Ranching and Homesteads

Alberta experienced a rapid influx of settlers in the early 1900s who came to ranch and farm the land, setting the foundations of the agriculture industry in the province.

The first herd of breeding cattle was brought into southern Alberta in 1873 by Methodist Missionary John McDougall and his brother, David. 11 cows and one bull were to provide the foundation for a ranching business that would finance their new mission at Morleyville on the Bow River. Kenneth McKenzie brought up a larger herd from Montana the following year.

Increasing markets in Eastern Canada and Britain gave the Canadian Government reason to endorse larger-scale ranching in the west. Ranching would be beneficial to the Aboriginal Peoples, whose livelihood had been destroyed with the demise of the buffalo herds, and it would also provide added impetus for the building of the Canadian Pacific Railroad.

In 1881, regulations were amended to allow the leasing of large tracts of land for the purpose of ranching. By 1882, 9,000 head of cattle grazed on the land of the Northwest Territories, and the applications for leases covered four million acres between the Bow River and the national boundary alone.

Until 1900 the Canadian West had remained largely under-populated, and so the federal government began an intensive settlement program offering cheap land and social and religious freedom. At the turn of the century, a homesteading entry cost $10 for a 160 acre piece of land, and title to that property could be obtained after three years -- provided that settlers lived on the land at least six months out of each of their first three years in Canada, that they cultivated at least 40 acres of land on their homestead, and built a house on their property. If the initial 160 acres was not sufficient, adjoining quarters could be purchased at a rate of $3 per acre.

The western settlement campaign was so successful that by 1914, nearly one in every four Canadians was residing in the West, many in the new province of Alberta. There were Mennonites who came from Russia via the Netherlands, Scandinavians who came via the United States, Ukrainians, Germans, Americans, Polish, British, Dutch, and many others. There were many reasons for leaving their homelands – limited prospects, religious or political persecution, even lack of farmland or employment. Many came with hopes of building a better life for their families in a land that promised prosperity and religious and political freedom.

Most homes were crudely constructed out of self-cut logs. Grain farming quickly became the foundation of the new settlers to western Canada, but not without difficulties. Settlers had to clear the land in order to begin sowing their crops, in many cases using only awkwardly fashioned implements and what little they had brought with them from their homelands.