Hardscrabble: The High Cost of Free Land

How emigrants were lured to Ontario’s Muskoka in the 1870s in a vain attempt to farm the Canadian Shield.

When the Free Grants and Homestead Act was first introduced in 1868, fierce debates erupted in Ontario’s Legislature over whether land in the Muskoka region should be opened to settlement or reserved for the Aboriginal population. From the beginning, many people vented serious doubts about the free grant scheme, citing the district’s poor agricultural prospects. In the end, such caution...