IV: 1867-1914: Changing Conditions (4)

1867-1914: Background / Fitful Growth / Changing Conditions / First Wave / Laurier Boom

Changing Conditions

One of the most important changes stimulating the national economy and contributing to the sudden surge in immigration was the growing attractiveness of Western Canadian farm lands. Even after the completion of the CPR in 1885, few homesteaders had been attracted to Manitoba and the Northwest Territories.

But, by 1896, the closing of the American frontier began diverting settlers northward. Newcomers to the American west and farmers already there faced higher land prices and more frequently had to mortgage property to pay for improvements. The end of the 1880s Dakota Boom, the last great American land rush, closed off homestead opportunities. Land in North Dakota rose four times in value between 1890 and 1920; by the latter date, more than one-half of the farms in the state were mortgaged. When, in 1900, Dakota land could be priced as high as $50 an acre, historian Randy Widdis points out that Saskatchewan land still sold as low as $2.00 per acre.

National Archives of Canada (PA-009192, photo by William James Topley).

Marquis Wheat, n.d.

The development of crops that would perform well in varying climatic and soil conditions was vital to the settlement of the West. In 1903, government scientists achieved their greatest triumph by developing Marquis wheat, a strain that ripened more quickly than other varieties. This type of wheat was hence perfectly suited to the short growing season of the Prairies.