Overview of the set

This set of History Docs invites students to assess the accuracy and fairness of the Canadian government’s “Last Best West” advertising campaign after examining a variety of primary and secondary sources including promotional posters and pamphlets, photographs, cartoons, poems, and journal articles.

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Primary sources
	1. Canadian coronation arch | Photograph taken in July 1902 shows the Canadian coronation arch erected on the ceremonial route from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey to celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII and to advertise Canada to potential British immigrants. The arch was decorated with wood, grains and fruits and maple leaves, and on the side facing Buckingham palace, it says, "Canada. Britain's Granary [producer of grain]. God Bless Our King and Queen." Underwood and Underwood, London, England, "Canadian coronation arch, Whitehall, London, England," Glenbow Archives, NA-1043-1, 1902.
	2. Advertising pamphlet | This cover page from the 1909 edition of Canada West: The Last Best West, an annual publication from the Department of the Interior produced to attract and aid prospective agricultural settlers. "Advertising in Britain, 1900–1916," Canadian Museum of Civilization: The last best west: Advertising for immigrants to western Canada, 1870–1930, National Archives of Canada File No. C-30620, June 16, 2010, (Accessed August 19, 2011). © Public Domain
	3. Canada West: The Last Best West advertising pamphlet | Excerpt from Canada West: The Last Best West, an annual publication from the Department of the Interior produced to attract and aid prospective agricultural settlers. It contained maps and descriptions of each area of the prairies, answers to frequently asked questions and testimonials from successful farmers. It was translated into a variety of European languages and adapted for different English-speaking markets. "Canada west: The last best west," (p. 36), Persuasion: Print advertising and advocacy on the prairies (University of Saskatchewan Library Special Collections), Gallery (Accessed August 21, 2011). Courtesy University of Saskatchewan Library Special Collections. Shortt Collection. FC3204.2.C21C21-1910 Transcription:
	4. Description of the climate | Excerpt from a description of the climate of the Canadian west taken from the pamphlet Twentieth Century Canada and Atlas of Western Canada that was published by the Canadian government in 1906. "Advertising in the United States, 1900–1920s," Canadian Museum of Civilization: The last best west: Advertising for immigrants to western Canada, 1870–1930, June 16, 2010, http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/hist/advertis/ads6-04e.shtml (Accessed August 19, 2011). © Public Domain
	5. Advertising poster for the New Eldorado | Advertising poster published by the Government of Canada between 1908 and 1918. El Dorado refers to the name of a mythical lost city of gold that fascinated explorers for centuries. "Advertising in Britain, 1900–1916," Canadian Museum of Civilization : The last best west: Advertising for immigrants to western Canada, 1870–1930, National Archives of Canada, Government Archives File No. TR 76/128, June 16, 2010 (Accessed August 19, 2011). © Public Domain
	6. "The Evolution of a Homestead" | Advertising poster published sometime after 1906 to provide information about establishing a homestead. "Advertising in Britain, 1900–1916," Canadian Museum of Civilization : The last best west: Advertising for immigrants to western Canada, 1870–1930,(Accessed August 19, 2011). © Public Domain, Library and Archives Canada/Department of Employment and Immigration fonds/C-126300
	7. The land of the sugar maple tree | Poem used in a promotional pamphlet created by the Department of Agriculture in 1906. Jean Bruce, The last best west (Vancouver, BC: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1976), p. 18. © Unknown
	8. The only drawback | Cartoon published in 1903 by the Department of the Interior as part of a cartoon book advertising the Canadian west in the United States. No grander or more beautiful sight can be witnessed during the summer months than the Canadian prairie, with its sea of red and golden wheat. In driving through various districts the traveller, as far as his eye can reach, beholds nothing but the waving grain. He is filled with wonder, love and praise. In 1902 these prairies yielded nearly 70,000, 000 bushels of wheat besides 30,000,000 bushels of oats, and over 12,000,000 bushels of barley. The wheat belt of Western Canada is about 1,000 miles long by 400 miles wide, yet only a very small portion of this tract is under cultivation. Department of the Interior, Canada: The Granary of the World, p. 15, December 1903, The Saskatchewan Settlement Experience. © Public Domain, Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. R1300-483.1R
	9. Fertile Canada |   Cartoon published in 1903 by the Department of the Interior as part of a cartoon book used to advertise the Canadian west in the United States. The Hindo [sic] juggler with much mummery [false ceremony] professes to raise a fruit-laden orange tree from the seed in a few minutes. But the whole performance is a fraud. In Canada the shrewd and sturdy settler who plants a little capital and cultivates it can, with due diligence in a few yeas, produce a competency. This is no fraud, but the actual experience of hundreds and thousands of agriculturists. Canada is the country of rapid yet real growth; a country of illimitable [unlimited] possibilities. Many a settler has paid for his land, implements, stock and all living expenses by the proceeds of a single crop of wheat. Department of the Interior, Canada: The Granary of the World, December 1903, p. 30, The Saskatchewan Settlement Experience.
	10. Now then, all together! |   Cartoon published in 1903 by the Department of the Interior as part of a cartoon book, used to advertise the Canadian west in the United States. Department of the Interior, Canada: The Granary of the World, December 1903, p. 22, The Saskatchewan Settlement Experience.

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Last Best West

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Student tasks

Question: Did the Canadian government’s “The Last Best West” advertising campaign provide a fair and balanced view of what life was like from 1890 to 1914 for new immigrants to the Canadian west?

When examining the advertising created to attract immigrants to the Canadian west, consider whether the Canadian government provided a balanced view of the:

• environmental conditions (weather, insects and climate)
• economic costs (land purchasing, equipment, seeds, potential profit)
• social / cultural life (leisure, community).

Teacher notes

The following notes on topics addressed in the History Docs are intended to enhance teachers' understanding of the sources and ability to guide students in interpreting them.

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Historical context for teachers

Settling the prairies

• By the late 1800s, good farmland in Ontario was becoming increasingly hard for immigrants to acquire, and the situation was no better in the United States. Seizing the opportunity, the Canadian government began to advertise the Prairies (current provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) as “The Last Best West” to attract immigrants, particularly those from the United States and eastern Europe.
• The hope was that a vastly populated prairie area would provide a market for goods manufactured in central and eastern Canada. The prairie population would also be able to supply the East with agricultural products for consumption and for export around the world.
• Clifford Sifton was the Minister of the Interior at the time, and responsible for directing government immigration policy. He was instrumental in making “The Last Best West” campaign a success.
• Between 1896 and 1905, the recruiting budget of the Canadian government increased from $900 000 to $4 000 000. Under Sifton’s direction, the Canadian government sent posters, agents, mobile museums and exhibits, fact books and other information to nations all over eastern and western Europe, all designed to convince people to move to Canada.
• Immigrants were enticed by the promise of free / cheap land. Most posters offered 160 acres for free or for as little as $10, but few people received 160 acres at that price. Many land speculators had already taken the good land, and were selling it for far more money.
• Immigrants were told that they needed $1000 to start that was often too little to begin with. Fact sheets told immigrants what they could expect to make in their first year:

• $7.50 an acre x 160 acres = $1200
• 20 bushels an acre x 160 acres = $3200
• $0.65 per bushel x 3200 = $2080.

• The profit would therefore be $880, and this total was used to show people what they could earn in a year. They failed to mention all the other expenses:

• $600 for tools
• $250 for farm animals
• $300 for implements.

• The $880 profit had now turned into a $270 deficit.

Realities of settlement

• Settlers commonly had to stretch their budgets and were forced to focus on the bare basics of survival. The first house was typically a “soddie,” made of mud-covered sod on wood. Soddies usually featured open windows covered with sacks and a thatched roof. They were full of flies and fleas and smelled in the summer. These homes were usually replaced with more substantial buildings within one or two years.
• Not all homesteaders were able to settle on ideal land, and many were forced to build their homes on land that was poor and unproductive, or far from major rail transportation or water sources. Many homesteading plots also needed to be cleared of vegetation and trees before any farming could begin.
• While the climate of the Canadian west was ideal for growing wheat and other grains, it could be unpredictable and immigrants at times had to contend with cyclones, droughts, floods, snowstorms and other extreme weather.
• The development of Marquis wheat in the early 1900s was a significant help to prairie farmers. Marquis wheat matured earlier and gave farmers a better chance of getting a crop harvested before the first frost.
• Life for prairie homesteaders was often quite lonely and isolating; however, the environmental and economic problems they faced encouraged community cooperation. Raising barns and threshing wheat were communal activities and sports and picnics provided occasional relief from the hard work of farming.
• To ease the transition into a new country, many homesteaders settled in areas where previous immigrants from their home country had settled . In some cases, immigrants’ determination to maintain their home language and customs angered those settlers who wanted immigrants to assimilate into Anglo-Canadian society.
• The West was not a get-rich-quick opportunity. Immigrants who were not able to withstand the trials of farming returned home or headed to Prairie cities to find work in nonagricultural areas. The hard work of those who persevered, however, was often rewarded with modest success, and a great sense of optimism was felt in the Canadian Prairies as Canada began the 20^th century.