Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/760

Rh 716 A M E 11 I C A [POPULATION. Mountains, which it will cross by the Yellowhead Pass, to descend along the Thomson and Fraser rivers, in British Columbia, till it finally reaches the coast of the Pacific Ocean, possibly connecting Vancouver Island with the mainland by a bridge over the narrowest part of the straits. In connection with the Grand Trunk and other railways of Canada, supplemented by the Intercolonial Hallway between Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, this new western line will afford the most direct and expeditious means of transit across North Ame rica, and will probably become the favourite route for mails and passengers and light traffic from Europe to China. It will open a country which abounds in mineral wealth, especially of iron, coal, and copper; while the Saskat chewan valley, and the belt of fertile soil lying at the base of the Rocky Mountains (where the climate, as far north as Fort Dunvegan on the Peace river, is not more severe than that of Toronto, though in latitudes beyond 56 N., nearly thirteen degrees above that place), are capable of sustaining an agricultural population. The progress of railroad con struction in North America, stimulating and assisting the development of industrial resources with amazing rapidity, is a feature of high importance in the most recent phases of the w r orld s civilisation. Its average rate of advance in the United States alone, during the five years preceding January 1873, was nearly GOOD miles annually of new railway; and the aggregate length of railway lines in the Union, all com pleted and in actual working, was then computed at 71,000 miles. British America, as we have seen, will not be left deficient of similar appliances for its internal improvement. lold A great auriferous deposit was discovered in Upper Cali- ilines. fornia in the end of 1847, just before its formal cession to the United States. It is situated in the valley of the Sacramento river, and its principal branch the Joaquin, and is believed to extend over a range of country 200 miles in length, or more. The gold is found in its virgin state in small grains in three different situations first, in sand and gravel beds ; secondly, among decomposed or disin tegrated granite ; and thirdly, intermixed with a friable talcose slate standing in vertical strata, and containing white quartz, interlaminated or in veins. The largest pieces of gold are found in and near the talcose slate rocks, over which the streams flow ; but the finer particles and scales have been carried down by the water to the lowest part of the valleys. It was known before that gold existed in the country ; but the wonderful richness of the deposit was only discovered in 1847, in making a mill-race on American Fork, a small branch of the Sacramento. It soon became widely known, and attracted multitudes of persons, first from the neighbouring districts, and by and by from all parts of the world. The population, which was estimated at 15,000 in 1848, had increased to 92,000 in 1850, and in 1870 Avas found to be 5GO,247. Popula- Humboldt gave the following estimate of the entire popu- tion - lation of America in 1823 : Number. Proportion. mites 13,471,000 38 per cent. Indians 8,610,000 25 y ( Slaves, 5,000,000 | c AW t( in ^ roes I Free, 1,433,000 | M33.000 U Mixcdraces 6,428,000 IS ,, 34,942,000 Bollaert made the following estimate for 18G Number. Whites 38,074,423 Indians 11,014,710 Negroes 12,122,030 Mestizoes 6,031,000 IMulattocs 4,037,440 Z:unboes 1,563,230 Proportion. 52 per cent. 15 16 72,842,833 What will be the number of the inhabitants of the new continent two or three centuries hence, and of what races will it consist] Setting aside the negroes, U simplify the question, and the Indians, who will gradually disappear, it is evident that the soil of America is destined to be occupied by two races, who may be designated as the Anglo-Saxon and the Spanish-Indian. In the latter the Indian bluod greatly predominates, for the Creoles or pure progeny of the Spaniards probably do not constitute more than 20 per cent, of the population, while the civilised Indians may amount to 50, and the Mestizoes to 30. The whites in the United States were in 1850 19,500,000 The population of British America 2, 500, 000 22,000,000 The population of Spanish and Portuguese America, exclusive of slaves, was in round numbers 20,000,000 The Anglo-Saxon population in America increases at 3 per cent, annually, and doubles its numbers in 25 years. Its amount in 1850 was 22,000,000 In 1875 it will be 44,000,000 In 1900 88,000,000 In 1925 17(5,000,000 A population of 176,000,000 spread over the territories of the United States and Canada would only afford an average of 40 persons to each square mile, about l-7th part of the density which England now exhibits, and could occa sion no pressure. But let us suppose the rate of increase after 1925 to fall to 2 per cent,, the period of doubling will then be 35 years. In 1960 the number vill be 352,000,000 In 1995 do. do 704,000,000 Suppose the rate again to decline to 1-J per cent., which scarcely exceeds that of England and Prussia, the period of doubling will then be 50 years. In 2045 the number will be 1,408,000,000 In 2095 do. do 2,816,000,000 Let us now compare with this the growth of the Spanisn- Indian population, doubling its numbers in 75 years. Its amount in 1S50 was 20,000,000 In 1925 it will be 40,000,000 In 2000 do 80,000,000 In 2075 do 160,000,000 In 2095 (interval of 20 years) -200,000,000 It hence appears that, supposing both races to have free Pr space for expansion, the Anglo-Saxon population in 220 of years from the present time will amount to 2816 millions, while the Spanish-Indian population will only have multi plied to 200 millions, or one-fourteenth part of the other. It will be shown by and by, on probable grounds, that the new continent, if fully peopled, could support 3600 millions, and there would consequently be room enough for both ; but long before this density is attained the two races will inevi tably come into collision. In new settlements, where the best lands are invariably first occupied and the inferior neglected, the population is always thinly diffused. The Anglo-Saxons will therefore crowd to the richer fields of the south, while millions of acres of their own poorer lands are still untenanted ; for we may rest assured that before cultivation is extended to the third-rate soils on the north side of the boundary, means will be found to appropriate the first-rate soils on the south side. These may be acquired by purchase like the lands of Louisiana, or by conquest like those of New Mexico and California, but in one way or another they will be acquired. Nearly forty years ago M. de Tocqueville calculated that along the great space from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian lakes the whites were advancing over the wilderness at an average rate of 17 miles per annum, and that enlightened observer was powerfully impressed by the grandeur and solemnity of this deluge of men, for ever swelling and flowing onward,