26 THE UPPER YUKON 



pleted. This was another city that I had vis- 

 ited a score of years before, and, in keeping 

 with Winnipeg and other growing cities of 

 the Dominion, its development during this 

 period has been equally astonishing. 



In this time a great fire had swept over the 

 city, which might well have blasted all of its 

 future growth, yet the grave disaster only 

 stimulated it to further exertions, enlisting 

 men of all classes and ranks to help in the 

 building of a new and greater Vancouver. I 

 did not recognize the place at all — it was so 

 different from the city that I had seen on the 

 same soil in the year 1892. The fire turned 

 out to be a blessing in disguise after all, be- 

 cause the new city was developed and erected 

 on a larger plan, with modern methods and 

 modern standards, the result now being an 

 enormously increased population with an in- 

 flow of new capital on a scale commensurate 

 with the new conditions. Enthusiasm and 

 harmony prevail in the community, and it 

 would seem that every individual unit of the 

 population was bent on doing something or 

 saying something to help the growth and ex- 

 pansion of the city. In talking of it the resi- 

 dents of both high and low degree were equally 

 optimistic of the future greatness and exten- 



