The third period in the settlement of Mani , toba and the Territories began in 1901. Condi tions to which reference has previously been made had developed and the time was ripe. In the United States a greater movement of land seekers was taking place than at any previous time, with the exception perhaps of the early eighties, and good available lands for pioneers were fast becoming occupied. This movement was not directly from the more thickly settled Eastern and Middle States to new lands, but from these States to the Northwestern and Southwestern States. The • newcomers were willing to buy lands under cultivation at prices which were comparatively high to the men who had broken them. It was the men who had entered the Northwestern States as pioneers 10, 15 or 20 years before who were offered tempting prices, and in thousands decided to become pioneers again. This movement of population was directed by the railway com panies and by private land companies, the managers of which had their connections in all parts and thoroughly understood the business of land settlement. The new feature in the history of immigration into the Canadian West in 1901 was the advent of these United States land companies. As soon as prospects seemed to indicate a good crop in that year, their agents appeared in considerable numbers and pur chased large tracts. This continued in 1902. To show the magnitude of the operations it may be mentioned that one of these companies purchased in one block about 1,100,000 acres. The lands thus secured could be offered to land-seekers in the United States at from $4 to $10 per acre. In certain localities, or in the case of improved farms, the price was higher. The man who could sell his farm in the Da kotas, Minnesota or Iowa, for example, at from $30 to $75, or even $100 per .acre was offered land in Canada, which returns showed was capable of producing more bushels to the acre, for a price which would not only pay the ex penses of the transfer but leave him with a bank account. In most cases the large blocks of land purchased were sold in smaller lots to middlemen and the number of agents thereby largely increased and distributed. Enterprising Canadian land companies also existed and greatly increased in numbers. By 1903 the first phase of this new development, that is, the purchase of large blocks of land by speculating settlement companies, had almost come to an end. The policy of the government is opposed to selling except to the actual settler and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, the Hud son's. Bay Company and the Canadian North west Land Company, the other largest owners of land, were likewise unfavorable to the too extensive operations of speculative middlemen.. It was to the interest of the railway company, particularly, to secure the actual settler as soon as possible and it was believed that prices could most effectually be kept at an attractive level by retaining the retail selling of the lands in the hands of the company. Large sales were, however, made by these Canadian companies in blocks as well as in farms, and it is of interest to note how great an increase in land values accrued as shown by the report of the land sales department of the Canadian Pacific Rail Company for the years 1901 and 1910. During the firstyear, a total of 831,732 acres was sold for $2,646,237, the average return being $3.18 per acre. In 1910, the sales of agri
cultural land aggregated 975,030 acres, for $14,468,564.33, being an average of $14.84 per acre. Included in this area were 145,421 acres of irrigated land, which brought $26.59 per acre, so that the average price of the balance was $12.78 per acre. The Canadian Northern Railway Company has also an extensive land grant, from which there were sold in 1910 246,966 acres at an average price of $10.36 per acre, compared with 116,662 acres for $1,091, 722.37, an average of $9.36 per acre, in 1909.
Among the factors at work during this period, the immigration department of the gov ernment must be given a chief place. The States. To this fund the Dominion govern ment, the government of the province of Mani toba and the city of Winnipeg gave contribu tions. The effect of the increased immigration from the United States was not alone in addi tions to population from that source, but the fact that United States farmers were seeking Canadian lands was an excellent advertisement in Europe. The most telling advertisements of all, however, were the splendid crops of 1901 and 1902. The government returns of wheat, oats and barley for Manitoba and the Terri tories, now the provinces of Alberta and Sas katchewan, for the years 1900, 1901, 1902, 1910, 1915, 1916 and 1917 are as follows: The area under wheat, oats and barley in what are now the provinces of Manitoba, Sas katchewan and Alberta was in 1900, 3,481,453 acres, and in 1917, 24,028,910 acres. The total production was, respectively, 43,252,664 bushels and 507,214,400 bushels.
For the year 1917, the field crops of the Do minion were as follows: number of agents in Europe and the United States had been increased and more money than ever before was spent in advertising Canada. In January 1904 the United States and Canadian land companies interested in western Canada and leading business men in Winnipeg and else where organized what is called the Western Canada Immigration Association and raised a fund of $50,000 for a two years' campaign of education through the press of the United The area in field crops in the Dominion in creased from 19,763,740 acres in 1900 to 30,556, 168 acres in 1910, and to 42,602,288 acres in 1917; and the total values of field crops from in 1900 to $384,513,795 in 1910, and ,144,636,450. in 1917. According to official es timates for 1916 the average value of farm lands in Canada was $40.95 per acre; the aver age wage of farm help (including board) was $43.23 per month for males and $22.46 for fe males, andper annum it was, respectively, $396.88 and $227.86. The total value of farm animals in 1916 was $903,685,700 as against $70,640,000 in the year previous.
The total immigration into Canada during the seven fiscal years, 1911-17 inclusive, was 1,620,312, of which 614,520 came from the British Isles; 659,705 from the United States and 346,087 from other countries. Of these 890,068 were destined to the eastern provinces and 730,244 to the west.
The growth of railways•in Canada is indi cated by the following table: Of the 24,731 miles of railway in Canada in 1910, 9,473 or 38.3 per cent was in western provinces and in the year 1916 of the total 37,434 miles, 17,185 or 45.9 per cent was in the west.