Squaring Palliser’s Triangle: The Normalization of Nature in the Canadian Dry-land Prairies 1860 - 1940 By Justin Alan Stefanik A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography Specialization in Political Economy Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © Justin Stefanik 2015 Abstract Located within the Northern Great Plains, with an area that intersects the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, Palliser’s Triangle is the driest region in the Canadian Prairies. This arid expanse, first reported by early explorers of the North American West and later mapped and confirmed by the Palliser Expedition Report of 1860, holds an important place in Canadian geography. This research asserts that the colonization of Palliser’s Triangle was more than simply putting people on land that “should never have been broken” (Gray 1967: 7); it involved the systematic production of normality through multiple political technologies. This critical analysis unsettles Palliser’s Triangle through an investigation of nature’s normalization. I employ Foucault’s conception of normalization and its hallmark, homogenization through individualization, to re-politicize Palliser’s Triangle’s colonization and settlement. Normalization, I argue, was produced through the individualization of nature, a shift of the spotlight from a delineated problem region to illuminate identifiable and locatable problematic farms and individuals. In doing so, individual parcels of land and the character of male farmers who managed them were made increasingly visible, strategically shifting attention away from the larger political economy of dry-land settlement. The triangulated “micro-physics” (Foucault 1977: 26) of the ‘soul,’ space, and the norm in Palliser’s Triangle settlement pitted the multiple forces of individualization against myriad forces that resisted being individualized including various Aboriginal peoples, male farmers, women farmers, soils, climate factors, weather patterns, flora, and fauna. This research illuminates the exercises of power that enabled and maintained a precarious settlement in the dry-land prairies despite nature’s resistance. ii Acknowledgments I wish to thank my supervisors Fiona Mackenzie and Simon Dalby for their continued support, patience, and inspiration. While their paths took them away from Ottawa to other locations, they have continued to assist me in my endeavours. Committee member Michel Hogue has also been invaluable to this process and has offered much guidance and encouragement. I would like to thank the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies for the funding and teaching opportunities it has provided me over the years. If I had not been accepted as a qualifying-year Master’s student, or PhD fast-tracked, I would not be where I am today. I would like to thank the administrative staff of DGES Carleton, and especially Natalie Pressburger, who has always given me excellent help, guidance, and support in navigating rules and procedures of graduate studies. In terms of financial support, I would like to than the Government of Ontario for providing me with years of financial assistance through the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program. Finally, this research is dedicated to my wife Karin and my daughter Sigrid. Without their love and confidence I could never have accomplished this immense task. Karin pushed me forward when I felt like giving up, supported this project both financially and in principle, and created the conditions for my success. Sigrid has inspired me to make her proud, to never stop reading and learning, and to put love and family above all else. iii Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Power, Normalization, and Nature 23 Chapter 2 The ‘Soul’: Birth of Palliser’s Triangle 61 Chapter 3 Space: Fields of Comparison 104 Chapter 4 The Norm: Wheat and Whiteness 127 Chapter 5 Scientific Norms, Farmers’ ‘Souls,’ and Spaces of Judgment 164 Chapter 6 Resisting, Repeating, and Reinforcing Normalization in times 199 of Crisis Conclusion 224 Bibliography 241 iv List of Illustrations Figure 1.1 Map of Palliser’s Triangle 8 Figure 2.1 Fertile Belt and Palliser’s Triangle 71 Figure 2.2 Hector Prairie Steps Map 89 Figure 2.3 Dawson’s Geological Map of the 49th Parallel 90 Figure 3.1 Map showing the location of Indian Reserves in 1905 114 Figure 3.2 GIS map showing location of Indian Reserves in 1902 115 Figure 3.3 Dominion Township Plan 118 Figure 3.4 Map of Grid over Western Canada 119 Figure 4.1 Hime Photograph Prairie on the Banks of the Red River, Looking 135 South Figure 4.2 Hime Photograph, Hind Expedition Report: Prairie, Looking West 135 Figure 4.3 Illustrations in Macoun’s Manitoba and the Great North-West 136 Figure 4.4 Beginning a Farm in Western Canada 137 Figure 4.5 The Old and the New Home of a Successful Farmer 137 Figure 4.6 Process of Western Development through Culture 138 Figure 4.7 Township Plan and Homestead Guidelines 138 Figure 4.8 A Country of Swift Changes 145 Figure 4.9 Illustration of Aboriginal Man as Separate from Modernity 145 Figure 4.10 Now Then, All Together! 155 Figure 4.11 The Only Drawback 156 Figure 4.12 Canada: Granary of the World 157 Figure 4.13 Nature being consumed in British Columbia, Canada 162 Figure 4.14 Nature transformed in the North-West 162 Figure 5.1 Individualized Male Scientific Farmer 1 186 Figure 5.2 Individualized Male Scientific Farmer 2 187 Figure 6.1 Dust mulch summerfallow 204 v List of Abbreviations AIAs Agricultural Improvement Associations CPR Canadian Pacific Railway GGG Grain Growers’ Guide PFRA Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration vi Introduction We began to observe symptoms that showed us we were nearing the line of desert country, or the northeast extension of the North American arid basin; towards evening we passed many spots where the soil was poor and stony, and the growth of grass deficient. John Palliser, September 14, 1857 I. Palliser’s Triangle: Product of Power, Knowledge, and Normalization Located within the Northern Great Plains, with an area that intersects the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, Palliser’s Triangle is the driest region in the Canadian Prairies (Fig 1.1). The arid expanse, first reported by early explorers of the North American West and later mapped and confirmed by the Palliser Expedition Report of 1860, holds an important place in Canadian geography. Today, most Canadian Geography and Environmental Studies textbooks feature maps and descriptions of Palliser’s Triangle that are designed to educate students about its precarious environment, the follies of its settlement, and the environmental catastrophes of its droughts in the 1930s. Given Palliser’s Triangle’s established position as a topic of Canadian geography, it is unusual that Canadian human geographers, and critical human geographers in particular, have not revisited this foundational geographic region. It appears that the story of Palliser’s Triangle is largely considered settled knowledge, a well-worn linear narrative of dry-land prairie settlement replete with caveats of mistakes made throughout the process. This research asserts that the colonization of Palliser’s Triangle was more than simply putting people on land that “should never have been broken” (Gray 1967: 7); it involved the systematic production of normality through multiple political technologies. 1 This critical analysis unsettles Palliser’s Triangle through an investigation of nature’s normalization. I employ Foucault’s conception of normalization and its hallmark, homogenization through individualization, to re-politicize Palliser’s Triangle’s colonization and settlement. I explain that individualization of lands and bodies, combined with the circulation of scientific farming discourses, allowed for Palliser’s Triangle to be settled and stay settled during the crises of the 1930s with limited political upheaval. Normalization, I argue, was produced through the individualization of nature, a shift of the spotlight from a delineated problem region to illuminate identifiable and locatable problematic sections and individuals. In doing so, individual parcels of land and the character of male farmers who managed them were made increasingly visible, strategically shifting attention away from the larger political economy of settlement. The triangulated “micro-physics” (Foucault 1977: 26) of the ‘soul,’ space, and the norm in Palliser’s Triangle settlement pitted the forces of individualization against myriad forces that resisted being individualized and homogenized including various Aboriginal peoples, male farmers, women farmers, soils, climate factors, weather patterns, flora, and fauna. Some of these non-human forces of resistance, I argue, led to the disasters of the 1930s. Finally, the ‘souls’ of the soil, or the constructed essences of nature, Aboriginal peoples, and colonial settlers were brought into being and made visible through spatial distribution, visual and written representation, and scientific knowledge. Dispossession, starvation, displacement, financial ruin, and environmental crisis were some of the many outcomes of settlement in Palliser’s Triangle, making it crucial to examine the operational politics that made it materialize. 2 Beyond the direct implications for this case study, this research extends Foucault’s normalization to nature through the triad framework of the ‘soul,’ space, and the norm. This framework furthers our understanding