The expansion of Canada's settlement frontier is commonly associated with a steady progression from east to west during the nineteenth century. From a very large scale perspective this is what happened, but many thousands of settlers filled in the eastern backwaters while the mainstream pushed westward. Although the colonization of Compton County began in the eighteenth century, it continued into the twentieth. The popular image of individual families pushing independently into the wilderness to carve out new homes simply does not apply here. Because of the marginal nature of the county's location and soil, certain inducements had to be offered to attract colonists. The fundamental social and economic infrastructure was supposed to be organized by township leaders for the early New England settlers, by the British American Land Company for the Highland Scots, and by priests and government for the French Canadians. The Americans settled the more fertile and advantageously-located townships but lengthy roads had to be built to overcome the absence of a good water system of transportation. Nearly half a century later the Scots were lured to hilly, rocky land by the offer of ready-made roads, mills and towns, while the first French Canadians were promised free or inexpensive land and a continuation of their parish-centred social life.
But regardless of a family's cultural origins and of why and when it moved to the frontier, it had to face the same basic task of carving a home out of the wilderness with rudimentary resources and primitive implements. The later settlers could sell timber and raise cattle rather than make potash and potato whiskey, but their first buildings, crops, livestock and daily tasks varied little from those of the American pioneers. This does not mean that cultural traditions were forgotten; in fact the isolated environment tended to preserve them. Each group had its own religious institutions, separate schools and municipal councils, all of which helped to maintain its distinct identity. Different groups also faced different economic prospects. The Scots and French-Canadians could never hope to reach the level of prosperity enjoyed by the English Canadians in the older townships because the specialization stimulated by technological advances only made their rocky upland farms economically less viable. This had important ramifications for the ethnic composition of the area. The Scottish solution was eventually to abandon Compton County while the French Canadians stayed and supplemented their farm incomes with seasonal work in the woods.
