Canada -- Economic conditions; Canada -- Emigration and immigration
The man who should take up a homestead, prepared to rough it for a year
or two, is the young, unmarried man, steady, determined, with a strong
inclination for the life on the land. To him, even if he goes out
penniless, the Provincial Governments offer the position of a farmer on
his own land—land for which he need not pay a penny piece. He has only
to conform to certain regulations as to living on the land for part of
the year, building some sort of a shanty in which he can sleep, and
bringing a stipulated number of acres under cultivation, and at the end
of three years the land becomes his freehold. In addition to that there
are many districts in which, having secured the freehold of his
homestead, the homesteader is permitted to pre-empt a second 160 acres
at the nominal price of $3 an acre. For the benefit of such a man I
quote a synopsis of the Canadian North-West Land Regulations, for which
I am indebted to a pamphlet issued by the Grand Trunk Railway:
“1. Any person who is the sole head of a family, or any male over
eighteen years old, may homestead a quarter section (160 acres, more or
less) of available Dominion land in Manitoba, Saskatchewan or Alberta.
The applicant, who must be a British subject or declare his intention of
becoming one, must appear in person at the Dominion Lands Agency or
Sub-Agency for the district. Entry by proxy may be made at any agency,
by father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister of intending
homesteader, when duly authorised on proper form.
“2. A widow having minor children of her own dependent upon her for
support is permitted to make homestead entry as the sole head of a
family.
“DUTIES.—Six months’ residence upon and cultivation of the land in each
of three years. A homesteader may live within nine miles of his
homestead on a farm of at least 80 acres solely owned and occupied by
him or by his father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister.
“3. In certain districts a homesteader in good standing may pre-empt a
quarter-section alongside his homestead. Price $3 per acre.
Duties.—Must reside six months in each of six years from date of
homestead entry (including the time required to earn homestead patent)
and cultivate 50 acres more than required on his homestead, which
cultivation may be on both his homestead and pre-emption or either.
“4. A homesteader who has exhausted his homestead right by already
homesteading and cannot obtain a pre-emption may acquire a homestead by
purchase in certain districts. Price $3 per acre. Such homesteads may be
acquired on any available lands on either odd or even numbered sections
south of township 45, east of the railway from Calgary to Edmonton, and
the west line of range 26, and west of the third meridian. Duties.—Must
reside six months in each of three years, cultivate 50 acres, and erect
a house worth $300.
“The entry fee for a homestead is ten ($10) dollars.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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