Keys to History

In the first stage of harvesting, the grain was cut by a binder, which bound it into these tall stooks. Once dried, the stooks were ready for the threshing machine. The growing season on the Prairies was short, so new varieties of wheat and other grains had to be developed that would ripen before the first frost in late summer or fall. One of the most famous of these was Marquis, which was introduced in 1907. Marquis wheat, developed partly from wheat that came from the Ukraine, was so important to the Prairies that both a Canadian stamp and a coin were dedicated to its memory.