, and even in the far northern
districts of Yukon and Mackenzie. Where necessary obstacles are
surmounted by canals, on which over L22,000,000 have been spent, chiefly
since federation. The St Lawrence river canal system from Lake Superior
to tide water overcomes a difference of about 600 ft., and carries large
quantities of grain from the west to Montreal, the head of summer
navigation on the Atlantic. These canals have a minimum depth of 14 ft.
on the sills, and are open to Canadian and American vessels on equal
terms; the equipment is in every respect of the most modern character.
So great, however, is the desire to shorten the time and distance
necessary for the transportation of grain from Lake Superior to Montreal
that an increasing quantity is taken by water as far as the Lake Huron
and Georgian Bay ports, and thence by rail to Montreal. Numerous smaller
canals bring Ottawa into connexion with Lake Champlain and the Hudson
river via Montreal; by this route the logs and sawn lumber of Ontario,
Quebec and New Brunswick find their destination. It has long been a
Canadian ideal to shorten the distance from Lake Superior to the sea.
With this object in view, the Trent Valley system of canals has been
built, connecting Lake Ontario with the Georgian Bay (an arm of Lake
Huron) via Lake Simcoe. In 1899 and subsequently surveys were made with
a view to connecting the Georgian Bay through the intervening water
stretches, with the Ottawa river system, and thence to Montreal. In 1903
all tolls were taken off the Canadian canals, greatly to the benefit of
trade.

_Mining_.--The mineral districts occur from Cape Breton to the islands
in the Pacific and the Yukon district. Nova Scotia, British Columbia and
the Yukon are still the most productive, but the northern parts of
Ontario are proving rich in the precious metals. Coal, chiefly
bituminous, occurs in large quantities in Nova Scotia, British Columbia
and in various parts of the north-west (lignite), though most of the
anthracite is imported from the United States, as is the greater part of
the bituminous coal used in Ontario. Under the stimulus of federal
bounties, the production of pig iron and of steel, chiefly from imported
ore, is rapidly increasing. Bounties on certain minerals and metals are
also given by some of the provinces. The goldfields of the Yukon, though
still valuable, show a lessening production. Sudbury, in Ontario, is the
centre of the nickel production o