Portal:Alberta/Selected introduction/2

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The twin provinces of the Canadian West, so called because they were formed on the same day (1 Sept., 1905), by an Act of the Dominion Parliament, which gave them an identical constitution. The former derives its name from the important river, Kissiskatchiwan, or Swift Current, now better known under the abbreviation of Saskatchewan, whose two branches drain it from west to east. The latter was called after the episcopal borough of St. Albert, nine miles from Edmonton, which itself had been named after its founder, Father Albert Lacombe, O.M.I., the veteran missionary of the Far West.

Boundaries and Area rn Athabasca, while the original Territory of Alberta and the remaining half of Athabasca contributed to form Alberta, the second province. Both provinces have identical southern and northern boundaries (49 deg. and 60 deg. N. lat.). The western frontier of Alberta is the summit of the Rocky Mountains as far as 54 deg. N. lat. and the 120th meridian. The greatest length of both provinces is 760 miles. The breadth of Alberta varies from 200 miles in the south, to nearly 400 in its northern half. Its total area is estimated at 253,450 square miles.

Physical Characteristics

The mean altitude of Alberta is 3000 feet, which likewise notably decreases in the north. The climate of both provinces is exceedingly healthful, though the cold is at times intense on the treeless prairies of Saskatchewan. A warm south-west wind, called Chinook, occasionally crosses the Rocky Mountains, and renders the winters of Alberta appreciably milder and shorter in spite of its great altitude. This immense region is traversed by the River Saskatchewan which has its source in the Rocky Mountains, and after winding its way for some 1200 miles, empties into Lake Winnipeg. Northern Alberta is drained by still larger rivers, such as the Peace, which rises in Lake Thutage (Thutade), British Columbia. It is first called the Finlay, and after its confluence with the Parsnip, is known as the Peace, but north of Lake Athabasca it again changes its name to the Slave, only to course further on the great Canadian Northland as the Mackenzie River. South of the Peace is the Athabasca River, which flows into the lake of the same name. This fine sheet of water is common to both provinces. It has an area of 2842 square miles. Alberta can boast only one important lake, namely Lesser Slave Lake, which in spite of its name is almost 70 miles in length. There are in either province few mountains, none of which are important.

Resources Alberta's best farming-lands are in the northern interior (the region of which Edmonton is the centre), and this extends much farther north than in Saskatchewan, while the southern portion of Alberta, being rather high and of lighter soil, is better adapted to stock-raising. In addition to the above cereals the province also grows alfalfa, and all classes of roots, notably the sugar-beet, whose cultivation constitutes one of its most important industries. Lumbering is carried on around the upper waters of the North Saskatchewan and Athabasca Rivers in Alberta. Alberta is also rich in coal and oil. Its principal mining centres are Lethbridge, Coleman, Frank, Canmore, Edmonton, and Morinville. Oil is also found at the last-named place, as well as in the south of the province.

^{A.G. MORICE Adapted from Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) (Saskatchewan and Alberta)}