Dominion Lands Act Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The Dominion Lands Act was an 1872 Canadian law that aimed to encourage the settlement of Canada's prairie provinces. It was closely based on the American Homestead Act.The act sold 65 hectares (160 acres) for the extremely low prices of $10 to any farmer who agreed to cultivate at least 12 hectares (30 acres) and build a permanent dwelling within three years. This condition was instituted to prevent speculators from gaining control of the land.
The act also launched the Dominion Lands Survey, which laid the framework for layout of the prairie province that persists to this day.
An important difference between the Canadian and American systems was that the Canadian system allowed the farmers to buy a neighbouring lot for the same $10 registration fee. This allowed most farms to quickly grow to 130 hectares. This was especially important in the southern Palliser's Triangle area of the prairies, which was very arid. There it is all but impossible to have a functional farm on only 65 hectares there, but it can be managed with 130. Canadian agriculture was thus far more successful than American agriculture in this region.
The success of the Dominion Lands Act is questionable. Large-scale immigration to the prairies did not begin until 1896 as immigrants preferred to live in the United States. Also the first act limited the free land to areas more than 32 kilometres (20 miles) from a railway. Since it was all but impossible to farm wheat profitably if you had to drive it over 32 kilometres by wagon, this was a major discouragement. Farmers could buy land within the 32-kilometre zone, but at the price of $6.20 per hectare ($2.50 per acre). In 1879 the exclusion zone was shrunk to only 16 kilometres from the tracks. In 1882 it was finally eliminated. Some historians also argue that the system encouraged premature settlement of the West and that many farms were started that went on to fail.
Less than half the arable land in the West was ever open to farmers. The Canadian Pacific Railway owned about half the land. The Hudson's Bay Company, which had once owned the entire prairies, still kept about 10 per cent of the land, and other areas were set aside for schools and government buildings.
The act went through many changes and amendments and was finally done away with in 1918 when a new system was set up designed to help World War I veterans settle more easily. Overall about 478 000 square kilometres of land were virtually given away by the government under the Dominion Lands Act.
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