September 1966 — VOL. 47, No. 9 —
Canada's West
Coast
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British Columbia's hills have their feet
in the Pacific Ocean. All along the west coast the sea comes
in to meet the mountains, with long sinuous inlets extending
into the precipitous land. If stretched out in a straight
line the seaboard would measure some seven thousand miles.
Off-shore, there are innumerable islands, peaks of a submerged
mountain chain, which form a breakwater against the direct
onslaught of the Pacific and provide thousands of miles of
sheltered waters.
Inland, British Columbia is bounded by the Rocky Mountains.
At one time the width of the ocean and the bulk of the mountains
gave the province a feeling of isolation. The Pacific is a
ditch 5,000 miles wide, and Canada, a land mass the second
largest in the world, extends to St. John's, the capital of
the most easterly province, 4,000 miles away by air.
Isolation drove British Columbia into self-help, and so
successful have its people been in triumphing over the difficulties
of their swift-moving century that they are now among the
most-favoured in Canada materially.
British Columbia is second among the provinces in per capita
wealth and purchasing power. Personal income per person was
estimated at $2,236 in 1965, cheques cashed against individual
accounts in that year totalled $33,600 million.
Population has continued to grow rapidly. In the ten year
period 1951 to 1961 it grew from 1,165,200 to 1,629,000, and
projections to 1975 indicate that it will reach 2,370,000.
One feature attracting people to the British Columbia coast
is the mildness of its climate, to which the warm Japanese
current contributes its moderating influence. At Victoria,
the capital city, the average annual temperature is 50.2,
ranging from 39.2 to 60 degrees. The average year provides
2,093 hours of bright sunshine and 26 inches of rain, and
only twenty days with freezing temperature. Inland, every
environment of cool temperate lands is encountered, from the
dense forests of Douglas fir to sagebrush and cactus; from
the extensive flats of the Fraser River delta to the large
snowfields and mountain glaciers of the Rockies.
British Columbia has 234,403,200 acres, of which 58 per
cent is committed to forest and only two per cent is regarded
as fit for cultivation. Mountains dominate both landscape
and economic history. Between the Coast Range and the Rockies
is a high interior plateau cut by deep river valleys and secondary
mountain ranges. The highest mountain wholly within British
Columbia is Mt. Waddington, 13,260 feet, but up where the
province ends and Alaska begins there is Mt. Fairweather,
15,300 feet.
The explorers
Sir Francis Drake, of Spanish Armada fame, sailed up from
the coast of Chile in 1578 in search of the North-west Passage,
and named the territory looming dimly on his quarter New Albion.
Two hundred years passed before the greatest of the Oceanic
explorers, Captain James Cook, made a landfall at Nootka Sound
where he replaced his masts with Douglas fir.
Then came Captain George Vancouver, sent in 1791 to survey
the west coast of North America and to carry out the terms
of the Nootka Convention whereby Spain relinquished her claims
to the territory. Overland from the east ventured Alexander
Mackenzie. He reached the Pacific near Bella Coola on July
22, 1793. He was the first white man to cross the American
continent, preceding by more than a decade the more southerly
expedition of Lewis and Clark.
David Thompson, the first white man to descend the Columbia
River from its source to its mouth, charted accurately the
main routes through more than 1,500,000 square miles, preparing
a map which has been the basis of all subsequent maps.
Settlement and government
These adventurous men found the placidity of a wilderness.
Then came fur traders, rambunctious gold seekers, placid farmers,
eager miners, foresters, persevering fishermen, and, at last,
the industrial man who drew them all together in commerce.
In British Columbia: A Short History, published
in 1957, Arthur Anstey and Neil Sutherland tell the absorbing
story of the province from Vitus Bering's voyage in 1725 to
a few years ago.
It was in 1849 that the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island
came into existence, with its capital at Fort Victoria, then
six years old. The population was 200. In 1856 a Legislative
Assembly was formed, the first west of the Great Lakes. Two
years later Victoria was able to vote money for streets, water
supply and schools. In 1862 it was incorporated as a city,
with 1,500 buildings in it.
Meantime, a mainland colony was inaugurated with due pomp
and ceremony at Fort Langley on November 19, 1858, and New
Westminster was its capital for nine years.
For a time the two colonies functioned separately, but a
total population of 12,000 could ill afford two sets of government
officials. In 1866 the colonies were united under the name
British Columbia, and in 1868 Victoria became the capital.
The British North America Act of 1867 provided for eventual
admission of British Columbia into the Canadian Confederation,
and on July 20, 1871, it became the sixth province of the
Dominion, which then truly spanned the continent from sea
to sea.
When construction of the railway, promised for completion
in 1881, had not begun in 1878, divorce from Canada was threatened,
and a secession resolution was adopted by the Assembly. By
1880 the contract was awarded, the last rail was laid on November
7, 1885, and the first through train from Montreal reached
the Pacific on June 28, 1886.
British Columbia has always had a diverse and cosmopolitan
population drawn from many parts of the world. The fur traders
were mainly British, with the Scots predominating, but there
were also French Canadians in the employ of the fur company.
The gold rush attracted adventurers from many countries, principally
from the United States, with a sprinkling of eastern Canadians
and the first members of the Chinese community. Another wave
of immigration arrived with the railway, including many from
continental Europe.
Transportation and electricity
British Columbia has been harassed by tremendous difficulties
in transportation. The turbulent mountain rivers were not
of the same value for transportation purposes as the more
leisurely streams of the east. Railways and roads are difficult
and expensive to build in mountainous country.
At the time when the province entered confederation a traveller
to the east journeyed by steamer from Victoria to San Francisco
and from there by train across the United States. British
Columbia asked nothing more than a wagon road to Fort Garry,
but it got a railway, and today its transportation facilities
are magnificent. Mainline tracks total 4,329 miles.
The airport at Vancouver is the north-west hub of international
air transportation, with services east, south, north and across
the Pacific.
Road building can be said to have started in earnest during
the Cariboo gold rush when the Royal Engineers built a wagon
trail from Ashcroft to Barkerville.
British Columbia has a total of 27,000 miles of highway,
of which 6,000 miles are paved and 11,000 miles are gravelled.
The broad arc of the province's coast provides the shortest
crossings of the North Pacific Ocean between continental North
America and the Far East. British Columbia's ports continue
to grow in meeting the demand for service — international
water-borne shipping and coastwise shipping roughly doubled
between 1958 and 1964. Vancouver is second only to Montreal
in tonnage handled.
In 1952 the first oil pipeline through the province was
begun, and now oil and gas pipelines are a major element in
the transportation network. Investment in pipelines is nearing
the $1,000 million mark. They carry crude oil from the Peace
River area to the trans-mountain line, and thence to Vancouver
and the United States seaboard.
On an equal footing with transportation in an industrially-developing
province is electric power, and here British Columbia is fortunate.
Snow-fed rivers, a large volume of swift water, and extensive
lake systems combine to give it abundant hydro-electric power
resources. Canada Year Book lists available water
power at ordinary minimum flow in British Columbia as the
biggest in Canada.
Development of water power has been increasing for more
than forty years at an average compound rate of eight per
cent per annum, and total generation of electrical energy
during 1965 was estimated by the Bureau of Economics and Statistics
to be 18,268 million kilowatt-hours, of which 15,208 million
were produced by hydro plants. B.C. Hydro generates about
half of the total power, the balance being generated mainly
by Alcan and Cominco.
In 1964 the Governments of Canada and the United States
cleared the way for a start on construction of three large
storage dams on the Columbia River in Canada. One of these,
Mica, will be used for power generation, with an expected
potential of close to two million kilowatts. The Portage Mountain
Dam on the Peace River is scheduled for first power production
in 1968, and the entire development, 2,300,000 kilowatts,
is expected to be operational by 1976.
The number of people engaged in building these four projects
will average 3,700 over the next five years, with a payroll
averaging $40 million every year. The development will provide
a major power source to stimulate and support rapid industrial
growth. The assurance of abundant power has already sparked
the construction of new pulp mills and the sinking of new
mines in the interior.
The forest
The British Columbia forest is still responding to the demands
made upon it. It produces 75 per cent of Canada's softwood
lumber, 94 per cent of her softwood plywood, 100 per cent
of her red cedar roofing, 22 per cent of her pulp, and 14
per cent of her newsprint and paper.
In its long-term plan of managing this resource, the British
Columbia government has already placed 79 million acres under
sustained yield, with regulated harvest and compulsory reforestation.
It thus ensures, in return for invested capital, a supply
of raw material in perpetuity. The estimated sound wood volume
in trees ten inches in diameter and over is 306,000 million
cubic feet; the net annual growth is 2,300 million cubic feet,
and the net annual depletion rate is 2,200 million cubic feet.
A news item by the Forest Service says the new growth in a
year would build a ten-footwide boardwalk from the earth to
the moon, 240,000 miles away.
When all the province has been brought under sustained yield
management the allowable annual cut will be something like
3,100 million cubic feet a year.
While the ten years up to 1964 were marked by massive increases
in the volume of lumber, plywood, and laminated products,
the most spectacular progress has been made in the pulp and
paper industry. The pulp mills used 500 million cubic feet
of wood in 1965, more than fifty per cent of which came from
waste generated by the lumber and plywood industries. Much
of the 3¼ million tons of pulp went into 1½ million tons of
paper and paperboard manufactured in the province.
New capital amounting to $160 million entered the pulp and
paper industry in 1965, and in 1966 there were two major sulphate
pulp mills completed and four under way, representing a capital
investment of more than $400 million. In 1975, it is expected,
pulp production should near the seven million ton mark.
Agriculture
The first farmer on the British Columbia mainland was Daniel
Harmon, who settled in the Fraser Lake district in 1811, and
in that year produced excellent crops of potatoes, other vegetables
and barley. The gold rush in the 1850's brought settlers who
saw good opportunity in the raising of supplies for mining
camps.
But the physical characteristics of the province have restricted
agricultural development. Production is regional and widely
varied. With few exceptions, such as the Peace River plains
and the grazing land of the interior plateau, farm land exists
in isolated pockets of soil between mountain ranges or near
river deltas.
While there is a significant export trade in tree fruits,
holly, cut flowers, small fruits, nursery stock and purebred
cattle, agriculture is heavily orientated toward consumption
within the province.
British Columbia's first large commercial apple orchard
was planted in 1867, and 31 years later the first carload
of apples shipped from the Okanagan Valley heralded an industry
that now produces about six million boxes annually.
In its contribution to the provincial economy, agriculture
ranks fourth to forestry, mining and tourism, with a cash
farm income of $1561/2 million in 1965. The 1961 national
Census reported 20,000 farms, one-third having ten acres or
less, and only 53 per cent could be classified as commercial.
More than 200,000 of the one million crop acres are irrigated.
Minerals
British Columbia is currently undergoing a mining boom,
in which major and small companies are busily searching for
new mines. Nine of these new mines have been scheduled for
production before 1968, at a capital cost, for plant and development,
of $175 million. Production of all minerals in 1965 amounted
to $280 million.
Historically, minerals provided one of the early incentives
to explore and develop the hinterland. Coal was first produced
in 1836; placer gold was found in 1857; gold-copper ore was
discovered in 1889; lead-zinc at Kimberley in 1892.
The greatest single asset is the Sullivan mine at Kimberley,
and ore from this, one of the world's largest lead-zinc-silver
mines is treated in the world's largest smelting and refining
works at Trail.
In recent years large quantities of crude oil and natural
gas have been discovered in the north-eastern section of the
province. Gas production in 1965 was 138,814 million cubic
feet.
The fisheries and furs
British Columbia's commercial fishery is an important industry
which employs about 20,000 fishermen and shore workers. The
marketed value of fish products was $85 million last year
and has ranged between $76 and $92 million in recent years,
with three species — salmon, herring and halibut —
accounting for ninety per cent of the total.
The fur trade is a small part of today's economy. In the
1965 season there were 244,000 pelts taken, with a value of
$778,000 and fur farms contributed 322,000 pelts with a value
of $4.9 million.
Economic development
Some people wonder why, with all its vast natural resources,
the west coast did not develop industrially as fast as the
east coast. The environment was quite different. Canada's
Atlantic provinces found themselves in the midst of an extensive
trading system in which Europe demanded food-stuffs and raw
materials while North America wanted machinery and manufactured
goods. This made for widespread commerce. The Pacific province,
on the other hand, bordered on an ocean which led to underdeveloped
and unindustrialized countries — countries which (with
the exception of Japan) have up to now seldom demanded on
a large scale the products which British Columbia can offer.
Consequently, British Columbia has had to surmount mountains
and encompass long sea routes to reach a receptive market.
But while awaiting her moment to step on the world stage
her people laid the foundations of what are now profitable
industries. Starts were made in forestry, fishing, mining
and manufacturing.
It may be said that the years of the gold rushes were the
years of transition, ushering in an era of progress. Consider
the rush of 1858 as typical of several. It started in April
when 450 people left California by steamship for British Columbia.
In one July day more than 1,700 people joined the pilgrimage
to the Fraser River. By the end of that summer more than 20,000
were at work on the sand-bars. Though some left, discouraged
by ill success, many remained. Land values jumped; wharves,
stores and hotels were built; Fort Victoria was transformed
from a sleepy fur-trading post into a bustling embryo city.
In recent years, a continuing record-breaking level of capital
investment has been led by expansion of the pulp and paper
industry and the pace of work on the river developments. Capital
and repair expenditures amounted to $2,066 million in 1965,
more than double that of 1955. Because of the geographical
dispersion of activity, the impact on the economy was widespread.
Industry
Manufacturing has grown tremendously, supported by the availability
of raw materials, cheap sources of power, increasing population
and expanding foreign trade. The value of factory shipments
increased more than four and a half times in the twenty years
since 1945, the selling value in 1965 being $2,881 million.
Manufacturing continues to be dominated by the wood and
paper products industries, which account for nearly half of
all factory shipments. The agribusiness complex is important,
with all its varied activities: fish and dairy products, slaughtering
and meat packing, fruit and vegetable processing, and others.
The Department of Labour report in mid-1966 showed a labour
force of 711,000, up 231,000 since 1955; total wages and salaries
$2,728 million, up $1,363 million since 1955; and average
weekly wages $104.64, up $38.64 since 1955.
Education and the arts
Public administration of education began in 1872; the first
high school was opened in 1876; higher education had its start
in 1899; the first convocation of the University of British
Columbia was held in 1912.
For the fiscal year 1965-66, the province provided education
expenditures totalling $173.6 million, and for 1966-67, $206
million. In presenting these figures, the Minister of Education
pointed out that British Columbia had a labour force in 1961
with an average of 10.2 years of formal schooling, almost
a year above the national average.
There are three public universities in the province, to
which grants totalling $33 million will be made in the current
fiscal year.
Living in British Columbia takes on a broad meaning for
its people. The arts are encouraged and well patronized. Music
and drama festivals, school and community drama, two large
symphony orchestras, numerous choral, instrumental and dance
groups flourish. Discussion groups and literary organizations
are part of the province's cultural framework.
Emily Carr, whose canvasses are eagerly sought, was born
in Victoria, and some of her more dynamic paintings were done
in the west coast Indian villages. Her Forest Landscape,
in the National Gallery of Canada, reveals her affection for
the dark mystery and grandeur of the deep forest. Frederick
H. Varley, one of the Group of Seven, moved to the west coast
in 1926, and transmitted to canvas some of the mystical quality
he drew from the landscape.
As to the future...
British Columbia, while living with history is also living
with history in the making. With its vast power resources,
its rapidly growing population, its carefulness in conserving
resources, and its abundant human energy, its prospects for
continuing prosperity appear unlimited. Towns are springing
up in areas until now unpopulated; huge dams are taming rivers
to provide electricity, prevent floods and irrigate land;
prospectors are finding new stocks of minerals and investors
are developing them; huge industrial plants are being put
into production.
In 1966, British Columbia celebrated its centenary, marking
the union of the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island and the
Crown Colony of British Columbia. In 1967, British Columbia
joins the other nine provinces in celebrating the Centenary
of the Confederation of Canada, the historic occurrence which
bound the Canadian provinces together as one nation.
To mark these events the province has issued an invitation:
"BE IT KNOWN: That in the years 1966 and 1967 the people of
British Columbia and travellers from afar: Shall sing, dance,
shout and rejoice in widespread jubilation and celebration
of two centenaries. To celebrate suitably the Occasions, there
shall be pageantry, feats on land, sea and in the air; great
exhibits of art and physical prowess; festivals of music;
and adventure to entertain everyone."
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