White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-12-31

prepared by National Geographic Society.
Washington. D. C.)-WNU Service.
NV nth new regions being opened
by new roads, railroads and
+" airplane routes, Canada re-
ports an increase of nearly
one-ffth in population during the past
decade. According to recently COM
pleted census there are 1O,353,77S in
habitants in the Dominion.
The story of the discovery, explora-
ton, settlement and development of
Canada from the days of Jacques Car
tier (1534,) Samuel de Champlain
d6O3,) and Henry Hudson (1610)
down to the advent of the railroad in
the middle of the last century, is one
of travel by sea, river and lake.
The waterways of Canada provide
easy access to the heart Of the CONT
nent. Nearly half the area of the
Dominion, excluding for the moment
the District Of Franklin, comprising
the Arctic islands, is drained by ma
Jestic rivers-on the Atlantic coast,
the st. Lawrence; on Hudson bay, the
Nelson; and on the Arctic, the Mac
kenzie. No great natural obstacles di-
vide these river basins, and passage
from one to another is easily made by
short portages. Travel by boat or
canoe throughout the northern and
eastern parts of Canada though slow,
has always been easy.
Until the railways were built, set
Element and commerce were largely
confined to the seacoast and the ter
ritories adjacent to the great rivers
and lakes of the interior. The age of
railway expansion followed the con-
federation of the colonies Of British
North America into the Dominion of
Canada and made possible the settle
ment of the extensive farming dis
tricts on the prairies of that region,
hitherto without access to any market
Airplane Being Used.
During the past decade, widely ex-
tended use of the airplane has been
developed in the remoter parts of the
Dominion where modern facilities for
travel are noneXistent and the alter
natives are tie canoe in summer and
the dog team in winter.
Its use by foresters for fire patrol
and timber cruising is now we'll estab-
ished, while the modern surveyor,
with his aerial camera, flying 5000
to 10000 feet above the ground pro-
duces complete Photographic record
of the country for many miles on each
side of his line of flight, from which
can be plotted, with simple traverses
on the ground for control, all the nat
ural features of the region.
Regular air routes between large
Canadian cities are in the making.
That phase of development must nee
essarily be slower than in Europe or
the United States, where the popula-
ton is denser, the traffic heavier, and
climatic conditions less severe. To
see Canada from the air today, one
is dependent on the courtesy and hos
pitality of the services maintained by
the Dominion and provincial govern
ments and by commercial firms.
The greatest percentage of increase
in population, shown by the census,
was in the province Of British Column
bia where there are nearly one-third
more inhabitants than there were ten
provinces increased by more than one
fifth.
Ottawa, Montreal Toronto, Winni-
peg, Vancouver and Hamilton are
cities of more than 100000 population.
Ottawa is the capital of the Domin-
ion. Queen Victoria was we'll advised
when she named. Bytown, as it was
then called, the seat of government,
after confederation in 1867. Few cap
itals have finer natural location.
The houses of parliament and surround
ing government offices are built on a
high bluff on the south bank of the
Ottawa river just below the Chaudere
falls.
Rivers and Canal at Ottawa.
To the north, forested spurs of the
Laurentian Mountains extend almost
to the river bank, while on the On
tario side of the river the city is sur
rounded by fine farming country.
Since the days of Champlain, the OF
tawa river has been the main highway
from the sea to the West. Permanent
settlement in the district, however,
only began in the first decade Of the
Nineteenth century. After the War of
1872 the British government, looking
for a strategic route from the sea to
the Great Lakes, which would avoid
the international waterway of the st.
Lawrence, decided on the construction
OF the Rideau canal, which would give
an alternative waterway from Mont
real to Kingston. on Lake Ontario.