RICHTER SCALE
TIMELINE
FARMERS
TIMELINE
 1917- Conscription crisis
 1918- Soldiers of the Soil
 1919- Farmers as Returning Veterans
 1929- Great Stock Market Crash
 1930s- Drought
CONSCRIPTION CRISIS
Ethan Willert
CONSCRIPTION CRISIS

- Canada was in desperate needs after The Battle of Somme. (few volunteers)

- Recruiting in Quebec failed

- Conscription was made across the country because Prime Minister found it necessary.

- Conscription was made to force citizens into war if desperately needed.

- Farmers opposed this measure.

- “Farmers sought agricultural exemptions from compulsory service until the end of the war.”

-Sales went down

-Issued exemption certificates

- 6.7 percent of eligible Saskatchewan conscripts defaulted.

-9.3 percent in Ontario.

- 40.8 percent in Quebec.

-and 19.4 percent in Canada as a whole
PRIMARY SOURCE
 Here we see a Canadian farmer
signing an exemption certificate.
 Primary source:
http://wdm.ca/skteacherguide/W
DMResearch/ImpactofWWI.pdf
RANKING
 The ranking I give this is -2. Some farmers sought attention when
staying in Canada when the war took place. Also, Canadian farmers
lost sales when almost all soldiers went to Europe for WWI.
SOURCES
SOLDIERS OF THE SOIL
Eric Davison
SOLDIERS OF THE SOIL
 Heavy establishment in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces during
World War One, there was a shortage of labours for farm work, so
the Soldiers of the Soil or S.O.S. were founded on October 14th 1918.
The program actively sought out volunteer male youth work on
Canadian farms to assist farmers in achieving greater wartime
production of foodstuffs. These boys were paid from $15.00 to
$40.00 per month depending on the work that was performed.
PRIMARY SORCES
 This is a photo of one if the boys
working on the farms as a child
 http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_histor
y/17/soldierofthesoil.shtml
RANKING
 +4 because no one was forced into doing the work.
 It was positive because it was helping with farming food for the
country and sending food to the soldiers over seas
SOURCES
 http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/17/soldierofthesoil.sht
ml
 http://www.agcanada.com/manitobacooperator/2012/11/15/sol
diers-of-the-soil-%E2%80%A8helped-feed-the-front/
RETURNING VETERANS
Merry Ly
RETURNING VETERANS
 Who: Soldiers who returned from the war who were farmers. The farmers were
returning veterans. They left World War One when finished and came back to their
homes and farms. When farmers were at the war the wife most likely had do the
farming for them. A lot of people thought it was a burden during and after the war.
What: They came back to their families, home, farm, and their farming job after
World War One was over. They felt like they needed to take a huge break when the
war was over but couldn’t because of their job position of being a farmer. A lot of
the returning veterans that were farmers found it hard to return to normal life as the
war was scaring. A lot suffered from shell shock. A lot of people had great fear and
some troubles after the war.
 When: It was in year 1919 when the war was finally over and the soldiers that
were farmers got to go back to their homes.
RETURNING VETERANS 2
 Where: The soldiers who were farmers returned to their homes and farms after
World War One. Once they have came home from World War One the soldiers who
were farmers had to immediately proceed to work on their farms as farmers to
make money and to have a sustainable life. Why: The main idea for the farmers who
were returning veterans was that they should return to their civilian responsibilities
which was to return life as farmers farming. How: Once returned from World War
One the farmers who were returning veterans needed to push themselves to
become farmers farming again and made sure their steady with their well being. In
year 1919 returned World War One veterans who wished to farm with loans to
purchase land, stock and equipment was provided a
Soldiers Settlement Act. All though a lot of people had to close up their farms due
to heavy debts and or poor farming conditions.
PRIMARY SOURCE
"Terrible restlessness which possess us like an evil spirit; the
indefinite expression of a vague discontent the restlessness of dying men, little
children and old soldiers.”
 March 1919, veteran George Pearson wrote this quote for Maclean's Magazine of
what returning soldiers experienced.
 This quote is important to farmers that were returning veterans because they had
troubles during and after World War One and had so many distraught feelings and they
had lived in poor conditions from World War One.
RANKING
 They need sufficiency in Canada after World War One.
 I rank this a 4 because all Canadians wanted Canada to be a good country even after coming back
from the war even though they were living in though conditions and it was attempted to be fixed.
 They needed to find good ways to cope with their lives after World War One and Canada wasn’t in
good shape. (Wasn’t in good shape of economy or lives.)
 I rank this a 5 because Canada was trying to battle the hardships after World War One was over. The
hardships of the returning soldiers who were farmers had a rough time with their health and or well
being so it affected Canada by not having much food as farmers were hurt.
 They had to plan what to do the rest of their lives after World War One which was to return as
farmers.
 I rank this a 3 because some of the returning farmers already have a farm and could just go right
back to business on the farm as their jobs but they are still attempting to defeat emotional, and health
conditions, heavy debts, poor farming conditions, and even closed farms that might be interfering with
farming for Canada. This issue interrupted farmers farming in Canada and this made Canada have less
food.
SOURCES
Colyer, Jill et al. Creating Canada: A History 1914-Present. Toronto:
McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2010. Print.
Wright, Glenn T. “Veterans Land Act“. The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Web. 23 April 2013.
THE STOCK MARKET
CRASH OF 1929
Erin Hamilton
DESCRIPTION

October 4 1929, both Bay and Wall Street were hit with a wave of selling, the Toronto stock exchange
recorded approximately $200 million in loses for the day. By the 23rd, the tension in the markets was reaching a
breaking point, and many investors were confused and anxious about the future of the market. On October 24
1929, the day that came to be known as “Black Thursday”, the brokers panicked and began to dump sell orders
into the market in order to protect themselves. The market slide began to accelerate. Soon stock prices began to
collapse completely. At about 11:00 am the selling reached a peak for about 6 min and the market broke down
entirely. Crowds gathered outside the stock exchanges in Toronto, New York, Chicago, Winnipeg, and Montreal.
All order broke down, police were called in and the markets kept falling. Ticker Tapes fell far behind and
exchanges lost touch with each other due to the shear volume of activity. The bankers, brokers, and politicians
claimed that it was a glitch and the economy was still sound, the Dow was down 11℅ at the end of the day. On
Monday October 28 1929, Black Monday, more investors left the market and the slide continued, leaving the Dow
with a 13℅ loss in value at the end of the day. The disaster of the stock market crash continued on to Tuesday
October 29 1929, Black Tuesday, where the Dow lost an additional 12℅ of its value. The volume of the stocks
traded on this day set a record that was not broken for nearly 40 years. The market had lost over $30 billion in two
days, with $14 billion lost on Black Tuesday alone.
PRIMARY SOURCE
 This shows how big the
impact of the stock market crash
was and how many people were
affected, the effects of the crash
were felt world wide and sent both
the Canadian and American
economies into downward spirals
essentially triggering the Great
Depression.
 http://business.financialpost.c
om/2011/10/24/the-great-crashof-1929-some-key-dates/
RANKING
 The ranking the I give this event is a -4. The stock market crash meant that
people lost their jobs and had little to no money, wheat prices were down and
combined with the drought the farmers would be barely able to support themselves
and their families. Many of them would have lost money from making investments
that were worthless, and the banks seized many homes, farms, and other properties.
There were work camps set up by the government which they might have travelled
to, sending money back to their family, but it would not have been enough. Many
probably relied on government relief which was rather scant, being just enough for
a family to scrape by.
SOURCES
 Colyer, Cecillon et al. Creating Canada–A History 1914 to the
Present. McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2010. Print.
 Mcleod, Susanna. “Black Tuesday, Collapse of Canada’s Stock
Market." Suite 101. N.p. n.d.Web. Thursday April 25 2013.
 Hillmer, Norman. “The Great Crash.” The Canadian
Encyclopedia. N.p. n.d. Web. Thursday April 25 2013.
1930S DROUGHT
Maggie Huang
DESCRIPTION
 The previous stock market crash had sent the prairies into poverty and unemployment, the rate was
constantly under 10% and then the drought of the 1930s came. Wheat sold for less than the seeds and
the drought with its dust lasted over 10 years killing the rich prairie soil. Men were forced to move to
cities and search for new jobs because they did not have the income to afford the equipment and land.
Dust storms came during spring and summer, when farmers were planting crops. The dust storms would
take out the seeds the farmers planted and render the days work useless. The farmers also had an
infestation of grasshoppers and weeds. Chickens and turkeys ate the grasshoppers giving the meat and
eggs a foul taste and it was impossible to control the infestation. The livestock starved because there was
nothing to feed them, and the prices went up from 3.5 cents to 4 cents per animal. Farm incomes
dropped 363 million in 1928 to minus 10.7 million in 1931 and agricultural exports fell from 783 million
in 1928 to 253 million in 1932. Farmers had to improvise with many new methods like planting new
crops like oats, rye, flax, peas and alfalfa that adapted to dry weather
PRIMARY SOURCE

This primary source is from July 25, 1931, 2 years after the drought
started. It was taken along a fence between Cadillac and Kincaid. The soil
condition has worsened since the drought started. This source is from the
Library and Archives Canada.

This is a picture from the 1930s drought. It shows the damaged soil that
is a result from the drought. It is an example of the drought many Canadian
farmers living in the prairies experienced during that decade.

This shows a change that made life for Canadian prairie farmers a lot
harder. These conditions made it hard for them to grow wheat and killed the
previously rich prairie soil. Future crops would also be affected by this drought.
The farmers planted different crops that were more accustomed to dry land.

This picture shows the hardships that the 1930s drought brought just two
years in. Already soil is eroding away and during July, there are no crops in the
fields. Some farmers even moved away due to these conditions.
http://www.grainscanada.gc.ca/cgcccg/history-histoire/timelinehistorique/1931-1940-eng.htm
RANKING
 -3
 I’d rank this event a -3.5. It affected prairie farmers negatively during that time, and afterwards. The
drought affected ¼ of Canada’s farmable land. The land eroded and farming became hard due to
erosion. Many farms were abandoned or the farmers moved elsewhere. Due to this drought, we could be
having shortages of large supplies of surface water and groundwater in future years, and in 10-30 years
from now, we will have stress on surface water resources. However, the drought wasn’t 100% negative,
due to the drought, PFRA (Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration) was created to help prairie
farmers deal with drought, provide financial support to them and technical assistance in building water
storage. Infertile land was also bought off by PRFA; PFRA also provided trees to farmers with no
charge. Due to this drought, Irrigation projects also started up. So even though the drought was bad for
land and farmers, the farmers did get a small benefit in the end and widened the variety of stuff they
planted. PRFA Also started.
SOURCES
 “1930s Drought.” CBC News. N.p. August 6, 2004. Web. April 25,
2013.
 “Drought.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p. 2010. Web. April 25,
2013.
 “1931-1940.” Canadian Grain Commission. N.p. 2012. Web. April
25, 2013