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Looked at globally, the major vegetational belts run from west 

 to east. However, as we have seen, they make considerable 

 swings to north or south due to certain major climatic influences. 

 'Neither the position nor the extent of these swings is influenced 

 by altitude; mountain ranges are, rather, superimposed upon 

 them. Since the mountain raiiges on our continent run more 

 or less from north to south — especially the whole complex on the 

 western side of this land mass — they cut across the different 

 belts of vegetation. This is most notable in this province, which 

 we call British Columbia. However, here we have two further 

 complications. 



First, the belts themselves are grossly distorted (see map) 

 and secondly, the influence of the adjacent ocean is so strong that 

 a unique situation has arisen all along the coast and on the 

 innumerable offshore islands, where there is a most luxuriant 

 growth. This is a southward extension of the forests of the south 



coast of Alaska; it reaches to the lower Fraser River and across 

 the Strait of San Juan de Fuca to the Olympic Mountains. 

 In fact, this unique plant assemblage then moves somewhat 

 inland to the region of Kamloops and then continues south 

 in a slightly different form, covering the whole of the mighty 

 Cascades. 



Two of the four boundaries of this province are therefore 

 in a way arbitrary. One boundary, the northeastern, is the edge 

 of the great mountain barrier that fronts on the central plains 

 and lowlands. The north and northwestern boundary — with the 

 Alaskan province — is determined by the dividing line between 

 the Pine-Spruce subbelt and the Spruce-Aspen of the sub-Arctic, 

 which forms a great bow, turning south about Glacier Bay and 

 skirting the coast to Hecate Strait. (It is interesting to note 

 that the apparently illogical United States Alaskan Panhandle, 

 over which there is now discussion of an interchange of territory 

 with Canada, follows exactly this line of demarcation.) What we 

 may call the southern coast, from Hecate Strait to Vancouver, 

 with Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula below, 

 is heavily indented, densely forested, and edged by steep 

 mountains. 



It is the eastern border of this province that is most 

 arbitrary, not so much so from the Olympics to the Fraser River 

 but north of that. Both the vegetational type and the botanical 

 composition of the Northern Montane Block actually continue 

 from the region of the upper Athabasca River and Mt. Robson 

 all the way to the Alaskan Province border, and clothe the 

 mountains of the major part of the British Columbian Province. 

 However, there is a difference between the vegetation in the 

 valleys in these two blocks. 



This province is 1100 miles in length and on an average 

 some 450 rniles wide. It is wholly mountainous and forested 

 except for the upper parts of the higher ranges, which are 

 clothed in alpine tundra or are bald, or even snow-covered 

 throughout the year. However, in the deeper valleys one 

 encounters more southerly types of growth, including Parklands, 

 Prairies, and even small areas covered with sagebrush so 

 typical of the Scrub Belts. 



line the road for mile after mile. This is the famous "Dawson 

 (City) to Dawson (Creek)" run. Today one can drive southeast 

 from Fairbanks to the Alaska-Yukon boundary and thence on to 

 Dawson City. From there a road runs south to Whitehorse, where 

 you pick up the Alaska (Alcan) Highway, which then cuts east via 

 Watson Lake to Fort Nelson and thence southeast to the Alberta 

 border. If you are of a more rugged disposition you may turn right 

 at Watson Lake, drive to Dease Lake, and then pack or ride some 

 two-hundred-odd miles down to a place named Stewart at the 

 head of the fjord known as the Portland Canal. From there the 

 journey must be completed by coastal boat to Vancouver. 



Only by cutting across country can you gain any proper 

 concept of the size of this province, its tremendously moun- 

 tainous nature, and its unexplored condition. Along the six- 

 hundred-odd miles from Lake Mayo to Lake Teslin there is but 

 one recognized trail; along the seven hundred miles from there 

 to Hazelton you would cross only one road or trail; and on the 

 eight-hundred-mile hike from that place, across the Tweedsmuir 

 Park and on to Vancouver, there would be only two secondary 

 roads to cross. The triangle between the coast, the most southerly 

 of these roads, and the Fraser River is the ruggedest of all. But 



you still will not have seen the best of the trees, for they grow 

 in the great valleys that lead down to the coast west of your 

 route. Only in the last lap of your journey from Lake Chilko to 

 Vancouver would you come to realize their significance and their 

 awe-inspiring dimensions. 



OCEANS OF TREES 



The valleys and lower slopes of the mountains of the inland 

 areas, forming the great bulk of the country, are clothed in 

 forests that differ little, if at all, from those that cover — predomi- 

 nantly with pines — the Northern Montane Block of the Rockies. 

 Above this growth is a zone, variable in width, of alpine tundra 

 that thins out upward to barren grounds; above this lie year- 

 round snowfields, icefields, and glaciers. 



The coastal strip, on the other hand, is not just often but 

 nowadays very often called a "jungle." A precise definition of 

 this term is difficult, since it is derived from a Persian word, 

 djaenghal. which actually means leafless scrub on a hot desert. 

 Somehow the word was transferred to India from Persia by the 



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