The Lost Code

Clearing the Land

Clearing the Land

Musée de la civilisation, bibliothèque du Séminaire de Québec.
« Emigrant's first home in the back woods » in : Traill, Catherine Parr. The Canadian emigrant housekeeper's guide. Montreal : J. Lovell, 1861. Frontispice. Loc. 218.6.12

It took colonists five years to clear dense deciduous forests from the three hectares of land needed for their family to survive. They first had to fell the trees with an axe before reusing the wood to build a first makeshift house. Then they removed the stumps and rocks from the ground, sometimes with the help of work animals. Only then was the land ready for planting.

In the first years, habitants had to buy their own food and goods. Once they became self-sufficient, they could produce surpluses to sell at the market.