Historical Society

Did You Know? Dominion Lands Act and Dominion Land Survey

Have you ever wondered why agricultural lands across the prairies are divided into one-square mile sections with Range Roads and Township Roads? Could you find a site based on the Township map if someone noted they lived at SW13-15-18W4?

In 1872, the Canadian government passed the Dominion Lands Act. The Act set out homestead policies, allowed land to be set aside for individuals, railway construction, the Hudson’s Bay Company and for other uses. The Act also outlined a standard measure for surveying and subdividing the land.

The Dominions Land Act was repealed in 1930. Between 1870 and 1930, approximately 625,000 land patents were issued to homesteaders, encouraging hundreds of thousands of settlers to move into the prairies. The Dominion Land Survey started the year prior, in 1871. It became the “world’s largest survey grid laid down in a single integrated system.”

The Dominions Land Act and Dominion Land Survey both indelibly changed and created the geography of the prairies as we know it today.

Lethbridge Historical Society

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