9 Growth in

the West
Chapter How did Canada secure the West and prepare for a massive
INQUIRY influx of immigrants?

Key
▲

Natural Resources and History

CONCEPT
Natural resources are the parts of nature that people can use. They include fish,
land, trees, furs, water, oil, and minerals. Earlier in this book, you read about the
ways that various First Nations used natural resources. After first contact, First
Nations and newcomers used these resources to meet their needs.
Canada is rich in natural resources. Canadians cut down trees to make
lumber. We drill for oil and gas to heat our homes and fuel our cars. We grow
wheat to make bread. Our use of natural resources can harm the environment.
However, our natural resources have created many jobs.

Natural Resources in Canada’s Story

Natural resources have played a big role in Canada’s story. They affected
where people chose to live. For example, the First Nations on Canada’s
northwest coast chose to live where they could fish for salmon.
Why did Europeans first come to Canada? They were searching for
China. Why did they stay? Natural resources. First these visitors harvested
fish off the Atlantic coast. Then they travelled inland for fur. These were
important stages in Canada’s history. In part, the history of the Canadian
people is the history of our natural resources.

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The Importance of Land

The land itself is an important natural resource. It has value because it is the place
where we live. It also has value because of what it provides. First Nations peoples
made use of the water, plants, and animals on the land. Later, people used it to
Honing produce other resources, such as cattle and grain. After Confederation,
thousands of newcomers began arriving in the West. The vast majority
Your Skills wanted one thing: land.
Do you like stories? In this chapter, you will learn how the government of Canada tried
The Skill Check to gain control of this land for newcomers. You’ll learn how the
feature in this government built a railway so immigrants could travel into the West and
chapter shows you farm the land.
how to Read and
Write Historical Natural Resources in Canada in the Twenty-First Century
Fiction. This skill is
important to your
studies because it
will give you an
enjoyable way to
learn about history.
The project at the
end of the chapter
will ask you to
write a story set
in Canada shortly
after Confederation.

Think
▲

1. a) Using the map above, list one important page 7. Speculate on what natural
natural resource for each province. resources they used.
AHEAD b) Extend your list by brainstorming ways 3. Imagine that an out-of-town visitor asks
each resource is used today. what your community is like. How you
c) Which of the resources on the map answer will depend partly on the ways
would have drawn newcomers in the that people use local resources. Name
late 1800s? natural resources people develop in or
2. Which Inuit or First Nations peoples lived near your community. Together, create an
in or near your community at the time of answer for your visitor.
first contact? You can check on the map on

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SKILL CHECK: Read and Write

Historical Fiction
ow can we get a feel for the exciting times in the West after 1867? Historical
H fiction can help us “experience” what it was like. In historical fiction, authors
write about real places and real events, but they make up the details of the story.
They often make up characters as well.
Read the following excerpt. It comes from the historical fiction story White
Jade Tiger. In it, author Julie Lawson shows us what conditions were like building a
railway through the Rockies in the 1880s.
Choose a Topic
A tunnel was being dug into the mountain. Near the roof of the
tunnel, a gang [a work group] of Chinese [men] was already at Identify a period of history that you find
work. On galleried platforms at several different levels, they drilled exciting. You could choose an event
blasting holes, inserted the dynamite, lit the fuses, and ran for from Canadian history, your community
cover. When the explosion settled, a gang armed with pick-axes history, or your family history.
smashed the rock into chunks and removed the debris.
Outside the tunnel, more rock had been drilled and blasted, Research
then broken into fragments to fill up the roadbed. “That’s our Now become an expert on the historical
job,” Keung said, handing Jasmine a shovel. “Load the loose rock period you’re going to write about. What
into a wheelbarrow and dump it into the cuts and hollows. Once
happened? How did people dress? What
the roadbed’s finished, the tracks are laid.”
did they do for fun? Interview people for
Pile after pile of shattered rock had to
facts and details. Explore archives and
be moved. Soon every muscle in
[Jasmine’s] body was screaming. museums online or in your community.
And she’d thought digging the Use your local library. Read historical
Read the White Jade garden was back-breaking work. fiction. Take accurate notes.
Tiger excerpt. What do Bend, lift, bend, lift. Her body
you learn from it was one long, deep groan ... Planning
about opening • Decide on your story’s characters.
the West? Source: Julie Lawson, White Jade Tiger
(Victoria: Beach Holme Publishing, 1993),
• Create a plot to organize the events.
pp. 124–125. • Consider the point of view. Will you
tell it in first person or third person?
Reading Historical Fiction • What tense will you write in?
1. First, read historical fiction to enjoy it.
2. What facts did you learn? Writing and Editing
3. How did the characters feel about • Tell about the events of the period
their experiences? from your character’s point of view.
4. What is the author trying to tell you? • Describe the setting accurately.
• Tell about historical events accurately.
Feeling inspired? Writing your own • Include occasional facts and details.
historical fiction is another way to have • Use historically appropriate dialogue.
fun with history. This is how you do it. • Check your grammar and spelling.

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Securing the Land

Violence was common. Canada would do
A country is not a country without land.
Canada wanted to secure its claim to
the land in the West before the Americans
things differently. The police were intended
to make the land safe for all the expected
newcomers.
could occupy it. You have read that the
government of Canada bought
Focus Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Marking the Border
What role did the Bay Company in 1869. This vast The government could not give land to
North West Mounted region came to be known as the settlers until it knew exactly what land it
Police play in the North-West Territories. Many had. The 49th parallel was the border west
development of Canadians looked forward to the of the Great Lakes. In the early 1870s, with
Western Canada? day when the North-West the help of Métis guides, American and
Territories would be home to British surveyors marked this boundary.
thousands of successful farm families. Surveyors carefully measured the land
First, though, the government had to and marked the border. Every 1.6 kilometres
gain control of the land. That is why it (1 mile), they planted an iron post in the
signed treaties with the First Nations. These ground. About every 5 kilometres (3 miles),
agreements will be discussed in Chapter 12. they built a low mound of earth. The
As you will learn in this section, the markings showed the exact limit of
government also began to mark the Canadian territory.
Canada–US border. Then it sent in a new
police force, the North West Mounted
In the nineteenth century, Canadians
Police (NWMP). In the American West,
measured distance in miles. One mile
homesteaders arrived before the law did.
equals about 1.6 kilometres.

Trouble in Whoop-Up
Country
The Cypress Hills rise up from the flat
prairie in southern Saskatchewan and
Alberta. For centuries, the Cree, Nakoda
[na-KOH-dah], and Siksika [sik-SIK-uh] came
here in winter. They hunted the game
animals. They cut pine trees to make poles
for their lodges and tipis. Later, Métis
hunters and traders also lived in the hills.
During the 1860s, the Cypress Hills
Figure 9.1 A party of surveyors building a boundary mound on the
became known as Whoop-Up Country. The
prairie. It is the summer of 1873. What benefits come from marking
boundaries between countries? area got this name because of whiskey
traders, mainly from the United States.

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These outlaws crossed into Canada to trade West Mounted Police would
liquor for furs and buffalo robes. Selling • show the United States that Canada
liquor was illegal, but no one was around to controlled the territory
enforce the law. • shield the Aboriginal peoples from
Americans also came to Whoop-Up American outlaws
Country to hunt wolves. When buffalo died, • help newcomers adjust to the frontier
wolves would feed on their carcasses. The • keep the peace between First Nations and
wolf hunters, called wolfers, put poison in the newcomers
the carcasses. The wolves would eat the
poisoned meat and die. The wolfers would
A Massacre Spurs on a
then collect the wolf pelts.
Wolves weren’t the only animals to eat
Prime Minister
the poisoned meat. Dogs belonging to the In the United States, the army had killed
local First Nations people also died this way. thousands of First Nations people to get
Some First Nations people got back at the their land. They had forced the rest off the
wolfers by taking their horses. The wolfers best land. Prime Minister Macdonald
and First Nations people did not get along. wanted to avoid such violence in the
Canadian West. He hoped the NWMP would
enforce the law and keep the peace.
Creating a Police Force
Without it, Canadian occupation of the land
The government was worried about the would be difficult.
violent way of life in Whoop-Up Country. On 1 June 1873, an event took place
Prime Minister Macdonald decided that a that showed how much the West needed
new police force was needed. The North law and order. Nakoda people were camped
near Farwell’s and Solomon’s Trading Posts
in the Cypress Hills. A group of American
wolfers thought that the Nakoda had stolen
their horses. They hadn’t, but that didn’t
matter to the wolfers. They ambushed the
Nakoda camp. They murdered as many as
36 men, women, and children before the
rest could escape. The event became known
as the Cypress Hills Massacre.
Macdonald soon heard news of the
massacre. He was outraged. He made it a
priority to get the North West Mounted
Police to the area as soon as possible.

The Great March West

Figure 9.2 Four mounted police officers at Fort Walsh in the 1870s.
Police recruits rushed to Manitoba for
Red was the colour of the British Empire. American Cavalry wore training. The next July, in 1874, 300
blue. In your experience with team sports, how does the colour of a mounted police headed west in a caravan.
uniform help the team? There were ox carts, horses, and wagons.

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This so-called Great March soon turned Calgary also began as a police fort, briefly
into a fiasco. Food supplies ran low. Horses known as Fort Brisebois.
died for lack of water. The
Tech Link expedition even got lost. Local
The Role of the Mounted
To hear the Métis guides had to rescue them.
Finally, the police arrived
Police
“Mounted Police
Waltzes” composed safely. Part of the force went The North West Mounted Police had one
by an NWMP officer south. Here, they established Fort major task: to make life in the territory
in the West, open Macleod, west of present-day peaceful. The officers made sure that
Chapter 9 on your Lethbridge, and Fort Walsh, in the people obeyed the law.
Voices and Visions Cypress Hills. Another group went The mounted police were few, but they
CD-ROM. north to Fort Edmonton, where performed many tasks.
they built another outpost. • They cleared out the whiskey traders.
• They arrested lawbreakers of all types
and put them on trial.
• They delivered the mail.
• They fought grass fires and assisted the
new farmers.
• They fought in the second Métis Uprising
of 1885.
Figure 9.3 Fort Walsh, the NWMP post built in the
Cypress Hills in 1875. Over the next few years, the
NWMP erected a string of posts between Manitoba
and the Rocky Mountains. Why would a string of
posts be required? How would First Nations feel on
seeing the forts going up?

In 1919, there was a very

big strike in Winnipeg.
Canada needed a national
force, so the NWMP
absorbed the Dominion
Police from Eastern Canada.
It became the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP). Today, the RCMP
deals with problems such
as illegal drugs, counterfeit
money, and organized
crime. It provides policing
services for towns, rural Figure 9.4 A charge in the Musical Ride. This RCMP spectacle
dates back to the days of the NWMP. Officers practised riding in
areas, and Aboriginal
regular drills. Why would the RCMP perform for the public?
communities.

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CASE Tagging Along on the Great March

STUDY
Can journalists avoid being biased when the government pays their way?
Colonel G.A. French of the NWMP wanted people to know about the
Great March West. So, he invited Henri Julien to come along. Julien was a
Montréal artist with the newspaper Canada Illustrated News. (He painted The
Battle of Châteauguay on page 133.) The government would pay for all expenses.
Julien accepted, although he didn’t really know what he was getting into.
You can see this in the following excerpt from his diary:

Respond July 10th It was in the neighbourhood of the Grande Coulee that we
The government
first [met] the hostility of the mosquitoes.
paid all of Julien’s As soon as twilight deepens, they make their appearance on the
expenses. How horizon, in the shape of a cloud, which goes on increasing in density
might this have as it approaches to the encounter. At first, a faint hum is heard in
affected how the distance, then it swells into a roar as it comes nearer. The attack
Julien viewed is simply dreadful. Your eyes, your nose, your ears are invaded.
and interpreted
If you open your mouth to curse at them, they troop into it ....
what he saw?
And not one or a dozen, but millions at a time ....
Source: Henri Julien’s diary, http://www.ourheritage.net/julien_pages/Julien2.html.

Julien made many illustrations about what

he saw. These were printed in his newspaper
and made him famous. Look at the drawing on
this page. Julien is presenting his opinion. What
facts or arguments does Julien present to back
up his opinion? What stereotypes does he use?

Develop Your Skill

Draw on your own experience to better understand
what the NWMP went through on the Great March.
You have probably had a day when the mosquitoes
wouldn’t leave you alone. Jot down the facts of
your experience: who, what, where, when, and
why. Now write a short piece of historical fiction.
Just make up a character who might have been
with you on that day. Then write a funny scene as
he or she fights off the mosquitoes.

Figure 9.5 An 1876 drawing by Henri Julien. He is

comparing the American West (top) with the Canadian West.
How does he view each approach? How might these
drawings be different if an American had drawn them?

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ography
BiBiography
Jerry Potts (1840–1896)
The NWMP could not do their job the Kainai as a protector of the
alone. They needed the help of local people. He was also a skilled hunter
guides and interpreters. One of these and trapper.
was Jerry Potts. Potts was invaluable to the
Potts’s mother, Naamopia, was NWMP. He seemed to know every
a Kainai [KY-ny] woman. His father trail and coulee (deep, dry ravine) in
was a Scottish trader who died when the territory. He also gave excellent
Potts was just a baby. Potts’s Kainai advice about the Plains First Nations.
name was Ky-yo-kosi, meaning He took part in talks that led to the
“Bear Child.” He grew up partly with signing of treaties. Many scouts
his mother’s people and partly at a whom he trained went on to have
trading post in Montana. He worked long careers with the force. Potts
as a guide and interpreter. He helped worked for the NWMP all his life.

VOICES
People did not always agree about the North West Mounted Police.

“ The NWMP came out to keep the Indians under

control so they wouldn’t bother the White
people … so they had a whole bunch of soldiers
“ If the police had not come to the country, where
would we all be now? Bad men and whiskey
were killing us so fast that very few, indeed,
present when they signed the treaty—some would have been left today. The police have
people were scared.
”
—Helen Meguinis, a Tsuu T’ina [tsoo-TIN-uh] elder
Source: Treaty 7 Elders et al., The True Spirit and Original Intent of
protected us as the feathers of the bird protect it
from the frosts of winter.
”
—Isapo-Muxika (Crowfoot), Siksika chief
Treaty 7 (Montréal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1996), p. 135. Source: Alexander Morris, The Treaties of Canada with the Indians
(Toronto, 1880; reprinted Toronto: Coles Publishing Co., 1971), p. 272.

“ The Indians welcomed our residence among them, and looked upon us as their
friends and deliverers from the many evils they had suffered at the hands of
unprincipled white men.
” —Cecil Denny, one of the first police officers in the West
Source: Cecil Denny, The Law Marches West (Toronto: JM Dent, 1939), p. 72.
▲

Think It 1. Imagine you work for the NWMP in 1874. to develop Western Canada. Alternatively,
Create a poster calling for recruits for the write a speech for a recruitment officer.
Through force. What qualities make a good recruit? 2. Find out more about Canada’s mounted
What languages should a recruit speak? In police by finding and reading a piece of
your poster, describe the work the force is historical fiction featuring a NWMP officer.
doing in the West. Show how it is helping Share it with a classmate.

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Building the Iron Road

P rime Minister Macdonald wanted a
new policy for Canada. It was called
the National Policy.
Finding a Route
In the 1870s, work began on the
transcontinental railway. By building it,
Canada hoped to bring British Columbia
Focus A Three-Pronged into Confederation and keep the Americans
How did building out. Building the railway was a monumental
the Canadian Pacific
Policy
task. Canada is a huge country, the second
Railway affect the By 1878, the government had largest in the world (by land area). The
growth of Canada? secured the land in the West. To railway had to cross thousands of
use the land resource effectively, kilometres of forested wilderness and
though, Canada needed three things: prairie grassland. Swamps had to be filled.
• a transportation system to reach the Rock had to be blasted out of the way.
resource Bridges had to be built across raging rivers.
• a population to harvest the resource Before a railway could be built,
• an economy to nurture the new resource surveyors had to find the best route.
industry Surveyors first looked at a northerly route.
The National Policy was made to It would go northwest from Winnipeg to
achieve these three things. It was like three Edmonton. Then it would cross the Rockies
policies in one: through the Yellowhead Pass. In the end, the
• a transportation policy—to build a route ran farther south. It crossed the prairie
The National railway across the continent to Calgary. Then it crossed the Rockies
Policy had such a • an immigration policy—to through the Kicking Horse Pass. The
big influence on encourage farmers to populate southern route had several advantages.
Canada that we Western Canada • The land was flatter and had fewer trees.
cover its three • an economic policy—to build a This made it easier to build the railroad.
parts in the next strong national economy for • Coal deposits near Lethbridge, Alberta,
three sections. Canadians could provide fuel for the steam engines.
In this section, you will learn • The route was close to the border, so
more about the first part of the National most people would take the Canadian
Policy: building the railway. railway, not the American one.

VOICES
On 7 March 1878, Prime Minister Macdonald proposed his National Policy in the House
of Commons. How did he think it would benefit Canada?

“ The welfare of Canada requires the adoption of a National Policy, which …

will benefit and foster the agricultural, the mining, the manufacturing and
other interests in the Dominion; that such a policy will retain in Canada
thousands of our fellow countrymen now forced to leave in search of jobs
denied them at home, will restore prosperity to our struggling industries …
[and] will encourage and develop trade between provinces.
”
Source: House of Commons debates, 7 March 1878, pp. 858–859.

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• In the south, the railway company government provided grants. The work
controlled most of the land and would crews faced different challenges in each
keep the profits from its sale. section of the country. On average, one
• Scientists reported that the southern kilometre of track cost half a million dollars.
prairies were well suited for farming. (That’s in nineteenth-century dollars!)
(They were wrong, but no one knew that.) During the heat of summer,
You can see both routes on the map below. mosquitoes and flies buzzed around the
workers’ heads. In the winter, bitter cold
Building the Line sliced through their clothes. Work crews
lived together in dark, smoky bunkhouses.
A private company built the railway in
They slept in piles of hay infested with fleas
stages. It raised money from investors. The
and rats. Their meals were salt pork, corned
beef, molasses, beans, and tea.

Impact of the Railway

The railway had a huge impact on the
development of Canada. Over time it
British Columbia brought many newcomers. They changed
• Some workers laid track from the face of the prairies forever.
Vancouver into the The Prairies
mountains. Others worked • Working night and day, crews
from the Calgary foothills in laid up to 10 kilometres of
the east. track a day.
• The line ran along steep • Supplies were brought
canyon walls, across high forward each day along the
passes, and through dark newly laid track.
tunnels. • Out ahead, workers built
• Hundreds of workers died bridges across rivers and
in rock slides, falls, and gullies.
explosions.

Northern Ontario
• Workers blasted through
the solid rock of the
Canadian Shield.
• They filled in soggy muskeg.
• Sometimes the rails simply
sank into the mud.

Building the CPR, 1880 to 1885

Figure 9.6 The route followed by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) across Canada. The grey dashed line
shows the rejected northerly route. Towns tended to spring up where the railway passed. Towns located far
from the track faded away. Speculate on why communities thrived close to the railway.

203
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entity
IdIdentity
Canada’s First Chinese Immigrants
Did Canada mistreat some of its first citizens? Faced with a shortage of workers,
the CPR employed about 17 000 Chinese workers to help build the
Tech Link railway in the mountains between 1881 and 1885. The work here was
To find out more so hard and so dangerous that no one else would do it.
about the experiences
of the Chinese The Conditions
workers, open
Chinese labourers were paid about $1.50 per day. This was about half
Chapter 9 on your
of what other workers received. They had to pay $4 per week for room
Voices and Visions
and board. Even so, the tents were flimsy and the food was poor. Most
CD-ROM.
Chinese were not prepared for the bitterly cold conditions.
The work assigned to the Chinese was brutal. They were the
earth movers. Hanging from ropes, they chipped away at the rock faces
Respond with chisels and hammers. They laid the dynamite to blast a path
How did the through the rock. At least 700 of these workers died. They were
Chinese railway crushed in landslides, blown up by explosives, and lost in river torrents
workers contribute when bridges collapsed. Many simply died of scurvy or other diseases
to Canada?
in the work camps.
How was what
they did an act of Mary Chan’s grandfather came to Canada in 1879 on a sailing
citizenship? How ship. She recalls his work on the railway:
were they treated?
Why do you think Many people died during the construction of that railroad. They lived in
they were treated tents along the track, and it was cold. Some people got arthritis. They
this way? were attacked by mosquitoes and blackflies, and some people eventually
went blind. And then, after it was finished, there was no other work.
Source: Sound Heritage (Victoria: Provincial Archives
of British Columbia), vol. VIII, nos. 1–2,
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/time/galler05/frames/chinese.htm.

The Accomplishment
As John A. Macdonald said, “Without the Chinese,
there would be no railway.” Without them, the
railway would have been too expensive. Without the
railway, Canada could not have been connected
from west to east. Rock by rock, the Chinese
workers shouldered their way through the Rocky
Mountains. They earned an honourable place in
Figure 9.7 James Pon in front of the Chinese Canada’s history. Many Chinese railway workers
Railway Workers Monument, which he lobbied
stayed and made Canada their home.
to erect. It was made in 1989. Why would Pon
want to immortalize the actions of people who
lived so long ago? What would it have to do
with citizenship?

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ography
BiBiography
Father Albert Lacombe (1827–1916)
Father Albert Lacombe is the most famous
Catholic missionary in Alberta’s history. A
Canadien, whose great-great-grandfather was
Anishinabe, [a-nih-shih-NAH-bee] he devoted
himself to helping the Métis, the Canadiens, and
the First Nations in the west. The Cree gave
Lacombe the name Kamiyoatchakwêt, “the
noble soul.” The Siksika called him
Aahsosskitsipahpiwa, “the good heart.”
CPR employees began surveying the route
of the CPR through the Siksika reserve. The
Siksika got angry. Lacombe convinced Chief
Isapo-Muxika (Crowfoot) to stop a dangerous
confrontation and allow the track on the
reserve. To thank him, the CPR made Lacombe
president of the company for an hour and gave
him a lifetime pass on the railway.
Figure 9.8 Crowfoot, Father Albert
Lacombe, and Three Bulls, 1886.

Tech Link
Figure 9.9 A party of officials watching To see the first Figure 9.10 A group of workers staging
Donald Smith, head of the CPR. Smith locomotive to travel their own ceremony in Craigellachie. Why
hammers in the last spike at Craigellachie, across the continent aren’t there any Chinese labourers in this
BC. Think about how these officials must photo? Speculate on what these workers
in one trip, open
have felt about getting the railway finished. thought about getting the railway finished.
Chapter 9 on your
Voices and Visions
CD-ROM.

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VOICES
What does each of these opinions say about the purpose or impact of the railway?

“ Like a vision, I could see it driving my poor

Indians before it, and spreading out behind it “ Next summer, or at the latest next fall, the
railway will be close to us, the whites will fill
the farms, the towns, and cities …. No one who the country and they will dictate to us as they
has not lived in the West since the Old-Times please. It is useless to dream that we can
can realize what is due to that road—that CPR.
It was magic.
” —Albert Lacombe, missionary
frighten them; that time has passed.
”
—Pitikwahanapiwiyin (Poundmaker), Cree chief,
speaking to his people in 1882
Source: Pierre Berton, The Great Railway: Illustrated
Source: Katharine Hughes, Father Lacombe: The Black-Robe
(Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1972), pp. 224, 226.
Voyageur (Toronto: William Briggs, 1914), p. 273.

“ The Canadian Pacific was built for the purpose

of making money for the shareholders and for
“ If [Macdonald] had not found ways and means
of constructing the railway when he did, Canada
no other purpose under the sun.
”
—William Cornelius Van Horne
would almost certainly not extend today from
sea to sea.
” —W. Kaye Lamb, historian
Source: W. Kaye Lamb, History of the Canadian Source: W. Kaye Lamb, History of the Canadian
Pacific Railway (Toronto: Macmillan, 1977), p. 1. Pacific Railway (Toronto: Macmillan, 1977), p. 436.

Opinions about the Railway

• A British Columbian: The railway brought us into • A Resident of the Prairies: It’s not fair: the
Confederation! railway company received so much land for free
• A CPR Shareholder: Finally we can make some while we have to struggle.
money from the land we got for making the railway. • A Prairie Farmer: The CPR charges us far too much
• An Ontario Farmer: Now we can move west. We to ship our crops. And the government won’t let
will grow crops and move them by rail to market. any other railway build lines into Western Canada.
• A Manager for a Manufacturer in the East: Now Without competition, the CPR can charge whatever
we’ll have a way to bring our products west. it likes!
• A BC Logger: We’ll sell more lumber. They need • A Cree: It is the railway that is bringing the flood
lumber to build houses in the new prairie towns. of newcomers into our territories. If only it had
• A Prairie Miner: Trains need coal. We’ll have jobs! never been built!

Figure 9.11 Opinions about the railway. Use each opinion to identify a way the railway affected the person’s life.
▲

Think It 1. Divide your class into three groups. d) As a class, vote to decide which survey
Imagine that each group is a survey party team faces the greatest challenge.
Through hired to find a route through one of three 2. Imagine you are Sandford Fleming, Chief
sections of the railway: Northern Ontario, Engineer of the Intercolonial Railway. You
the prairies, or BC. need to convince the prime minister to
a) Find out any problems that the railway give you more money for construction.
will face building along your route. Write a letter to him, or give a speech to
Check the text as well as an atlas. Cabinet. Make a list of arguments and
b) In point form, draw up a report. facts you will use. Why are costs so high?
c) Present your findings to the class. What benefits will the railway bring?

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Farming the Frontier

• Surveyors divided the land up into large
Y ou will recall that the second part of
the National Policy called for
immigration. The government needed to
chunks. These were called townships.
• Each township was divided into
36 squares called sections.
convince people to come and farm the land.
• Each section was divided into four
As you will learn in this
Focus section, it succeeded to a certain
quarter sections. Each quarter section
What role did was 64 hectares (160 acres).
degree. New farming communities
agriculture play in The surveyors drove iron stakes into the
appeared. They became the
the growth of ground to mark off each quarter section.
backbone of a new Canadian West.
Western Canada? The whole of the North-West Territories was
You will learn about the earliest
measured in this way. The surveyors did not
immigrant groups. These people
follow any of the established farm borders,
arrived in the 1870s and 1880s.
which were patterned like farms in the
seigneurial system.
Land Policy in the West The government set aside two sections
Before the new farmers came, the in each township. These were later sold to
government surveyed the land. pay for schools. Other sections belonged to
the Hudson’s Bay Company, left over from

Figure 9.12 Settler’s Home, 1900, by Edward

Roper. During the 1880s, the artist visited
Manitoba. That’s when he painted this scene at
Carberry, Assiniboia [uh-sih-nih-BOY-uh]. What in
the painting makes homesteading seem pleasant?
How could an artist change things to make it seem
unpleasant? Can we trust paintings to “tell the
truth”?

Figure 9.13 A diagram showing how the land was

surveyed in the North-West Territories. Calculate
the area of a township, section, and quarter
section. Why was it important to survey the land
before the newcomers arrived?

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the sale of Rupert’s Land. Still other In 1872, the government passed the
sections went to the CPR to pay for building Dominion Lands Act. It said that any head
the railway. The rest were open for new of a family could apply for land. So could
arrivals. any male at least 21 years old. They each
received a quarter section of land called a
homestead. It cost only $10. After 1882,
women could apply, too.
Each applicant had to promise three
things: to live on the land for at least six
months of the year, to build a house, and to
start farming. After three years, the
homesteader got to keep the land if he or
she had fulfilled these terms.

A Rough Life
The life of a homesteading family was
difficult. Most of the new arrivals were poor.
They could not buy seed, farm tools,
livestock, or the materials to build houses
Figure 9.14 The interior of a Canadian Pacific Railway car drawn by
and barns. Nature often worked against
Melton Prior in 1888. Between 1867 and 1899, 1.5 million
immigrants came to Canada. Virtually all of them went west on rail them. Crops could be ruined by
cars like this. What do you think the people in this illustration grasshoppers, lack of rain, early frost, or
might be thinking? hail. Many newcomers gave up in disgust.

VOICES
Alexander Kindred had a homestead. It was in the Qu’Appelle Valley,
near Moffat, Saskatchewan. He describes a series of bad farming years:

Respond
“ In 1886 we had 80 acres [32 hectares] under crop. Not a drop of rain fell
from the time it went in until it was harvested. I sowed 124 bushels and Compare this account
threshed 54. In 1888 we began to think we could not grow wheat in this with the painting by
country. I had now 120 to 125 acres under cultivation. We put in 25 Edward Roper on the
acres of wheat, 10 to 15 acres of oats, and let the rest go back into previous page. Which
image of the West do
prairie. That year we got 35 bushels [of wheat] to the acre! So we went
you think the
to work and ploughed up again. The next year wheat headed out two government wanted
inches high. Not a drop of rain fell that whole season until fall. [In 1890] to show potential
we had wheat standing to the chin but on the 8th July a hailstorm immigrants? Why?
destroyed absolutely everything.
”
Source: Gerald Friesen, The Canadian Prairies: A History
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984), p. 222.

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Farming has always been a

hard life in Canada. Every
season, farmers face
threats to their livelihood.
For example, in 2003,
inspectors discovered a
sick cow. It was infected
with Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy (BSE), or
mad cow disease. The
United States stopped all
imports of older cattle from
Figure 9.15 Farm hands at work on a modern Alberta
Canada. Many farmers
farm. When disasters strike today, the government usually
couldn’t sell their herds. provides some help to farmers. What happened in the past?
They lost everything.

The First Newcomers: the 1870s, many Ontarians moved to Manitoba.

It even got the nickname “New Ontario.”
From Ontario Land was scarce in Québec as well. But
The government was eager to attract no government agents tried to convince
newcomers to the North-West Territories, so Canadiens to move West. Instead, the
it put on a campaign. It appointed agents to Canadiens travelled to New England for jobs.
“sell” the West.
They began close to home. The earliest The Arrival of the
newcomers came from Ontario. That province Mennonites
had many people. Farmland was scarce there,
whereas land in the West was plentiful. During Mennonites do not believe in fighting wars.
The czar of Russia wanted them to serve in
the army. What would they do?
A Canadian immigration agent visited
Russia. He invited the Mennonites to move
to Canada. They would be able to practise
their religion. They would be able to farm
collectively (all together on a big farm).
The first group took up land southeast
of Winnipeg. In all, about 7000 Mennonites
came. They brought a heavy plough that
was effective at breaking the prairie sod.
They proved that the Canadian prairie could
Figure 9.16 The steamboat International. This boat brought the be farmed with the proper tools. They
first group of Mennonites to Manitoba in 1874. What did the started about 100 communities in the West.
Canadian West offer these new arrivals?

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From Iceland to Canada Many refugees from the disaster fled to

Canada. The government gave them nearly
Another early group of immigrant farmers 800 square kilometres of land. They would
came from Iceland. Iceland is an island in have the freedom to speak their language
the North Atlantic Ocean. In March 1875, and keep their customs. They would be able
the Askja volcano in Iceland erupted. The to make their own laws.
falling volcanic ash poisoned the land. It The first party of 235 arrived in 1875.
killed the cattle. They travelled to the shores of Lake
Winnipeg. They called their lands New
Iceland. Their main community was Gimli,
which means “paradise.”
New Iceland was no paradise for the
newcomers. The climate was harsh. Floods
forced colonists off their land. Some people
starved to death. Others died in a horrible
smallpox epidemic. Many people left, but
the rest held on. In 1881, Manitoba
absorbed New Iceland. Some of those who
left made their way to Alberta. They settled
near Red Deer, in a community called
Markerville.
Figure 9.17 The Landing, painted by Arni Sigurdsson in 1950. It
shows the Icelandic immigrants landing at Willow Point, Manitoba,
in 1875. They had just finished a frightening and dangerous journey
over Lake Winnipeg in wooden boats called scows. What mood
does the painting create? How did the artist create that mood?

Canada, 1873

Canada, 1882

Figure 9.18 Two maps showing Canada in 1873 (left)

and 1882 (right). List the changes that took place
between those years. How does the 1882 map compare
with a map of Canada today?

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CASE Farming and the First Nations

STUDY
Some First Nations were farmers, too. Did they have a fair chance to succeed?
When the buffalo began to disappear, many First Nations people wanted to
farm. They were not strangers to farming. At Red River, the Anishinabe had
farms. Farther west, some Nakoda and Cree farmed.
When the First Nations signed treaties, the government agreed to help
them become farmers. The treaties guaranteed the First Nations land. The First
Nations would receive farm animals, tools, and seed. In some cases, these
obligations were fulfilled. First Nations welcomed machinery that would help
them farm. They appreciated learning farming skills, such as making
Respond butter. However, many obligations went unfulfilled.
The government • Most land assigned to First Nations was not good for farming.
let the Mennonites
• Much of the equipment they were owed did not appear.
farm collectively. It
allowed the • Instructors were supposed to teach farming skills, but few
Icelanders to keep instructors arrived.
their own laws. It • First Nations farmers were often prevented from buying farm
did not allow the machinery.
First Nations to • Those who did farm
keep their own
successfully had a hard
laws or farm
collectively. Why
time selling their crops.
did it not treat all Many First Nations farmers
citizens equally? gave up.

Figure 9.19 A pass for Big Prairie Head. On it, a government

representative gives him permission to leave the Sarcee (Tsuu
T’ina) Indian Reserve. What did Big Prairie Head get permission
to do? First Nations people on some reserves needed signed
passes like this to leave their reserve lands. How would this
system make it easier or harder to sell produce?
▲

Think It 1. Pretend you’re going to write a piece of b) Using the text and pictures in this
historical fiction about an early immigrant section, make notes about this group.
Through group. In this activity, you will do just three c) Speculate on what these people were
preparation steps. thinking about when they arrived.
a) First, gather reasons why the three 2. a) The population grew in Western Canada
groups of newcomers described in this in the late nineteenth century. By how
section moved to the West. Use a much did it grow? (Hint: See page 208.)
graphic organizer to collect your b) Did plentiful, inexpensive land help
information. Alternatively, for each populate Western Canada? Was it a key
group, draw a picture to illustrate one factor? Support your opinion with facts
reason for moving. Now choose one and arguments.
group.

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AND VISIONS A Story of Canada

Helping Industry
T he third part of the National Policy
was to build a strong economy.
Farming in the West was going to be crucial
The Problem of
Competition
to the Canadian economy. So was As you have learned, the colonies joined
manufacturing in the East. The Confederation for many reasons. One of the
Focus government wanted to build reasons was to increase trade with one
How did the farming and other industries. This another. Creating the railway was one way
National Policy would create jobs for Canadians. of making this trade possible.
strengthen the In this section, you will learn Canadian manufacturers in the East
Canadian economy? how the government tried to boost faced a huge problem, though. American
the economy. It used tariffs with businesses could produce goods in vast
some success. You will see that Canadians quantities. This kept their unit costs low. So,
had mixed opinions about tariffs. American goods sold at a lower price than
Canadian goods. Canadian producers
worried that Canadians would buy the less
expensive US goods. They were right.

When you see a complicated diagram, first look it

over. Then read the separate parts. You might find it The Solution: Protective
helpful to draw your own version of the diagram. Tariffs
For the third part of his National Policy,
The Scenario: Macdonald put a tariff on goods coming
• The Massey Company is a Canadian company. It makes a plough that into Canada. A protective tariff is a tax
it sells for $110.
• John Deere is an American company. It sells a plough for $100. placed on a product crossing the border.
• The Canadian government puts a tariff of $20 on the imported plough. This tax adds to the cost of the product.
The product becomes more expensive.
Macdonald knew that the tariff would make
American goods more expensive than
Canadian goods. Then Canadians would
buy the goods made in Canada.

Figure 9.20 A diagram showing how a protective

tariff works. How much more expensive is the
American plough after the tariff? How would you
feel about the tariff if you worked in a Canadian
factory? If you were a Canadian farmer, which
plough would you buy? How would you feel about
the tariff? Explain your conclusions.

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In Favour of the Tariff In Opposition to the Tariff

• New manufacturing industries created jobs. • Canadians paid more for many goods. The tariff
• Adding manufacturing made Canada’s economy made them more expensive.
more diverse. • Farmers paid more for their tools and equipment.
• Canada’s industries were young. They needed Nonetheless, they could only earn what buyers
more help so they could grow. were willing to pay.
• The high tariff kept foreign products out. People • Most industry was in Ontario and Québec.
bought Canadian products instead. Westerners and Maritimers had few industries.
• The tariff brought in a lot of money. It paid for They had to pay higher costs even though they got
programs that people wanted. no benefits.

Figure 9.21 Imagine a meeting with an Ontario plough maker, a Western farmer, a worker from a Montréal clothing factory,
and a Halifax fisher. What would each person think about the tariff? Which of the above arguments would each person use?

A diverse economy has many types of

industry. If one industry is suffering, the
others can keep the country healthy.

Slow but Steady Progress

The changes in the North-West Territories
in the late nineteenth century were remarkable.
New arrivals from Europe and Eastern Canada
were farming the land. Grain began to replace furs
as the region’s chief export. Ploughed fields
covered the prairies where countless buffalo used
to roam. The railway replaced the canoe and the
Red River cart. Trading posts changed into bustling
business centres for farms.
The First Nations and Métis faced many
problems. The government neglected them. Many
newcomers were unfriendly. Nonetheless, they did
their best to adapt to the changes in their land.
By 1891, Manitoba and the North-West
Territories had a population of 281 000. This was
more than double what it
Tech Link had been 10 years earlier.
To compare this 1891 (This includes 30 000
poster about free First Nations people.) It
Figure 9.22 A poster dating from 1891. It gives one point trade with another was not quite the rapid
of view about the impact of the National Policy. Compare
from that year, open growth that the
the two panels of the poster. What does it say about life
with and without the National Policy? What is the main Chapter 9 on your government had hoped
message of the poster? Would a manufacturer agree with Voices and Visions for. Nonetheless, it was a
this poster? What about a Western farmer? CD-ROM. start.

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The National Policy did not help Aboriginal Aboriginal women draw on their heritage
industries or farmers. Nonetheless, many to help them reach goals in the Canadian
Aboriginal businesses have done well over economy and in their personal lives. Read
the years. Dolly Watts is just one of more what Watts says about this important human
than 27 000 Aboriginal people who ran their resource.
own businesses in Canada in 2005. She is a
Do Aboriginal women want to become
member of the Gitksan [git-KSAHN] First
warriors? Of course. Not for war, but as
Nation from northern British Columbia. In
trail blazers for self and others. They're
1995, she opened the Liliget Feast House in
proving to be courageous, willing to take
Vancouver, BC. It brings in more than
risks, empowered through improved self-
$400 000 every year.
esteem in the face of competitive forces
People travel from as far away as Germany
all around. Armed with knowledge and
and Japan to taste her alder-grilled salmon,
skills, standing beside our helpers
buffalo smokies, venison strips, oysters,
(resources) and our spirit helpers. I can
duck breast with wild-berry sauce, mussels,
say that many of us have become
and steamed fiddleheads. Watts’s Aboriginal
warriors, not for militancy, but for
staff cook these traditional foods over an
personal challenges.
alderwood grill. This makes the food taste
just as Watts remembers it from her Source: “Dolly Watts: Woman Warrior,” http://www.first
childhood. nationsdrum.com/biography/spring99_watts.htm.
▲

Think It 1. The National Policy had three parts: b) Was the National Policy good for
transportation, immigration, and Canada?
Through protective tariffs. The government hoped • State your opinion on this question.
that each part would have certain effects. • Collect facts and arguments to
List what these were. Use the skill of support your opinion.
distinguishing cause and effect that you • Use your written list of facts and
practised in Chapter 4 (see page 76). arguments in a class discussion.
2. a) The National Policy had an impact 3. How many Aboriginal people in Canada
on citizens all across Canada. It is run their own businesses? Some of them
important to think about different got started with the help of band council
perspectives. Form small groups. Each grants or loans. How is this the same
member of your group should explain or different from the National Policy’s
the impact on one of these groups: assistance to new immigrants in the
• Chinese railway workers nineteenth century?
• Icelandic immigrant farmers 4. How did Canada secure the West and
• Siksika buffalo hunters prepare for a massive influx of immigrants?
• factory workers in Ontario
Think of other perspectives you could
add to your group discussion.

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▲
Chapter 9 PROJECT You Be the Author

I n this chapter project, you have the chance

to write a historical fiction story. While
studying Canadian history, you have learned
places featured in this chapter. Your story should
be at least 500 words long. Use Skill Check: Read
and Write Historical Fiction on page 196 to guide
about events and individuals that helped mould you through the process.
our country. You’ve seen the great dramas that
built the railroad and brought law and order. Revising
You’ve seen the lives of people turned upside
down as they travelled to the West to start a new When revising your writing, ask these questions:
life. These are the kinds of events and people • Did I hook the reader with a strong opening?
that inspire authors to write historical fiction. • Did I make my characters believable?
• Did I choose words that made my writing
interesting?
Focus
• Did I give the reader a clear picture of the
Scan through the chapter, looking at headings setting and the historical events?
and pictures. What part of the chapter do you • Did I hold my reader’s attention with a strong
find most exciting? Does a particular event plot?
intrigue you? Choose an event that raises
difficult issues. Imagine what some of the people
Presenting
of that time period must have been
experiencing. This is your starting point. After you finish writing your story, publish and
present it. Share your story with other students
Planning, Drafting, and in the class. Describe what you found most
difficult and most interesting about writing
Writing historical fiction.
As an author, you should develop an authentic 1. What historical events did the other students
but original plot. Set your story in the time and write about? What did you learn from their
stories?
2. Discuss how historical fiction
can help form a country’s
identity.

Figure 9.23 As you progress through

your years of schooling, you will have
many chances to discuss the process of
writing. How is writing historical fiction
different from writing other kinds of
fiction? How did writing historical fiction
help you understand history?

215