Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-19
are covered with frs and tamaracks, and
their tops are often capped with snow.
A Great Inland Island.


are covered with frs and tamaracks, and
their tops are often capped with snow.
A Great Inland Island.
Among these mighty hills are the head
waters of the Columbia river. Indeed. the
Columbia and the Kootenay wind In and
out among them. now in narrow streams
and now In wide winding lakes which make
one think of Como and Maggiore on the
borders of Switzerland and Italy. Tho
Columbia and Kootenay flow In some places
side by side. They turn this way and that
and together they have made mighty
island right here in the heart of the con-
tinent II you win imagine two gigantic
wish bones, the feet of which are touching
each other inclosng a diamond of noun
famous land bigger than the state OF
Ohio you will have one OF the curious
formations which nature has created here.
The rivers almost meet, and a short canal
has been made to connect them. that
the Island Is now complete. The island
contains something like 30,oco.O0 acres, and
it has l told. mineral deposits of ex-
traordinary value.
Municipal Ownership in British CO.
lumbia.
These mining towns are up-to-date Nell
son has water works, electric lights and a
street car line. 1t has seven churches. a
public library, and gun. cricket, la crosse
and lawn tennis clubs Grand Forks In
iighted by electricity and so are most OF
the larger mining camps. In some of the
towns the lights and waterworks are own
ca py the municipalities, aand ! find a
strong sentiment almost everywhere in
favor OF municipal ownership
shortly after arrived in Nelson I was
tod that the city owned its waterworks.
electric lights and street cars 1 there
| upon remarked: IL think / viii GO and see
the mayor" The reply came with some
embarrassment:
stranser' we haven't got no mayor. Our
| an mayor has run off,
Upon inquiry L found that this state
ment was correct. There had been Soma
| trouble about taking over the power plant
| oy the city and the mayor had grown dia-
| gusted and left. I suppose he has returned
| by now or that another has been chosen
| to take his place
Grating in Canada.
AS to the matter of grating I find evil
oehces that 1t Is quite much OF a pro-
Iessioh north OF the boundary as south OF
H. Many OF the older towns are steadily
MIXED by public officials and the only
trouble with the new settlements is thar
they are TOO near the calf age to give
Hilik' The accusations of grating are NV
no means confined to the towns ana ax
oihclais Of the dominion government are
saiu 10 nave made fortunes out of their po-
sitfohs There Is considerable talk abouy
certain railroad interests controIIinp Lis
iatloh 1T used to be said that the Cana
dian Pacific ran the government and ~ 10
now charged that the Grand Trunk rail-
way, which. with the government IS now
building the Grand Trunk Pacific at cos,
OF one hundred and twenty-five million dol
Iars' has taken its place. AS to these
Things, however my information is ba sod
upon rumors and l do not give thorn as
facts. eve ''teh as
These Cities Do Their Own business
ihere is no doubt. however but that rnu
n1cipal ownership is advancing In fayor q,
all parts OF British America Edmonton has
us own electric light plant, and 1t has taken
possession of the telephones within the nast
year. 1t owns the waterworks and sewers
ana charges a minimum cost for its
various services. The telephone rates ara
$50 per year for dwellings and $40 per veer
Tor business, and the light rates are low
winnipeg is now managing its own water
works, and 1t is giving at s24 year a sery-
Ice Tor Which in the past house holder maid
$50 1t paves its own streets and has n
municipal asphalt plant. 1t now gets a
part of the earnings of the street cars and
at certain hours OF the day insists on q
three-cent fare in order to benefit the work.
ingmen and school children
am told that Toronto has made a eon
tract as TO the operation of its street rail-
ways winch Will give a three-eent rate at
certain hours of the day and that n certain
percentage of the street car earnings are TO
go into the city treasury. The contract is
TO run for twenty years, after which the
valuation of It's stock and materials
Cheap Municipal Telephones
All Of these city ownership institutions
give cheap telephones In Port Arthur the
city rates 81 per month for residences and
81 month for business houses, and on
these terms the municipality makes money.
Fort William expects eventually to cut its
residence phones to 90 cents per month and
business houses to 81, while radical reduc-
tons have been made in other quarters.
Regina has taken over its electric light
plant, has cut the rates 20 per cent and Is
making money. Medicine Hat owns natural
gas works and is furnishing light and heat
to that town of four thousand at the lowest
rates The charge is II cents for lighting
and heating, and all cooking Is now done
over gas. The town Is also offering its gas
at cents per thousand for factories. and
several wooden mills and brick-maklng
plants have already been started. The city
gas works are only a little more than q
year old and even at these low rates they
have made q profit of $4,000.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.