Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/650

 636 ONTARIO LOCALITY. AVERAGE MEAN TEMPERATURE. Highest temperature. Lowest temperature. Average an- nual precipita- tion of rain and melted inow. Year. Autumn. Winter. Spring. Summer. 47-3 44-1 40-5 39-6 85-7 49-4" 46-8 43-6 44-5 87-8 24-8 16-8 15-5 13-5 10'7 44-7 40-7 88-8 35-0 84-3 70-2 65-1 67-5 65-5 59-9 98-8 99-2 99'9 88-9 21 rS 85 31 -72 in. 36-09 " 28-38 " 29-37 " 39-40 " Little Current n Fort William Agriculture is the chief occupation of the in- habitants. The soil varies in different localities, a large proportion being of excellent quality. The S. W. peninsula has been justly regarded as the garden of Canada, the influence of the surrounding bodies of water harmonizing with the natural richness of the soil. Wheat is the staple crop of the province, and large quantities are produced. Oats, barley, rye, potatoes, tur- nips, and Indian corn are also grown, but the last is not profitably cultivated, except in the S. and S. W. parts, the climate elsewhere being too cold. In the southwest the peach ripens and grows well, and the apple orchards of this district are very productive. Pears, plums, grapes, cherries, and various kinds of berries thrive. The extensive district lying between the Ottawa river and Georgian bay contains large tracts of fertile land, and produces a great variety of timber. This district has been dis- tinguished into white pine and red pine and hard wood countries, owing to the prevalence in different places of those different descrip- tions of timber. The white pine country lies to the east, and the red pine immediately W. of it. The soil of the red pine country is sandy and poor, gravelly or stony, with a rugged, un- even, and rocky surface. The other division contains a mixture of good and tolerable land, generally fit for agricultural purposes. Except- ing where tracts of hard wood land occur at intervals, the red pine country is pronounced, on official authority, unfit for settlement. W. of these two divisions lies the hard wood coun- try. Among the timber which gives its name to this section are interspersed belts of red pine, the white having totally disappeared. This strip extends W. at one point 75 m., and has a length of 130 m. from S. E. to N". W. Between this strip and Georgian bay lies a belt from 20 to 30 m. in breadth of barren soil, frequently terminating in naked rock near the shores of the bay. To the south, near the ridge dividing the waters of the Ottawa from those which flow directly into the St. Lawrence, belts of poor, rugged, stony land, about 20 m. in width and unfit for settlement, occur. N. and W. of Lake Nipissing the land is good, but on the French river it is rocky and barren. In the district between the Ottawa and Georgian bay lumbering is extensively carried on. In the westernmost section of the province, N. of Lakes Huron and Superior, the timber, consist- ing chiefly of spruce, balsam fir, white birch, poplar, and cedar, is generally of little com- mercial value. Some of the higher points are bare of trees, and the land available for agri- cultural purposes is chiefly confined to the flats and valleys at the mouths of the streams. Be- tween the Batchewauning and Goulais bays and the Missisagui river, in the rear of the vil- lage of Sault Ste. Marie, the country is fine, producing hard wood on the ridges, and pre- senting in the broad, alternating flats a deep alluvial soil. Among the hard wood there is a sufficiency of white pine for building pur- poses; the flats are principally covered with cedar, tamarack, ash, elm, soft maple, and birch, except where small prairies, bearing a luxuriant growth of grass, intervene. The whole coun- try, where it has been surveyed and explored, from Lake Superior to Lake Nipissing, presents, among the rugged and broken portions that intervene, many extensive valleys of excellent land, well adapted for settlement. And even in the more rugged and less prolific portions groves of fine pine timber are frequently met, and indications of mineral wealth present themselves. The valley of the Spanish river presents important facilities for settlement, all the land being of good quality or bearing a rich crop of excellent pine. In the region N". of Lake Superior it is believed that oats, bar- ley, hay, potatoes, the ordinary vegetables, and in places wheat, may be successfully cultivated. In the vicinity of Lake Nipigon there is much good land, and the climate appears to be as well suited to agriculture as that of the greater part of the province of Quebec. The timber here consists chiefly of white spruce, white birch, aspen, poplar, balsam fir, tamarack, and white cedar, with occasional trees of black ash, gray elm, and white pine. The wild animals, except the smaller species, have mostly disap- peared in the S. portions of the province. Domestic animals, horses, cattle, sheep, and swine, are extensively raised. In the north and west fur-bearing animals are still trapped by the Indians, and the Hudson Bay company has several posts there. The great lakes, as well as many of the smaller ones and many of the streams, abound in fish. The value of the catch for the year ending June 30, 1874, was $446,267 50, consisting chiefly of whitefish, with some trout, herring, and other species. Fourteen vessels, 804 boats, and 2,195 men were em- ployed. Water power is abundant, but manu- factures, though increasing, are yet compara- tively undeveloped, while many of the estab- lishments already in operation use steam power. The principal articles manufactured are cotton and woollen goods, linen, furniture, lumber,