Saskatchewan CPR Land Sales Records from 1881 to 1921

Archives and Special Collections at UCalgary provides spatial data on agricultural land sales by the Canadian Pacific Railway to settlers in Saskatchewan from 1881 to 1921. The dataset includes purchaser names, legal land descriptions, acres purchased, and cost per acre, transcribed from original ledgers by Glenbow Archives volunteers. A non-spatial tabular version and an interactive web application for exploration are also available.

Use Cases

• Map historical settlement patterns based on legal land descriptions linked to spatial boundaries.
• Analyze land transaction economics based on cost per acre and acreage purchased.
• Trace family or community origins based on purchaser names and land locations.
• Compare land sales data across provinces using the related Alberta and Manitoba datasets.

Strengths

• Covers a significant 40-year historical period from 1881 to 1921.
• Includes key transaction details: purchaser name, legal description, acres, and cost per acre.
• Offers both spatial and non-spatial tabular versions of the same underlying records.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Completeness and accuracy cannot be guaranteed, requiring verification against original ledgers.
• Data access is restricted to UCalgary staff, faculty, and students upon request.

Provenance

Source

Archives and Special Collections at UCalgary, from original CPR Land Sales ledgers.

Collection Method

Records transcribed by volunteers from the Glenbow Archives and later enhanced by UCalgary.

Time Range

1881 to 1921

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-30 04:10:09; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Saskatchewan, Canada