Despite Captain Palliser's warnings, the Federal government of Canada issued leaflets in the1880s that sang the praises of the prairies in order to attract new settlers to the fertile lands of the Canadian West.

In the year 1937, however, the Palliser Triangle was in the grip of drought. Winds from the west blew the arable topsoil away. Piles of windblown earth covered the roads and reached as high as the rooftops of houses.

This ecological disaster only added to the woes of the economic crisis known as the Great Depression, and many settlers packed up and left. When the dry years ended, farmers returned to the region, attracted once again by the fertile lands giving promise of abundant harvests.

Since then, the area has been considered one of the most productive agricultural zones on earth, despite the serious economic and social problems that its inhabitants have faced in times of drought.



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