Acknowledgements | Preface | Saskatchewan Before Provincehood l Saskatchewan Populations & Premiers
1905 | 1915 | 1925 | 1935 | 1945 | 1955 | 1965 | 1975 | 1985 | 1995

Soldiers leaving North Battleford
1915

Better Farming Train
c. 1916

Seager Wheeler
World Wheat Champion
1911, 1914, 1915, 1916 and 1918

Funeral procession for a Spanish Flu victim
University of Saskatchewan, c. 1918

Outdoor hockey
Hague, 1920

Marriott family listening to the radio, Bateman, c. 1924

1915

• Saskatchewan farmers produce the first bumper wheat crop. More than half of the wheat grown in Canada this year comes from Saskatchewan farms.
  
• Prohibition is seen as a solution to social problems caused by alcohol. All bars in Saskatchewan close in July but liquor is still available through government dispensaries.
  
• The Saskatchewan School Trustees’ Association, forerunner of the Saskatchewan School Boards’ Association, is formed.

1916

• Saskatchewan votes for Prohibition and government dispensaries are closed. On December 31, the province officially becomes “dry.”
  
• Women win the right to vote in municipal and provincial elections; however, they must be British subjects.
  
• The government gives rural municipalities the power to collect taxes so they can build and operate their own hospitals. This is a unique Saskatchewan response to health care concerns, the first of its kind on the continent.

1917

• The Saskatchewan Provincial Police is created. One of its major challenges is to enforce liquor laws during Prohibition.
  
• Fort San opens at Fort Qu’Appelle for the treatment of tuberculosis. The hospital can accommodate 60 patients. Over the years, the facility grows to become a self-sufficient community able to care for nearly 360 patients.

1918

• The First World War ends and Saskatchewan soldiers begin returning home. Tragically, they bring home the highly contagious and deadly Spanish Influenza. The Spanish Flu claims over 4000 lives in the province, more than the number of Saskatchewan casualties in France during the war.

1919

• Contrary to earlier promises which gave newcomers the right to educate children in their own languages, the government decides to allow English only in the public school system.
  
• The Saskatchewan Grain Growers’ Association enters federal politics. In 1922, it enters the provincial political arena, only to withdraw in 1924.
  
• Sarah Ramsland of Kamsack is the first woman elected to the Saskatchewan legislature. She represents the riding of Pelly in eastern Saskatchewan.

1920

• There are four Canadian aviation firsts this year, all in Regina. The first commercial pilot’s licence is issued to Roland Groome. Robert McCombie receives the first air engineer’s certificate. The first licensed“air harbour” or airport is built. The first commercial airplane, registered G-CAAA, is licensed.
  
• Saskatchewan-born Earl Thomson wins gold for Canada in the 110 metre hurdles at the Antwerp Olympics.

1921

• A group of farmers in Ituna organizes the farmers' Union of Canada. The group is committed to farmer-controlled marketing. Thousands of farmers sign up in the next two years.
  
• When the Weyburn Mental Hospital opens this year, it is the largest building in Saskatchewan. It took 1000 railway cars to haul in construction materials.
  
• A sample group of school children are X-rayed for tuberculosis, a first in Canada. The survey reveals an alarming infection rate of 56%.
  
• The League of Indians of Canada, formed two years earlier, holds its annual meeting at the Thunderchild Reserve northwest of North Battleford. This is a new experience for many of the Saskatchewan delegates who have little experience with Indian politics beyond provincial borders.

1922

• Saskatchewan’s first radio station, CKCK Regina, goes on the air. The next year, the station makes history when it airs the British Commonwealth’s first broadcast of a church service. On March 14, 1923, radio listeners are treated to one of the world’s first live broadcasts of a professional hockey game when the Regina Capitals play the Edmonton Eskimos.

1923

• Aaron Sapiro, an organizer of producer co-operatives in California, visits Saskatchewan to promote farmer-controlled marketing of wheat. Sapiro’s speeches are key to inspiring farmer support for the Wheat Pool.

1924

• Saskatchewan Co-operative Wheat Producers Limited, better known as the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, is formed. It becomes the largest co-operative marketing organization in the world. A flurry of grain elevator construction follows.
  
• The Progressive newspaper becomes The Western Producer, the voice of prairie farmers. The Progressive was the successor of Turner’s Weekly, a paper begun in Saskatoon in 1918.
  
• Saskatchewan votes to end Prohibition and adopts a system of government liquor stores.