A homestead consisted of 160 acres of free land. An adjacent 160 acres could be purchased at $2 per acre, if you had the cash. It was a wonderful opportunity for anyone with the fortitude to withstand the exhausting work of breaking a new farm, the unforgiving bitterness of the prairie winter, and the numbing isolation that must have been a consistent feature of pioneer life.

The homestead program was very successful in populating Western Canada. In 1876 the recorded wheat harvest in the Neepawa area was 867 bushels. (When the railway arrives, that will be about enough to fill a single boxcar.) During the next five years, 40,000 new immigrants flooded into the territory, most of them coming from Ontario. Clearly several more boxcars would be needed.

James and Margaret, were part of that first major wave of permanent settlers. In 1879, they came with their six children, and established a pioneer homestead at primitive and remote Glendale. It must have been a terrifying adventure, and I can only guess at the courage it must have taken.