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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1889)
THE WEST SHORE. U.U . .11. 1 r..l.My. P iP"rUn ylh n MI,.M f..r th, rk is now --Ug carnwl on, JlVulU shower thrives. Any one who r!..l study ..taati.n .ill readdy become ,v ,.,,,,1 ILU iU tb.lu.tri pro-p-cta are, incecil, l" ulV.-rt,. lotho np will bow that the country tril.ut.ry l Wuwt baa a wiJ. extont Ai the ri...t n,,,-.rULl ahiitit-K -iut in British Columbia, tu. i.t thr products of the wlwlo province are !rouiu tUt dirwtion for the local market or for Li.mn.t abroad. Tim lutuU-ring business first en KH ll.o utt-iition of outsiders, ami law mills have l.ti .U-I at f.Torabln u for thirty year or more Thf practically cihaustleM supply of red fir, oUr, hrrnlxk. whito pine, spruce aud maple have tuad the province famous as a laud of valuable tim lr, but iU mim-rals aud fisheries havo recently come prmic-M among iU resources. A large ior u n t t tin1 province ii densely covered with tim Ur. WLilo thn itreami are cot well mited to tow iuQ l or luuitx-r, the vut extent of coast line ren der! a Urf airtin of the valuable timber accessible dirrrtly from navigable waters. The mills that have Utn io oration fur years have scarcely made any impression on thn forests, m yet. The large size of this tiiuUr tnkkit it eligible to the market of the world fr sjx-cial jiuixnt. Tim fisheries of Hntih Columbia are one of its rhirf r'iurosi of wealth. The aalmon canneries of I'lMrr rmr am the- known, though the industry is .r.-rutil on Alrrt hy, Hirers inlet, and Bkeona, Mrtlakahllaaud Naas rivm Five species 0f salmon run in the 1'rwrr rinr and its tributaries a distance of a thousand mil.-i from its mouth, and fish are caught there thn rutiro year. The annual product of tU salmon fhrri of tho iroviiico is worth $1 'J."0. M (H 1 U uilftrhan, or randl fish, Monga partic uUrlyU.lbat ,art i.f the lVitle, and is a delicious fl fi.h. It ) aU.ut th sin (.( the sardine. Its oil is r..t..idrro! superior to od liver oil for medical pur. r, and it all it fiodi a ready market. Herring iNjual U, th. csonht i IT thn cut of the British Isles swarta b waters of tho strut.. Halibut, cod, had-d.-ck. anrhoty, fl ,UDJrf Litick-. rock chI, crab etc ar, abundatt 1 v U ar, caught in abundant atd a su,.ror ,piy of lubricating oil is manufac umi irota liirta Nur northern seas. The value of the annual product of the fisheries of tho province is noUess than $2,500,. 000.00. The fish curing business is receiving more attention since the completion of the Canadian Pacific railway, and is fast expanding. The chief minerals of British Columbia are gold, silver, copper, iron and coal. The mining history of the province resembles that of most of the rich min eral fields of the world. With the precious metals, the placers are first worked, and subsequently the quartz lodes are exploited, the latter being the more substantial and lasting. Qaartz mining has not been engaged in to any considerable extent yet in this province. The yield of gold and silver, however, is gratifying to those employed in the business, and promises to rapidly increase with the general devel opmcnt which the whole country is experiencing. There are seven or eight mining districts on the main land in which gold and silver mining is regularly car. ried on, most of the work being done in placers. Re cently there have been valuable quartz discoveries in tho vicinity of Burrard inlet, and it is probable that Vancouver will itself become the center of an impor tant mining district. A good deal of the work thus far has been directed to the development of iron and coal measures, which are found in different parts of tho province. The iron mines are located on Texada island, near Vancouver, where there is a mountain of ore favorable for working, on Rivera inlet and on Vancouver island. The ore is of the best quality, and the output is constantly increasing. There are indications of iron in many places where no mines havo yet been opened. Coal exists in large quanti ties and is quite extensively mined. The collieries about Nanaimo, on Vancouver island, are well known, and their product finds its way to all the large cities of tho Pacific slope. There are anthracite coal beds on gaeen Charlotte island, near Skidegate inlet Coal measures exist under the very town site of the city of Vancouver, and there are numerous outcrop pings in that vicinity that indicate paying deposits. At Ashcroft, on the railroad two hundred miles east of ancouver, coal was recently discovered and a shaft sunk U'tween sixty and seventy feet A cross cut of forty fe't each side of the shaft did not run out of the vein, which is a good quality of bituminous coal, and preparations are being made to open and work an ex tensive mino there. Copper is found on Howe sound, U, a thou.,tll SZST ? ' " " B,,M frm VaDC0Qm' h?re miD6 FV mm and rtoar.r lho lft.M,B J . ,Ul ! (,uc''8 ! rich ore, the assays showing fifty-nine pel t . ' UU",' Mx'UuJ cent Conner and 4S7 OH .il. Atnther in aalmon tnmt, ta.-ut.Uju trout Kll , it i t tQ0 silTer to lhe At aW whit, t.L I ur and Lair -al a7l' 7 C,'B U tL mh land ftnd on VMloouver and TfX skits tr, a ourt f c-i..,!,.,,!,, ruf t t'v v v "lU l"UuJ ,hore Rre of copper. The facili- UJotat iata. Wbalrt aul araj. ar. lu-',, ,, ! fr Utiliz'lD6 mineral resources of British - m lie , Columbia were not until recently inch as to warrant