t waterway in the Kootenay region. The Fraser, next in
size but farther north, follows a similar course, entering the sea at
Vancouver; while the Skeena and Stikine in northern British Columbia are
much shorter and smaller, owing to the encroachments of Peace and Liard
rivers, tributaries of the Nelson, on the Cordilleran territory. All of
these rivers are waterways of some importance in their lower course, and
are navigated by powerful stern-wheel boats supplying the posts and
mining camps of the interior with their requirements. In most cases they
reach the coast through deep valleys or profound canyons, and the
transcontinental railways find their way beside them, the Canadian
Pacific following at first tributaries of the Columbia near its great
bend, and afterwards Thompson river and the Fraser; while the Grand
Trunk Pacific makes use of the valley of the Skeena and its tributaries.
The divide between the rivers flowing west and those flowing east and
north is very sharp in the southern Rocky Mountains, but there are two
lakes, the Committee's Punch Bowl and Fortress Lake, right astride of
it, sending their waters both east and west; and there is a mountain
somewhat south of Fortress Lake whose melting snows drain in three
directions into tributaries of the Columbia, the Saskatchewan and the
Athabasca, so that they are distributed between the Pacific, the
Atlantic (Hudson Bay) and the Arctic Oceans. The divide between the St
Lawrence and Hudson Bay in eastern Canada also presents one or two lakes
draining each way, but in a much less striking position, since the
water-parting is flat and boggy instead of being a lofty range of
mountains. The rivers of Canada, except the St Lawrence, are losing
their importance as means of communication from year to year, as
railways spread over the interior and cross the mountains to the
Pacific; but from the point of view of the physical geographer there are
few things more remarkable than the intricate and comprehensive way in
which they drain the country. As most of the Canadian rivers have
waterfalls on their course, they must become of more and more importance
as sources of power. The St Lawrence system, for instance, generates
many thousand horse-power at Sault Ste Marie, Niagara and the Lachine
rapids. All the larger cities of Canada make use of water power in this
way, and many new enterprises of the kind are projected in eastern
Canada; but the thousands of feet of fall of th