Tom Covington, age 15, of Barre, Vt., for his question:
WHEN DID NEWFOUNDLAND BECOME A CANADIAN PROVINCE?
Canada is the second largest country in the world. Only the Soviet Union is larger. United in 1867, the nation is officially called the Dominion of Canada. It is a union of 10 provinces and two territories. Newfoundland is the moat eastern as well as the newest province. It became a province of Canada in 1949.
Newfoundland has two parts. Most heavily populated is .Newfoundland Island, located east of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the closest point in North America to Europe. The larger part of the province, which is officially called the Coast of Labrador, is on the mainland east of Quebec.
Newfoundland's two parts are separated by the Strait of Bell Isle, which is about 10 miles wide.
A great deal of Newfoundland is made up of mountains and plateaus. The coastline of the island is rocky and it has many bays with steep cliffs. Much of the island is an elevated plateau.
More than a third of the island is covered with forests of balsam, fir, black spruce, white spruce and white pine. There are also some hardwoods such as birch and maple. About half the land is a wasteland bog.
Labrador summers are cool and short. Winters are cold and long. Snow starts to fall in September and it is still around in June.
Fishing is the chief occupation for Newfoundlanders, and fishing is good. Along the southeastern coast are located the great fishing grounds of the Atlantic Ocean. For more than 300 miles out, the ocean is shallow. Here the Gulf Stream and the Labrador current meet, giving temperatures that help to grow lots of plankton, she ocean plant on which small fish feed.
Forest sad mining industries now bring more wealth to Newfoundland than the fishing industry. Pulpwood cutting is the greatest single part of the forest industry. Other forest products include pit props used in the mines of Britain, and wood for fuel.
Today the manufacture of pulp and paper is Newfoundland's largest industry. Two important mills stand at Grand Forks and Corner Book. The one at Corner Book is one of the largest in the world.
Mining is second in value to forestry. A rich underwater iron ore deposit on Bell Island in Conception Bay supplies ore to the steel industry at Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Recently important deposits of good grade ore were discovered on the Quebec Labrador boundary at Schefferville.
The first Europeans to reach the Newfoundland area were the Vikings, about 500 years before Christopher Columbus made his first voyage to the New World. In 1497 King Henry VII of England sent John Cabot to find Japan. Cabot didn't find Japan, but he called his rich find "The New Found Land."