18% from the Austrian Empire (Austria-Hungary), 6% from Romania -- and another 18% came from the United States. Among the reasons why relatively few immigrants from Germany came to Saskatchewan were ignorance of Canada, fear of the northern climate , and the German government's discouragement of emigration. Some of the German settlements in Saskatchewan were homogeneous in both religious affiliation and precise regional origin (such as those founded by immigrants from a specific religious colony in, for example, southern Russia); but other settlements revealed mixed origins yet common Religion , or conversely common origin yet mixed religious affiliations. On the whole, though, German Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, Mennonites , and Hutterites tended to form their own settlements or colonies. Many of the German immigrants concentrated in their own bloc settlements; many others did not, electing to settle in ethnically heterogeneous areas. Some settlements were planned; other German concentrations came into existence gradually through chain migration. German Catholic Settlements Four major settlements of German Catholics developed in Saskatchewan: St. Joseph's Colony near Balgonie , immediately east of Regina , and the adjoining Katharinental, Kronau-Rastadt, and Odessa colonies, in 1886 -- 1904; St. Peter's Colony, centred on the town of Humboldt in north-central Saskatchewan, in 1902 -- 12; a second St. Joseph's Colony, in the west-central region, in 1905 -- 10; and a series of adjoining colonies in the area around Prelate in southwestern Saskatchewan, in 1907 -- 13. St. Joseph's Colony, Katharinental Colony, Kronau-Rostadt, and Odessa (1886 -- 1904). St. Joseph's Colony