A History of Saskatoon to 1914

Abstract

In the writing ·of this history of Saskatoon primary and secondary, official and unofficial sources of information were used. The chief primary sources are the official publications and records of federal, provincial and municipal authorities. The Department of the Interior, Ottawa, has a complete set of files on the business relations of he Temperance Colonization Society with the Dominion Government. Considerable information on the early progress of the community fr9m origin up until the winding up of the Temperance Society's affairs is to be found in the annual reports' of the Inspector of Colonization Companies appearing in the Canadian Sessional Paper.. The North-West Territory Gazette and its successor, the Saskatchewan Gazette, give essential information concerning the appointment of officials, the erection of school districts and.the rise in municipal status. The information contained in the City of Saskatoon File, Department of Municipal Affairs, Regina is disappointingly meagre prior to 1914. The municipal records are fragmentary-for the period 1901 to 1906 but have been well maintained since the chartering of Saskatoon as a city in 1906. In}addition to official sources there are the records of semi-official bodies, which are in part supported financially by the community. The Board of Trade is one such body. The Minutes of this organization are complete from its inception in 1903. The Records of the Saskatoon Industrial Exhibition, successor to the Central Saskatchewan Agricultural Society, are not complete. The best account of the development of fairs in Saskatoon is contained in The Saskatoon Phenix. The Exhibition-Harvest Edition. August. 1914 Much of the early story of the community ha���� been recorded in unofficial memoirs of "old-timers." Personal interviews with officials and private citizens active in civic affair. contributed both tact and colour. The Records of such unofficial bodies a8 the Saskatoon Trades and Labor Council, the various church bodies, and the local fraternal associations, while incomplete, add further to the pool of information. The various newspapers published in the city constitute a special source. There 1s a continuous press record since 1902. Periodically, special editions have been devoted to local history and to the stories of early settlers. The secondary sources are not numerous. Little has been published on Saskatoon as a unit though there are some printed sources on various aspects of Saskatoon history. The University has contributed to the knowledge of the geologic formations, the types of land, th& farming practices in the area. There are studies available on wild life in the district,. In addition· to these there are published articles on some institutions in the city and on personalities of the city. This thesis was written as a general history of Saskatoon. Such a study may well be the starting point for further particular studies of institutions or association. within the community. A general local history cannot include all the detailed story of the city. It does,. however, set up a framework of development within which may be traced in broad outline the growth of government, some problems of urban expansion, the increasing dynamic of business, the integration of population and the rise of a civic sense of social responsibility.