page_title: Culture of Saskatchewan
section_title: Rural living patterns
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of Saskatchewan / Development of Saskatchewan culture / Rural living patterns
context_page_description: Culture of Saskatchewan views the patterns of human activity in the central prairie province of Canada examining the way people live in the geography, climate, and social context of Saskatchewan.
  First Nations and fur traders adopted a transhumance and hunting and gathering lifestyle to fulfill their economic and sustenance needs. Early homesteaders and settlers in the 19th and early 20th centuries likewise spent the majority of their time proving up their homesteads, tilling the land and providing subsistence agricultural products for their families. The early 20th century developed successful agricultural practices, and society rejoiced in the Roaring Twenties. The depression and drought years of the dirty thirties took agricultural sustenance away. Electricity became established throughout the various Saskatchewan regions. The economy saw a growth not only in the agricultural sector, but labour was freed up to also pursue choices other than agriculture. A major breakthrough was seen in the arts and culture scene in Saskatchewan from the 1940s onward. Arts and cultural activities before this date were of the main on a family, individual and unpaid level.
context_section_description: Primary industries were agriculture in the rural south and central region, fishing and forestry in the rural northern region.  The Dominion Land Act of 1872 offered pioneers an opportunity to prove up a quarter section of land (one hundred and sixty acres (a quarter square mile, 65 hectares).) in Western Canada for a $10.00 filing fee. The improvements needed to acquire the land were labour-intensive, and settlers farmed in family groups or ethnic bloc settlements of the same language to assist one another.  Early homesteaders grew mainly subsistence crops which would feed their own family and livestock.  Pioneer activities supported harvest work groups, recreational sports, pioneer farm exhibitions, rodeos and community dances to provide support and social interaction for isolated neighbors who lived a ¹⁄₄ mile (0.40 km) apart from each other.   The industrial revolution modernized the farming industry as mechanized vehicles replaced the long hours of oxen ploughed land or the horse-drawn cart. Farms became much larger, and mechanized evolving towards industrial agriculture.
caption: Harvest Maple Creek
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