In 1882 the government organized Provisional Districts to ensure better governance. Yorkton was located within the boundaries of the Provisional District of Assiniboia, which comprised what is now southern Saskatchewan and part of southern Alberta, including Medicine Hat.
In the last few months, the History Corners have dealt with Yorkton's founding corporation - the York Farmers Colonization Company and the people they invited from Eastern Canada and the British Isles to settle in their eight townships from 1882 and for more than a decade.
What else was happening during that time in the whole of the Provisional District of Assiniboia?
The major event was in 1883, when the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway that passed through Whitewood and Broadview, making it easier for settlers to reach York Colony. It really was a remarkable year - the rails were laid through Regina, Moose Jaw, Swift Current, Maple Creek, and Medicine Hat. There were dramatic moments in the building of this railway. One was when Plains Cree Chief Payepot pitched tents and occupied an area of the CPR right-of-way nearby Maple Creek. He was making a statement to the effect that the Whiteman was responsible for the disappearance of the buffalo, and therefore his people's livelihood. The Chief had also made a request to obtain a Reserve in the Cypress Hills and that was not happening. The government had just closed their headquarters there - Fort Walsh, and transferred all their work to the Regina Depot. In any case, the government was not about to establish a Reserve so close to the international boundary. The Cypress Hills had been a trouble spot with American whiskey traders and conflict between tribes. The North West Mounted Police had escorted over 1,000 Assiniboines from that area, to Reserves around Battleford and other points north. Of course, the most powerful statement was being made by the laying of the steel rails and with the authority of the North West Mounted Police, the Chief was forced to leave and abandon his protest.
Much further West the Canadian Pacific, with the help of thousands of Chinese workers would build the railway over extremely difficult passages in the Rockies such as the Fraser Canyon. Then, a most dramatic moment was the driving of the last spike at Craigellachie, British Columbia on Nov. 7, 1885. This railway would assure the settlement of the Canadian West.
After Treaty No. 4 had been signed in 1874 at Fort Qu'Appelle, first nation bands were assigned to various Reserves; mostly north of the railway.
In parts of the District of Assiniboia, from its western boundary, particularly south of the CPR main line, up to the international boundary and half way across the territory, the land was open range land leases under the auspices of the Dominion Government. The next few columns will deal with the ranching history in the District of Assiniboia, and in particular the Yorkton vicinity.
In the Yorkton area, the Manitoba and North Western Railway had reached Saltcoats in 1888, where many Scottish people settled. Under the auspices of the Anglican Church Colonizing Land Company, settlers came to the area in 1886. German settlers also began arriving in the Langenburg district in 1886, and more settled north east of Yorkton and in the Melville region.
More and more settlers were pouring in from Eastern Canada, the British Isles, and the United States, taking up homesteads, or residing in Yorkton to open businesses or take employment.
Hungarians settled the Esterhazy area, and the Scandinavians from the old countries and the United States arrived in the Stockholm area, Canora, Preeceville, Sturgis, Wynyard, Lindtlaw, Hazel Dell, etc. Otthon area was established in 1894 by Hungarian settlers, with the name Otthon meaning home in the Hungarian language. The initial settlers were led by Rev. Janos Kovacs of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Pennsylvania. The settlement attracted Hungarian miners working in Pennsylvania as well as immigrants directly from Hungary.
Beginning in 1897, numerous Ukrainians arrived in Yorkton seeking homestead lands. They were housed in the Immigration Hall, shown homesteads, filed for entry on these at the Dominion Lands Office and then left for various parts of the region, mostly the northern parts, like Stenen, Preeceville, Sturgis, Hyas, Kamsack, but also east such as Wroxton and areas west such as Theodore. Very few took up residence in the village of Yorkton, as they came to farm the free homesteads that had been advertised and they were in great majority farmers in their native land.
In 1899, groups of Doukhobors from Russia arrived at Yorkton also seeking lands to settle, and they settled north of Yorkton beyond 30 miles. They established villages where they lived communally and farmed, also their main occupation in the old country.
Other nationalities arrived in the area from countries such as Poland, Finland, Roumania, China, Holland, Begium, Wales, etc. All were mostly looking to settle on farms.
Most of their pioneering history can be found in newspapers and local history books of localities outside of Yorkton.
Note: Seeking histories and photos of the early parishioners of Yorkton's St. Mary's Ukrainian Catholic Church which will be celebrating 100 years in 2014.
Contact:
Terri Lefebvre Prince,
Heritage Researcher
City of Yorkton Archives,
City of Yorkton,
Box 400,
37 Third Avenue North,
Yorkton, Sask.
S3N 2W3
306-786-1722
[email protected]
