SHEEP-RAISING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



|HE big-horn or mountain sheep is one of our Provincial emblems, 

 appearing on the coat of arms of British Columbia. Domestic sheep- 

 raising, however, has not yet been given the attention it deserves. The 

 census of 1920 shows only 46,473 sheep in this Province of over 300,000 

 square miles. While the raising of cattle, horses, and hogs has steadily 

 increased, the sheep industry has lagged behind until recently, notwithstanding the 

 fact that most of our agricultural land is eminently suitable, and a good proportion 

 of it more suitable for sheep-raising than for any other line of industry. 



British Columbia is far from being self-supporting in the matter of sheep, 

 although the imports of sheep and mutton are being reduced, as can be seen from 

 the following figures: 



IMPORTS OF SHEEP AND MUTTON INTO BRITISH COLUMBIA. 



SHEEP POPULATION OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 



British Columbia 50,000 



Canada 3,422,000 



United States 49,803,000 



Australia 91,G7i;,000 



New Zealand 25,829,000 



United Kingdom 27,003,000 



The foundation of the sheep industry in British Columbia was the first flock 

 brought in from California by the Hudson's Bay Company in the early part of the 

 nineteenth century. These sheep were first kept at Fort Nisqually, near what is now 

 the City of Tacoina, Washington. On the establishment of a Hudson's Bay post at 

 Victoria in 1943, sheep were brought from Fort Nisqually to stock the company's 

 farm. In the year 184G, when the International Boundary-line settlement placed 

 Fort Nisqually in the I'nilod States, the flocks there were disi>ersed to form the 

 foundation for the present large sheep industry in Oregon and Washington. In 1849 

 the (locks numbered several hundred hoad on what is now the site of Victoria. 

 Well-bred rams were imported from Great Britain round Cape Horn. These sheep 

 had to be guarded by armed Indian shepherds and corralled at night. Some losses, 

 of course, occurred from the ravages of panthers, wolves, bears, and dogs, and on one 

 a band <>f Indians from up the Coast raided the settlement, killed a 



