Summarize Before 1880, Winnipeg had been a collection of ramshackle buildings, wooden sidewalks, and dusty streets. It was incorporated in 1873, but it did not appear to have a real future. Then, in 1881, word leaked out that CPR would be routed through Winnipeg. How would this development change the value of the land?
People from the East began to food in, trying to make fast money. In the next few months, 3000 land speculators hit town. They planned to buy land cheaply, hold it for a while, and sell it for a huge profit. They preyed on people who did not know how valuable their land could become.
The Metis were entitled to more than 600 000 hectares of land under the deal that brought Manitoba into Canada in 1870. Each Metis family got a coupon, called scrip, that could be exchanged for a designated amount of land. Many had never claimed their land and still possessed their scrip. Land speculators often bought up the scrip for virtually nothing. Of the 15 000 or so scrips handed to the Metis, about 12 800 ended up in the hands of speculators. What effect would this have had on Metis land ownership?
Soon Winnipeg was a bustling town. The railway made the city a gateway to the West as immigrants crowded through it on their journeys to claim a homestead. By 1900, its population was 52 000, and it was on its way to becoming an important city. In 2006 Winnipeg's population was 694 668.