For most of the "boom" period before 1913, farm labour was in short supply. Realizing the importance to the nation's economy of harvesting prairie grain crops as soon as they matured, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company co-operated with provincial authorities and federal immigration officials to organize the first harvest excursions in 1890. Later other railways participated in what became a yearly migration of workers. Attracted by an intensive advertising campaign beginning in July of each year offering cheap fares going and coming and promising high wages, men came from the Maritimes and Central Canada as well as from British Columbia and the United States to assist with the harvest. More than 33,000 came in 1911.
With such an influx, allocation proved extremely difficult and certain areas inevitably received too many men, while others complained that they did not get enough. Although the wages were often lower than promised, most of the excursionists ultimately found adequate work and returned home satisfied. Some even used the excursions as a means of assessing the prairie region prior to taking out a homestead.
