The Republican journal., 1907-03-07
Letter From WoIfviIIe, n. 5.

ISOLATION met here recently. Inc SeS-
sion lasted two days. Meetings were
held in College Hall, the largest in the
town, seating about thousand. Gov
ernor Frazer and Judge Longley OF
Halifax were present and made ad-
dresses; also other prominent men.
In the fertile valleys of Annapolis and
Kings counties there are now over 49,
900 acres of apple orchards in bearing,
and over two million trees. There are
scores of acres of new orchards that
will soon come into bearing, and large
additions are made every year. Apple
trees grow here like willows along the
meadow brooks. In addition there are
over 10000 plum trees, 10000 pear
trees, and 10000 peach trees. The val
lev between the North and South
Mountains, one hundred miles long
and from six to twelve miles wide, is
almost continuous orchard, and an
enjoyable trip it is through this region
either in early June, with the fragrance
of the bloom on every hand, or in early
October when the boughs are bending
under the weight of the golden fruit.
Coal mining began in the province at
Sydney in 1896. But in recent years
the large iron factories and rolling
mills have given the little town a
boom. Six years ago the population
was only 3,4OO; today over $4,000 and
growing rapidly. In 1906 over two and
half million dollars were paid out in
wages, and 712 steamers entered the
port North Sydney, just across the
harbor, is growing, and has a popula-
ton of over 1000. Last year 636 Brit
ish vessels and 402 foreign landed at
her wharves. The large steel plant
and adjoining coal mines are lncreas-
ing the trade The output of the pro-
vincial coal mines in 1906 was five and
a quarter million tons.
Glaze Bay, few years ago only
little village, now has population OF
%, 900. >The pay roll in 1906 was three
million dollars. Employment is given
to 5000 men in the mines. Last year
the town erected new school buildings
that cost $1,000.
The town of Amherst, an inland
town, has several manufacturing in
dustries. The annual pay roll of the
I shoe factory alone is a million dollars.
The buildings of brick and stone erect
ed last year cost S357,Oo0. About half
that sum was spent in the erection of
wooden buildings. Truro, not far away,
erected buildings last year costing
1925, 600.
Lunenburg, a seaport town, had in
1906 131 vessels and 2,196 men engaged
in the fishing business; and 435 boats
engaged in shore fishing. The lobster
industry of the province is consider
able. The canneries alone had an out
put last year of two million dollars
worth. But at this rate that shell fish
will soon be exterminated.
A score of other towns that l might
| mention are growing rapidly. Railroad
building is going at a rapid pace. From
Yarmouth to Halifax, distance of PIT
miles, there are now two railroad lines
one by the southern shore, and the
other through the center of the prov
ince.
In western Canada there is great
financial prosperity as well as growth.
Two new trans-continental railroads
are now building. Thus, in a short
time there will be three railroad lines
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. An
other line is pushing to the north to
Hudson Bay. This is to get summer
seaport and outlet by short steamer
route to Europe for western wheat and
other produce. This road opens up
thousands of square miles OF timber
land, where the woodman's axe has
never been. And the many rivers are
teeming with fish. Over two-thirds of the
wheat producing area of North America
is in western Canada. The two new
provinces, created from territories-Al-
berta and Saskatchewan-each have an
area larger than Pennsylvania, New
York and New England combined, and
larger than France and Germany; and
nearly the whole is immensely fertile.
And away north Of those provinces are
tens of thousands of acres where wheat
can be sown in April, although as far
north as Labrador. AS everybody
knows the mild climate in that lati-
tude is due to the isothermal line going
north as it goes west. The immigration
into western Canada in 1905 was 216,-
600, an increase of 1000 over 1905. Of
this number $4,000 came from Great
Britain, GA, 900 from the United States,
and $4,000 from Continental Europe.
About all Of these settled on the fertile
wheat lands given them for a song on
the line of the Canadian Pacific r. r.,
and were of thrifty class of farmers.
Each year will add largely to the num-
Der. The Salvation Army, through
their agents, will bring to Canada from