In 1901 the Canadian West, not including the portion of Ontario was shown by the census to have a population of 645,517. In 1911 the Canadian West, not including the portion in Ontario, was shown by the census to have a population of 1,742,182. Out of this number 498,347, or 28.6 per cent, had been born in the West, 354,748, or 20.4 per cent, had been born in the eastern provinces of Canada, 341,960 or 19.6 per cent had been born in the British Isles, 509,509 or 29.2 per cent had been born in for eign countries, while 37,618, or 22 per cent had failed to give their birthplace or been born at sea. By origin 966,238 were of British stock, 152,137 of German stock, 114,877 of Austro-Hungarian stock, 95,106 of Scandina vian, 83,635 of French, 43,676 of Russian and 32,167 of Chinese and Japanese, and in addi tion to these 78,717 were Indians and 108,905 of unspecified origin. To understand the pecu liar nature and the rate of the movement of population into the Canadian West indicated by these figures,, many general considerations Must be borne in mind. Conditions as they have existed in the United States are among the most important of these considerations. Until the closing years of the last century the United States was an irresistible magnet. It drew from the movable population of all coun tries. From Canada itself it attracted a larger proportion of the native population than from any other country. Its relative advantages over Canada, in the eyes of those who sought to better their condition, consisted in its advanced stage of development. Not only were there more varied employment and larger opportuni ties in industrial and commercial life, but its fertile lands were opened up by railways from 10 to 40 years before those in the Cana dian West and the mineral wealth of its western mountains was discovered and adver tised to the world years before the riches of Canada in this respect were even suspected. The prairie regions of the Canadian West had to wait for transportation facilities, and then they had to wait until their profitableness was established. Since people are not predisposed to believe in the security of agriculture in northern latitudes, this meant, practically, that they had to wait until the prairies in the United States were.tested right up to the border. Before that time even official crop returns could not be widely effective as inducements to immigration.. Moreover streams of migra tion are not easy to divert. Where many have gone others tend to follow.
To what extent the United States drew upon Canadians up to 1900 is shown in the census re turns of that year which record the residence in that country. of 1,181,255 persons born in British North America, that is, in Canada and Newfoundland. How little the United States had given in return appears from the compara tively small number of 127,899 natives of the United States resident in Canada when the Canadian census was taken in 1901. But the flow of population from Canada to the United States has been checked and the tide has turned, and from census returns of 1 June 1911 it is shown that there were 303,680 natives of the United States resident in Canada, of whom 168,278 were males and 135,402 females; and during the years 1912 to 1917, inclusive, the immigration returns show the arrival in Canada of natives of the United States to a total num ber of 538,815. Canada has made steady and substantial progress and her industries now ptovide opportunities for all her own people who desire industrial employment. But what is of more direct importance to the present subject, the cheap, good lands in the United States are now very largely occupied; pros perity and a good birthrate among the farming population have created a host of land seekers of native birth, and the price of land has rapidly risen. In the Canadian West, on the other hand, millions of acres of the most fertile land are obtainable at moderate cost; this land has been proved, and railway facilities and railway rates put the crops within profit able reach of the markets.
The history of the settlement of the Cana dian West may conveniently be divided into three periods: the first embracing the time be fore railway facilities existed or, say, up to 1885; the second from 1885 to 1901; and the third beginning in 1901. So far as the prairie division is concerned fur traders visited it and dwelt in it from early times, but no attempt was made at colonization previous to that of Lord Selkirk in the decade succeeding 1812. That his venture, beset with misfortunes though it was, left a permanent result was shown by the fact that in 1873 as many as 530 of the orig inal Selkirk settlers or their white children were found to claim the grants of land offered by the Canadian Parliament. Other independent col onists had made their way into the country and there were, of course, the employees of the Hudson's Bay Company, but in 1869, when the purchase by Canada was made, the total white population numbered only a few. hundreds.
Some members of the military expedition of 1870 remained as settlers and other accessions were received at about the same time. In 1871 the Dominion government appointed the first immigration agents in the \Vest, one in Mani toba and another in the Territories, and author ized the establishment of an "immigration shed' at Winnipeg, a hamlet then possessing 241 in habitants. The work of promoting immigration to Canada had been undertaken by the Federal government in 1868, the provincial governments co-operating, and the appointment of agents in the West brought that section into direct touch with the general system having agents in Great Britain and Europe. It is interesting to note that in his annual report to the department for 1872 the agent at Winnipeg estimates the ar rivals during the year at 1,400, of whom 954 came from Ontario, 78 from Quebec and 115 from the United States. During 1872 and 1873 the Dominion government entered into nego tiations with a colony of German Mennonites living in southern Russia who desired to emi grate. Delegates visited Canada and in 1874 • 1,349 of these people settled in southern Mani toba. This is important, not only because it led to further immigration from the same source hut also because the attention of the Dominion government was thus directed to the question of special colonization in the West. In 1874 Scandinavian and Icelandic delegates were shown through the country and a small begin ning was made in Icelandic settlement through the moving up from Ontario of 285 Icelanders. The years 1874 and 1875 may be noted also be cause the Dominion government then first ap pointed Canadian immigration agents in the United States, chiefly for the purpose of effect ing the repatriation of Canadians. Results were at once obtained and agents reported some 400 repatriated Canadians as immigrants into the West in 1876 and some 800 in 1877. In 1879 a delegation of tenant farmers of Great Britain visited the country and their reports resulted in an increase in immigration from the British Isles. The projected transcontinental railway had met with difficulties and delays, but in 1875 work was begun at Thunder Bay, the head of Lake Superior, on the sectidn to Winnipeg, and in 1878 a line from the United States border at Pembina was completed to Saint Boniface, oppo site Winnipeg across the Red River. Although the line from Lake Superior was not completed until 1883, the line from Pembina increased th, facilities for reaching Winnipeg (q.v.), and the railway building combined with other not un natural causes led to a "boom" in real estate, accompanied by a rush of speculators and pros pective settlers. In 1881 the immigration agents estimated the arrivals in Manitoba at about 25,000, in 1882 at almost 70,000, and in 1883 at 50,000. Eastern Canada and the United States contributed the great proportion of these visitors, as most of them proved to be. The boom "burst" in 1883. By the census re turns for 1881 some estimate of what was per manent in the immigration of the previous years can be reached. Manitoba was given a total population of 65,954, of whom 18,020 were born in Manitoba itself, and 6,422 in the Territories. Of these two classes 6,767 were Indians, but the half-breeds were not separately enumerated. From outside the largest number was furnished by the province of Ontario, namely, 19,125, Que bec supplying 4,085 and Nova Scotia 820. Na tives of England and Wales numbered 3,457, of Scotland 1,836, and of Ireland 2,868. Russia supplied 5,651, chiefly Mennonites; Germany, 220; Norway, Sweden and Denmark, 121; and France, 81. The United States had contrib uted 1,752. In the same year the white popula tion of the Territories was 6974, of whom 517 were born in Ontario, 101 in Quebec, 98 in Eng land and Wales, 136 in Scotland, 62 in Ireland, 27 in France and 116 in the United States. As the Canadian Pacific Railway was pushed through real settlement followed at a faster rate than ever before and in 1886 when the first train was run from Montreal to the Pacific Coast the net gain in population from the principal sources, over the figures just given for 1881, was: From Ontario 14,996, from Quebec 1,891, from Nova Scotia 497, from New Bruns wick 363, from England and Wales 6,865, from Scotland 4,146, from Ireland 753, from Iceland 1,500, from the United States 570; while each of the other countries showed small gains. The chief sources of increases in the Territories were Ontario 8,300, Quebec 1,200, England and Wales 3,750, Scotland and the United States 890.