The Homesteaders: From Confederation to the Great War

Stories of pioneers often evoke images of romance and hardship. Settlers came to the Great Northern Plains from all over the world seeking democracy, equality, and free land. But what they endured—arduous voyages, back-breaking labour, homes built from sod, and the misery of pests, cyclones, and fires—made them a special kind of people.

In The Homesteaders, settlers speak of their early days in their own voices—a treasure trove of first-hand accounts collected by the Saskatchewan Archives.

They talk of food and medicines; sod huts and one-room schools; books, songs, and games; dances, picnics and weddings—the ordinary daily realities of the extraordinary people who built our communities and made the Prairies the place it is today.

Lavishly illustrated with 175 photographs, The Homesteaders celebrates Saskatchewan's agricultural and settler past.