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Land Settlement in Northern Areas of Western Canada (1925-35)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Robt. England
Robt. England*
Affiliation:
C.N.R., Winnipeg
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Extract

Rural population in the three Prairie Provinces increased from 1921 to 1931 by 17 per cent., and land in farms in these provinces in 1931 totalled 110,000,000 acres, an increase of 23 per cent. since 1921. A study of the census returns reveals that the largest population increases occurred in the northern territory. Rural population in Manitoba has been relatively stable with normal increases in the northern census divisions 14 and 15, while there is a 50 per cent. increase in population—over 10,000—in census division 16 which reflects the mining development of The Pas. When we turn to Saskatchewan we find that the census divisions 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, and 17 had a population of 234,015 in 1921 and the 1931 census lists the population at 308,399, an increase of one-third in the decade. As we move further west we find that in Alberta the census divisions 10, 12, 13, and 14 were rather less than 100,000 in 1921 (95,916) and this increased to 136,308 in 1931, an increase of slightly less than 40 per cent. The Peace River population in census divisions 15 and 16 increased from 18,000 to over 41,000, an increase of over 100 per cent. The census divisions in which Saskatoon and Edmonton are to be found are not included in these figures. Both these cities increased their population heavily in the period.

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 1 , Issue 4 , November 1935 , pp. 578 - 587
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1935

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References

1 Bowman, Isaiah, The Pioneer Fringe (New York, American Geographical Society, 1931)Google Scholar; Pioneer Settlement; Co-operative Studies (New York, American Geographical Society, 1932)Google Scholar; W. A. Mackintosh, Prairie Settlement; The Geographical Setting (Canadian Frontiers of Settlement, vol. I, Toronto, 1934)Google Scholar; Mackintosh, W. A. et al, Economic Problems of the Prairie Provinces (Canadian Frontiers of Settlement, vol. IV, Toronto, 1935)Google Scholar; Dawson, C. A., The Settlement of the Peace River Country (Canadian Frontiers of Settlement, vol. VI, Toronto, 1934).Google Scholar

2 Hurd, W. B. and Cameron, J. C., “Population Movements in Canada, 1921-31” (Canadian Journal of Economic and Political Science, 05, 1935).Google Scholar

3 Toynbee, Arnold T., A Study of History (Oxford, 1935), vol. II, p. 213.Google Scholar

4 Labour Gazette, 05, 1935, p. 485.Google Scholar

5 Harper's Magazine, 06, 1935, p. 89.Google Scholar

6 It is important to grasp the fact that religious groups with a theocratic faith, distrust the civil power and their history is one of migration always to the frontier in an effort to shake off the trammels of “the world, the flesh and the devil”. Thus such a group as the Hutterites is always interested in finding land for its colonies and there is the historic tradition which seeks to build up a solidarity in a new country.

7 W. A. Mackintosh, Prairie Settlement, ch. x.