WHAT MADE EARLY SETTLERS COME TO WHAT
IS NOW ALBERTA?
The early settlers came for the good land in Alberta. It was very
cheap. It only costs $10 for 160 acres!
HOW DID MISSIONARIES START COMMUNITIES?
Missionaries started communities by getting people
together, teaching French and providing help for the
people in need.
WHY DID CANADA EXPAND TO THE WEST?
Canada expanded so that the British colonies could
trade and sell goods to each other rather than to other
countries. The British colonies worked together to
build a railway so that goods could be transported
easier.
HOW DID THE NORTH WEST MOUNTED POLICE
PROVIDE SAFETY FOR PEOPLE IN THE WEST?
The North West Mounted Police provided safety to the
west by showing that the western prairies were
controlled by Canada, to bring law and order, and to
stop the whiskey trade.
HOW DID SETTLEMENT AFFECT DIFFERENT
GROUPS OF PEOPLE?
The settlement affected different groups of people by changing the
aboriginal ways of life.
1. They got taken to mission schools.
2. All the buffalo got slaughtered so the aboriginals began to
starve.
3. The government made treaties with the natives so that
homesteaders could come west to start farming the land.
TREATIES WITH ABORIGINAL PEOPLE:
The government promised native people farming equipment, seeds,
farm animals, and farming instruction. They also were promised
2.5 square km per family of 5 set aside as a “reserve”.
They would also have hunting and fishing rights. There would be a
first payment and then yearly payments to the people.
HOW DID THE COMING OF THE RAILWAY
AFFECT THE WEST?
The Railway affected the west because people, supplies and the
RCMP could more easily travel from eastern Canada. Settlement
became easier, and encouraged immigrants from other parts of
Canada and Europe to move to Alberta to farm and live there.
WHY DID VARIOUS PEOPLE MAKE THE CHOICE
TO COME TO WHAT IS NOW ALBERTA?
1. People came to Alberta for the good land.
2. People came to start a new life.
3. Missionaries came to start churches, and they
brought people from Quebec to farm and start new
communities.
4. Many young men came to work on ranches, work in
mines, on the railway, or house building.
5. Some people came for religious freedom like
Hutterites.
HOW DO NAMES TELL STORIES OF ALBERTA’S
HISTORY?
In 1884, premier Frederick Haultain was the first and only premier of
the North-west Territories. (Alberta and Saskatchewan used to be
called NWT).
He thought we should be called “Buffalo”, but it was too big. So the
Canadian government decided to divide this land into two provinces.
In 1905, Alberta and Saskatchewan were named and created.
Alberta was named “Alberta” because that is one of Queen Victoria’s
daughter (Louise Caroline Alberta) names.
Many schools were named after important people in history.
IN WHAT WAYS DID IMMIGRANTS AND OTHER
SETTLERS CONTRIBUTE TO ALBERTA?
Immigrants helped settle Alberta because they came and began to
grow crops and food.
Other settlers came to work in mining, building houses, ranching,
and working on the railroad.
HOW DID ALBERTA CHANGE AFTER 1905?
In 1905, Alberta became a province!
The government began dividing the land into quarter sections (160 acres) to sell to
the homesteaders.
In order to get their 160 acres, homesteaders needed to:
- Pay $10 to ask for a homestead (one quarter)
- Clear part of their land
- Grow crops within 3 years
- Build a home and live there at least 6 months of the year
HOW DID HOMESTEADERS MEET THEIR NEEDS?
Homesteaders often used what they brought and what was available on the land
around them. They lived in:
-
Wagons and tents
-
Soddies (a house that is made out of sod)
-
Cabins (made out of logs)
Medical care:
- Homesteaders had to pay for health care themselves, and could not afford
hospitals and doctors.
Food:
They used food they grew themselves from their gardens, their crops, and their
fields. They ate meat from cows, chickens, pigs, and hunting.
FORMING TOWNS:
-
Many towns were built along rivers because there were no roads and they took
boats everywhere.
-
Many towns were built along the railway so that they could get supplies brought to
the town on the train.
WHAT CHANGES AFFECTED THE QUALITY OF
LIFE IN ALBERTA?
-
New farming equipment made farming easier and faster.
-
New types of wheat (Red Fife and Marquis) were developed and grew more
quickly. There was less danger of crops ruined if winter came early. The new
wheat was stronger against diseases.
-
New, bigger plows
-
Seed drills helped to make seeding the crops faster, and protect the seeds from
being eaten by birds
-
Harvesting no longer had to be done by hand. Instead, threshing machines were
invented so that harvesting was easier and faster than by hand.
WHY DID URBAN COMMUNITIES (CITIES)
GROW?
-
Oil and gas was discovered after World War Two, and in 1947, oil was discovered
near Edmonton.
-
Workers came to Alberta by the thousands to work in the oil fields.
-
Communities grew near the oil fields, and needed hospitals, schools, libraries,
and stores. By 1961, only one-third of Alberta’s population now lived on farms.
The rest lived in the cities.
WHAT CAN ARTIFACTS AND BUILDINGS TEACH
US ABOUT THE PAST?
They can tell us about the past to help us learn about culture, customs, and ways of
life from the past.