The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-09-20

room, and its bar, were all in one littl'
room-a very coZy little room-whereiI
were seated number OF John Bull LOOKING
men smoking their pipes or cigars. Or
the table was the London Daily Times, thl
london Illustrated Neus and other Englist
periodicals, but no American papers save
the Sound and Portland papers. The
brogue OF the guests around Us was eithel
English or Scotch in almost every case, and
We began to realiza that finally in our long
travels We had reached a foreign shore.
The dining room, too, was queer little
affair. 1t communicated by small win
dow with the office and bar room
and by O large window with the
the kitchen. We could see into
both. The head cook Is hall owner Of the
hotel,whiCh, presume, accounts for the
excellence OF the bill Of fare served at this
hotel. Everything was well cooked and
well served, and wa began atlast to com.
prehend why 1t was that an English poet
had long ago declared, after travelling liie's
road, that he had found his warmest vel
come and his mos! congenial h0ne in an
inn.
Victoria is the capital Of British Colum.
bia. British Columbiais State OF the
Canadian Dominion, just as West Virginia
Is State Of the American Union. It ia o
State, however, over fifteen timesas large as
West Virginia, or, in other words, It has
3S0,000 square miles. But 1t only has about
5000 people. Over one.fourth OF the
whole population reside in this little city.
Voncouver's Island is nearly 800 miles in
length and has an average breadth OF fifty
miles. 1t Is very mountainous and woody
island and very Sparsely settled. 1t is situ-
ated between the Ash, and 51st degrees OF
latitude, aud while you would suppose 1t
to be very cold country 1t has, on the
contrary, very mild climate, owing
to. the warm, Japanese current which
strikes the Queen Charlotte islands
and flows southsrly along the shores
OF Vancouver. It Is said to have the most
delightful summer climate on the Pacific
coast, the mean temperature being a little
over 60 degrees. The mean winter tenn
perature is about ~ degrees, and they
scarcely ever have three days sleighing
here, all told, in the winter season. Ihaye
found the climate very enjoyable during
my briei stay. The people wear the same
kind Of clothes the year round, and men
rarely use any outer garment heavier than
spring overcoat.
RAILROAD CONNECTIONS.
With these advantages in point OF cli-
mate 1t seems strange that British Column
bia should have SO sparse population.
But SO we might have said Of Dakota, Mon
tana, Idaho, aud other American terrific
rics few years ago. They had no rail.
road and were practically inaccessible.
Now British Columbia is to have rail-
'road-the Great Canadian Pactic-that is
to connect Quebec and Montreal on the
Atlantic seaboard with the Pacific coast.
II is already two-ihirds built and will be
finished in 1885. Ithas land grant equal
in area to that OF the Northern P4cifc aUd
in addition subsidy OF 81. 100000 Work
Is going on at both ends and in the middle
sections, and 10000, Chinese, besides thou
sands OF white men, are at work. Already
BritishC Columbia isexperiencing more less
OF boom in consequence not only OF theax.
pected advantages OF that great line but
also from the presence OF so many people
at work. Victoria here has greatly increas.
ed her trade with the interior aud added
considerably to her population. She ex-
poets to be the practical terminus OF
the line. Recently the Central Pacific
road OF California has secured the
franchise for a road from Victoria
up the east coast OF the island
seventy miles, with grant OF the land for
ten miles on either side-son.e Of It valua.
BILE coal land-and subsidy Of S750,0O0.
The Canada Pacific is expected to connect
with this line at Port Moory on the straits
OF Georgia by ferry. The distance to the
Pacific Ocean from here Is seventy-ivc
miles. The main harbor for vessels Of large
draught is at Eequimalt, three miles from
here. These vessels oi war lie at anchor
aud the flag ship Of the British North PAci.
hc Squadron is now there. By the wav,
there are always number oil British war
vessels here and there will probably bs more
iithe present talk about torcibly annexing
British Columbia TO the United States goes
on. These officers form tue nucleus OF the
Court society at Victoria. The young otfi-
GERS are in great der.and in the upper cir
cles. The wealthy and well-to do people Ia
this little city devote much time to social
life. They shut their places OF business at
8 o'clock in the evening and do not open
them until s or 8 next morning, There
is continuous round OF social gayeties
in progress. The Governors family con-
stitute the head Of society; then come the
ministers, judges and other Government
officers. They have State premier here
the same as in the Dominion or Federal
Government at Ottawa, and the same as in
the English Government. We were re.
ferred to the Premier for information in
regard to the city, the island and the
province, but owing to the early closing Of
his office we did not get to see him. We
found, however, very acceptable sub.
stitnte in the person OF the editor OF the
British CoLonta-the principal paper-a
very intelligent and accomplished gentle
man, native OF Nova Scotia, and a
whilom resident OF tho United States
twenty-five years ago. HIS establishment
does q large business in the mere print
ing OF labels for the salmon packers
He prints those highly colored labels you
find around the tin can packages that are
put up in British Columbia, and he prints
millions OF them. heputting up Of salmon
is great business not only in these waters
but 10 those OF the Columbia river and
Puget Sound. have tried to cultivate a
taste for this diet while cruising around so
much in the salmon country but have not
succeeded, thus far. 1 greatly prefer an Ohio
river Jack hSh.
GENERAL FEATURES or the cousTRY.
They tell me that this country is very
beautiful in the summer time. presume
that It is, but tine traveller from the E st
has to believe as a matter Of faith, for the
country Is everywhere enshrouded in
smoke fram the woods on FIRE in the moua,
tains. Since crossed the Cascade Noun
tains have not been able to see Eve Iun.
dred yards before me except when | got
above the smoke at Mt Tacoma % The