L'atlas Du Canada

Summary

This review discusses the Atlas of Canada, issued by the Canadian Department of the Interior in 1906 under the direction of James White. The work originated in the desire to present the results of the 1901 census in graphic form, but it goes far beyond a statistical atlas: besides synoptic tables and 44 diagrams, it contains 46 maps and plans that depict the principal geographical features of the Dominion. The maps use three scales, applied equally to old and new regions, which facilitates comparison. The plates cover relief, geology, minerals, forests and the limits of forest trees, telegraphs, telephones, railways, transcontinental railways, canals, lighthouses and sailing routes, meteorology, population density, Aboriginal peoples, ethnic origins, boundaries, explorers' routes, drainage basins, and city plans. The reviewer singles out the forest-tree limit map as particularly original, and notes that the railway maps clearly reveal Winnipeg's role as the gateway to the West. The meteorological plates show Hudson Bay acting as a cold centre, the steep winter thermal gradient along the Pacific coast, and the moderating influence of the Great Lakes; population maps contrast the settled south with the undeveloped north, and note that Saskatchewan and Alberta had been largely occupied by 1906. The atlas, by grouping and linking facts of distribution, suggests hypotheses about their interdependence; the reviewer concludes that it is a truly geographical work and that the Canadian government and Mr. White fully succeeded in making their country better known.