Harvest Excursion Trains in Canada
Canadian Pacific Railway and Western Wheat Harvesters
Jan 23, 2009
Successful wheat harvests were extremely important for Canada’s food supply and the markets abroad. They were essential for the survival of individual farmers and their families. Harvesting wheat was labour-intensive with little mechanization. Labour shortages were extreme when crops had to be taken in from September to October.
Harvest Excursion Trains and Canadian Pacific Railway
In 1890, wheat harvest excursions were established by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CPR) that worked in unison with local governments. During August, the railway company advertised in major community newspapers from Toronto east in the search for able-bodied workers.
The first excursion (1890) carried about three hundred men from Ontario who travelled free of charge. As the numbers increased each year, small fees were charged for tickets. Most of the workers were experienced farmhands. There were also students, factory workers, school teachers, bank clerks, and unemployed miners.
Many were looking for adventure and camaraderie. Some signed on to test their own abilities, or took advantage of the low fares to visit and work for family members or friends. The majority saw the work as an opportunity to make good money to support their families.
Wheat Harvesters from Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes, and Beyond
From the beginning, most of the harvesters were from Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. As the requirements increased, many were from Britain, Ireland, and the United States. Agents met applicants where they registered and purchased their train tickets to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Departure dates were determined by harvest forecast experts. Recruits were funnelled by CPR to Montreal and Toronto where special trains were organized to carry them westward.
The crowded trains often comprised twenty or more cars with 1,200 passengers. Each car had a small stove for cooking and a supply of water for drinking and washing. There was also a single toilet in each car. At night, the slat seats were pulled out to form beds. Passengers used their own covers, quilts, and cushions. There was usually a separate car for women. The monotony of the long journey was broken only when periodic stops were made for the purchase of necessities.
Winnipeg to the Wheat Fields
Agriculture officials, who met the travellers at Winnipeg, directed them to their places of employment. Tickets could be extended 500 miles west to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan free of charge if necessary. An additional one cent per mile was charged beyond that.
Harvesters’ wages varied according to the type of work. The amounts ranged from $1.75 to $3.25 daily, plus room and board. Accommodations for the workers were rough and often crowded.
Completion of thirty days’ labour for one or more farmers meant that the harvesters could return home. The fee for travelling on a regularly-scheduled train was $18 for Ontario workers and slightly more for Maritimers. Isolation, heavy workload, and severe weather conditions did not deter many of the harvesters. Large numbers of them returned with their families and became prairie homesteaders.
World War I Patriotic Spirit
During the years of World War I, harvesters headed west in the thousands. Most able-bodied men were in uniform or working in the munitions industry. CPR’s 1917 appeal to workers’ patriotic spirit attracted more than 40,000 harvesters – men and women.
For almost 40 years, thousands of men and women were recruited, no experience necessary, and transported out west to work in the fields, to ensure that Canada maintained its reputation as the breadbasket of the world.
The collapse of the wheat economy, and new technology such as the introduction of the combine in 1930, ended the era of the harvest excursion.
Sources:
The Harvest Train by A. A. MacKenzie, Breton Books, 2002
The Origins of the Canadian Wheat Boom, 1880-1910 by Tony Ward, The Canadian Journal of Economics 1994
Harvest Excursions by Robert Irwin, The Oxford Companion to Canadian History 2004
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