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

First Wave

In addition to writing home letters, immigrants often briefly returned home either to settle affairs or bring back family members. Their brief return visits became the most persuasive means of encouraging the immigration, sometimes of entire European villages, to Canada. In 1901, a recent Hungarian immigrant to Saskatchewan, the wife of Steven Gyuricska, returned to visit her village. A contemporary wrote that in her village she "spoke about the free homesteads of 160 acres with their fertile black soil. She described the grazing fattened cattle, the groves of

poplars providing building material and ready fuel, the low level of taxation, the great freedom enjoyed by all, the great open spaces for hunting, the lakes for fishing…" 9 Historian Anthony Rasporich identified "Old Country" Croatian expressions being used to describe immigration. These included trbuhom za kruhom, or "stomachs after bread," and za bolji život, "the search for a better life." Booming immigrations totals were now sustained in promises carried in letters and reports back home that a better life was to be found in Canada.

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Laurier Boom