A couple of posts ago I admitted my passion for the history of western Canada. This includes the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. It's a huge area made up of plains and forest. The southern parts are grasslands and the northern parts are dense forests.
In the 1800's this area was almost vacant. The Canadian government wanted people to live in this huge area. If that was going to happen the land had to be surveyed so people could identify the land they wanted.
Did I tell you that free land was available? Yes, for $10.00 and meeting some obligations you could get 160 acres.
Now here's where my son in law comes in as he asked me about how the land was divided.
The land was to be surveyed in blocks so that identification was made for each parcel of land and it could not be mistaken for another property.
An artificial line was established so that all measurement could start from the same place. There were township lines running north and south and range lines running east and west. These lines were 6 miles apart giving piece of land 36 sections. One section was 640 acres. These lines were all numbered. The final description was east or west of the first meridian. They established more meridians as the moved west.
The surveys happened around 1880 and took quite a few years before it was complete. The technology of the time was simple. Survey crews spent from early spring to late fall. The crewmen were paid $1.00 per day.
So a piece of land would be described as SW-20-rge 21-twp 32 - west of the second. No other piece of land has this designation.
This survey was not really used for another 20 years before people started coming to the area. Stakes were used to show the corners and the wooden stakes were marked , but a little problem happened. Wooden stakes rotted and the first nations people found that the stakes made a good wood supply. Some areas had to be resurveyed.
Now there was another little problem. The roads were supposed to be one mile apart. Because of the curvature of the earth, the roads would get closer together as they went north. To make amends for this they invented correction lines. Every 24 or 30 miles the roads would take a sharp jog of about 100 ft so that they would continue to be one mile apart.
Millions of people came to the area looking for free land and using this system of survey to identify the land they wanted. My grandparents came in 1905 and located land and farmed for close to 50 years. .
Interesting. Which First Nations people were living over this empty land?
ReplyDeleteMostly Cree but also some Blackfoot and Salteaux.
DeleteThis is really interesting.
ReplyDeleteAt one point New Zealand wanted people to live in unoccupied areas and log them. There was a famine in Norway so free passage was offered to Norwegians in danger of starvation and that is how my mother's family came to be in New Zealand. It's a similar kind of story
I didn't know that the free land bit was tried in other areas.
DeleteThe crewmen practically worked for free, $1 a day. Take care, have a great day!
ReplyDeletethis was the 1880's and they got there food.
DeleteI found that really interesting. I love things which are logical and organised. The land marking for the crofting system where I live is completely the opposite and, of course, on a comparatively minuscule scale.
ReplyDeleteBritain has a very long history of land ownership. The pieces of land were not in a legal system but never the less very interesting.
DeleteI used to go over the basics in geography, but you have the extras nuggets.
ReplyDeleteExtra nuggets are the fun part.
DeleteThank you for sharing this information, Red. We don’t often consider how the land was parcelled out to the early settlers. Quite a feat really.
ReplyDeletethere are many different systems to set up legal land descriptions for ownership.
DeleteWhat a good story about how they got their land. What an ingenious system of parceling out land. It couldn't happen that way today, sadly.
ReplyDeleteMany people did the requirements to get the land and then promptly sold it and moved on.
DeleteWow! Amazing history!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting Hiawatha house.
DeleteThe rural addresses are common to me, living in rural Alberta. Unfortunately, even with the rural addresses & GPS technology, emergency response teams still have trouble accessing a location. I live on a NE quarter of section 27. My ancestors immigrated from South Dakota, where coincidentally, they lived on a NE quarter of section 27. Land is measured in 1/2 & 1 mile grids; roads are measured in 1 & 2 mile grids. Then came the metric system with kilometers.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that the feature of the roads was different in some locations with roads one mile apart in both east -west , north south.
DeleteI wouldn't have guessed that Canada and America had the same system for surveying land but I probably should have since we both have deep roots with Great Britain. At least here, all those original records are online and free to peruse so I can find the records some of my ancestors created when they became the first to settle some of the lands as the population moved west.
ReplyDeleteI think Australia also has a similar system.
DeleteThat is fascinating, to think of a time when land was being given away. Now we live in a time where many cannot afford to buy a house.
ReplyDeleteThe give away would never happen now. There's too much money involved.
Delete“Because of the curvature of the earth, the roads would get closer together as they went north.” Now that is something to think about. Never thought of that before. Interesting post, Red.
ReplyDeleteAt some point there wouldn't be room for any more roads.
DeletePS I asked the AI this question: “When did humans first live in the Province of Alberta, Canada?” Here is the answer: “The exact time when humans first lived in the Province of Alberta, Canada is uncertain, but archaeological evidence suggests that Indigenous peoples have lived in the region for at least 12,000 years. The Paleo-Indians were the first known group of people to inhabit Alberta, and they were followed by other Indigenous cultures such as the Clovis, Folsom, and Old Women's. These early cultures survived by hunting and gathering, and they left behind a rich archaeological record of stone tools, weapons, and artifacts. Over time, these Indigenous cultures developed complex societies and distinctive cultural traditions, which continue to be celebrated and preserved today.” So, my question for you, Red, is what do you think those Indigenous Peoples thought when the white man came in and started surveying the land and marking it off with those wooden stakes?
ReplyDeleteThe Riel Rebellion happened here in 1885 and it was over the survey and their concern that land was being taken away from them. Louis Riel spent time in Montana to escape from the law. Riel came back and lead the rebellion. He was subsequently caught charged with treason and hung in Regina.
DeleteQuite a system.
ReplyDeleteIt is fairly simple.
DeleteThat is a great post! We found that they marked up our area in similar fashion, but none of it was true!
ReplyDeleteThere have been many disagreements over land ownership.
DeleteIt's interesting when you look back and see how things were done.
ReplyDeletea different technology meant a very different life.
DeleteI can't imagine going out to the middle of nowhere to start building a new life. Gosh, your grandparents were brave, Red!
ReplyDeletethere were thousands of homesteaders who came to a new land. Many of them were not farmers and it was tragic. My relatives came as one large family.
DeleteThis is so interesting. Also shows how stupid we are sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThee are many stories about surveying.
DeleteHere where I live in Ohio, the system of surveying for the future began. George Washington spent his early days surveying here in Ohio. The entire "Northwest Territory" and later the Northwest Ordinance came into being for we south of the 49th (?) parallel.
ReplyDeleteThose were hard times.
ReplyDeleteHow The West Was Won... not with guns and Bibles but with wooden stakes and lowly paid survey teams. Very interesting.
ReplyDeletePioneers were amazing! Leaving their country for a better life, realizing they would probably never see their families again in the old country. I respect them greatly. The surveyors had a very important part to play, unsung heroes. Thanks for another great post Red.
ReplyDeletewhen my sister lived in America she mentioned moving to Canada for some huge amount of money was possible though she mentioned how cold the land is .
ReplyDeleteafterwards few families of acquaintance moved there after selling there land here in Islamabad and Rawalpindi
I've heard they did something sort of similar in Hawaii... but I don't know if it was such a good thing here.
ReplyDelete