| Notes |
In 1871, an order in council initiated a uniform land survey of the three Prairie Provinces as well as the railway belt of British Columbia. The land had to be accurately described and located through cadastral surveys before Letters Patent could be issued to a homesteader.
The Dominion Lands Act required that each homesteader provide proof that the land had increased in value through additions (cultivation, building construction, etc.) costing labour and/or capital. The Dominion Lands Act stipulated the improvements that had to be made to a land grant before a homesteader would receive a Letters Patent from the Crown.
When a homesteader filed an application, the local Dominion Lands Office screened and validated the claim, and sent an inspector to the property to confirm that the improvements had been made. If the Board approved the application, it was forwarded to Ottawa for the "preparation and issuance of patents" by the Lands Patent Branch.
Letters Patent were issued to grant or confirm title to a portion of land. They were the first title to land, and served as proof that the land no longer belonged to the Crown. They were issued by the Registrar General's Office of the Department of Secretary of State from 1867 to 1883 and by the Lands Patent Branch of the Department of the Interior after 18 July 1883.
Lands were also reserved for railway companies, the Hudson’s Bay Company and for future school boards. In each township, the sections were allotted as follows:
Homestead lands – even-numbered sections, except 8 and 26
Hudson’s Bay Company lands – section 8, three-quarters of section 26 and all of section 26 in every fifth township
Railway lands – odd-numbered sections, except 11 and 29
School lands – sections 11 and 29
Approximate publication date: 2016
Located in: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Their records collection for this subject can be accessed freely by the public here
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