Politics Do Not Change

In the process of attempting to determine what may have motivated my great uncle on my father’s side and my great-great grandfather on my mother’s side to move to Alberta, Canada, I came across a couple of books written about western Canada and the Canadian Pacific Railway.

A book that in particular attracted my interest was the History of the North-West, Volume III by Alexander Begg (Toronto: Hunter, Rose & Company, 1895). Chapter I “The Canadian Pacific Railway” was fascinating. Just having watched Republican’s in the United States House of Representatives employing delay tactics concerning the health care reform, I was struck with the similarity with regards to the establishment of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The establishment of a transcontinental railroad in Canada was being discussed. The Toronto Globe printed an article on February 3, 1871 extolling the importance of an ocean to ocean rail routed through Canada. Apparently, Canadians travelling to Fort Garry (near Winnipeg) had to go to the United States in order to more easily reach this outpost in Manitoba.

William H. Seward of the United States saw the plan to build a transcontinental Railway through Canada as providing vast opportunities for Canada. It would open access to the Canadian timberlands near the Rocky Mountains but more importantly make Canada a major world trading company. The distance between Vancouver in British Columbia and Asia was much shorter than the distance between San Francisco and Asia. Seward (of Seward’s Folly) believed that a Canadian transcontinental railway would draw commerce to and from Canada to Europe, Asia and the United States.

Something changed between 1871 when the Toronto Globe supported the concept and 1880 when the same newspaper attacked the plan to construct a line north of Lake Superior as useless.

A contract was presented to Parliament on December 10, 1880 by a group of men who were connected with the success of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway. The House of Commons had to approve the contract. Mr. Mackenzie and Sir John A. Macdonald of the Opposition party could not secure capitalists to bid. But miraculously George Stephens and colleagues presented to the House of Commons an offer to build the railroad for less money and provide more favorable terms to the government. These offers were deemed not legitimate.

The Opposition seemed more interested in bringing down the majority party than approving the building of a transcontinental railway. They waged a campaign throughout Canada to encourage citizens to send petitions to the House of Commons. A few citizens sent petitions; some were in favor but most of those who sent petitions were against the contract. During the Christmas recess, the Opposition tried to rally the people to rise up against the Syndicate offer. The populace did not respond.

So the Opposition turned to another tactic. Edward Blake on January 18, 1881, moved to amend the contract to make the contract between the Government and Sir W. P. Howland, et. al. vs. the Government and George Stephens, et. al. The Howland offer was not consider as genuine and voted down.

At this point the Opposition proceeded to introduce one by one twenty-three additional amendments to the contract. Each was defeated. Had any one carried then the contract would have been defeated. Sir John A. Macdonald, of the Opposition, ultimately on January 28, 1881, introduced the bill for the incorporation of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.

It was still a hotly contested debate but the House of Commons passed the bill on February 1, 1881 and sent the bill to the Senate. The Senate accepted the bill without amendment and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company officially was incorporated on February 17, 1881.

Can you imagine the impact on the economic growth of Canada had the Opposition party been successful at delaying the building of the transcontinental railway simply because the Opposition wanted to take down the majority party?

It looks like politics do not change.

South Dakota and Minnesota to Alberta - What's the Connection?

My great uncle on my father’s side and my great-great-grandfather on my mother’s side both went to Alberta, Canada. Neither my mother nor my father could tell me why. My great-great grandfather on my mother’s side came back to the United States while my great uncle stayed in Alberta.

In the 1900 US Census both of them were living in Minnesota, albeit in different parts of Minnesota. My great uncle Andrew was still living in Minnesota in the 1910 Census as was my great-great grandfather. However, I found my great-great grandfather in the 1906 Canadian Census living in Alberta, Canada. My great uncle Andrew moved to Alberta after 1910.

My father’s uncle Andrew was a first generation American, his parents having been born in Denmark. I really hadn’t given much thought about why my great uncle Andrew moved to Alberta, Canada. On the other hand, I was intrigued as to why my great-great grandfather moved so much.

He was born in Ontario, Canada but married my great-great grandmother in Sangamon Co., IL in 1872. My great grandfather, his son, was born in Nebraska in 1874 and his brother was born in Iowa two years later. The other children were born in Brookings Co., SD. So it looked to me that he moved a lot.

I was driven to find out more about Alberta, Canada and why some of my family would move there. I found some books written between 1895 and 1918 concerning the history of Alberta. I discovered that in 1901 the population in Alberta consisted of Canadian and native born (54%) and immigrants. The immigrants represented 6.8% from the British Isles, 16.6% from the United States and 24.4% from continental Europe (Austria, Hungry and Russia).

So why was the second largest group of immigrants to Alberta, Canada from the United States? I learned from reading The Tercentenary History of Canada Volume III by Frank Basil Tracy (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1908) that land had become so expensive in the United States because land in the Mississippi Valley was mostly claimed and crop yields were so good that farmers were realizing great crop revenues.

Between 1890 and 1897/98 land in the Mississippi River valley had gone from $32 per acre to between $50 and $60 per acre. Homestead land in the United States by 1900 was not available. So the sons of farmers in this region were faced with working on their father’s farm and not having the means to finance a farm of their own. At this same time, the Canadian Pacific Railway was opening up western Canada. A person could obtain farm land at a very reasonable price with good terms.

However in the years after 1880, Canadians from Manitoba had moved to North and South Dakota because of total crop failures due to frost, wheat rust, hail and unpredictable rainfall during the growing season in Manitoba. Even though a man could obtain farmland cheaply in western Canada, why would he be enticed to settled in western Canada if there is a threat that frost, wheat rust, hail and unpredictable rainfall could wipe out his entire crop?

Although the Canadian Pacific Railway could not control frost and hail, they recognized the water problem was something for which they could find a solution. Thus, the Canadian Pacific Railway Corporation initiated a massive irrigation project that would provide water to 3 million acres of land along the route on either side of its right of way.

It worked out well. My great uncle Andrew and his offspring and descendants have lived in western Canada since.