Page:EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/236

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218
QUEBEC—QUILLER-COUCH

Quebec have been set apart by the Legislature for forest reserve and for the preservation of fish and game. Quebec is scarcely surpassed in Canada in its interest for sportsmen. In the Laurentides National Park, a district of 2,640 sq. m. N. of Quebec, caribou, partridge and trout are found in abundance. Bear and moose are also numerous.

Minerals. Of the economic mineral product, cement alone yields $3,000,000 annually. Molybdenite was mined extensively, during the World War, in the district of Quyon, Pontiac county, this mine becoming the largest producer in the world. Magnesite, found in the vicinity of Grenville, Argenteuil county, was also a valuable war- time mineral. The annual production of minerals in Quebec is valued at about $23,000,000.

Manufactures. Quebec ranks next to Ontario in the amount and value of its manufactures. There is limitless water-power almost everywhere, and at Shawinigan and Valleyfield power is being developed for commercial purposes. The chief manufactures are sugar, woollen and cotton goods, pulp and paper, tobacco and cigars, furs and hats, machinery, leather goods, boots and shoes, railway cars, rifles, musical instruments, cutlery and gunpowder. The annual value of the manufactured products of the province has reached $920,000,000. The pulp mills in 1918 produced 288,952 tons valued at $12,018,258, and the total product of all mills, paper and pulp, was valued at $19,620,051. Paper of all kinds was manufactured to the extent of $27,546,791, of which $17,500,000 was newsprint. The total capital invested amounted to $24,490,175, and 11,793 persons employed in the industry received $ 1 1,546,596 in salaries and wages.

Communications. The province is well provided with railways. The headquarters of the Canadian Pacific railway is at Montreal, and various lines of this railway connect Montreal with Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Quebec and St. John. The Canadian National railways connect Montreal with Halifax, passing across the St. Lawrence at the city of Quebec, and the line from Moncton, in New Brunswick, to Prince Rupert, in British Columbia, also crosses the St. Lawrence at the city of Quebec, and proceeds on its way through the northern part of the province. The National lines con- nect various local points, and by means of the old Grand Trunk system reach important centres in the United States, while there are a number of other railway companies, with lines running in various directions, especially in the extreme eastern section of the province.

Both Montreal and Quebec are connected by steamship during the summer months with all parts of the world. The St. Lawrence route, which by reason of its shortness is a favourite both for freight and passengers proceeding to Europe, has been rendered perfectly safe for navigation. During the summer season steamers ply on the rivers and inland waters, carrying a great deal of freight and taking care of the tourist trade. (W. L. G.*)


QUEBEC (see 22.727), the oldest city in the Dominion of Canada, had a pop. of 78,710 in 1910 and 116,850 in 1920. Quebec had for some years prior to 1911 been displaced by Montreal in the shipping trade, but after 1911 the older port steadily improved its commercial and industrial position. As a manufacturing centre Quebec has profited by the cheap electric power supplied from the Shawinigan and Montmorency Falls. The harbour has been improved, and the largest dry -dock in the world has been built at a cost to the Dominion Government of $7,000,000. Important factors contributing to the increased commercial importance of Quebec were the successful completion of the famous Quebec bridge, and the building of the Grand Trunk Pacific railway from Prince Rupert on the west coast of Canada to Quebec on the east. The distance from Quebec to Winnipeg by this railway is 145 m. shorter than that from Montreal to Winnipeg by any other line. The Quebec bridge, connecting the north and south shores of the St. Lawrence river at Cap Rouge, 9 m. from the centre of the city, was completed in 1917 by the St. Lawrence Bridge Co. for the Dominion Government. This achievement marked the end of more than 10 years of effort, two accidents to portions of the huge struc- ture having delayed the work in 1907 and again in 1917. The Quebec bridge is larger than the Forth bridge in Scotland, which was previously the world's largest bridge. Its total length is 3,239 ft., the cantilever span is 1,800 ft. long and the suspended span 640 ft. long. The weight of the suspended span is 5,510 tons. The completion of the bridge made possible the running of six railways simultaneously into Quebec from the south shore. Quebec has always been a base of supplies for a large region of mines, lumber camps and farms, but has gained further importance in this regard of late years owing to the rapid development of the water supplies of the province for purposes of electric power, particularly for the manufacture of wood pulp. The Lake Saint John district north of the city, a centre for pulp- milling, finds its outlet through Quebec. Buildings erected recently in Quebec include a large Government technical school, the erection and equipment of which cost $150,000.


QUILLER-COUCH, SIR ARTHUR THOMAS (1863- ) English man of letters (see 22.750), published subsequently to 1910 The Vigil of Venus and other poems and an anthology, The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse (1912), as well as books On the Art of Writing (1916), and On the Art of Reading (1920); a memoir of Arthur John Butler (1917) ; a volume of Shakespearean studies in 1918; Hocken and Hunken, a new Tale of Troy (1912); and various collections of short stories, including Hicky-Nan, Reservist (1915).