MP-0000.1405.4 | The first home of an Hungarian pioneer, near Rosthern(?), Saskatchewan, about 1910
The first home of an Hungarian pioneer, near Rosthern(?), Saskatchewan, about 1910
Anonyme - Anonymous
About 1910, 20th century
Ink on paper mounted on card - Halftone
7 x 9 cm
Gift of Mr. Stanley G. Triggs
MP-0000.1405.4
© McCord Museum
Description
Keywords: Architecture (8646) , Print (10661) , rural (407)
Keys to History
Most of the pioneers who settled the Prairies lived a long way from the nearest big tree, so log cabins were not an option. Some had little money and could not afford to buy lumber to build a frame house. There was, however, a building material at hand-the tough sod turned over by the first ploughing of the land. Usually these structures had vertical walls made of sod and a sod roof, but the ones in this picture are tentlike structures, with V-shaped walls of sod and front walls made of the more expensive lumber. As soon as the farm returned a profit, the pioneers would build a more conventional house.
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What
These are two pioneer sod dwellings on the Canadian prairies
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Where
The houses are on a farm near Rosthern, Saskatchewan. Cheap and easy to build, they were the first home for many pioneers.
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When
The picture was taken at the height of European immigration to the Prairies, about 1910.
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Who
These pioneers were from Hungary, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When the war broke out in 1914, they would have been considered to be enemy aliens, but were probably left alone by the authorities.
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