Chapter 3

Homesteading

To acquire a homestead an applicant had to be, or
become a Canadian citizen, be between the ages of
eighteen and seventy, file at a land office, which at
the time of the opening of the Seven Persons area was
in Lethbridge, pay a ten dollar registration fee, promise
to break thirty acres of the land, (ten acres a year for
three years), build a two wire fence around the holding,
build a house, and live there for six months of each of
three successive years. This was called proving".

Another one hundred and sixty acres, called a preemption
could be gained by satisfying an inspector that the
homestead was proven, and by paying an additional ten
dollar registration fee. This was usually done, giving
each contender or sod-buster, three hundred and twenty
acres of his own from which to wrestle a livelihood.
Dreams could not excel that of owning land.

What a time these new settlers must have had to find their
farms. When they arrived from the immigrants' trains they
looked upon an expanse of unbroken, unchanged prairie,
a panorama reaching to the horizon, with not a road
anywhere to guide them. If they had made an application,
they would have had a land description, which was a
numerical series, such as N.E. 28-11-7-4. Each learned
to interpret these numbers.

The land was marked west of the fourth meridian in the
Seven Persons area. It was divided into townships. These
counted from the international border north, so the above
II meant this was the eleventh row of townships. The 7
meant this was the seventh range of townships from the
meridian, or in this case, the Saskatchewan border. Each
township was divided into thirty-six sections, each a mile
square. These were numbered from the bottom, right to left,
then up a step, and back across, and so on. Every section
had an iron stake at each of the four corners, bearing the
land description. There was a wooden stake marking off the
quarter sections, similarly marked.

It was a punishable offense to remove these stakes, but
sometimes they were lost or taken, confusing those who
needed them. Homesteaders became an ingeneous people
who learned to find their allocations, and to construct straight
and suitable fences along the borders of these.

These new Canadians came with hope and enthusiasm. They
settled in the hamlet or on the land. Every quarter or half
section of farm land was appropriated. This seemed to be
the Promised Land.

Requirements demanded that services be increased. Another
era of pioneers had begun, and these had a new address:
Mr. and Mrs. New Canadian
Seven Persons
Alberta, Canada

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