A DECADE OF DECISION. 1900-1910

Illustrated History of
Western Canadian Agriculture
Copyright 1980 Western Producer Prairie Books
185 pages,
ISBN 0-88833-059-6 bd.
ISBN 0-88833-068-5 pa.

Having sold his beef, most of it to the North West Mounted Police at seventy-five cents a pound - and hides for dog feed at fifty cents a pound - Henry began the long walk of some 500 miles back to Skagway. He reached Calgary in February, to find Pat Burns assembling another herd for the profitable northern trade. This next trip for Henry was quite different; being a winter trip, he took sleighs on which to carry supplies, equipment, and feed for the cattle. It was a hard journey through the deep snows but with the big steers hauling the sleighs, Henry reached the destination, this time Atlin, with all his cattle charges. Of the animals, he said: "They were just common critters but they were as valuable as champions when we got them to Atlin."

A few other western Canadian cattlemen took herds over the forbidding northern trails from Skagway at the time of the gold rush madness, among them: Ed Fearon of Maple Creek; the Tuxfords and their brother-in-law, James Thomson, of Moose Jaw; Burchill and Howie of Brandon, and F. O. Sissons of Medicine Hat. Norman Lee of Hanceville, deep in the British Columbia interior, attempted a drive directly overland from his ranch but after driving for four months encountered misfortune and lost the beef and his months of work. But with either success or failure, the courage and fiber of the men who attempted such drives deserved the highest praise of those who attempt to capture the story of those years in western agriculture. Billy Henry, the last of the noble band, died at High River in 1972, age 105 years.

Calgary's annual Bull Sale which became a rangeland classic, had its beginning at the same point in agricultural history, 1901. Presented under the auspices of the Territorial Pure Bred Cattle Breeders' Association, sixty-four cattle were offered by auction at the Frontier Stable. As an additional inducement to buy and use purebred bulls, the department of agriculture and the CPR were offering purchasers free delivery to any railroad station in the Northwest. It was still less than enough to induce extravagance on the part of buyers; the highest price of the sale was $250 and the average for purebred bulls was $85.17.

Planting trees was not like driving cattle over sub-Arctic trails but it was nevertheless an important feature of the decade. Moreover, nothing symbolized the new spirit of faith so well as the federal government's tree-planting policy which took form under Norman Ross who was working out of Indian Head at that time. William Saunders, who is remembered as the author of Canada's Experimental Farm system, was the first with a resolve to do something about the treelessness of the western prairies. First he would work to overcome the view that trees could never be grown successfully on prairie farms and then initiate a tree distribution from the experimental farms to private farms.

Ross, a Scot with an abiding love for trees and Shorthorn cattle, came to Indian Head in 1901 as the very man to carry out the Saunders ideas. In the next year, he was able to furnish seedling trees for 421 western farmers and then he made a request for a permanent tree nursery. The government responded with a quarter section of raw land south of Indian Head. The ground was broken and cultivated in the next year and became the principal source of the 400 million young trees distributed to change the face of the farming country in the next. seventy-five years. Four hundred million trees planted three feet apart would have provided a single row long enough to encircle the earth eight times, or an eight-row belt to go all the way around the world once. In more practical terms it meant that every farmer had an opportunity to plant a shelterbelt or windbreak and many did, to enhance their own property and enrich the community.

That Decade of Decision did not see the first efforts in western farm organization but it did see some of the best and most lasting, notably in late 1901. Earlier attempts were made to bring western farmers together but not with much success. The American farm organization known as the Grange had a short existence in Manitoba, then the Manitoba and Northwest Farmers' Union which was started in 1883, the Farmers' Alliance promoted about 1891, the Patrons of Industry about the same time, and then the Grain Growers' Association of the Territories launched at Indian Head on December 18, 1901.

The Manitoba Grain Act passed by the government of Canada had a good purpose but was being abused. It was supposed to ensure a proper distribution of freight cars and uphold the farmer's right to load his grain directly from railroad platforms to cars and thus escape the alleged elevator monopoly. To guarantee fair treatment, car order books were supposed to be maintained. But in spite of the Manitoba Act, the car shortage of 1901 brought numerous complaints from farmers. Homesteader W. R. Motherwell and his neighbor, Peter Dayman, resolved to do something about it.

They were aware of a meeting being announced for Indian Head on December 18, 1901, at which Premier Rodmond Roblin of Manitoba and Premier Frederick Haultain of the Territories were scheduled to debate a Manitoba proposal to annex a portion of Territorial land. Motherwell knew that farmers from a large area would attend the afternoon meeting and believed many of them would be glad to remain for an evening meeting if they knew about it. He was right. The meeting was a big one and farmers were angry about the apparent disregard for the terms of the Manitoba Act. Before the meeting ended, the Territorial Grain Growers' Association was formed, with Motherwell as the provisional president.

The new organization, forerunner of the Provincial Grain Growers' Associations of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, received its first major challenge almost immediately and laid a charge against one of the CPR agents for failing to distribute freight cars according to the rules laid down in the Manitoba Grain Act. It would be a test case, to be held at Sintaluta and nobody expected the farmers to win. But they did win and the railway company was fined. The company appealed and lost the appeal, making it a convincing victory for the farm organization.

The grain growers' movement grew and in 1906, with A. E. Partridge as the moving spirit, the Grain Growers' Grain Company was formed to handle grain and took a seat on the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, much to the displeasure of other exchange memberships. The farm organization was evicted and then re-admitted. Meanwhile, the Growers' membership soared and led to an adventure in provincial government ownership of elevators in Manitoba, the promotion of the Co-operative Elevator Company in Saskatchewan, and the United Farmers of Alberta in the Foothills Province. As the years demonstrated, farm organization was another feature of the decade, especially when there was recognition of the various provincial livestock associations which were formed after Saskatchewan and Alberta became provinces in 1905. In the first-named province, for example, the Saskatchewan Stock Breeders' Association was organized with representatives from the breeders of cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs, in 1905, and four years later, the Saskatchewan cattle breeders, horse breeders, swine breeders and sheep breeders were set up as separate associations.

It was further evidence of maturity in the industry when decisions were being made at this time for the provision of specialized agricultural education. Ontario started an agricultural college in 1874, choosing a site at Guelph after rejecting one at Mimico because it was too close to a big and evil city like Toronto. Guelph, known for its "strong moral and religious tendencies," would offer a better atmosphere for young men from the farms. The first class, consisting of thirty-one students, was welcomed with free tuition, free board and room, free laundry, and a reward of fifty dollars for every student passing the examinations. One catch was a requirement of seven hours of practical work daily on the college farm. This did not mean a seven-hour day but rather, seven hours of hard work over and above the normal college day.

The first proposal to start an agricultural college in the West was in the eighties when Major Bell of the big Bell Farm at Indian Head advanced a plan. But the first agricultural course of consequence was offered by Wesley College in Winnipeg in 1902. It was for farmers and farmers' sons and the total anticipated cost was $100 for the winter session.