Lost harvests : Prairie Indian reserve farmers and government policy / Sarah Carter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Carter, Sarah, 1954-

Series:

McGill-Queen's native and northern series ; 3.

McGill-Queen's native and northern series ; 3

McGill-Queen's series in native and northern studies ; 3

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indian reservations--Prairie Provinces--History.

Indian reservations.

Indians of North America--Prairie Provinces--Agriculture--History.

Indians of North America.

Physical Description:

x, 323 p., [12] p. of plates : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Prairie Indian reserve farmers and government policy

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, c1990.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Despite repeated requests for assistance from Plains Indians, the Canadian government provided very little help between 1874 and 1885, and what little they did give proved useless. Although drought, frost, and other natural phenomena contributed to the failure of early efforts, reserve farmers were determined to create an economy based on agriculture and to become independent of government regulations and the need for assistance. Officials in Ottawa, however, attributed setbacks not to economic or climatic conditions but to the Indians' character and traditions which, they claimed, made the Indians unsuited to agriculture. In the decade following 1885 government policies made farming virtually impossible for the Plains Indians. They were expected to subsist on one or two acres and were denied access to any improvements in technology: farmers had to sow seed by hand, harvest with scythes, and thresh with flails. After the turn of the century, the government encouraged land surrenders in order to make good agricultural land available to non-Indian settlers. This destroyed any chance the Plains Indians had of making agriculture a stable economic base. Through an examination of the relevant published literature and of archival sources in Ottawa, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, Carter provides the first in-depth study of government policy, Indian responses, and the socio-economic condition of the reserve communities on the prairies in the post-treaty era.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Figures

Preface

Introduction

Two Solitudes: Myth and Reality of the Plains Indian and Agriculture

The “Queen’s Bounty”: Government Response to Indian Agitation for Agricultural Assistance

The Home Farm Experiment

Assault upon the “Tribal” System: Government Policy after 1885

The Pioneer Experience, Prairie Reserve Agriculture

Prelude to Surrender, Severally and “Peasant” Farming

Without a Leg to Stand On: Undermining Reserve

Appendix One

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780773562431

0773562435

OCLC:

929122020

Publisher Number:

2027/heb03718 hdl