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Archiver > CAN-SASKATCHEWAN > 2000-03 > 0952396724


From: Linda Neely <>
Subject: Re: HOMESTEAD SECTIONS EVEN?
Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 20:38:44 -0600


"The Dominion Lands Act of 1900 provided that the odd-numbered sections
were to be offered for sale, in the form of "pre-emptions" or "purchased
homesteads" at $3 per acre in those areas in which the railway companies
had not seen fit to select the odd-numbered sections as their land
grants" If these grants to the railways were quite a ways north of
where the rail line was being built the railway often swapped for land
that bordered their right-of-way, making it more valuable to the railway
as a saleable asset.
The other odd-numbered sections that were granted were sections 11 and
29 in any township. These two sections were set aside as "school
sections" meaning the government sold them to settlers as a means to
fund schools in the new territories.

Linda

Leah Raney wrote:
>
> Under Dominion Land Grants I found 22 grants where my grandmother's family
> homesteaded... Of those 22, 8 sections were odd numbers. Could there have
> been a later law? This was about 1905 or just before in Saskatchewan. - Leah
> in Texas
>
> Linda Neely wrote:
>
> > How certain are you of the homestead location? Under the Homestead Act
> > only even-numbered sections were made available for homesteading. Odd
> > numbered sections (with some exceptions) were granted to the CPR. So
> > for your family to have section #15 they possibly bought it from the
> > CPR rather than homesteaded. The CPR did not have much use for the
> > grants of land they received that were as far north as this one is and
> > so sold or traded for land along the right-of-way in the south of the
> > province.
> > There are lots of Reimer descendants in Sask. most came here by way of
> > Manitoba. Here is a site that might be of interest to you:
> > http://www.mmhs.org/index.htm
> >
> > Linda
> > Regina
> > ---------------------------------
> > >

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