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Western
Land Grants (1870-1930) - Online Help
About the Records
The Dominion Land
Grants
Letters Patent are
instruments issued by the Crown, which grant or confirm title to a portion
of land. They are issued as the first title to land, and serve as proof
that the land has been alienated from the Crown. Before Letters Patent
could be issued to a homesteader, the land had to be accurately described
and located through cadastral surveys. As well, the Dominion Lands
Act required that each homesteader provide proof that the land had
been improved; that it had increased in value or utility through some
additions (cultivation, building construction, etc.) costing labour and/or
capital. The Dominion Lands Act clearly stipulated what improvements
had to be made to a land grant before a homesteader would be issued his/her
Letters Patent by the Crown.
When a homesteader
felt that he met all conditions of his homestead entry, as outlined in
the Dominion Lands Act, he filed an application with his local
Dominion Lands Office. On receipt of an application from the local lands
offfice, the Dominion Lands Board had the responsibility of undertaking
all initial screening and validation of the claim, including the dispatching
of a homestead inspector to the property to confirm that the proper improvements
had been made. If the Board approved the application, it would then be
forwarded to Ottawa for the "preparation and issuance of patents"
by the Lands Patent Branch.
Prior to 1883, land
patents were only issued by the Registrar General's Office of the Department
of the Secretary of State. With the revised Dominion Lands Act
of 1883 (46 Vic., c. 17, s. 70), responsibility for the issuance of letters
patent in Western Canada passed to the Department of Interior.
For grants made by
the provinces after 1930 or any land transactions subsequent to the issuance
of the original Letters Patent, the relative provincial
authorities must be consulted, for such transactions are not recorded
in the Federal Land Records.
The references found
in this database relate only to the actual land grants and only provide
the name of the grantee, legal description of the homestead and archival
citation information. Each item is a one-page document. The homestead
files and applications, available through the various provincial
archives, contain more detailed biographical information on homesteaders.
About the Database
In 1871, an order
in council initiated a uniform land survey of the three prairie provinces
as well as the railway belt of British Columbia. The comprehensive indexing
of the legal land descriptions resulting from the survey form the basis
of the Western Land Grants database. When available, individual names
have also been indexed.
This specialty database relates exclusively to Letters Patent issued by
the Registrar General's Office of the Department of Secretary of State
from c. 1867 to 1883 and by the Lands Patent Branch of the Department
of the Interior after 18 July 1883. The records refer to grants issued
in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the railway belt of British Columbia,
c. 1870-1930.
The Search Screen
The search screen
offers specific field search capability. Several multiple choice lists
allow you to refine your search. (If you do not know the land description,
search by name only.)
The choice lists of
each search field correspond to the elements included in a legal land
descriptions. The multiple choices for each fields are as follows :
Sections
are divided into four quarters or into sixteen legal sub-divisions. They
are numbered from 1 to 37.
Townships
are numbered from south to north starting at the U.S. border. They are
numbered from 1 to 129 and 141.
Ranges
are numbered from east to west starting from each meridian, except for
the west-to-east numbering used for the Principal and East of the Coast
Meridians. They are numbered 1 to 34.
The Meridians
are as follows:
| *
ECM (East of the Coast Meridian) |
British
Columbia |
| *
EPM (East of the Principal Meridian) |
Manitoba |
| *
W1 (West of the Prinicipal Meridian) |
Manitoba
and Saskatchewan |
| *
W2 (West of the 2nd Meridian) |
Saskatchewan |
| *
W3 (West of the 3rd Meridian) |
Saskatchewan |
| *
W4 (West of the 4th Meridian) |
Alberta |
| *
W5 (West of the 5th Meridian) |
Alberta
and British Columbia |
|
* W6 (West of
the 6th Meridian)
|
Alberta
and British Columbia |
| *
W7 (West of the 7th Meridian) |
British
Columbia |
| *
WCM (West of the Coast Meridian) |
British
Columbia |
You can search by
Names or by Keywords. When available, individual
names have been indexed.
Search Tips
To search the database,
enter your legal land description in the appropriate fields. Select the
appropriate information from the pull-down menu available under each the
various search fields.
To search by Name
try spelling variations or combinations of given names and initials. Truncate
if necessary, ? replaces a character, and $ replaces a chain
of characters, to allow for possible misspelling. If the search brings
up too many references, you can reduce the number of hits by using the
appropriate logical connectors.
- For example :
- If you type Sm?th,
you will obtain Smith, Smyth.
CUMMIN$ (for CUMMIN, CUMMING or CUMMINGS)
$DONELL (for MCDONELL, MACDONELL or O'DONELL, etc.)
Logical connectors
AND, OR, ADJ allow more precision (follow The Search Syntax link to learn more).
- For example :
- enter PETER
AND MITCHELL in the Given names field.
You can use capitals
or small letters. The database is not case-sensitive.
About
the Western Land Description system (townships,
ranges, and meridians)
The legal survey system
in western Canada was based on a unique checkerboard survey developed
for the prairies by the Canadian government. This system covered 200 million
acres and is the world's largest survey grid laid down in a single integrated
system. It led to the creation of more than 1.25 million homesteads.
The basic unit of
the survey is the 36-square mile township. The townships are arranged
in rows that run south to north, parallel to the Canada/United States
border (the 49th parallel). Each row is numbered progressively from the
border, with the row closest to the border numbered 1, the second closest
numbered 2, etc. The townships in each row are, in turn, distinguished
from one another by their distance or range from a meridian. The
column of townships closest to the meridian are designated as range 1,
the second closest as range 2, etc. Generally, the ranges are numbered
from east to west (the exception being the ranges on the east side of
the Principal Meridian, which are numbered from west to east). Each township
is comprised of 36 sections, each measuring 1 square mile. A section contains
640 acres and is divided into four quarter-sections containing one hundred
and sixty acres each.
The federal surveyors
established seven major meridians, which acted as base lines for
surveying and numbering the townships. The first (or principal or prime)
meridian was established on the international border, near Emerson, Manitoba,
at longitude 97° 27' 28'' W (of Greenwich). Subsequent meridians were
surveyed at consistent intervals along more regular longitudes. For example,
the second meridian falls on the 102° longitude (near the present-day
Manitoba-Saskatchewan border), the third on 106°, the fourth on 110°
(which also constitutes the Alberta-Saskatchewan border), the fifth on
114°, the sixth on 118° and the coast meridian on 122°. Townships
are described according to the last meridian that lies to the east of
the township. Therefore, a homestead in southern Alberta is described
as "W4M" or "W4" or west of the fourth meridian. Only
lands located along the east side of the prime meridian take their description
from the meridian along their west side. Therefore, a homestead near the
Manitoba-Ontario border is described as located "EPM" or "E1"
or east of the principal meridian.
See the chart in the
section about the Search Screen for the equivalent
meridians and provinces.
|
2nd
Meridian 
|
In this example, the
highlighted
square represents Township 4, Range 3, W2 (West of the 2nd Meridian).
How
to Interpret your Results
Understanding the
references
The archival references are cited using the following terms:
Liber (Volume number)
Folio (Page number)
File reel number (Microfilm reel number)
Database references
that cite RG 68 and/or Secretary of State relate to documents found in
the records of the Department of the Secretary of State (Record Group
68), which relate to lands in Manitoba in the 1870s and 1880s. Microfilm
reel numbers are not indicated. To find those reel numbers, you can consult
our Government of Canada Files database.
On the search screen, enter 68 in the Record Group box and enter the Liber
number in the Keyword box, e.g. 98. From the references produced by that
search, you will be able to identify the relevant microfilm reel number.
All other database
entries are references to land grants contained in the records of the
Department of the Interior (Record Group 15).
Finding a geographic
location
The section about
the Search Screen explains the terminology (township, range, section)
and includes a list of the meridians and the corresponding provinces.
Map
(NMC
0043265)
Click
here for a PDF version of this map,
then use the Zoom icon 
to enlarge it.
[PDF - 1.8 MB]
Finding
the year the land was granted
The database does
not include dates for the RG 15 references; however, the Liber numbers
correspond to specific years. Click here
to consult the list of Liber numbers and years. The specific date for
each grant appears on the actual documents.
How to consult a record or order a copy
Option One:
You are welcome to
visit Library and Archives Canada
to view the microfilm reel(s) and obtain copies.
Option Two:
Library and Archives
Canada loans microfilm copies of these records
to borrowing libraries and institutions within and outside Canada. Borrowing
institutions are authorized to make copies of pages on your behalf.
Option Three:
Each reference is a one-page document. Copies can be ordered through our
Textual Records Reproduction Service.
Option Four:
If you have located
numerous references of possible interest, you might wish to hire a local researcher to consult them for you and obtain copies
of relevant documents.
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