Natural History Of Saskatchewan

History of Saskatchewan encompasses the study of past human events and activities of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, the middle of Canada's three prairie provinces. Archaeological studies give some clues as to the history and lifestyles of the Palaeo-Indian, Taltheilei, and Shield Archaic traditions who were the first occupants of the prehistoric era of this geographical area. They evolved into the history of the First Nations people who kept their history alive in oral tradition. The First Nation bands that were a part of this area were the Chipewyan, Cree, Saulteaux, Assiniboine, Atsina, and Sioux.Sask Gen Web SGW First Nations Saskatchewan Genealogy Roots
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Henry Kelsey (1667–1724), was the first European (an Englishman) to visit this area, and arrived in 1690. Other European explorers also soon arrived followed by fur traders such as the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay (Hudson's Bay Company) and North West Company. Clifford Sifton, Minister of the Interior in charge of immigration, (1896–1905) induced a variety of agriculturally inclined European emigrants to Canada to settle prairie land around the transcontinental railway. The political boundaries of this area have changed several times evolving through Rupert's Land, Provisional Districts of the North-West Territories, and finally a province. Saskatchewan has been a province of Canada since 1905.

Natural history

The history of this plains area actually began 2,000–2,100 million years ago wherein there were two continents separated by an ocean. The " Churchill Continent" which would be Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and the " Superior Continent" which would comprise Manitoba and Ontario. 1,830 – 1,800 million years ago these two land masses collided. The Northern shield area and western Rockies formed higher land from the collision.TIME TUNNEL Royal Saskatchewan Museum
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The lower lands of today's parkland were covered by a shallow sea even in the Palaeozoic Era. It was not until the Cretaceous Period
144 – 66 million years ago that the inland sea began to drain. Here we begin to find the paleontological artifacts of various dinosaur species. The ice age of the Quaternary Period totally again re-shaped and re-shifted the landscape of Saskatchewan, occurring 2 million years ago.

Following these geological changes to this area, and the formation of the continent of North America as we know it, pre-history to the history of contemporary day can begin.

Pre-European

Archaeologists divide the time frame to study ancient findings into contemporary which would be from the 20th century on, Protohistoric archaeology from 1620 to contemporary, and Prehistoric archaeology is the study before early exploration to the area.

The prehistoric archaeology studies the findings and further classifies them according to traditions followed by the ancient peoples.

Palaeo-Indian Tradition of the Agate Basin finds date to as early as c. 6000 BC, Taltheilei Tradition c. 500 BC and Shield Archaic tradition c. 4000 BC.Human History of Northern Saskatchewan
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The Athapaskans, Dene, or Chipewyan First Nation lived in the shield area, and were caribou hunters. Their early archaeological history is documented around 1615.

Samuel Hearne was one of the first early explorers to make contact with the Dene. Algonkian or Woodland Cree (Kristinaux) lived above the treeline, whereas plains Cree lived in the open parkland area. Prairie buffalo hunters pre-dominated in southern Saskatchewan and were mainly of the first nation Siouan or Assiniboine (Nakota). Atsina or Dakota (Sioux) were living on the outskirts of the area now known as Saskatchewan.

Early explorers

Some early explorers who made inroads to the West are:
* Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne
* Peter Fidler
* Samuel Hearne
* Anthony Henday
* Henry Kelsey
* Pierre La Vérendrye
* Peter Pond
* John Palliser
* David Thompson
* Philip TurnorGrade Four Social Studies Heritage Explorers, Fur Traders, Early Immigrants, and Treaties
URL accessed 26 November 2006

Fur trade era

In May 1670, King Charles II of England declared sovereignty over the lands which drained into the Hudson Bay watershed and granted those lands to "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay", which later became the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). The lands became known as Rupert's Land after the founder of the company. In 1774, Cumberland House, the company's first trading post, was erected.

Travelling inland were the French Canadian voyageurs of the North West Company arriving from Eastern Canada, and from 1740 to about 1820 the Cree peoples were migrating westward as well, coming into contact with the Haaninin and Siksika nations already inhabiting the Saskatchewan river basins as they continued their role as intermediaries in the fur trade. Canadian, European, and American fur traders set up forts and trading posts and continued commerce with the indigenous people, however conflicts between the local Haaninin and the incoming Cree and Assiniboine were exacerbated because of the preference Europeans showed toward trading with the latter indigenous groups over the locals, culminating in attacks in 1794 against both North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company forts.

Local indigenous peoples including the Métis, Haaninin, and Siksika were accustomed to the buffalo hunt, however, some Métis had arrived from the Red River Valley in the 1840s-60 precisely because the hunt was declining in that region, a sign of things to come further west. When Manitoba was established in 1870, many Métis were disappointed with what they felt was a disenfranchisement of their laws and way of life in the new province and migrated into the Saskatchewan River basin, establishing a settlement there and electing Gabriel Dumont as the first president of the council of St Laurent in 1872, charged with governing the annual buffalo hunts and other local laws.

In 1875 local Métis hunters led by an HBC employee broke the hunting laws established by this council to protect the buffalo by hunting ahead of the main caravan. A fine was imposed by the local council on the hunters, who appealed to the local magistrate, Lawrence Clarke. Clarke was, in fact, an officer of the HBC, so in siding with the hunters, he appealed for assistance from the North-West Mounted Police, who sent fifty officers to intimidate and undermine the authority of the local councils in favour of the HBC. Soon after, the seat of the government of the North-West Territories was transferred to Battleford and a North-West Mounted Police fort was established at Duck Lake.

In 1876 a treaty was concluded between the Government of Canada and the local Cree peoples (Treaty 6), and though restrictions on the buffalo hunt and land ownership were tabled by some, they ultimately failed to materialize in the written version of the treaty.

The North-West Rebellion

In 1877, at the first council meeting in the new seat of government in Battleford, many of the laws of the previous council of St Laurent were adopted to protect the buffalo, however these hunting restrictions did not apply to non-Métis indigenous people as per the arrangement of Treaty 6, nor were they an effective means to reduce hunting by and for American markets. According to Gabriel Dumont, the leader of the South Saskatchewan River caravan, bison had become extinct in the region by 1878.

In the late 1870s and early 1880s, several appeals were made by Métis people to be better represented in government. The treaties established with aboriginal groups in the area gave a sense of voice at that time, and territorial government was dominated by the euro-Canadian minority, referring to themselves as 'white' in contrast to the Métis majority in many regions. In April 1883, a local council voted against a proposition to send a delegation to Ottawa to demand their rights, and instead supported an effort to bring Louis Riel back to Canada.

Before the arrival of Louis Riel, a petition was sent from Bishop Gardin to Prime Minister Macdonald that presented all of the grievances and demands of the Métis in the South Saskatchewan river basin including the establishment of the province of Saskatchewan, proper surveying of the traditional river lots of the Métis, and the appointment of Riel as a member of the Territorial Council or Canadian Senate.

Louis Riel arrived in Saskatchewan in July 1884. A feast day was established on September 24 (later moved to July 24) along with the establishment of a patron saint of the Métis and Riel met with many councils and individuals before declaring the establishment of the Provisional Government of Saskatchewan on March 19, 1885. On March 26 Gabriel Dumont, adjunct-general of this provisional government captured Duck Lake with a small army, forcing back the North-West Mounted Police, thus began the North-West Rebellion.

Political boundaries

Rupert's Land became the first western area under English control in 1670 when King Charles II of England granted the lands draining into Hudson's Bay to ''The Governor and Company of Adventurers Trading into Hudson's Bay'' (i.e., the Hudson's Bay Company). This area of land became known as "Rupert's Land" after King Charles' cousin, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who was the first governor of the company.

The North-West Territories was divided into districts in 1870. The Provisional Districts of Alberta, Assiniboia, Athabasca, and Saskatchewan were districts of the Northwest Territories created in 1882. They were named ''provisional districts'' to distinguish them from the District of Keewatin which had a more autonomous relationship from the NWT administration. Due to the vastness of the NWT, it was divided into more administrative districts. 1895 saw the formation of the District of Franklin, District of Ungava and the District of Mackenzie which were all part of the NWT. By this date, the Provisional District of Athabasca had extended as far west as the first meridian.

Immigration and settlement era

The settlements patterns were closely tied to the availability of transportation (especially railways) and the fertility of the soil. Ethnic groups tended to settle together, so they could build support networks for religion, language, customs, and finding marriage partners.

Travel routes

When the surveyors for the railways came through, they at first proposed a route following the early telegraph line. However, a number of historic factors changed this route. Travel from Winnipeg through to Calgary was easier through the southern prairies rather than going upwards to Battleford and Edmonton. The southern route of the railway, went through the village of Pile O' Bones in 1882. By 1903, the influx of settlers via the railway increased the population to city status, and Pile O' Bones was now known as Regina. In 1905, when Saskatchewan became a province, Regina was named the capital city. Immigration was advertised in a massive campaign put forth by Clifford Sifton, Minister of the Interior in charge of immigration, (1896–1905)Impressions 250 Years of Printing in the Lives of Canadians
, URL accessed 26 November 2006 who brought into being Canada's homestead act, the ''Dominion Lands Act'' in 1872. The railway brought life to settlements, which quickly grew to villages, and towns. Typically many small communities sprung up 10–12 miles apart a distance easily travelled by horse and cart in a day.

Immigration policy

Settlement policy, set by the federal government, the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Hudson's Bay Company and associated land companies encouraged immigration. The key event was the decision to emulate the American Homestead Law by offering, at no cost, 160 acres of farmland to any man over 18 (or to a woman head of family) who settled there. Dramatic advertising campaigns promoted the benefits of prairie living. Potential immigrants read leaflets information painted Canada as a veritable garden of Eden, and downplayed the need for agricultural expertise. Ads in ''The Nor'-West Farmer'' by the Commissioner of Immigration implied that western land held water, wood, gold, silver, iron, copper, and cheap coal for fuel, all of which were readily at hand. Reality was far harsher, especially for the first arrivals who lived in sod houses. However eastern money poured in and by 1913, long term mortgage loans to Saskatchewan farmers had reached $65 million.

Ethnicity

The dominant groups comprised British settlers from eastern Canada and Britain, who comprised about 50% of the population during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They played the leading role in establishing the basic institutions of plains society, economy, and government. About a tenth of the people were Irish, with the more numerous Protestants integrating with English and Scottish Protestants, and the less numerous Catholics taking control of the Catholic Church in the province.

Blocs and colonies

By 1930 there were 19 major ethno-religious bloc settlements in Saskatchewan, chiefly in the north-central region. Seven were French, one German Catholic, two Mennonite, two Hutterite, three Ukrainian-Polish, one Russian Doukhobor, and two were Scandinavian. They differed greatly in size, from the small Hutterite colonies with a population of 75–150 each to St. Peter's Colony, which encompassed fifty-six townships (over two thousand square miles) and included about 9,500 Catholics of German descent.

In the north-west of the provisional district of Saskatchewan, NWT, Interior Minister Clifton Sifton set up bloc colonies for 7400 Doukhobor settlers from Russia in 1899. Peter Verigin arrived in 1902 and became the leader. After their bizarre behaviour alienated public opinion (such as nude protest marches), the government in 1907 took away much of the land they had been awarded. Verigin led most of them to British Columbia.

The French Counts of St Hubert established Rolanderie Ranch and a gentleman lifestyle at Whitewood in 1884. The Counts sought to establish a number of commercial ventures, including a chicory processing factory, a Gruyere cheese factory, a sugar beet venture, and a horse breeding operation. They occasionally socialized with the English colonial outpost of Cannington Manor. In the 1880s Edward Pierce tried to transplant early Victorian living at Cannington Manor in the 1880s, now preserved as Cannington Manor Provincial Park.

The Barr Colonists ventured north in 1903 and settled in Brittania now known as Lloydminster, Saskatchewan.

Germans

The German settlers came primarily from Russia, and after 1914 from German-American settlements in North and South Dakota. They came not as large groups but as part of a chain of family members, where the first immigrants would find suitable locations and send for the others. They formed compact German-speaking communities built around their Catholic or Lutheran churches, and continuing old-world customs. They were farmers who grew wheat. Arrivals from Russia, Bukovina, and Romanian Dobruja established their villages in a 40-mile-wide tract east of Regina.

The Germans operated parochial schools primarily to maintain their religious faith; often they offered only an hour of German language instruction a week, but they always had extensive coverage of religion. Most German Catholic children by 1910 attended schools taught entirely in English. In the 199x–1930 era, German Catholics generally voted for the Liberal ticket (rather than the Provincial Rights and Conservative tickets), seeing Liberals as more willing to protect religious minorities. Occasionally they voted for Conservatives or independent candidates who offered greater support for public funding of parochial schools. Nazi Germany made a systematic effort to proselytize among Saskatchewan's Germans in the 1930s. Fewer that 1% endorsed their message, but some did migrate back to Germany before anti-Nazi sentiment became overwhelming in 1939.

Ukrainians

In 1911, 22,300 Ukrainians lived in Saskatchewan, and 28,100 in 1921. Only Manitoba had larger numbers. The 107,000 Ukrainians in 1921, nationwide, grew to 530,000 in 1981, including 101,000 in Saskatchewan.

Ukrainians—often called "Ruthenians" at the time—began arriving in numbers in the 1890s. They came as farmers, and actively built churches. Their requests for Ukrainian language public schools were often rejected by local officials.

Ukrainian men in 1914 were not Canadian citizens but were subjects of Austria-Hungary, an enemy nation. Many were unemployed. The government interned about 5,000 men, mostly those who were caught trying to cross the border into the U.S. (It was illegal for an enemy alien to leave the country). They were assigned work on federal and provincial public work projects as well as for the railways.

Religiously the Ukrainians were split between two Catholic and two Orthodox denominations. One of the latter was the "Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada", established in 1918 with the goal of defending the interests of the people as a bulwark against discrimination and oppression of the sort that Ukrainians had just experienced.

Since World War Two, Ukrainians have largely assimilated into Canadian culture.

Assimilation and nativism

In the 1910–1930 era, the provincial department of education led systematic efforts to place English-speaking teachers in every school to Canadianize the ethnic groups through the use of the English language and the teaching of British values. He envisioned the role of the teacher to be an educator, missionary, and model Canadian citizen.

The Ku Klux Klan moved north into the prairies in 1926, and was especially strong among British residents of Saskatchewan. It built on ethnic prejudices, but had few major successes. Its peak came in 1927–30 when it shaped the vocabulary used to discuss issues of language, sectarianism, immigration, and control of natural resources. It over and over again warned of "Catholic plots," but faded away when the Great Depression hit and the conspiracy-minded turned their attention to eastern cities and bankers.

Families

Gender roles were sharply defined. Men were primarily responsible for breaking the land; planting and harvesting; building the house; buying, operating and repairing machinery; and handling finances. At first there were many single men on the prairie, or husbands whose wives were still back east, but they had a hard time. They realized the need for a wife. In 1901, there were 19,200 families, but this surged to 150,300 families only 15 years later. Wives played a central role in settlement of the prairie region. Their labour, skills, and ability to adapt to the harsh environment proved decisive in meeting the challenges. They prepared bannock, beans and bacon, mended clothes, raised children, cleaned, tended the garden, helped at harvest time and nursed everyone back to health. While prevailing patriarchal attitudes, legislation, and economic principles obscured women's contributions, the flexibility exhibited by farm women in performing productive and nonproductive labour was critical to the survival of family farms, and thus to the success of the wheat economy.

Population history

When Saskatchewan became a province in 1905, boosters and politicians proclaimed its destiny was to become Canada's most powerful province. Saskatchewan embarked on an ambitious province-building program based on its Anglo-Canadian culture and wheat production for the export market. Population quintupled from 91,000 in 1901 to 492,000 to 1911, thanks to heavy immigration of farmers from the U.S., Germany and Scandinavia. Efforts were made to assimilate the newcomers to British Canadian culture and values.

The population reached 758,000 in 1921 and peaked at 922,000 in 1931. It lost population in the Great Depression and war years, dropping to 830,000 in 1951, then slowly climbed back up, holding steady at about one million since 1986.

The ethnic history of the province was reflected in the ancestry data in 2006. The largest ethnic groups were German (30.0%), followed by English (26.5%), Scottish (19.2%), Irish (15.3%), Ukrainian (13.6%), French (12.4%), First Nations (12.1%), Norwegians (7.2%), Polish (6.0%), Métis (4.4%), Dutch (3.7%), Russian (3.7%) and Swedish (3.5%). Some 18.1% of all respondents also identified their ethnicity as "Canadian".

The largest denominations in 2001 were the Roman Catholic Church with 286,815 (30%); the United Church of Canada with 187,450 (20%); and the Lutherans with 78,520 (8%). 148,535 (15.4%) responded "no religion".

1905–1930

Government structure

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