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The Hardship of Settlers of The West


http://www.civilization.ca/educat/oracle/modules/ckitzan/page02_e.html
In 1872, the Dominion Lands Act was passed, granting 160 acres (647 497 m2) free to potential settlers so long as they met a number of conditions. These included building a dwelling, planting crops and living on the land for at least three years. Despite such incentives, a disappointingly low number of immigrants arrived before the late 1890s.

One of the major difficulties many of these farmers faced was arriving in a country where nothing was familiar. The landscape, climate and culture were all new to them. Most left countries where they were surrounded by trees and rolling hills. The vast, flat, sparsely wooded Canadian plains consequently was a shock to them. So too were the hard cold winters. Many arrived without the ability to speak either English or French, and with different religious, cultural and political experiences than those shared by Anglo-Saxon Canadians.
Some families, including the Kitzans, solved some of these problems by travelling further north into the parkland. Here, surrounded by trees, they often settled close to family and friends from their country of origin. The trade-off was that the land they settled was usually less fertile and harder to farm than the Prairie's grassland soil.

http://www.civilization.ca/educat/oracle/modules/ckitzan/page03_e.html
Even if these farm families successfully built their homesteads and planted their crops, there were always factors beyond their control that could determine their success or failure. Drought, dust storms, hail, floods, frost, and blizzards were just some of the natural disasters a farming family might face.