THE FIELD OF LABOUR


British Columbia, now forming part of "The Dominion of Canada,"
includes within its limits several islands, of which Vancouver's is the
principal, and that part of the continent of North America, west of the
Rocky Mountains and east of Alaska, which is included between the 49 deg.
and the 60 deg. parallels of north latitude.

English connection with this part of the world may be said to date
from an exploratory voyage made by Captain Cook in 1776, when he landed
at Friendly Cove and Nootka Sound, and took possession of them in the
name of his sovereign. He supposed at the time that these places were
on the mainland, and it was not until Captain Vancouver, an officer in
the English Navy, was despatched in 1792 to the Pacific, that he
discovered that Nootka and Friendly Cove were on the west side of the
island which now bears his name, and which is sometimes spoken of as
the gem of the Pacific.

In 1793, Alexander Mackenzie, one of the most enterprising pioneers in
the employment of the North-West Fur Company, who had already
discovered the mighty river since named after him, crossed the Rocky
Mountains, and pushed his way westward, until he stood on the shores of
the Pacific. Some years later, in 1806, Mr. Simon Frazer, another
_employe_ of the same Company, gave his name to the great river
that drains British Columbia, and established the first trading post in
those parts. After the amalgamation of this Company with the Hudson's
Bay Company, other posts were established, such as Fort Rupert, on
Vancouver's Island, and Fort Simpson, on the borders of Alaska, then
belonging to Russia, but subsequently sold by her to the United States.