Lumbering Conditions on the Coast of B. C. 19S 



tating against it being used in a more general way. Until recently 

 the transportation of Itimber has almost entirely been left to 

 sailing vessels, but steam is now competing for the business, and 

 when by this means these distant markets can be reached more 

 quickly, we may confidently expect our trade with them to 

 increase. With the expansion of the export trade it is interest- 

 ing to note the increase there has been in the size of the vessels 

 used. In the early days of the trade a vessel carrying over 

 400,000 feet was a large one, and to supply a cargo of a million 

 feet was an undertaking so colossal as to make a mill manager 

 stand aghast, while now it is a difficult matter to obtain vessels to 

 carry such a small cargo, and steamers carrying 3,000,000 feet 

 are not uncommon visitors. 



Coincident with the increase in size of the vessels, has 

 naturally been the increase in capacity, and improvement in the 

 machinery of the mills, from the mill of early days producing 

 50,000 feet in which a great deal of manual labor was employed, 

 to those of a capacity of 200,000 feet per day, equipped with all 

 the latest machinery and labour saving devices, whilst the work- 

 ing day has been reduced from 11^ hours to 10. 



In 1886, when the Canadian Pacific Railway reached Van- 

 couver, the output of the Coast mills of British Columbia did 

 not exceed seventy-five million feet, and this year, including 

 the shingle industry, will reach 525,000,000. 



In that year the revenue arising from the forest was but 

 $3,768.00, while last year it amounted to $578,748.00. In making 

 this comparison, however, a large share has to be credited to the 

 growth of the lumbering business in the interior of the province, 

 which will be referred to more particularly by a later speaker. 

 The development of the shingle industry has also greatly assisted 

 this result, as at the commencement of the same period of twenty 

 years, there were only a few machines in use supplying the local 

 requirements and finding it difficult to supplant the old hand 

 shaved shingle; there are now 1 55 machines in operation, capable 

 of turning out one billion shingles per annum, and the excellence 

 of our manufacture has not only obtained for B. C. shingles the 

 trade throughout Canada, but has gained them a preference in 

 the United States. 



The increase in the manufacturing of lumber of necessity 

 required an increa.sed production of the raw material from the 

 forests and an improvement in the methods of logging. 



In the seventies, I think the only two mills having leases 

 of timber land were the Hastings mill and the Moodyville mill, 

 for which they paid the Provincial Government one cent per acre 

 without any further dues, and the revenues could not have 

 amounted to more than about $600.00, from which it has in- 

 creased as before mentioned to nearlv $600,000. Whilst these 



