Page:Pacific Monthly volumes 9 and 10.djvu/88



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stantly going up, and good cedar limits are constantly being secured. The activity is due to a great extent to the demand in the Canadian Northwest.

There is a good deal of railway activity in the lower mainland of British Columbia at the present time, and surveyors are now laying out the routes for several prospective lines. Both the Great Northern and North- ern Pacific companies are among those which are proposing to add to their mile- * age in this vicinity.

The Ross-McLaren lumber mills near New Westminster, which are probably one of the largest industries of the kind on the coast, are about to be reopened and started in op- eration. This immense plant has been lay- ing idle, owing to litigation, for the past ten years, and has now been sold to a num- ber of Wisconsin lumbermen. i^

The year 1902 has been a most important one in the Ymir district, and has marked a period of greater progress and develop- ment in the mining industry than any pre- vious year. During the period in question a considerable number of the properties have been developed up from the pros- pect stage to rank as mines, with large quantities of ore in sight.

lAcon»ormtioAS» BritisH Col^mbim ror "Week KAatAtf Dec. 36, 1903—

The Cherry Creek Gold Mininff Co., Limited; $1,000,000; mining, smelting, milling and refining.

The Wellington Colliery Co., Limited; $2,000,000; coal and metal mining, smelting, refining, etc.

The Yale-Kootenay Ice, Fruit, Fuel and Poultry Co., Limited; $40,000.

Deer Park Mining Co., Limited; $10,000; mining, smelting, etc.

The Packers* Steamship Co., Limited; $25,000; buying and selling merchandise; carrying by land and water, passengers and freight; refrigerating and storing.

The Beaver Canyon Mining Co., Limited; $100,000; general mining.

The Metropolitan Estate Co., Limited; $20,000; real estate and improvement.

Union Power and Pulp Co., Limited; $25,000; gen- eral manufacture and paper making.

The Province Mines, Limited; $100,000; general mining and smelting.

Vancouver Ledger Printing and Publishing Co., Limited; $20,000; printing and publishing.

The Otter Creek Hydraulic Co., Limited; $100,000; general mining and smelting.

Conosolidated Kingston Gold Mfning Co., Limited; $100,000; general mining and smelting.

Christina Lake Lumber Co.. Limited; $10,000; log- ging, sawing and manufacturing.

Victoria Logging Co., Limited; $30,000; general logging and timber business. (Extra-provincial Co.)

Yale Mining Co.; $250,000; Anaconda, Mont.; gen- eral mining and smelting. (Extra-provincial Co.)

Discovery (3old Mining Co. of British Columbia; $300,000; New York, N. Y.; mining of gold and other minerals.

TKe Pacific

S. S. Dickenson, the special agent of the Commercial Pacific Cable Co. states that he has chosen cable landing sites at Midway

Island, Guam and Manila. He also surveyed for a route around Nero Deep, the very deep hole in the ocean bed between Guam and Midway, which was discovered by the United States survey ship Nero, and re ported to be the deepest bit of ocean in the world.

The two most notable vessels under con struction in the United States are now build- ing in New London, Conn. These colossal ships, as yet unnamed, are exceeded in size only by the "Celtic" and "Ccdric," the larg est vessels afloat. They were ordered by the Great Northern railroad, to ply between Oriental ports and Seattle, the Pacific ter minus of that road. It is a curious fact that an entirely new company, the "Eastern Shipbuilding Co." was organized especially for the purpose of constructing these ships, and took the contract before it possessed site, plant or equipment. The dimensions are: Length, 630 feet; breadth, 73 feet; molded depth, 50 feet; displacement (with maximum draft of zdV^ feet), 37»ooo tons, within 870 tons of the figures for the "Cedric" In the hold are eleven distinct decks, the topmost one being 81 54 feet above the keel. The promenade deck is 60 feet above the water line, except when the vessel is heavily loaded. Accommodations are for 150 first-class passengers, 100 second-class. 100 third-class, 1000 steerage, and, if neces sary, 1200 troops. Its cargo capacity is 20. 000 tons. Under a horsepower of 11,000 the ships will have a sea speed of 14 knots per hour. — Scientific American.

Of the many new vessels built for Pacific Coast trade most notable are the sister ships. "Korea" and "Siberia," the largest and fastest merchant steamers of any na- tionality plying on the Pacific. The former was launched in 190T, but the latter was a product of the year just past. The vessels were built by the Newport News Shipbuild- ing Company for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, in service between San Fran- cisco, Japan and China. The tonnage of the "Korea" is 11,276; average sea speed, 17.78 knots per hour; length, 572 feet; depth, 41 feet 10 inches; draft, 27 feet. The coal ca- pacity is 2,600 tons, and the power is sup- plied by twin engines of 17,902 indicated horsepower. Accommodations are provided for 210 first-class passaengers; steerage, 54 whites and 1144 Chinese.

The Oceanic Steamship Company has re cently ordered three fine large vessels from Cramps. Of these the Sierra is a type. She is a twin-screw ship of 6,253 tons. Her length is 400 feet, her breadth 40 feet, with engines capable of driving her at a speed of 17 knots per hour. She is to ply between San Francisco and Honolulynand Australia.