Canada Grows New Resources When Canada bought Rupert’s Land around the Hudson Bay in 1869, it gained a lot of natural resources. A large forest of evergreen trees covered the land. The timber industry grew. Rupert’s Land became the Northwest Territories. Manitoba became a new province. British Columbia and Newfoundland became territories. A large number of Canadians moved west to British Columbia and to the Yukon Territory after gold was discovered there. Further discoveries awaited. People found huge amounts of coal in Alberta. Oil and natural gas were discovered on the plains of the Northwest Territories. By the late 1800s, Canadians were mining copper as well. In the late 1800s, fishing became one of Canada's biggest industries. Boats sailed home full of fish and lobster. Thousands of people worked in the fishing industry. Carpenters made boats. Fishers caught salmon and other fish in the Great Lakes and off the Pacific coast. Factory workers cleaned the fish and canned it for selling in stores far away. Railroads Canada wanted British Columbia on the Pacific ocean to join the Confederation. In 1871, British Columbia’s leaders agreed. However, they wanted Canada to build a railroad to connect the province to the rest of the country. Canadian leaders began to work on what was then the longest railroad in the world, the Canadian Pacific Railway. Thousands of workers came from China. They were treated unfairly, and given the most dangerous jobs. Yet, they worked hard, and made it possible for Canada to complete its transcontinental railroad in 1885. People were able to move to and from the prairie easier. People from cities moved out west to be farmers. They then shipped the crops they grew to markets in the east by railroad. In 1905, Alberta and Saskatchewan on the prairie had enough people to become new provinces. The Wheat Boom Canadian farmers on the plains had trouble growing wheat. Early winters froze the plants before they could grow. Then in 1904, a Canadian scientist discovered a type of wheat that grew faster. Farmers could plant that on the prairie and harvest it before winter. Wheat production rose. Because of railroads, the price of shipping was low. Trains shipped their wheat to factories which turned it into food. A large amount of wheat was sold to other countries, making Canada very rich. Between 1891 and 1911, the population of the prairie grew to more than 1 million people. Immigrants came from other countries. Some of these newcomers came from Europe and from Asia. They came to find jobs and to buy land on the Prairie. Industrialization In the early 1900’s, industrialization changed the way people in Canada lived. Canada's manufacturers made tractors, steel, cars, and paper. The same kind of steam engines that ran trains was used to run machines and factories. As the economy grew, people moved to cities from rural areas to find jobs in factories. As the cities grew, so did the number of jobs. New immigrants from Europe and Asia made the population of Canada grow very large.