Homesteading Records
What is a homestead file?
The files commonly referred to as "homestead files" which are held by the Provincial Archives were created by the head office of the Dominion Lands Branch of the federal Department of the Interior, when it was in charge of land settlement from 1871-1930, and by the Lands Branch of the Saskatchewan government after 1930.
Barn-raising at farm of Alex McLaren near Pense, 1908. PAS Photo R-A4313.
Homestead File Series
Homestead File Series
Pre-1930 Homestead File Series (S 42)
The pre-1930 homestead files were created by the head office of the Dominion Lands Branch, of the federal Department of the Interior, when it was in charge of land settlement from 1871-1930. In 1956, the Provincial Archives received the homestead files created by the former Department of the Interior.
The pre-1930 homestead file series has been indexed by name and legal land description.
The names of individuals that appear in the homestead index include the following:
- Individuals who applied for a homestead or pre-emption
- Individuals who received patent
- Individuals who cancelled or abandoned their entry
- Individuals who acted as a legal or personal representative on behalf of another homesteader
- Individuals who received or purchased Métis scrip
- Individuals who received or purchased South African scrip
- Individuals who inherited homestead land
The Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan is in the process of making the entire Pre-1930 Homestead Series available in digitized form. Approximately 70,000 pages of homestead records are currently accessible online, with additional material being made available as resources allow.
Post-1930 Homestead File Series (S 43)
The Post-1930 Homestead File Series was created by the Lands Branch of the Saskatchewan government after 1930, but the series also includes records created by the head office of the Dominion Lands Branch, federal Department of the Interior, when it was in charge of land settlement from 1871-1930. Many homestead files which were created in the late 1920s were carried forward into the provincial Lands Branch record system to track cases where homesteaders were completing their homestead requirements at or after the time of the transfer of land and other natural resources to the Province in 1930.
The Post-1930 Homestead File Series is indexed by name and legal land description but is only available to Archives’ staff.
Access Restrictions apply for these files.
Read more about the history and background of Land Records in Saskatchewan.
