Calgary & Southern Alberta

A CPR Engine: Courtesy of the Glenbow Collection

The CPR and the federal government worked closely together to promote the West and to attract immigration. The railway carried out general immigration programmes and specific colonisation schemes, both of which brought thousands of immigrants to southern Alberta. For example, the CPR used its extensive network to colonise an area with over a million acres in the western block, centred at Strathmore, and another million acres at Brooks. The company carried out standard immigration campaigns in several countries to promote the block areas. In addition, the CPR brought in landseeker excursions, and it hired priests and ministers to attract communities of Dutch, German, Polish, Danish, Mennonite, and Swedish settlers from the United States.