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Description
Item · November 19, 1897
Part of Life, Events, and Players in the North-West

Place: Regina, N.W.T.

From: T.A. Patrick

To: Mrs. T.A. Patrick, Yorkton, N.W.T.

Delivery: Canada Post, postmarked

Details: 9 pp, one sheet of paper is North West Territories letterhead & envelope

Notes: T.A. Patrick writes to his wife, Marion Patrick, while he waits for the House to open as Government is in council. He states that the Railway Committee's report will not be addressed until Monday. Unfortunate as Patrick had taken under his wing a Mr. Ferraro, a Hungarian delegate who had visited Yorkton, and a Mr. Forslund of the C.P.R. Land Department who had come to visit the Assembly. Unhappy with the Hungarians' location near Yorkton, Mr. Forslund gave most of them land grants. Mr. Ferraro decided to move to Edmonton.

Patrick further writes of the Speaker's dinner that night where one of the attendees is supposed to be the Hon. Clifford Sifton, Minister of the Interior. There is also an upcoming "Windsor Assembly Ball" to honour the Assembly members. Patrick finishes his first letter with "Mr. Haultain has arrived. The Speaker takes the chair."

He begins a new letter in the afternoon while waiting for a sleigh to take him to the House, expressing his worry about his family and his friends the Nelsons and the Christies. He advises that the children avoid Mrs. Head, regardless of the precautions she takes, and that the should be taken out for a walk everyday. He then jokes of his lack of progress in learning to waltz despite having lessons from Mrs. Hayes, the Librarian, Mrs Newlands, wife of the Registrar of Land Titles, and Miss Nimmins of the Normal School. Patrick reports that he finished drafting a report for the Select Committee on Railways and must begin drafting a Village Ordinance.

Patrick writes later that evening that Clifford Sifton will not be in attendance at the ball and again on Saturday morning he writes to inform his wife that the members of the assembly were invited to Commissioner Herchmen's home to meet Mr. Sifton. Later still on Sunday, he continues his letter to comment on the new Government's need to prepare legislation following the election.

Patrick, Thomas Alfred
Item · 1899
Part of Prairie Ephemera Collection

Collection of reports by government delegates and by settlers, regarding the prospects and viability of various districts in Western Canada and the prairies for homesteading, including suitability for mixed farming; climate; soil type; and natural resources.

Pages 104-109 are dedicated to survey answers provided by various settlers who had settled in their present locations between 1878-1894.

Contents:
Delegates' Reports [pp. 3-81]; Settlers' Experiences [pp. 83-142].

Illustrations:
"Harvesting in Western Canada"; "Ranching Scene in Western Canada"; "Reaping Wheat in Western Canada"; "Sheep Ranching in Western Canada"; "Reaping Wheat in Western Canada" [alternate view]; "Grain Shipping Station in Western Canada"; "Oats in Western Canada"; "R. Turner's "Shropshires" in Western Canada" [2 photographs]; "R. J. Robinson's Corrals in Western Canada"; "Freight Wagons at Yale, British Columbia"; "View of Kaslo, British Columbia"; "Flax and Wheat in Western Canada"; "Harvest Scene in Western Canada"; "Extensive Reaping in Western Canada"; "Ready for the Thresher"; and an untitled illustration of a white-bearded man standing in a field of tall crops.

Item · 1899
Part of Prairie Ephemera Collection

Describes and advertises the resources and climate of Western Canada with the intention of encouraging settlers to come to Canada from England, Ireland, Scotland, and the United States.

Provides general information on topics that may be of interest to potential settlers, including agricultural possibilities and labour, climate and Canadian winters, health, food, and household labour. Also contains letters and testimonials from successful settlers, "Observations of a Workingman", and advice on how successful a settler might be at farming if they come to Western Canada: with less than $25; with less than $250; with $500; with $1000; with $1000-$2000, up to $5000; or with more than $5000, as their start-up capital.

Includes 4 black and white [B&W] reproductions of photographs, captioned as follows:
"Slocan Lake, looking towards Slocan, B.C."
"Homestead near Brandon, Manitoba."
"Delivery of Harvesting Machines at a Manitoba town."
"C. H. Swanson and Family (Swede), Battle River, Alberta."

The final 2 pages consist of a list of Addresses of Agents in England, Ireland, Scotland, and the United States, and a list of cities in which Free Temporary Accommodation is offered for intending settlers.

Publication issued by authority of Hon. Clifford Sifton, Minister of the Interior.

Dominion of Canada, Department of the Interior
Item · 31 May 1906
Part of Prairie Ephemera Collection

"I would go further and say that the very farthest thing from my intention or desire was to initiate and carry on a policy which would be in accord with the sentiments which hon. gentlemen opposite crystallised into action when they were in power. The policy of this government has been to carry on, so far as the land system is concerned, for the purpose, in the first place, of promoting the prosperity of the Western Country, in the second place of promoting the prosperity of the whole people of Canada, and in the third place for the purpose of pleasing the people of Western Canada with whom we had to deal. The men who are living in that western country, who are dealing with the land department, who are every day in familiar relations with the circumstances, have overwhelmingly given their endorsement to the administration of the affairs by this government."

A speech delivered in the House of Commons by the Honourable Clifford Sifton, regarding the benefits of a contract with the Saskatchewan Valley Land Company and the success of the government's policy while Sifton was leading the Department of the Interior.

Sifton's speech is divided into the following topics:
A Fatuous Conservative Policy; Mountains of Information; The Dominion Lands Act; A Department of Delay; Prompt Decision of Details; Settle the Land; Question of Secrecy; Favoritism Impossible; Parliament Fully Informed; Nothing to Conceal; Grazing Leases; Land Given to Speculators; Timber Berths; Danger of Timber Famine; The Talk of Family Graft; Grossly Unfair Statements; Lumbermen All Notified; Do-nothing Policy Wanted; Preservation of Forests; Settlement on Forest Areas; Renewal Licenses; A Progressive Policy; Why Was Mr. Foster Backward?; Saskatchewan Valley Land Co.; Letter from Osler and Hammond; Only Land Fit For Settlement; When the Contract was Made; Mr. Speers' Report; The Actual Fact; The Contract; What the Company Did; "Buncoed" by the Department; Company's Colonization Work; Brought in Settlers from U.S.; Beginning of Great Success; Canada $250,000 Ahead; The Settlers' Opinion; U.S. Moneyed Men's Influence; The Only Alternative; Mr. Foster's Bitter Grief; Mr. Turriff's Action; Was It an "Easy Contract"?; The People's Opinion; Temperance Colonization Company; A Sample Voucher; Business Under Old Government; A Charming Arrangement; Some General Observations; Settlers' Protection the Last Thing; The Canadian Northern; Vast Problem Disposed Of; Studying the West; The Homestead Law; Farmer Conditions; Where Are the Grievances Now?; A Triumphant Vindication; The Land for the Settler; and Conclusive Evidence.

Sifton, Clifford, Sir, 1861-1929
Ketchen to SBS: 06 Feb 1918
2008.1.1.1.3.8.90 · Item · 06 Feb. 1918
Part of Sir Samuel Steele Collection

A handwritten letter with envelope from H.D.B. Ketchen in France to SBS in Folkestone, England. In the letter, Ketchen discusses his plans with the military and he mentions the arrival of Clifford Sifton in England and wonders if Sifton would remember him from Canada and support him in his plans.

Ketchen, H.D.B.