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The success of the Dominion Lands Act overall is questionable. Large-scale immigration to the prairies did not get underway until 1896 (immigrants prior to then generally preferring to live in the U.S. due to a protracted recession in Canada that followed confederation). Also, the first version of the act set up extensive exclusion zones. Claimants were limited to areas further than 20 miles (32 km) from any railway (much of the land closer having been granted to the railways at the time of construction). Since it was extremely difficult to farm wheat profitably if you had to transport it over 20 miles (32 km) by wagon, this was a major discouragement. Farmers could buy land within the 20 mi (32 km) zone, but at a much higher price of $2.50 per acre ($6.20/ha). In 1879 the exclusion zone was shrunk to only 10 miles (16 km) from the tracks; and in 1882 it was finally eliminated.
Less than half the arable land in the West was ever to open to farmers for homesteading under the Dominion Lands Act. The Canadian Pacific Railway owned most of the rest, as part of its charter for building the transcontinental railway. The Hudson's Bay Company, which had once owned the entire prairies, had kept 10 per cent of the land as part of the terms of its surrender of its charter. These two companies sold land to land companies and to farmers on the open market. Additional areas were set aside for schools and government buildings.
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