The land of open doors : being letters from the western Canada

Front matter

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Foreword

Nearty fifty years ago a young Presbyterian

: minister, James Robertson, born 1839, swore _ that, God helping him, he would never allow the

Canadian Prairie to become a ‘‘wild and woolly

West.” He refused a good call from New York, preferring to serve his own country at a quarter of the salary within his reach. He felt that his own people wanted him, and, as he expressed it,

“the time for self is gone.” Before 1870 the great West was regarded with fear as the great

~ lone land of terrible Arctic winters, and as an extremely doubtful asset tothe Dominion. James

_ Robertson heard the tread of the coming millions,

Facing blizzards and the frosts of winter, he showed the path to service, which has been admirably trod by the writer of these letters. His motto was: ‘‘We must live in the future here.”

~ When I was in Canada I was so much impressed by the influence of the character and work of James Robertson on the moulding of Western developments, that I suggested to the © people of Winnipeg that they could not choose a better subject for the first statue to be erected in their city.

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More than fifty years ago a young Roman Catholic of French-Canadian descent, Father Lacombe, twelve years older than Robertson, devoted himself with equal energy and disinterestedness to missionary effort in the same field. At that time the Church of England, which appeared to be more concerned with teaching men how to believe than how to act, was not - conspicuous, as were the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic Churches, for its missionary zeal either among the Indians or the pioneers of Western Canada. But the dogmatic entrenchments which ~ formerly filled the greater part of the picture of the Church of England in Canada, to the comparative exclusion of other subjects, have been pushed into the background. A new virility is — stirring her limbs; and just as we bared our heads before the work of James Robertson the Presbyterian minister, and of the Roman Catholic Father, Albert Lacombe, so now we may feel just pride in contemplating the disinterested — devotion of the young clergy of the Church of England, who are daily rendering services the performance of which frequently requires a moral courage of a higher order than that which has so often secured the Victoria Cross.

In January 1913 1 was staying in a house in Glasgow with a fellow guest, who had in her possession a letter just received from Mr. J. B.

Bickersteth, a lay missionary who, with other — vi |

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Foreword members of the Archbishops’ Mission, was en- -deavouring, with the courage and disinterestedness of a soldier leading a forlorn hope, to meet so far as possible the spiritual requirements of the settlers and the men engaged in construction work of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The perusal of this letter left a deep impression upon

_my mind. It had been written under conditions -which would have prevented most men from writing at all, and was remarkable not only for its contents, which had flowed naturally and unreservedly from the pen of a son writing in fullest confidence to his parents, but for the artistic excellence inherent in a singularly clear and beautiful handwriting, as well as for the marks of culture, accurate observation, and humour which were apparent inevery sentence. Nor did the distinction of the handwriting excel the interest of its contents. They revealed with the vividness of a cinematograph the privations, sufferings, tragedies, and comedies inseparable from the lives of those

_ whose adventurous spirit has led them to undertake the initial spadework upon the foundations of a future civilisation which, it is hoped, will some day make Western Canada renowned for noble living and for high ideals.

I was so impressed and fascinated by the letter that I begged to be included in the list of those who might share the pleasure of reading future letters from the same pen. That privilege was Vil

The Land of Open Doors — granted to me, and I can honestly say that few pleasures enjoyed during the year 1913 exceeded that of reading these letters as they arrived.

They will speak for themselves. They describe the scenes witnessed by the writer, and the impressions left upon his mind. They are the letters of a man in whom accuracy of observation, sympathy, sense of proportion, poise, courage, humour, self-forgetfulness, and wholehearted devotion to the service of God and man are all conspicuous. |

I hope they may be widely read; and that they may create in the hearts of many of those who eat bread baked from the wheat of the Canadian West, and of those whose wealth has been made possible by the work of the men described therein, a sense of moral responsibility for the conditions in which those men labour and live ; conditions which all lovers of the Church, the Empire, and Humanity should desireto make ~ brighter and more attractive. To those who

share this desire the opportunity of giving practical effect to it is before them. :

GREY.

Vili

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Introduction To The Fourth Impression

SucH great events have taken place since this book was published in the spring of 1914 that it is impossible to allow this fourth and cheaper impression to appear without a few words of introduction.

Even before the general public were fully aware that we were at war the Canadian

Government had telegraphed the offer of an Expeditionary Force. The offer was accepted, __and during the course of the war half-a-million - Canadians enlisted, of whom nearly four hundred

- thousand crossed the Atlantic, forty - three _ thousand were killed, and fifty thousand have returned wounded and sick. The women of

Canada sent two thousand nurses _ overseas and raised sixteen million dollars for Red Cross and similar purposes. The bombarded towns

_ of our east coast have reason to be grateful to Canada for most generous help.

There is no necessity here, even if there was

“space, to enlarge on the great fighting qualities of the Canadians. No British soldier who has served in any of the great theatres of war would question their courage and efficiency. The High Commissioner of Canada tells the story of .

-a man who walked some two hundred miles to

Edmonton to enlist and was there rejected by te ix the medical authorities. “I shall have to walk all the way back now,” he remarked disconsolate. “Why wouldn't they take you ?”” somebody asked and he replied, ‘‘ They say I have flat feet.” - It should be remembered, however, that though love for England was undoubtedly the motive which caused not a few to cross the Atlantic in 1914, yet it was to defend the free institutions of that great commonwealth of nations, of which she herself is so distinguished.a member, that Canada primarily entered the European war.

Although not serving in the Canadian forces, I found myself in action with the Canadians on several occasions, notably during part of the winter of 1916-1917 on the Vimy Ridge, and on the morning of 8th August 1918—the day of. the great forward move which freed Amiens, and which, as Ludendorff now admits, sealed the doom of Germany. I would say without hesitation that no troops on the Western front inspired those with whom they came in contact with greater confidence than did the Canadian Corps. With the self-assurance bred of the country from which they came, they were never slow to say what they could do. The fact remains they always did it.

The achievements of the Canadians have indeed been brilliant. The immortal struggle between Zonnebeke and Poelcappelle during the first gas attacks of April 1915, the storming of the Vimy Ridge in April 1917, the great x offensive which started in the neighbourhood |

4 of Villers Bretonneux on 8th August 1918, the _ breaking of the Quéant-Drocourt Switch a few weeks later—these are the more outstanding victories in a distinguished and consistently successful record. An Englishman, remembering these things, must surely recognise the debt of the old country to the new.

The following pages deal with life in the Far West as it was before the war. The essential features of that life are the same to-day. Itistrue ee ale that in some of the country districts described in the first chapters, notably round Greencourt, and other districts served by the Mission, the arrival of the railway has made the life of the homesteaders less arduous. Early in 1916, the Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Columbia Railway reached the town of Peace River. The first through train to the coast ran over the Grand Trunk Pacific track as early as 1914,

Traffic has been passing over the western sections of the Canadian Northern Railway

(now part of the system called the Canadian

National Railways) for some time past. But rail-

_ road construction, as described in the latter half of _ this book, goes on to-day as untiringly as ever and under the same conditions.

In a country so vast, it is clear that only the more fortunate have the railway at their door. The pioneer farmer, be he ex-soldier or not, still needs pluck, endurance and resource. The x1

The Land of Open Doors return for hard work is none the less sure, the romance of the life none the less real.

Those of us who have served in the Army throughout the war realise how great. is the number of demobilised soldiers who intend to try their fortune in the New World. It may be of value both to them and to others if we outline the new land schemes of the Canadian Government. |

At the outset it should be clearly understood that the scheme is based on the desire to assist ex-soldiers to settle on the land, and thus increase agricultural production. After the South African war the Canadian Government gave grants of land to returned soldiers, which in reality took the form of a gratuity, because the grant was issued as scrip which was transferable. This plan did not assist settlement and led to speculation. The present scheme is in no way speculative. It is not a ‘‘ get-rich-quick ” scheme.

The main features of the Soldier Settlement Act, 1919, are these:

(1) A Soldier Settlement Board of three commissioners and all necessary machinery for carrying out the purpose of the Act is established, The Act applies to every province in Canada. The prospective settler is expected to choose the province in which he desires to settle and then lay his qualifications and plans before the branch office of the Board in that province. _

(2) A “settler,” according to the Act, is a

X11” ie ea person, who at any time during the war has _ served (i) in a naval or military force of _ Canada—and has served out of Canada. (ii) In ~ anaval or military force of any of His Majesty's _ Allies—and being ordinarily resident in Canada og when he enlisted or otherwise became a member _ of such force has served thereafter in a theatre _ of actual war. (iii) In a naval or military force a of His Majesty or of any British Dominion or _ Colony and has served out of the country where

Z he enlisted or otherwise became a member of - ee force in a theatre of actual war. (iv) Any _ of the. above who have been otherwise than.

ae errouably discharged or who have left the forces with an honourable record. (v) The a _ widow of any person who died on active service

and who, but for his death, would have been a “settler” as defined above.

(3) The Act gives power to the Soldier Settle- = “ment Board to declare a district, where agriculture _ is being retarded owing to land remaining undeveloped, a ‘settlement area,” and in these q settlement areas to purchase land compulsorily on payment of a reasonable compensation to 4 the owner,

_ (4) The Act entitles the Board to grant a loan to the settler who wishes to buy from the _ Board the land which has been thus compulsorily acquired. The terms are cash down or ten per ‘cent. cash down and the balance to be repaid in not more than twenty- -five annual instalments, x1il

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The Land of Open Doors the interest being five per cent. Four thousand five hundred dollars is the maximum sum which the settler may leave owing to the Board at the time of the purchase. It should be noted, however, that intending settlers who have not served actually with the Canadian forces, or been resident in Canada before the war, may be required to make a larger cash-down payment when purchasing property from the Board, or | to provide greater security in the case of a loan than is stated above.

(5) The Board has the power to make a free soldier grant of one hundred and sixty acres of Dominion lands to the settler. Unless he has already exhausted that right, this grant is in addition to the one hundred and sixty acres under ordinary homesteading conditions to which as a British subject he is entitled. All Dominionowned land in the Prairie Provinces within fifteen miles of a railway has been reserved for soldier settlement, and in the Peace River country and other parts of the Prairie Provinces land has likewise been set aside for qualified settlers. —

(6) The Act entitles the Board to supply the settler with live stock and equipment at cost price up to two thousand dollars, and to make him a loan of one thousand dollars for permanent improvements.

(7) The Act provides for the establishment of agricultural training centres to which the intending settler may be sent for instruction, if xiv he cannot satisfy the Board that he already possesses sufficient agricultural~ experience to

- give reasonable prospect of success as a farmer.

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Subsistence allowances will be granted to the settler while undergoing such training, and after he has taken up his land instructors will be provided to visit his farm and give him advice.

Such is the barest summary of what may be considered the most important piece of land legislation ever passed through the Federal Parliament of Canada. Difficulties of transportation have so far made it impossible for any but Canadian soldiers to benefit by the Act. That the scheme, however, is working successfully is

‘proved by the fact that already many thousands of applications by Canadian soldiers to settle on the land have been approved, and over twenty million dollars have been advanced in loans. It is estimated that between one hundred and fifty and two hundred million dollars will be spent in this way. Moreover, there is a scheme by which in certain cases free passages to Canada are granted to ex-soldiers from this country who can satisfy the necessary authorities that they are or are likely to become successful farmers. In view of these far-reaching schemes it is impossible to forecaste what developments the next few years will see in the Far West. The population of Alberta is about half-a-million people. There is every sign that as soon as the tide of emigration from Europe is allowed to

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The Land of Open Doors flow freely once again, the influx of settlers will be very large. -

In the last pages of this book stress is laid on the temporary character of the scheme, which was inaugurated in 1910 by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. Help was offered for ten years. In the summer of 1920 the Edmonton Mission, the Regina Mission and the Southern Alberta Mission are to be handed over to the Canadian Church. It is hoped that they will be handed over as a free and unburdened gift, and with a sufficient endowment to enable them to be continued as centres for pioneer work. If. the church in Alberta is to stand alone, nothing can be more essential than a regular supply of Canadian-trained clergy, and for this purpose the building of a college or hostel in connection with the University of Alberta is even more pressing to-day than it was in 1914.

During the war no part of the Dominions gave more freely of its men than the newlysettled districts of the west. The young Church could ill afford to lose so many supporters. Neither was the Edmonton Mission slow to release as many of its members as possible for military service. Out of thirty-nine past and present members thirty joined up. Of these, nine have been killed and five wounded. Such

_a record challenges response.

2 J.B; BICKERSTETH. 1st September 1919, a

Fe NATL a eee ys CAD ss ae

“THe Nineteenth Century was the Century of the United States, the Twentieth Century belongs to Canada.” Some such dictum is said to have originated with Sir Wilfred Laurier while he was

Premier. ‘‘I do not deny that in a period of rapid development, such as that which has char-—

_ acterised the progress of Canada, you will perhaps find the spirit of the market-place showing a keener development than it might at some other periods of a nation’s history.” So spoke Mr. Borden, as Premier of the Dominion, on his

“memorable visit to London in the summer of 1912.

No one who has lived in the West for any length of time would be prepared to deny the truth of either of these statements. Canada even

~ yet is on the threshold of her great development, and to a large extent her people is obsessed with the spirit of the market-place. Money-making mania! It is not to be wondered at. Given untold resources, and therefore endless oppor-

_ tunities for accumulating wealth, how could it be otherwise? But therein lies the danger. A nation cannot live by bread alone. Mr. Michael Sadler describes the’ successful man from the North American Continent as one

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The Land of Open Doors ‘‘who, characterised by a new and venturesome optimism, is self-confident, insatiable in his appetite for new experiences and sensations, buoyant, swift-minded, gay, but often ruthless towards the incompetent, quick but fickle in his intimacies, humorously tolerant in his judgments, stoical in danger, unfrightened of the future, though uncertain of the ‘issue the future may bring.” Add to this an untiring devotion to the pursuzt of money (not so much devotion to money itself), and the picture is complete. It is a true representation of the kind of man bred by the West.

Into a country which produces this type of character, and into an atmosphere permeated with | the ideas of the market-place, has been pouring for the last ten years a vast horde of people of every nationality. They come from Eastern America, from the middle West and from the Western States; from Quebec and Ontario and the Maritime Provinces. In the British Isles there is hardly a village which has not paid its toll to Canada—hardly a family which has not some tie, direct or indirect, with the great Dominion.

Long ago the fever spread to other European countries. In 1912 over eighty thousand non- English speaking’ people were admitted to Canada. When the United States of America was receiving this number of foreigners, she had a population of thirty millions to absorb ek whereas the population of Canada (1913) i XVill |

_roughly, between seven and eight millions—not much more than that of London and its suburbs. ‘A large proportion of this foreign invasion finds _ its way quickly to the construction camps or to _ work of some kind on the railway. Such are the * Galicians, Italians, and other Southern Europeans. The Germans, Scandinavians, and Northern Europeans are generally to be found on the land. They have been attracted by the magic of property, and are usually more permanent settlers than the Southerners, whose numbers are likely to fall off when the great demand for labour on _ the railroad becomes less insistent. But it will _ be many years before there is no demand for this _ kind of labour, and as long as foreigners can - return to their native country better endowed _ with this world’s goods than when they left it, others will continue to follow their example and try their fortune in the new land.

The returned emigrant is the finest publicity agent there is. A visit from the successful settler

_ to his native village makes a deeper impression

- on the bucolic mind than scores of pamphlets. _ And only the shipping agents have any idea of _.the many hundreds of people, English-speaking and foreign, who year by year return to their _ native country in Europe to visit friends for a _ while, or comfortably to end their days there. Not only many nationalities but countless types

_ of religious belief are represented by the new = xix citizens of Canada. According to the last census (1911) the different creeds to be found in the Dominion, with its population of little more than seven millions, number seventy-nine.! True, some of these religious sects cannot boast a large membership. For instance, there are’ 14 “ Exclusive Brethren,” 42 “ Marshallites,” 407 “ Millennial Dawnites,” and 28 ‘‘ Apostles.” ‘‘ Daniel's Band” numbers 64. The “Saints of God” account for 39; the “Saints” for 297.

Over 6,000,000 of the people are either Angli-. cans (1,043,017), Methodists (1,079,892), Presbyterians(1,115,324), or Roman Catholics(2,8 33,041). Of the Roman Catholic membership, 2,000,000 are French Canadian. The interesting point is this. Comparing these figures of 1911 with those of 1901, the Anglican percentage of increase, during the ten years, is 53.03 per cent.—far greater than the increase of any of the other denominations. This is due, no doubt, to the large influx of English people; and if the same proportion of increase among all these four | religious bodies continues, the Anglican Church will before long surpass numerically the Methodists and Presbyterians, as she already does the English-speaking Roman Catholics.

And.so year after year this great army of settlers, with its curious assortment of languages

1 Cf. p. 265 for the extraordinary list of different religions bodies to be found in Canada to-day.

XX x and creeds, presses into Canada. Many of these home-seekers are coming to new climatic conditions—all (except perhaps the Americans) are going into an atmosphere of new ideas. As the spirit of the country gets hold of them, a severance of old traditions and a re-setting of ideals is inevitable. Old interests change; principles, once firm, become lax; the entire outlook seems different ; the whole life is transplanted. Sometimes a man’s religion is not sufficiently hardy to flourish, or even to /ve, in the severer climate of the new land.

What is the motive at the bottom of this great movement? What is it which causes men and women to root up old associations, to leave old friends, and set out for a distant land? Undoubtedly it is the wish to avail themselves of the opportunities which a new country alone can offer for attaining success in every department of life. Wecame to “ give the children a chance,” ‘to possess our own land,’ ‘‘to better ourselves a bit,” ‘“‘to have more freedom.” These are the kind of answers to the question ‘‘ Why did you come?” And, indeed, if material prosperity is the one object in life, people are fully justified in turning their faces towards Canada with confidence. As regards her capability of producing countless acres of ‘“‘ No. 1 Hard,” or of yielding quick returns for steady labour or fortunate specu- | lation, intending settlers have little cause for . Pata ?,2,%!

a ~ te anxiety. It is a country where human brain and human muscle are taming the forces of nature ~ with such incredible rapidity that, provided a man is ready to work hard and intelligently, there can be little doubt of ultimate success.

But are business openings, the standard of wages, the fertility of the soil, the only questions which should exercise the mind of intending settlers? Take, for instance, the case of a married man who takes up land far away ‘‘up country.” It will be admitted that for a family with young children a school is necessary. Can it be denied that a place of worship ‘is equally essential? Many of those who come out to farm in the North- West have little idea that they may be planted down in a district miles from the nearest school and out of touch with even the farthest rounds of the travelling missionary. Many have told me what complete disillusionment was theirs on this point. To be cut off from Church, school, social intercourse of every kind—benefits which in more civilised countries were so common as hardly to be valued—comes as a rude surprise to many.

These letters aim at giving some account of the attempt which is being made by the Church to reach the settlers in that part of Alberta which lies directly north and west of Edmonton, the capital city. This tract of country is bounded on the south by the Saskatchewan River, and reaches west 250 miles to the summit of the XXil

Yellowhead Pass in the Rocky Mountains, and north 100 miles to the Athabasca River. Itisa great rolling country, well watered, and in parts heavily timbered, extremely fertile when once

cleared, and rapidly filling up with settlers.

| The attractive and sometimes misleading emi-

__- Europe have had in the past little to say about

this part of Alberta. They invariably contain

photographs of huge wheatfields which the reader is told are six miles long, or of a traction engine pulling large ploughs over limitless prairie, the _ farmer sitting comfortably by in his automobile. But this is far from being a true picture of life as it is lived by the present-day homesteader: in the far North-West. For the settler who has — little capital, the first few years on the homestead are years of continual struggle. Receipts are few

—expenses many. There are at present few railways, and therefore no real market for produce. The trails are atrocious, and make all transportation extremely difficult, and in summer sometimes practically impossible. It is to this hard-working but generous-hearted and hospitable people, whose very conditions of life tend to

make them over-anxious about the things of the world, that the Church comes with her practical message of hope and encouragement, and her reminder of higher ideals than mere material

SUCCESS.

Sige ii ss eae S

Xxiil

The tract of country above mentioned having been handed over to the northern branch of the Archbishops’ Western Canada Fund, the headquarters of the new Mission were established at Edmonton in the spring of 1910. Since that date some ten or eleven country Missions have been built up at various points throughout this large territory. Each country Mission Station is itself the centre of an extensive district, and is in charge of a priest, who in most cases is helped by a layman. Once in three months all the members of the Mission meet for a few days. in Edmonton. Letter VII gives an account of © one of these Reunions.

After a few days at headquarters, I was sent out to Lac la Nonne, one of the country Missions about sixty miles north-west of Edmonton. The Rev. G. D. Whitaker had already been in charge of this district for some little time, and during the next twelve months we did our best to work a district 100 miles long and about 20 miles broad. I was made responsible for the north-western part of this newly settled country. It took me about two weeks to make the round of my district, travelling in summer on horseback, in winter in a sleigh. Letters IV and V give some account of the earlier of these journeys.

A year later Greencourt, which is the most central settlement of this north-western district, was made the headquarters of a separate country XXIV

Mission, and was put in charge of the Rev. W. R. Ball. Interest in the work of the Mission gradually increased, and finally the people decided to build a place of worship. In June 1913 the opening services were held in the new lumber church. Western architecture is not elaborate. Building materials are expensive, and the people are not rich. But if they cannot help by making a large monetary contribution, they can and do give (what is equally valuable) their time. The history of Greencourt is similar to that of many of the other country districts, and is typical of the work which the Edmonton Mission is trying to do throughout the territory entrusted to it.

In June 1912, I was sent out due west along the line of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company. My headquarters were at a camp about 140 miles west of Edmonton, where at that time a large number of men were engaged in

_ constructing some cement works. This camp has now become a permanent settlement, and a church has been built, the material and labour being given almost entirely by the men themselves. Every month I made two trips farther west, often not going beyond the summit of the Yellowhead Pass (the limit of the diocese), but occasionally travelling many miles into British Columbia beyond the endot steel. Letters VITI,