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The West Reserve was a 
After two years, however, it was determined that the land of East Reserve was limited and unsuitable for farming, so a second larger reserve on the west side of the Red River was established in 1876. This land became known as the West Reserve. Many of the Mennonite settlers of the West Reserve stayed at
The West Reserve was a block settlement
A block settlement (or bloc settlement) is a particular type of land distribution which allows settlers with the same ethnicity to form small colonies. This settlement type was used throughout western Canada between the late 19th and early 20th c ...
plot of land in Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
set aside by the Government of Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
exclusively for settlement by Russian Mennonite
The Russian Mennonites (german: Russlandmennoniten it. "Russia Mennonites", i.e., Mennonites of or from the Russian Empire occasionally Ukrainian Mennonites) are a group of Mennonites who are descendants of Dutch Anabaptists who settled for abo ...
settlers in 1876.
After signing Treaty 1
''Treaty 1'' (also known as the "Stone Fort Treaty") is an agreement established on August 3, 1871, between the Imperial Crown of Great Britain and Ireland and the Anishinabe and Swampy Cree nations. The first of a series of treaties called the ...
with the Anishinabe
The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, M ...
and Swampy Cree
The Swampy Cree people, also known by their autonyms ''Néhinaw'', ''Maskiki Wi Iniwak'', ''Mushkekowuk,'' ''Maškékowak'' or ''Maskekon'' (and therefore also ''Muskegon'' and ''Muskegoes'') or by exonyms including ''West Main Cree,'' ''Lowlan ...
First Nations, the Canadian government sent William Hespeler
William Hespeler (December 29, 1830 – April 18, 1921), born ''Wilhelm'', was a German-Canadian businessman, immigration agent, and member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. He served as Speaker of the Legislature and as honorary co ...
to recruit Mennonite farmers to the region. In 1873 Mennonite delegates from the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, (David Klassen, Jacob Peters, Heinrich Wiebe, and Cornelius Toews), visited the area and agreed to a Privilegium outlining religious freedom, military exemption, and land. This land became known as the East Reserve
The East Reserve was a block settlement in Manitoba set aside by the Government of Canada exclusively for settlement by Russian Mennonite settlers in 1873 (although settlement did not occur until 1874). Most of the East Reserve's earliest settlers ...
, because it was east of the Red River.
After two years, however, it was determined that the land of East Reserve was limited and unsuitable for farming, so a second larger reserve on the west side of the Red River was established in 1876. This land became known as the West Reserve. Many of the Mennonite settlers of the West Reserve stayed at Fort Dufferin
Fort Dufferin is a former Canadian government post near the Canada–United States border at Emerson, Manitoba. The fort was used during the 1870s as a base for the North American Boundary Commission and the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), ...
before venturing out to establish villages in the reserve. In 1878, more than 200 Bergthal Mennonite relocated to the more fertile region of the West Reserve, and later immigrants moved directly to the region from Russia. These settlers established more than 70 villages, many of which still remain today including Altona, Neubergthal
Neubergthal is an unincorporated rural community and a National Historic Site of Canada in the Municipality of Rhineland, Manitoba, Canada. Neubergthal was founded in 1876 as a Mennonite community with Russian Mennonite settlers who came from the ...
, Reinland
Reinland is a Mennonite village in Manitoba located in the Rural Municipality of Stanley, about ten minutes south of Winkler and about five minutes north of U.S. border. Its population numbers about five hundred, with an agrarian economy.
Reinl ...
, Sommerfeld and many others.
Each village was governed by a Schulz, or mayor, and the entire West Reserve was governed by an Oberschulz. This system of governance ended with the establishment of Rural Municipalities. Rather than using open field farming, Mennonites lived in street villages called Strassendorfs, and built housebarn
A housebarn (also house-barn or house barn) is a building that is a combination of a house and a barn under the same roof. Most types of housebarn also have room for livestock quarters. If the living quarters are only combined whith a byre, where ...
s, many of which remain today in villages such as Sommerfeld, Neubergthal, Reinland and many others.
In 1897, the area was visited by Russian prince and anarchist Peter Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...
who praised the local Mennonites for their industriousness and communal lifestyle.
References
{{reflist Russian Mennonite diaspora in Manitoba History of Manitoba