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Victoria (City and capital)

a city and capital of the province of British Columbia, Canada; at the S. E. extremity of Vancouver Island, on the Strait of Fuca, and on the Esquimalt and Nanaimo railroad; 750 miles N. of San Francisco. It is built on slightly undulating ground, and has a mild climate, with much less rain in the winter than at other points on the coast. The summer is dry and free from excessive heat. There is an inner and an outer harbor. The first is shallow and the largest ocean steamers can enter the latter. Here are many wide streets, beautiful residences and grounds, splendid drives, suburban scenery unsurpassed by any city in the world, Beacon Hill Park and recreation grounds, artistically laid out in arboreal, floral and other embellishments, and the building of the Provincial Legislative Assembly, erected at a cost of $750,000, the Government House, the lieutenant-governor's residence, Supreme Court house, custom house, postoffice, Anglican Cathedral, Roman Catholic Cathedral, and churches representing the principal denominations, the Protestant Orphan's Orphan's Home, Home for the Aged Infirm, Refuge Home, Samaritan Home, Provincial Royal Jubilee Hospital, and St. Joseph's Hospital.

There are a high school and numerous ward schools, supported by public funds.

Education is compulsory. Victoria is the second largest port in Canada. $6,000,000 has been spent in additions to its harbor and docks. The assessed valuation in 1919 was over $110,000,000. The bank clearings amounted to £123,351,345, and the customs receipts to $1,496,440.

Surrounding the city is an extensive district abounding in game of all kinds, deer, pheasant, grouse, quail and larger game. Victoria is an important mercantile and manufacturing point, having for years been the principal trading center for the whole British territory W. of the Rocky Mountains. Vessels from all parts of the world visit its harbor. The duties from the imports here amount to about $1,000,000 annually. The city is lighted by gas and electricity, has a perfect system of sewerage, waterworks, electric street railways, telephone and telegraph systems, and sash and door factories, lumber yards, shipyards, iron foundries, tanneries, book binding plants, biscuit factory, pottery, trunk factory, chemical works, flour mills, cold storage warehouses, etc., and several daily and weekly newspapers. Victoria was founded by the Hudson Bay Company as a VICTORIA trading post in 1843. It was the headquarters of the Pacific sealing fleet till that industry was greatly reduced by the Bering Sea regulations. It became the capital of the province of British Columbia on the confederation with the Dominion of Canada in 1871. Pop. (1891) 16,841; (1901) 20,816; (1920) about 55,000.