England and Canada: A Summer Tour Between Old and New Westminster, with Historical NotesFleming, Sandford
History
England and Canada: A Summer Tour Between Old and New Westminster, with Historical Notes
Fleming, Sandford
Canada -- Description and travel
Its extent is about 200,000 square miles, extending from latitude 49°
to latitude 57°. The sea coast is about 450 miles in length, indented
from north to south by a succession of inlets running many miles within
the coast line, in each case presenting a harbour of perfect security,
of great depth of water, generally to be approached with safety and in
all cases marked with the boldest scenery. In no part is the climate
so severe as in the same parallel of latitude on the Atlantic. To find
the eastern equivalent of the mildest sections we must descend twelve
hundred miles to the south.
As a rule, throughout the Province, in the habitable portions, the
climate is favourable to the conditions of human life, generally
without the great extremes of heat and cold. It is marked, however,
with atmospheric diversities. From the mouth of the Fraser, inland, it
is moist. The rain is abundant in spring, summer and autumn, in the
fall of the year continuing for days together. In winter the depth
of snow is from one to two feet, in the extreme northern districts,
frequently deeper. It remains on the ground, near the coast, from a
fortnight to three weeks, and it disappears to be succeeded by another
fall, and so continues throughout the winter. Fogs prevail in October
and November, sometimes earlier, as was the case in my experience. But
they do not occur every year, for on a former occasion I found the air
both light and clear during my whole visit at the same season.
There is much to be learned about the climate and its variations, and
it is difficult to form a close generalization of the extent of the
localities where changes begin and end. We pass by insensible mutations
from the one zone to the other. There is no definite arbitrary line
shewing when we are in another climate. It may, however, be said that
the humidity of atmosphere is found to extend from the sea coast up
the Fraser, as far as Lillooet, above the junction of the Thompson,
and that it is continued along the Upper Fraser to the Forks. Within
this district the level land is fertile and densely wooded. In the more
northern Cariboo section there are extensive tracts of forest land
and of open prairie, highly fertile, fitted for farming purposes,
and well watered and drained. The soil, most strongly marked by these
characteristics, is found more immediately in the neighbourhood of
the Fraser and of the innumerable lakes in this district. In these
localities the climate is superior to that of the Lower Fraser, for it
is drier. In Winter it is of a lower temperature, much like that of
some parts of Ontario.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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