Lecture 5 HIST 382

This lecture deals with the settlement of the Prairies, but not only as a matter of regional history. Western Canadian development is treated as parcel and essential to Canadian national development—and identity. It also is the source of another layer of cultural diversity in Canadian society.

Introduction	Promise of Eden is the title of an influential book about the importance of western development and symbolism to the nation of Canada. Canadians not only reacted against American threats but also responded to apparent opportunities in their west.
The Value of This Immense Country	The explorations of Henry Youle Hind and John Palliser were key in reshaping Canadian attitudes about the west. They overcame fears of the Great American Desert by confining it to Palliser’s Triangle and declaring a Fertile Belt spanning the Prairies. Botanist John Macoun joined in the effort to declare the potential of the Prairies.
The National Policy and the Prairies	Fundamental to John A. McDonald’s National Policy was development of the west. The Northwest Mounted Police, Indian treaties, the national railroad, and other elements figured in the development program.
Land & People on the Prairies	The Canadian government established liberal land policies, including homesteads, to encourage settlement of the prairies in the wake of the railroad. It also recruited ethnic immigrants, offering group settlement as a plan especially conducive to them. Most prominent among the immigrants were the famous “men in sheepskin coats,” the Ukrainians. Visible and successful, too, were the American immigrants to the Prairie Provinces.
Unfinished Business	There were important adjustments yet to make, and questions still to consider, once the era of settlement had passed. There were problems of political economy, and there were problems of environmental adaptation. In the end, Canadians sought to fit the Prairies into their conception of a national identity.

Resources for Lecture 5
WWW	Harold Innis and Staples Theory – Ideas to review in connection with the CPR
	The Canadian West – National Archives online exhibit, with cool images and documents from explorers, immigrants, homesteaders
	RCMP Museum – origins and history of the NWMP, later RCMP
	Canadian Pacific Railway – corporate site including a short history and a nifty photo collection from company archives
	The View from Prairie Canada – the lecture refers to this page by Prof. Isern, having to do with Canadian beliefs about the US, and how most of them are rooted in western developments
	Mennonite Heritage Village – in lecture I show several of my own slides taken at this museum complex in Manitoba
	Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village – lecture also features some of my own slides from this complex in Alberta
Film	Born Hutterite
	The Mennonites of Manitoba
Reading	Berton, The Last Spike
	Butler, The Great Lone Land
	Breen, The Canadian Prairie West and the Ranching Frontier
	MacLeod, The North-West Mounted Police and Law Enforcement
	Owram, Promise of Eden
	Sharp, Whoop-Up Country
	Thompson, Forging the Prairie West

HIST 382