Radio Country: Canada extends much farther south than you might think

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Canada extends much farther south than you might think


	January 8, 2025

Original photo by RiverNorthPhotography/ iStock

Canada extends as far south as California.

Canada is famously known as the Great White North, but most of its citizens live in the country's southerly regions — which are more southerly than you might think. In fact, 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S.-Canadian border, and around 60% of all Canadians live south of Seattle, Washington. All in all, 27 states in the U.S. are totally or partially north of Canada's most southern point, at Middle Island in Lake Erie in Ontario. Areas above that highest point even include a small sliver of California, which may seem counterintuitive considering the state contains one of the hottest places on Earth (Death Valley). Utah and Nevada also contain land north of Canada's most southern point.

Why do so many Canadians cling to these southern regions? In large part, agriculture. According to Canadian historian William Lewis Morton, commercial agriculture in these warmer climates formed a network of towns, which then developed into modern cities following the Industrial Revolution. These numbers could change as the world continues to warm, and Canada's colder regions prepare for an influx of climate refugees. In 50 to 100 years, Canada likely won't resemble the Great White North anymore.

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		Numbers Don't Lie

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A stretch of Canadian coast has been burning for millennia.

In the far north of Canada's Northwest Territories — sandwiched between the Yukon in the west and Nunavut in the east — lies a strange geological phenomenon: a strip of coast that's been constantly burning for thousands of years. Aptly named the "Smoking Hills," this fuming piece of northern coastline near Cape Bathurst was mentioned in the early 1800s by Irish explorer Captain Robert McClure, whose crew was in search of the missing Franklin expedition. When McClure saw the smoke, he thought maybe it was from campfires belonging to the missing crew, but a closer inspection found no people — just smoke. Some of McClure's men even grabbed pieces of the burning shale, which, when placed on the captain's desk for inspection, reportedly burned a hole straight through. At the time, the explorers believed this unending burning was caused by some unseen volcanic activity, but in reality it was something else entirely. Underground oil shales rich in sulfur and brown coal cause spontaneous ignition as the rock erodes and these deposits are exposed to oxygen. The resulting sulfur dioxide has essentially created a micro-ecosystem with incredibly high acidity. Of course, few people ever lay eyes on this strange landscape, since it's accessible only by boat or helicopter, temperatures are often bone-chillingly cold, and just standing near the site is incredibly toxic to humans. It goes without saying that the Smoking Hills won't be featured in Canadian tourism ads anytime soon.