's 20th century illustration of
Henry Kelsey observing a herd of
bison on the western plains. Saskatchewan has been populated by various
indigenous peoples of North America, including members of the
Sarcee,
Niitsitapi,
Atsina,
Cree,
Saulteaux,
Assiniboine (Nakoda), and
Sioux. The first known European to enter Saskatchewan was
Henry Kelsey from England in 1690, who travelled up the Saskatchewan River in hopes of trading fur with the region's indigenous peoples.
Fort La Jonquière and
Fort de la Corne were first established in 1751 and 1753 by early French explorers and traders. The first permanent European settlement was a
Hudson's Bay Company post at
Cumberland House, founded in 1774 by
Samuel Hearne. The southern part of the province was part of
Spanish Louisiana from 1762 until 1802.
19th century In 1803, the
Louisiana Purchase transferred from France to the United States part of what is now
Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1818, the U.S. ceded the area to Britain. Most of what is now Saskatchewan was part of
Rupert's Land and controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company, which claimed rights to all watersheds flowing into
Hudson Bay, including the
Saskatchewan River,
Churchill,
Assiniboine,
Souris, and
Qu'Appelle River systems. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, scientific expeditions led by
John Palliser and
Henry Youle Hind explored the prairie region of the province. In 1870, Canada acquired the Hudson's Bay Company's territories and formed the
North-West Territories to administer the vast territory between
British Columbia and
Manitoba. The Crown also entered into a series of
numbered treaties with the indigenous peoples of the area, which serve as the basis of the relationship between
First Nations, as they are called today, and the Crown. Since the late twentieth century, land losses and inequities as a result of those treaties have been subject to negotiation for settlement between the
First Nations in Saskatchewan and the federal government, in collaboration with provincial governments. In 1876, following their defeat of United States Army forces at the
Battle of the Little Bighorn in
Montana Territory in the United States, the
Lakota Chief
Sitting Bull led several thousand of his people to
Wood Mountain. Survivors and descendants founded Wood Mountain Reserve in 1914. The North-West Mounted Police set up several posts and forts across Saskatchewan, including
Fort Walsh in the Cypress Hills, and
Wood Mountain Post in south-central Saskatchewan near the United States border. was a battle during the
North-West Rebellion. 1885 illustration by Sergeant Grundy Many
Métis people, who had not been signatories to a treaty, had moved to the
Southbranch Settlement and
Prince Albert district north of present-day Saskatoon following the
Red River Rebellion in Manitoba in 1870. In the early 1880s, the Canadian government refused to hear the Métis' grievances, which stemmed from land-use issues. Finally, in 1885, the Métis, led by
Louis Riel, staged the
North-West Rebellion and declared a provisional government. They were defeated by a Canadian militia brought to the
Canadian prairies by the new Canadian Pacific Railway. Riel, who surrendered and was convicted of treason in a packed Regina courtroom, was hanged on November 16, 1885. Since then, the government has recognized the Métis as an aboriginal people with status rights and provided them with various benefits.
European settlements The national policy set by the federal government, the
Canadian Pacific Railway, the
Hudson's Bay Company and associated land companies encouraged immigration. The
Dominion Lands Act of 1872 permitted settlers to acquire one-quarter of a square mile of land to homestead and offered an additional quarter upon establishing a homestead. In 1874, the North-West Mounted Police began providing police services. In 1876, the
North-West Territories Act provided for appointment, by Ottawa, of a Lieutenant Governor and a Council to assist him. , 1898 Highly optimistic advertising campaigns promoted the benefits of prairie living. Potential immigrants read leaflets that described Canada as a favourable place to live and downplayed the need for agricultural expertise. Ads in ''The Nor'-West Farmer'' by the Commissioner of Immigration implied that western land held water, wood, gold, silver, iron, copper, and cheap coal for fuel, all of which were readily at hand. The reality was far harsher, especially for the first arrivals who lived in
sod houses. However eastern money poured in and by 1913, long term mortgage loans to Saskatchewan farmers had reached $65 million. The dominant groups comprised British settlers from eastern Canada and Britain, who comprised about half of the population during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They played the leading role in establishing the basic institutions of plains society, economy and government.
20th century Gender roles were sharply defined. Men were primarily responsible for breaking the land; planting and harvesting; building the house; buying, operating and repairing machinery; and handling finances. At first, there were many single men on the prairie, or husbands whose wives were still back east, but they had a hard time. They realized the need for a wife. In 1901, there were 19,200 families, but this surged to 150,300 families only 15 years later. Wives played a central role in settlement of the prairie region. Their labour, skills, and ability to adapt to the harsh environment proved decisive in meeting the challenges. They prepared bannock, beans and bacon, mended clothes, raised children, cleaned, tended the garden, helped at harvest time and nursed everyone back to health. While prevailing patriarchal attitudes, legislation, and economic principles obscured women's contributions, the flexibility exhibited by farm women in performing productive and nonproductive labour was critical to the survival of family farms, and thus to the success of the wheat economy. On September 1, 1905, Saskatchewan became a province, with inauguration day held on September 4. Its political leaders at the time proclaimed its destiny was to become Canada's most powerful province. Saskatchewan embarked on an ambitious province-building program based on its Anglo-Canadian culture and wheat production for the export market. Population quintupled from 91,000 in 1901 to 492,000 in 1911, thanks to heavy immigration of farmers from Ukraine, U.S., Germany and Scandinavia. Efforts were made to assimilate the newcomers to British Canadian culture and values. In the 1905 provincial elections, Liberals won 16 of 25 seats in Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan government bought out Bell Telephone Company in 1909, with the government owning the long-distance lines and left local service to small companies organized at the municipal level. Premier Walter Scott preferred government assistance to outright ownership because he thought enterprises worked better if citizens had a stake in running them; he set up the Saskatchewan Cooperative Elevator Company in 1911. Despite pressure from farm groups for direct government involvement in the grain handling business, the Scott government opted to loan money to a farmer-owned elevator company. Saskatchewan in 1909 provided bond guarantees to railway companies for the construction of branch lines, alleviating the concerns of farmers who had trouble getting their wheat to market by waggon. The
Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association, was the dominant political force in the province until the 1920s; it had close ties with the governing Liberal party. In 1913, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association was established with three goals: to watch over legislation; to forward the interests of the stock growers in every honourable and legitimate way; and to suggest to parliament legislation to meet changing conditions and requirements. saw wheat output soar in the province. Immigration peaked in 1910, and in spite of the initial difficulties of frontier life – distance from towns, sod homes, and backbreaking labour – new settlers established a European-Canadian style of prosperous
agrarian society. The long-term prosperity of the province depended on the world price of grain, which headed steadily upward from the 1880s to 1920, then plunged down. Wheat output was increased by new strains, such as the "
Marquis wheat" strain which matured 8 days sooner and yielded 7 more bushels per acre (0.72 m3/ha) than the previous standard, "
Red Fife". The national output of wheat soared from in 1896, to in 1901, reaching by 1921. Urban reform movements in Regina were based on support from business and professional groups. City planning, reform of local government, and municipal ownership of utilities were more widely supported by these two groups, often through such organizations as the Board of Trade. Church-related and other altruistic organizations generally supported social welfare and housing reforms; these groups were generally less successful in getting their own reforms enacted. The province responded to the First World War in 1914 with patriotic enthusiasm and enjoyed the resultant economic boom for farms and cities alike. Emotional and intellectual support for the war emerged from the politics of Canadian national identity, the rural myth, and social gospel progressivism The Church of England was especially supportive. However, there was strong hostility toward German-Canadian farmers. Recent Ukrainian immigrants were enemy aliens because of their citizenship in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A small fraction were
taken to internment camps. Most of the internees were unskilled unemployed labourers who were imprisoned "because they were destitute, not because they were disloyal". during the
First World War at the
Saskatchewan Railway Museum The price of wheat tripled and acreage seeded doubled. The wartime spirit of sacrifice intensified social reform movements that had predated the war and now came to fruition. Saskatchewan gave women the right to vote in 1916 and at the end of 1916 passed a referendum to prohibit the sale of alcohol. In the late 1920s, the
Ku Klux Klan, imported from the United States and Ontario, gained brief popularity in nativist circles in Saskatchewan and Alberta. The Klan, briefly allied with the provincial Conservative party because of their mutual dislike for Premier
James G. "Jimmy" Gardiner and his Liberals (who ferociously fought the Klan), enjoyed about two years of prominence. It declined and disappeared, subject to widespread political and media opposition, plus internal scandals involving the use of the organization's funds.
Post–Second World War In 1970, the first annual
Canadian Western Agribition was held in Regina. This farm-industry trade show, with its strong emphasis on livestock, is rated as one of the five top livestock shows in North America, along with those in
Houston,
Denver,
Louisville and
Toronto. in
Regina. The statue was unveiled by the Queen in 2005. The province celebrated the 75th anniversary of its establishment in 1980, with
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, presiding over the official ceremonies. In 2005, 25 years later, her sister, Queen
Elizabeth II, attended the events held to mark Saskatchewan's centennial. Since the late 20th century, First Nations have become more politically active in seeking justice for past inequities, especially related to the taking of indigenous lands by various governments. The federal and provincial governments have negotiated on numerous land claims, and developed a program of "Treaty Land Entitlement", enabling First Nations to buy land to be taken into reserves with money from settlements of claims. "In 1992, the federal and provincial governments signed an historic land claim agreement with Saskatchewan First Nations. Under the Agreement, the First Nations received money to buy land on the open market. As a result, about 761,000 acres have been turned into reserve land and many First Nations continue to invest their settlement dollars in urban areas", including Saskatoon. The money from such settlements has enabled First Nations to invest in businesses and other economic infrastructure. == Demographics ==