The Wheat King: Selected Letters and Papers of AJ Cotton 1888-1913 PDF
Preview The Wheat King: Selected Letters and Papers of AJ Cotton 1888-1913
Almon James Cotton(1858-1942) was born in Ontario, and after an unsuccesful farming experience there moved to southern Manitoba in 1888. In Treherne he became known as Manitoba’s “Wheat King” because of the size and quality of his crops. At the turn of the century Cot- ton moved again, this time to the Swan River Valley in Manitoba, where he found sufficient land to provide working farms for all his sons. Unlike most early farmers, Cotton preserved extensive accounts and a massive cor- respondence, including hundreds of letters to prospective immigrants tothe Canadian West. This volume of selected letters and papers provides an intimate glimpse into the world of the rural prairies before World War I. Cotton’s comments on farming, politics, religion, immigration, and western boosterism – t mention only a few of the major topics he discusses – delivered in the brusk no-nonsense style of the farming community. His remarks shed con- siderable light on a fascinating personality from a key period of western settlement. An avid amateur photographer, Cotton also left a large collection of photographs used to illustrate this volume. PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS OF THE MANITOBA RECORD SOCIETY 1. W. L. Morton, ed., MANITOBA: THE BIRTH OF A PROVINCE. (1965) Available only in paperback edition. 2. Ramsay Cook, ed., THE DAFOE-SIFTON CORRESPONDENCE 1919-1927. (1966) 3. Hartwell Bowsfield, ed., THE JAMES WICKES TAYLOR CORRESPONDENCE 1859-1870. (1968) 4. Katherine Pettipas, ed., THE DIARY OF THE REVEREND HENRY BUDD 1870-1875. (1974) 5. Alan Artibise, ed.. GATEWAY CITY: DOCUMENTS ON THE CITY OF WINNIPEG 1875-1913. (1979) 6. Maria Tippett and Douglas Cole, eds., PHILLIPS IN PRINT: THE SELECTED WRITINGS OF WALTER J. PHILLIPS ON CANADIAN NATURE AND ART. (1982) 7. J.M. Bumsted, ed., THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF LORD SELKIRK, 1799-1809 (1984) Information on obtaining back volumes is available from The Society at 403 Fletcher Argue Building, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg R3T 2N2. Wendy Owen is a graduate student in History of the University of Manitoba, specializing in the agricultural history of the prairie provinces. THE MANITOBA RECORD SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS VIII V O L U M E PRESIDENT Derek Bedson 1st VICE-PRESIDENT A.F.J. Artibise GENERAL EDITOR J.M. Bumsted ASSOCIATE EDITOR H.J. Mays The Manitoba Record Society Winnipeg 1984 No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying and recording, information storage and retrieval systems without permission from the publisher except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Copyright 1985 Manitoba Records Soceity CONTENTS Editorial Introduction ............................................... ix Letters and Papers of A.J. Cotton .............................. 3 Index........................................................................ 155 To my mother, Eleanor Williams and to the “mother” of this volume, Angie Loat. Almon James Cotton, 1858-1942 Esther Louise Ford and Almon James Cotton on their wedding day, June 2, 1880.
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