As stated in a few History Corners of the past, Yorkton has a long history with the Hudson’s Bay Company, with the first store opening in 1897 and a new store built in 1912. The construction of this elaborate building was a significant testimony to the confidence the Company had for extensive trade in the town of Yorkton and this part of Saskatchewan. However, we in Western Canada have a longer history with the Company, since these lands on which we reside used to be part of “Rupert’s Land.” If one looks at early maps of rural municipalities that have names of owners on quarter or half or whole sections of land, we will see that some lands still belonged to the Hudson’s Bay Company. How did this come about? After Confederation of 1867, the Hudson’s Bay Company turned the huge territory called “Rupert’s Land” to the British parliament with an agreement entitled the Deed Of Surrender of 1870. Britain then transferred the lands over to Canada. This transaction cost the country 300,000 pounds sterling and also a huge land grant of one-twentieth of the fertile belt, which consisted of the lands south of the North Saskatchewan River. When the Dominion Lands surveys were started in the 1870s, the Hudson’s Bay Company lands are shown on maps as Section 8 and ¾ of section 26 in each township. (Also, on those survey maps, other grants of lands are shown — for railway companies, and for schools.). Over the years, the Hudson’s Bay Company sold these lands, often to neighbouring farmers and in Saskatchewan in 1984, they donated 5,100 acres to the Saskatchewan Wild Life Federation Association.
So, if you are the owner of some farm lands that show the original owner on the titles to be the Hudson’s Bay Company, the above article explains the history.
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince,
Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton Archives,
Box 400, 37 Third Avenue North
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722
heritage@yorkton.ca
