Areas- Boundaries and Population. Canada is

bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of

St. Lawrence, Davis Strait and Baffin Bay; on the north

by the Arctic Ocean; on the west by Alaska and the

Pacific Ocean and on the south by the United States.

 

All the Arctic islands, except Greenland, are included

in the Dominion, as are also the islands of Anticosti,

Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton on the east,

and Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Islands off the

Pacific Coast

 

The area of the Dominion is officially computed to be

3,729,665 square miles, of which 126,329 is water, ex-

cluding tidal waters, gulfs and Hudson Bay.  At the

formation of the Dominion in 1867 it comprised only

four Provinces, Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, and

Nova Scotia, and their total area was only 377,045

square miles.  Official estimates credited the country

with a population of 8,772,631 in 1921.

 

Physiography.- Canada is divided into four large

drainage areas; the Atlantic basin, the chief river being

the St. Lawrence; the Hudson Bay basin, whose principal

stream is the Nelson; the Arctic area, drained largely by

the Mackenzie; and the Pacific basin, whose most

important draining rivers are the Yukon and the Fraser.

 

The eastern border is a highland formed by the

Appalachian Mountain system.  On the western side of

Canada the lofty Cordilleran chain trends northwest

and south east from the southern boundary to the Arctic

Ocean.  Between these two mountain systems lies the

vast Laurentian plateau,  near the center of it is

Hudson Bay. Between the plateau and the high Cor-

diilleran Bay system lie the vast plains of western Canada.

In the north from Davis strait there are thousand of square

miles of level country covered with tundra.

 

West of the rocky mountains, the surface comprises

high ridges, valleys and tablelands.  Southwestern

Canada is mostly prairie.  The soil is extremely fertile

and, when irrigated, yields large crops.

 

The lowlands of Ontario and Quebec, draining into

the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, turn an

important farming section.  Gaspe peninsula with the

neigbouring maritime provinces constitutes another sec-

tion with an undulating surface broken by wide valleys

and interspersed with woods.

 

Climate.  Canada ranges from 42 degree N to Arctic regions

of perpetual snow and ice and also touches three

oceans.  The climate shows great variations.  In the

south and and east the rainfall is ample, and there is a

great range of temperature.  Those sections are the

forest regions.  The prairie Provinces, Alberta, Sask-

katchewan and Manitoba, are subject to severe winters

and hotter summers.  The rainfall in these Provinces

is much less than in the southeast section, and irriga-

tion or dry farming is in many places necessary for

successful agriculture.  Yet the great plains are over

spread with native grasses highly nutritious for live

stock and capable of being cured into valuable hay. 

the Pacific Coast region that is, the seaward side of

the Rocky Mountains- as an oceanic climate, the

range of temperature being small and the rainfall

heavy.  British Columbia has, for the most part, a

milder climate than Nova Scotia, though the former

province is in the latitude of Labrador.

 

Minerals. Canada has enormous mineral wealth.

Coal fields cover may thousands of square miles,

though at present the principal mines are operated

to supply demands for steamer coal – in Cape Breton on

the Atlantic Coast and in Vancouver Island on the

Pacific.  Immense deposits of sub-bituminous coal are

being developed in the prairie provinces.  Clays, brick

and fictile, Portland cement rock, asbestos, building

stone, lime, salt, magnesite and pyrites are worked.

Vast supplies of natural gas are obtained in the prairie

provinces and in Ontario.  Copper, silver, gold, iron,

lead, are mined extensively.  Most of the world’s supp-

plies of nickel, asbestos, and molybednite are obtained

from Canadian mines.  Yet here can be no doubt that

the country’s enormous mineral riches have hardly been

touched.  During the year 1-29 the Dominion produced

metallic ores to the following amounts: copper

81,155,360 pounds; gold 766,912 ounces; lead 33,985,074

pounds; nickel 61,136,493 pounds; silver,  12,793,541

ounces; zinc, 40,166,200 pounds;  and molybednite (exports)

(1910) 83,002 pounds.  The nonmetallic minerals

totaled as follows: asbestos 167,731 tons; coal,

16,623,598 tons; salt 210,211 tons; arsenic, 2,408 tons;

pyrites, 174,744 tons; and gypsum, 429,144 tons.  The

output of natural gas was 16,961,284,000 cu. ft.  There

were also obtained structural materials and clay prod-

ucts to the value of $38,181,848.

 

Fisheries.- Canada’s fisheries are the most extensive

and the best stocked in the world.  They comprise 5,000

miles of Atlantic coast; 7,000 miles of Pacific, and

220,000 square miles of fresh water.  The principal

food fishes taken in Canadian territorial waters are

salmon, cod, lobsters, herring, halibut, haddock, mack-

erel, hake, sardines, and whitefish.  Salmon is the most

valuable.  Much of the Dominion’s vast fish catch is

exported, salted, canned dried or smoked.  The total

capital invested in fishing, canning, and curing in 1920

was $50,405,478.  The number of persons employed was

75,696.  The catch of the sea fisheries in the same year

was valued at $43,602,059, and of the inland fisheries,

$5,639,280.  The value of the fisheries by Provinces was,

in 1920; British Columbia, $22,320,161; Nova Scotia,

$12,742,659; New Brunswick, $4,423,745;  Quebec, $2,592,-

382 ; Ontario, $3,336,412; Manitoba, $1,249,607; Prince

Edward Island, $1,708,723; others, $868,650.

In 1920, the values of the principal kinds of fish

caught were; Salmon, $15,595,970; cod, $6,270,171;

halibut, $4,533,188; herring, $3,428,298; lobsters, $7,352,-

455; haddock, $1,522,680; sardines, $860,268; mackerel,

$1,126,703; whitefish, $2,015,299; smelts, $789,268; hake,

and cusk, $361446 and trout, $708,633.

 

Agriculture- Farming has always been the Domin-

ion’s main industry.  Homesteads may be obtained by

intending settlers in various sections of the west and

north.  About 50 p;er cent of the population is engaged

in the various branches of agriculture.  Canada, is

known throughout the world as a great cereal-produc-

ing territory, ranking fourth among the countries of

the world in the yield of wheat and oats.  Modern farm

machines have enabled the production of foodstuffs to

outstrip the growth of the population; hence the Dominion

is able to export immense quantities of grains and root

crops.  The principal products are wheat, oats, barley,

flax, rye, buckwheat, corn, hay, and clover.  Immense

quantities of potatoes, turnips and other root crops are

grown.  A vast acreage is devoted to peas, beans, al-

falafa, and fodder corn.  Grapes and orchard fruits

flourish in the Great Lakes region.  Canada’s hard

wheat brings the highest price in the world’s grain

markets.  In 1921, the harvest of field crops yielded

(bushels); wheat, 329,835,300; oats, 510,003,000; barley

1,105,300; buckwheat, 8,451,500; corn 14,220,000; tur-

nips, carrots, mangolds, etc., 75,185,200; mixed grains,

22,614,500.  In the same year there were also produced

11,587,600 tons of hay and clover.  fodder corn yielded

5,637,600 tons.  Sugar beets totaled 252,500 tons.  With-

in a comparatively few years the alfalfa product has in-

creased from a few hundred tons grown for experi-

mental purposes to 646,800 tons in 1921.  The aggregate

value of all field crops in 1921 was $985,959,400.  This sum

shows a  decline of over $500,000,000.  from the previous

year.  The value of field crops of the United States

for 1921 was $5,675,000. Canada’s most important

crop, wheat had an average yield per acre of 14 bushels.

British Columbia led the provinces with an average

yield of 23.50 bushels per acre.

 

The dairy industry has become increasingly profitable,

and butter and cheese are exported in large amounts.

Most of the creameries and cheese factories are located

in the southeast Provinces, but dairy interest are ex-

panding in Manitoba, British Columbia, Saskatchewan

and Alberta.  Canada ranks fourth among the countries

of the world in the output of cheese.  In 1919 Canada

produced 166,421,871 pounds of cheese and exported

about 78 per cent of that amount.  The total value of

the dairy products in 1919 was $135,196,602.

 

Livestock.- Much attention has always been given in

the Dominion to the raising of cattle, horses, sheep and

hogs.  Breeds of milch cows and of horses have been

much improved in recent years.  In 1921 there were by

official census in the Dominion 381,921 horses;

10,206,205 cattle; 3,904,895 hogs, and 3,675,860 sheep.

the wool clip in Canada for 1921 was 21,251,456 pounds.

Poultry products add considerably to the country’s

wealth.  Canada now possesses 34,340,474 hens; 1,299,-

494 turkeys; 880,014 geese and 782,125 ducks.  Rabbits

are raised in British Columbia in large numbers for

the markets.