The Wheat King: Selected Letters and Papers of AJ Cotton 1888-1913

191 Pages·2007·12.05 MB·English

by  Wendy Owen (editor)

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.