The photo shows the Immigration Hall with numerous tents set up nearby to accommodate Doukhobor immigrants upon their arrival in 1898. An Immigration Hall was generally built by the railway company, or by the Department of the Interior. In Yorkton's case it was erected by the Manitoba and Northwestern Railway. Accommodations generally consisted of basement wash rooms, water closets, bathrooms and a large room for washing clothes. The first floor would consist of a waiting room, kitchen, dining room, etc. The upper storeys were the sleeping departments, single and family accommodations, and a sick room. It would not have been luxurious but for the times, it sounds quite comfortable. Some families were probably sad to leave knowing that they would have to live under very rustic conditions once they reached their homesteads. There they would have only tents to begin with while they built mud or frame shacks, and with more money a simple frame house and barn.
Source of photo: The Howard Jackson collection
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince, Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton Archives, Box 400,
37 Third Avenue North, Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722 [email protected]
