The area of Canada is immense. It figures up to 3,456,383 square
miles, which is almost 500,000 square miles more than the total area
of the United States exclusive of Alaska, and not far short of being
equal to the area of all Europe. But almost 150,000 square miles of
this area are taken up by lakes and rivers; and a much greater portion
than this, under present conditions of civilisation, is wholly
uninhabitable, being either too cold or too barren. Yet when all the
necessary allowances have been made there still remains in Canada an
immense area with soil fertile enough and climate favourable enough
for all the purposes of a highly civilised population. Over 900,000
square miles are already occupied, and of the occupied area fully one
half has been "improved." The older provinces are, acre for acre, as
suitable for agricultural pursuits as the adjoining States of the
Union. Manitoba, the "Prairie Province," is almost one vast wheat
field, with a productivity for wheat unequalled anywhere except in the
Red River valley of Minnesota and Dakota. The Manitoba grain harvest
foots up to 50,000,000 bushels. British Columbia is a land of almost
infinite possibilities, not only because of its mineral and timber
resources, but also because of its capabilities for agriculture and
fruit-growing. The Territories are so vast an area that no general
description of them is possible, but it may be said that the great
wheat valley of the Saskatchewan, the sheltered grazing country of
Alberta, and the great wheat plains of the Peace River valley in
Athabasca, are regions adapted in soil and climate to sustain a hardy
and vigorous people. The population of Canada is comparatively small.
It is estimated at 5,250,000. Over 1,000,000 people of Canadian birth
reside in the United States, and the number of Americans residing in
Canada is only 80,000. Out of the 2,425,000 persons who came to Canada
as immigrants in a period of forty years, no fewer than 1,310,000, or
fifty four per cent., came over into the United States. It is stated
that this exodus has ceased, and that if any great movement of
population now exists it is toward Canada.