Luseland History

The Archives of Canada (LAC) give us a glimpse of what life was like for the early settlers who came here from other lands. A photo of early settlers gathered in front of a newly built church in Luseland gives us a glimpse of prairie people in 1910.

By 1911, more than half of western Canada’s 152,000 German pioneer settlers came from Eastern Europe. Some 7,000 Mennonites from Russia, who had lost their military exemption, blazed the trail between 1874 and 1879.

According to Wikipedia, the German minority population in Russia, Ukraine, and the Soviet Union, stemmed from several sources and arrived in several waves. As a consequence of the Russification policies and compulsory military service in the Russian Empire, large groups of Germans from Russia emigrated to the Americas in the early 19th century. They journeyed mainly to Canada, the United States, Brazil and Argentine, where they founded many towns.

Recruitment campaigns were popular, beginning in the 1880s to the early 1900s. Canadian government representatives would conduct lectures in foreign lands, encouraging people to come to Canada. Posters and pamphlets utilized slogans to captivate the reader’s attention, and it worked.

Western Canada was dubbed “The New Eldorado,” with numerous benefits listed, including a healthy climate, free schools and free 160-acre farms. Other posters advertised the need for 40,000 men in Western Canada to harvest 100,000,000 bushels of grain. Five hundred Ukrainian families responded to one of those campaigns and arrived in Dauphin, Man. In 1897.

Many early settlers were drawn here by the idealized version of the west portrayed in ad campaigns. They had been lured by promotional images of lush green landscapes, well-fed cattle and golden grain. However, many were unaware and unprepared for the frigid temperatures, barren landscapes and isolation. While some did not succeed, there were many more who did succeed and helped shape the prairies into what they are today.

Many private companies also garnered success because of these ad campaigns. In small print at the bottom of one promotional poster, Thomas Cook & Son was described as the officially appointed Agents for all the Principal Lines of Passenger Steamers sailing between parts of the world and Canada. Rail companies also used government-issued posters to encourage settlers to come to Canada.