal is found in California, 

 that which is mined in British Columbia commands the high price 

 of $16 (£3 4s. stg.) in San Francisco. His Excellency the Marquis 



