William Pearce, who was instrumental in bringing irrigation to southern Alberta, started as a land surveyor and was to become one of prime minister John A. Macdonald’s strongest advisers on the settlement of the Canadian west.
He was born in Ontario in 1848 and graduated from the University of Toronto as a civil engineer. His first job was with the Ontario government as a provincial surveyor.
Following the passage of the Dominion Land Act and the Dominion Land Survey, Pearce was among the first surveyors to go west to establish initial meridians.
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He moved to Calgary as superintendent of mines for the Northwest Territories in 1884.
However, mining did not work out as planned so Pearce focused on developing irrigation for farming in southern Alberta.
The federal and territorial governments had established a policy on water development as part of the strategy for western development. Macdonald asked Pearce to report directly to him on western growth, which helped formulate policies that would best suit western settlement.
Pearce had already travelled to Colorado and Utah in 1881 to study Mormon irrigation. He noticed that the Mormons used a settlement method of building hamlets, in which settlers were provided with plots inside the hamlet and in the surrounding area so that people were concentrated into small rural communities rather than scattered.
He was also impressed with the Mormons’ ability to maximize production on the land and the use of irrigation in a warm, dry climate.
He started to promote irrigation in 1885 and advised the government to move on a policy to deliver water to the dry regions and encourage settlement.
The government was lukewarm but he and the Mormon community that settled in what is now southern Alberta continued to promote the concept. Drought in the late 1880s to early 1890s made the idea more palatable.
By 1894, the federal government had passed legislation to create farmer-
owned irrigation districts but it was to remain a small scale venture for some years.
Many of the early projects were undertaken by Mormon settlers.
The Canadian Pacific Railway moved ahead with plans for irrigation schemes and land development in 1904 so Pearce left the federal governmentÊ and worked for the CPR for the next 22 years.Ê
Pearce and others believed engineering irrigation works were as instrumental in settling the West as bringing in the railroad. He was among supporters of using the
St. Mary River to divert water and irrigate land southeast of Lethbridge.
It has become one of the largest projects in southern Alberta, with a system of reservoirs and canals delivering water to farmers and communities.
In 1908, as township subdivision began in the Peace River district, the CPR joined the rush to consider a northern rail line. Pearce was dispatched to investigate a possible route, as well as the resources and potential of the Peace country for settlement.
He was lukewarm on settling the area and in 1925 he wrote to F.W. Alexander, district engineer for the CPR: “The attempt to settle that country was probably the most insane idea that ever a body of men, outside a lunatic asylum, attempted.”
Pearce and his wife, Margaret, had six children. He died in March 1930.
