When it all Began
As early as 1687, records show, Henry Kelsey, a fur trader from Hudson Bay was one of the first white men to see and explore the Canadian Prairies. History also tells us that around 1743 the La Verendrye brothers explored the more southerly plains and in their travels must have crossed the prairies at or near this very area. As settlements in Manitoba spread westwards, no doubt fur traders and buffalo hunters explored these parts and by 1880 a few settlers were coming to the North West Territories, then divided into the districts of Assiniboia and Saskatchewan to the east (these became the province of Saskatchewan), and Alberta and Athabasca to the west (these became the province of Alberta.) The town of Saltcoats, as it was eventually to be named, was situated in the district of Assiniboia, in the southeasterly portion of the North West Territories. After Confederation of 1867 the Dominion Government could see that expansion of this great country was necessary. There was only one direction to expand and that was toward the west. Already a few settlers were moving west and because the land was not surveyed the settlers resided in areas as "squatters," claiming land wherever it was available or most suitable for occupation. The government could see difficulties in this type of settlement and decided to deal with it by passing the Free Lands Homestead Act of 1872. By this act a homesteader was given 1/4 section of land to occupy and improve by clearing wood growth, if any, and also breaking the sod where the land was open prairie. The Dominion Government also realized that surveying had to be the first step in opening up the west to avoid the joint claims by settlers who would eventually arrive in great numbers from all corners of the world. Quite a bit of the land in this area was purchased by land holding companies or the railway and later sold to the settlers as they arrived in Canada, usually Winnipeg.
The Survey
By 1881, the Dominion land surveyors had divided the eastern part of this province into townships. It was necessary to divide the land so that one could find the exact location of a quarter section, for the purpose of registering a homestead or fencing your land within your own boundaries. A township consists of 36 sections, a section is a mile square. So every six miles in a westerly direction, you have one higher number, known as the range line; and every six miles in a northerly direction you have a line, known as the township line, each one a higher number; and then again numbered by a meridian line. The surveying crews would run a straight line at every mile they would dig four holes in the form of a square, throwing the dirt up as a mound in the center. In the center of this mound there was a driven square pin, or iron, with the number of the section, the township and the range and meridian, cut in Roman numerals with a chisel. You were always able to tell your exact location when you found one of these corner mounds. In 1881, the Dominion surveyed a township of 36 sections which became Stirling Township. The first recorded settlers arrived in 1882 and homesteaded on the south end of a crescent-shaped lake. The town's name was changed from Stirling to Saltcoats. This name was chosen because the Allen Steamship Line's home port was Saltcoats, Scotland, which brought immigrants from the British Isles. The following notes were recorded by T. Drummond in 1880 regarding Township #24: "The surface on all the boundaries is the rolling prairie. The north is covered with thick scrub and some poplar bluffs and the soil is a fine gravelly loam; class 1, except near an alkaline lake in sections 35 and 36. On the west for the first four miles going north the soil is a rich clay loam, gravely in a few places, and the loand rates class 1. From thence it is class 2 and 3, the soil being gravelly and light. There are a good many scattered marshes. The east contains poplar bluffs, and occasional wet places where there is thick willow scrub. The soil is a rich clay loam; class 1." A sub-division was surveyed in 1882 by J. J. Burrows his report recorded: "There are two lakes and several creeks of good water, although a few ponds have an alkaline taste. The soil is a rich heavy clay loam. There is not much building timber."
Homesteading
A small number of settlers had arrived in the surrounding area early in 1882 but only a few remained throughout the winter. More arrived in the spring of 1883 having come by rail as far as Whitewood or Broadview, and then continuing either on foot or, if they were lucky, by oxen. The pace of the oxen, loaded or light, was about three miles an hour, and the oxen were said to be "as stubborn as any cow, and then some." Consequently, many of the surrounding districts, or colonies as they were called, were settled in 1882-83, such as Kinbrae, Crescent Lake, Clumber, Perley, Boakeview, and Cut Arm. These very early colonies were almost entirely immigrants from the British Isles. In the early days of the settlement of the prairies any male person 18 years of age or older could apply for a homestead; the application fee was $10.00 for a homestead, a quarter of land, 160 acres more or less. The homesteader, in order to obtain the title to the land, was required to live on the property at least six months a year for three years and break a given number of acres of prairies sod. A son living with parents could apply for a homestead and fulfill the residence requirements while living with his parents, if in the same general area. Under certain circumstances a person who had completed the required duties on his homestead could apply for a second homestead. The sections in any one township (36 sections) open for homesteading were confined to the even numbered sections, less section 8 and 3/4 of section 26 which parcels had been granted to the Hudson Bay Company when western Canada was taken over by the Dominion Government. The odd numbered sections (with the exception of section 11 and 29 which were reserved for financing schools) were the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company as part of 25,000,000 acres granted to the Company as part of the deal entered into with the Dominion Government for construction of the C. P. Transcontinental Railway. Many of the settlers were financed for the purchase of necessary livestock, machinery, etc. by loan companies, with the companies obtaining mortgages on the homestead when title was issued on the property. |
History |
