| 1872 | | Dominion Land Act, Chap. 23, 35 Victoria. |
| 1872 | | “An Act respecting the Canadian Pacific Railway, 1872,” passed. The railway syndicate granted $30 million, 50 million acres and perpetual tax exemption. |
| 1872 | | Sanford Fleming declares that the Crowsnest Pass is the preferable railroad route through the Canadian Rockies. |
| 1872 | | B.C.: Hudson’s Bay Company abandons Fort Hope. |
| 1872 | | N-WT.: Asa Sample and Howell Harris to establish a trading post on the Highwood River for I.G. Baker and Company. |
| 1872 | | Chimney Coulee, N-WT: Kainai burn Isaac Cowley’s HBC fort in battle with Assiniboines. |
| 1872 | | Fort Benton, Montana: 40,000 bison hides collected. |
| 1872 | | Fort Benton, Montana: Nick Sheran delivers first load of “Belly” River coal. |
| 1872 | | England: Captain William Francis Butler publishes the Great Lone Land about his expedition into the Prairies of the N-WT. |
| 1872 | | Canada Political: Dr. Israel Wood Powell appointed as the federal Superintendent of Indian Affairs for B.C. (until 1890) |
| 1872 | | B.C.: W.H. Lowe leaves his posting at Osoyoos to marry Ella Simpson and take a new posting at the Customs House at New Westminster in 1873. |
| 1872 | | B.C.: John T. Galbraith pre-empts 320 acres on Joseph’s Prairie. |
| 1872 | Feb. 23 | Louis Riel and Ambroise Lépine find it advisable to accept $1,000 each to quit Manitoba. |
| 1872 | Apr. 9 | Francis G. Johnson appointed lieutenant-governor of Manitoba and the North-West Territories. Refused to surrender his judgeship in the Province of Quebec and his appointment was rescinded before comfirmation. Archibald continued as lieutenant-governor of N-WT. |
| 1872 | May 5 | Charlotte Haynes dies in her mother’s home in New Westminster from complications after giving birth to Fairfax Moresby Haynes on Feb. 10. |
| 1872 | June 25 | The Right Honourable Earl of Dufferin appointed Canada’s governor-general. |
| 1872 | July 20 | Federal political: election begins. |
| 1872 | September | The Hudson’s Bay Company instructs factor John Tait to close the post near today’s Keremeos and remove himself and his stores to Fort Kamloops. |
| 1872 | September | Edgar Dewdney (Conservative) declared elected MP for the District of Yale. |
| 1872 | Sep. 3 | Macdonald returned to power as Conservative prime minister of Canada. |
| 1872 | November | Abandoned Hudson’s Bay Company Fort Shepherd burned. |
| 1872 | Dec. 2 | Alexander Morris proclaimed lieutenant-governor of Manitoba and Commissioner of the North-West Territories. |
| 1872 | Dec. 20 | B.C. political: Premier McCreight resigns after non confidence vote. |
| 1872 | Dec. 23 | B.C. political: Amor de Cosmos (alias William Alexander Smith) replaces McCreight as conservative premier of B.C. |
| 1872/3 | Winter | Michael Phillipps builds a federal government cabin on Joseph’s Prairie. |
| 1873 | | William Fernie appointed gold commissioner for the east Kootenay and the Provincial Constable at Perry Creek gold camp. |
| 1873 | | Peter Creake Fernie becomes the superintendent of the Walla Walla/Dewdney Trail from Galbraith’s Ferry to the Boundary. |
| 1873 | | Michael Phillipps and John Collins become the first recorded Caucasians to top the Crowsnest Pass. |
| 1873 | | First Hutterite evaluation of North America, to USA. |
| 1873 | | Canadian Militia Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Robertson-Ross recommends that Canada build a string of seven military posts manned by 500 mounted troops between the Red River and the Rockies. |
| 1873 | | Manitoba: Stoney Mountain prison built. |
| 1873 | | Fort Benton, Montana: 40,000 bison hides collected. |
| 1873 | | Fort Benton, Montana: Charles Edward Conrad and his brother, Wm. G., buy the I.G. Baker and Bro. Company and rename it the I.G. Baker and Company. |
| 1873 | | N-WT.: B.C.: The Hudson’s Bay Company leases its Keremeos buildings to Barrington Price. |
| 1873 | | Constantin Scollen and Léon Doucet establish Mission Notre Dame de la Paix on the Swift (Elbow) River in Piikani territory west of present-day Calgary, AB. |
| 1873 | Mar. 8 | N-WT: Order in Council issued at Fort Garry declares Territories “dry.” |
| 1873 | Mar. 26 | Barrington Price granted a 356-acre pre-emption in the Keremeos Creek valley near its confluence with the Similkameen, and in July buys another half-section in the Similkameen valley. |
| 1873 | Apr. 2 | The “Pacific Scandal” breaks. Allegations in Parliament that Hugh Andrew Montagu Allan’s Canadian Pacific Railway Company, at the time competing with the Inter-Ocean Railway Company for the contract to build the Canadian trans-continental railroad, paid illegal contributions into the re-election campaign coffers of the Conservative Party. |
| 1873 | Spring | H.E. Seelye arrives as customs officer to occupy the federal cabin on Joseph’s Prairie. |
| 1873 | May | Survey of International Boundary westward across the Plains from the Red River begins. |
| 1873 | May 3 | Assent given to “An Act to establish The Department of the Interior” in Canada, “to oversee the evolution of the North-West Territories” (Titley). |
| 1873 | May 23 | Act establishing the North-West Mounted Police receives royal assent: introduced May 3 (April 28th?). |
| 1873 | May 23 | Department of the Interior given responsibility for administering the N-WT. Council of the North-West Territories no longer under the jurisdiction of the lieutenant-governor of Manitoba. |
| 1873 | May 23 | Fa. Pierre-Jean de Smet dies at St. Louis, Missouri. |
| 1873 | Summer | William Samuel Lee “discovers” the cold sulphur springs at present day Frank, AB. |
| 1873 | June 1(11?) | A band of “wolfers” styling themselves the “Spitzee Cavalry,” massacre of 22 members of Little Soldier’s band of Nakota (Assiniboine) in the Cypress Hills of the N-WT. |
| 1873 | July 1 | Honourable Sir Alexander Campbell appointed federal Minister of the Interior. |
| 1873 | Aug. 30 | Order-in-Council constituting the N-WMP issued by Governor General the Earl of Dufferin. |
| 1873 | Sep. 18 | Cooke and Company, promoters and financiers of the Northern Pacific Railroad, closes its doors. |
| 1873 | Sep. 19 | “Black Friday”: Stock prices begin to collapse as “The Great North Amercian Financial Panic” seizes Wall Street when trading suspended on shares of Cooke and Company of Philadelphia. |
| 1873 | Sep. 25 | First nine officers of N-WMP hired. Lt. Col. W. Osborne Smith appointed first (temporary) Commissioner of the N-WMP (to October 17, 1873). |
| 1873 | Oct. 3 | Treaty 3 (North-West Angle Treaty) between HRH Victoria and the Saulteaux. |
| 1873 | Oct. 18 | George Arthur French, C.M.G., appointed second (first permanent) Commissioner of the N-WMP (to July 21, 1876). |
| 1873 | November | The Allison family moves from the Similkameen valley to “Sunnyside” at Westbank in the Okanagan valley. |
| 1873 | November | Methodists John Chantler McDougall and wife Abagail establish a Mission at what is now Morleyville, AB. Begin a sustenance ranching operation. |
| 1873 | Nov. 1 | First of N-WM Police begin arriving at Lower Fort Garry, Manitoba. |
| 1873 | Nov. 5 | The Conservative government of John Macdonald resigns in favour of the Liberals led by Alexander Mackenzie. |
| 1873 | Nov. 7 | Honourable David Laird appointed Minister of the Interior. |
| 1874 | | Canadian Pacific Railway Act proclaimed offering $12,000 and 20,000 acres of land for every mile of mainline completed. Minister of Mines portfolio created in B.C. cabinet. John T. Galbraith builds a store near the customs house on Joseph’s Prairie and begins acquiring the surrounding land. John Andrew Mara, M.P. for southern B.C., urges Ottawa to build a military post in Ktunaxa territory. Michael Phillipps, Jim Morrissey, William Sanders blaze a trail up the Elk River, Michel Creek and over the Crowsnest Pass. |
| 1874 | | James Lenihan appointed a superintendent of Indian Affairs for B.C., stationed in New Westminster. (until 1880) He was junior to Dr. Powell in Victoria. |
| 1874 | | Lawrence Vankoughnet appointed deputy superintendent-general of Indian Affairs (till 1893). |
| 1874 | | John McDougall commissioned by the Minister of Justice to visit western Tribes and explain to them the coming of the North-West Mounted Police. |
| 1874 | | Fathers Scollen and Doucette establish the parish of St. Croix in what is now southern Alberta. |
| 1874 | January | The Canadian Pacific Surveys office in Ottawa burns. All contents lost. |
| 1874 | Jan. 22 | Federal political: Alexander Mackenzie and Liberals elected. |
| 1874 | Jan. 22 | Edgar Dewdney (Conservative) declared elected as the federal representative for the District of Yale, B.C. |
| 1874 | Feb. 9 | B.C. political: Premier De Cosmos resigns to contest Federal election. |
| 1874 | Feb. 11 | B.C. political: George Anthony Boomer Walkem selected conservative premier. |
| 1874 | June | N-WT: Nick Sheran has a ferry rigged up on the Belly/Oldman at Whoop-Up. |
| 1874 | June 19 | Fort Dufferin, Manitoba: Rendezvous of first and second contingents of N-WMP. |
| 1874 | Summer | N-WT.: Dr. Geo. Mercer Dawson in employ of Boundary Commission notes petroleum seeps in the Waterton area. |
| 1874 | July 8 | N-WM Police begin Great March west from Lower Fort Garry and Emerson, Manitoba. |
| 1874 | September | Boundary demarcation complete, the Joint Boundary Commission disbands. |
| 1874 | Sep. 7 | N-WT: N-WMP arrive at Seven Persons Creek. |
| 1874 | Sep. 15 | N-WT: Treaty 4 (Qu’Appelle Treaty) between HRH Victoria and the Plains Newiyawak/Cree, Saulteaux, and Assiniboines. |
| 1874 | Autumn | N-WT: Father Léon M. Fouquet and Brother John Burns arrive on the St. Mary’s River in the Rocky Mountain Trench, acquire property from John Shaw and by October had raised a two-storey log house which they name “Mission de St. Eugene.” |
| 1874 | Autumn | Joe Kipp abandons Fort Kipp at the confluence of the Belly and Oldman rivers in what is now southern Alberta. |
| 1874 | Sep. 22 | N-WT: Col. Geo. French breaks up his N-WM Police command, sending two divisions back to Manitoba and encamping the rest on the Prairies whilst he, Macleod and Brisebois set out for Fort Benton to get supplies and a guide. |
| 1874 | Sep. 24 | Fort Benton, MT: Jerry Potts begins his association with N-WMP. |
| 1874 | Oct. 9 | N-WT: N-WMP arrive at Ft. Whoop-Up. |
| 1874 | Oct. 13 | N-WT: N-WM Police establish Ft. Macleod. |
| 1875 | | Richard and Martin Fry buy Edwin L. Bonner’s ferry and trading post on what’s now the Idaho reach of the Kootenai River. |
| 1875 | | Ktunaxa reach an agreement with Niitsitapi permitting the former to hunt bison on the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies. |
| 1875 | | B.C.: Province funds the improvement of the path up the Elk and over the Crowsnest Pass. |
| 1875 | | N-WT: Joe McFarland and Henry Olson drive two small herds of dairy cows into the Fort Macleod vicinity. |
| 1875 | | N-WT: I.G. Baker Co. of Fort Benton, Montana Territory, delivers a herd of cattle to the N-WMP at Forts Macleod and Calgary, N-WT. |
| 1875 | | John McDougall again commissioned to visit western Tribes and explain the rôle of the N-WM Police. |
| 1875 | January | Emily Pittenreigh comes to the Okanagan as J.C. Haynes’ second wife. |
| 1875 | Feb. 17 | The N-WMP put J.D. Weatherwax, the last whiskey trader in Blackfoot country, out of business. |
| 1875 | Spring | The Province of British Columbia petitions Britain’s Colonial Secretary, Lord Carnarvon, to force the Dominion to honour its obligation to build a waggon road or railroad through to the Coast. |
| 1875 | Apr. 8 | Parliament of Canada enacts 38 Victoria, Chapter 49; the North-West Territories Act. The Territories now separated politically from Manitoba, with their own lieutenant-governor and council. |
| 1875 | Apr. 10 | Order-in-Council authorizes N-WMP to establish fort at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers. |
| 1875 | June | Father Napoléon Grégoire arrives at “Mission de St. Eugene” in BC. |
| 1875 | June 1 | At Fort William in Ontario, the sod was turned inaugurating construction of the Canadian trans-continental railroad. |
| 1875 | July | N-WMP complete Fort Walsh in the Cypress Hills. |
| 1875 | Aug. 25 | Approx.: North-West Mounted Police establish Fort Brisebois, N-WT (soon renamed ‘Fort Calgary’). |
| 1875 | September | HBC dismantles Bow River Post farther up the Bow and moves it down to Fort Brisebois. |
| 1875 | September | The I.G. Baker and Co. build a post on the Elbow River just south of Fort Brisebois. |
| 1875 | Sep. 11 | B.C. political: G.A. Walkem and conservatives returned to power. Kootenay Electoral District: Arthur Wellesley Vowell, Chas. Gallagher. |
| 1875 | Sep. 24 | Treaty 5 between HRH Victoria and the Swampy Cree and Saulteaux. |
| 1876 | Circa | Barrington Price builds a grist mill by his ranch house, the former Hudson’s Bay Company post in the Keremeos Creek valley. |
| 1876 | Circa | Post Office opens bureau in the Allison ranch house near today’s Princeton: S.L. Allison post mistress. |
| 1876 | Circa | Alexander Ewan builds first salmon cannery on the Fraser River (near New Westminster). |
| 1876 | | The governor-general, Lord Dufferin, visits Victoria to dissuade B.C. from seceding from the Dominion. |
| 1876 | | William Fernie appointed the local Customs Collector in the East Kootenay, BC. |
| 1876 | | Arthur Wellesley Vowell resigns as MPP for the Kootenay Electoral District in BC. Replaced by Wm. Cosgrove Milby. |
| 1876 | | The Kainai remember this year as “ikakainiskoy,” “many buffalo.” |
| 1876 | | Geo. Emerson establishes the first ranching operation in the N-WT around Fort Macleod. |
| 1876 | | The Rev. Geo. Millward McDougall perished in a blizzard near his mission at Morleyville, on the Bow River in what is now Alberta. His son, John Chandler McDougall, active this year explaining treaty procedures to Natives in what is now southern Alberta. |
| 1876 | Jan. 27 | B.C. political: G.A.B. Walkem resigns as premier after non-confidence vote. |
| 1876 | February | Battleford chosen as capital of the N-WT. Construction begins on administration building. |
| 1876 | Feb. 1 | B.C. political: Andrew Charles Elliott selected as premier. |
| 1876 | Mar. 23 | B.C.: H.E. (Thomas?) Seelye died and buried at Joseph’s Prairie in BC. Had been customs officer there since spring, 1873. |
| 1876 | Apr. 12 | Indian Act (An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians) receives royal assent. |
| 1876 | Apr. 12 | Canadian Parliament enacts 39 Victoria chapter 21, creating the District of Keewatin. |
| 1876 | June 10 | J.F. Allison appointed Justice of the Peace in Yale District, BC. |
| 1876 | June 25 | Battle of Greasy Grass (Little Big Horn). Gen’l Geo. Armstrong Custer and elements of his 7th Cavalry annihilated by Sitting Bull and his Lakota and Tsistsistas (Cheyenne) warriors. |
| 1876 | June 27 | B.C. Political: Honourable A.N. Richards commissioned lieutenant-governor. |
| 1876 | July 1 | N-WT: Dave Akers buys Fort whoop-Up from J.J. Healy. |
| 1876 | July 22 | Col. G.A. French fired from N-WMP. James Farquharson Macleod, C.M.G., appointed third Commissioner of the N-WMP (to October 31, 1880). |
| 1876 | August | In the Sand Hills Isapo-Muxika (Crowfoot) and Stamiksoopi (Sitting Bull) exchanged tobacco at a friendship dance. |
| 1876 | Aug. 18 (23?) | Treaty No. 6 (Part 1) signed at Fort Carlton between HRH Victoria and the Plains Cree, the Woodland Cree, and the Assiniboines. |
| 1876 | Sep. 9 | Treaty No. 6 (Part 2) signed at Fort Pitt between HRH Victoria and the Plains Cree, the Woodland Cree, and the Assiniboines. |
| 1876 | Oct. 7 | The North-West Territories Act of 1875 (An Act to amend and consolidate the Laws respecting the North-West Territories) proclaimed. N-WT separated administratively from Manitoba. David Laird appointed lieutenant-governor and “Indian Superintendent” of the North-West Territories. |
| 1876 | Oct. 24 | Honourable David Mills appointed Minister of the Interior. |
| 1876 | Nov. 17 | First Sioux appear at Wood Mountain at Jean-Louis Legare’s store. |
| 1876 | Nov. 27 | Members of the first Territorial Council (appointed) sworn in at Livingstone Barracks (Swan River). |
| 1877 | | Joseph Whitehead brings the first locomotive into the Canadian West in the Red River valley to build the Dominion government’s “Pembina Branch.” |
| 1877 | | The North-West Territories Act amended to give French and English equal status in council and in the courts. |
| 1877 | | Osoyoos, B.C.: Customs House burns. |
| 1877 | | Coal Banks, N-WT.: Marcella Sheran arrives to help her brother in the mining business. |
| 1877 | | N-WT.: “Kootenai” and Olivia Brown settle in Waterton area of the N-WT. |
| 1877 | | Coal Mines Regulation Act passed in B.C. |
| 1877 | Mar. 8 | Thursday. Commissioner David Laird summons the North-West Council to Livingstone Barracks, Swan River, N-WT. |
| 1877 | May | Sitting Bull (Tatanka-Iyotonka) and hundreds of his Hunkpapa Lakota followers arrive at Wood Mountain, N-WT. |
| 1877 | August | Lieutenant-Governor David Laird visits Fort Macleod, N-WT. |
| 1877 | Aug. 1 | N-WT political: Seat of the North-West Territorial government formally transferred to Battleford. |
| 1877 | Aug. 2 | Sir James Douglas dies in Victoria, BC. |
| 1877 | Sep. 22 | Treaty No. 7 (Part 1) signed at Blackfoot Crossing, N-WT, between HRH Victoria and the Blackfoot Nations, T’suu Tina (Sarcee) and the Stoneys. |
| 1877 | October | William Cosgrove Milby, MPP for the Kootenay Electoral District, dies. |
| 1877 | Dec. 4 | Treaty No. 7 (Part 2) signed at Fort Maclead, N-WT, by chiefs who could not attend the main signing at Crowsfoot Crossing. |
| 1877 | Dec. 20 | Robert Leslie Thomas Galbraith elected as MPP for Kootenay District, BC. |
| 1878 | | Minerals Act of 1878 passed in B.C. |
| 1878 | | P.R. Neale and S.B. Steele register the first cattle brand in the N-WT: “NWMP.” (!!? See Jan. 29, 1880) |
| 1878 | | Toronto Stock Exchange incorporated. |
| 1878 | | U.S. government passes the Bland-Allison Act requiring the mint to buy $2–4 million’s in silver each month. Never more than the minimum purchased, price of silver continues to decline. |
| 1878 | | The global economy slips into a recession. |
| ?1878? | | N-WT.: Marcella Sheran weds Joseph McFarland of the Pioneer Ranch near Fort Macleod. |
| 1878 | | B.C. Constitutional Act of 1871 amended to give the Kootenay Electoral District but one MPP: Robert Leslie Thomas Galbraith. |
| 1878 | | U.S. Army blockades the migration of the buffalo in an effort to starve the Sioux into submission. All Plains Indians affected. Few Bison reach Canadian territory. |
| 1878 | | Norman T. Macleod, brother of Colonel James Macleod of the N-WM Police, appointed Indian Agent for Treaty 7 nations. |
| 1878 | | James Jerome Hill, general manager of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, welcomes George Stephen and Donald Smith to his road’s board of directors. |
| 1878 | | Dr. Geo. Mercer Dawson of the Geological Survey of Canada examines coal measures in the Crowsnest area. |
| 1878 | | Frederick Billings, et al, reorganize the Northern Pacific Railroad and begin pushing its railheads west from Bismarck and east from Wallula Junction, Washington Territory, near the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers. |
| 1878 | | N-WT.: N-WMP establishes its “Remount Station” in the Pincher Creek valley. Police plant oats and supply hay to other posts. Mart Holloway builds shack in the valley, as do Jack Collins and “Mr. Allen.” Wm. Sam’l Lee likely settled at the Creek’s mouth. |
| 1878 | | N-WT.: N-WMP moves its headquarters from Fort Macleod to Fort Walsh in the Cypress Hills. |
| 1878 | Feb. 6 | Governor-general in Council approves and accepts Treaty No. 7. |
| 1878 | Spring | Macleod Island and Fort Macleod flooded. |
| 1878 | May 22 | B.C. political: Election unseats A.C. Elliott and supporters. Galbraith and Gallagher returned but amendment to the Constitutional Act of 1871 eliminates Gallagher’s seat. |
| 1878 | May 25 | England: A.T. Galt promot4ed to Grand-Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. |
| 1878 | June 25 | B.C. political: C.A. Elliott resigns as premier in favour of G.A.B. Walkem. |
| 1878 | Aug. 18 | First issue of P.G. Laurie’s Saskatchewan Herald, Battleford, N-WT. |
| 1878 | September | Edgar Dewdney (Conservative) declared re-elected as MP for the District of Yale, BC. |
| 1878 | Sep. 17 | Federal political: Conservatives of J.A. Macdonald elected. Macdonald defeated in home-riding and parachuted in to win a Victoria by-election. |
| 1878 | Sep. 19 | George Wallace Hall registers a pre-emption near what is today Creston, BC. |
| 1878 | Autumn | Mi’kai’stowa (Red Crow) begins negotiations to abandon the original Kainai Reserve in the valley of the Bow River and re-establish it in the present location, west of Lethbridge, AB. |
| 1878 | Oct. 17 | Right Honourable Sir J.A. Macdonald appointed Minister of the Interior. |
| 1878 | Nov. 25 | The Most Honourable Marquis of Lorne appointed governor-general of Canada. |
| 1878 | December | Begins the bitter winter for hungry western Tribes. |
| 1878 | Dec. 5 | Last spike driven on the “Pembina Branch” rail line built for Ottawa between St. Boniface and Emerson, Manitoba, by Joseph Whitehead. |
| 1879 | | The St. Paul, Minnesota and Manitoba Railway reaches Emerson on the Manitoba boundary to connect there with the Canadian government’s “Pembina Branch”: St. Boniface in the old Red River Colony now connected to St. Paul, Minnesota. |
| 1879 | | Mountain Mill set up on the Castle River in the N-WT by John Kean for the Indian Branch of the Department of the Interior. Built and run by Wm. Shanks Gladstone. |
| 1879 (or ‘80?) | | Anglican “Rev. Rural Dean” George McKay of the “Society for the Propagation of the Gospel builds a house and a “day school” on the Piikani reserve, N-WT. |
| 1879 | | William Fernie named coroner and Assistant Commissioner for Lands and Works in the Electoral District of Kootenay, BC. |
| 1879 | | The Department of the Interior pays I.G. Baker and Co. to deliver 1,000 cattle to the Porcupine Hills near Fort Macleod for the starving Niitsitapi to hunt. |
| 1879 | | Great Britain embargos American beef in support of the Canadian cattle business. |
| 1879 | | Niverville, MB.: Wm. Hespeler builds first grain elevator in western Canada. Cylindrical. |
| 1879 | | Indian Branch sets up two small ranching operations in the N-WT, one on Pincher Creek, one near Calgary. |
| 1879 | | N-wT: Joshua Watson homesteads at “the bend” of the “Belly” River. |
| 1879 | | B.C.: Peter Creake Fernie contracted to build two bridges to carry the Crowsnest Pass trail over the Elk River. |
| 1879 | | N-WT.: A.P. Patrick notes petroleum seeps in Waterton area of the N-WT. Sent a sample to Ottawa. |
| 1879 | January | Nicholas Flood Davin appointed to determine the best approach to educating western Natives. Report submitted to Vankoughnet in April. |
| 1979 | February | David Laird resigns as “Indian Superintendent.” |
| 1879 | Spring | N-WT: Niitsi-tapi and other plains peoples starving with failure of the bison population. |
| 1879 | May 20 | Canada political: Honourable Sir Charles Tupper appointed Minister of Railways and Canals. |
| 1879 | May 23 | J.J. Hill, George Stephen, Donald Smith and Norman Kittson form the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad Company in Minnesota. Leased the Canadian government’s “Pembina Branch” from St. Boniface, Manitoba, to the Boundary. |
| 1879 | May 30 | Edgar Dewdney appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the N-WT (to 1884). |
| 1879 | June | The St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba acquires the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. |
| 1879 | June 19 | Elliott Torrance Galt confirmed as secreatary and clerk to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Edgar Dewdney. |
| 1879 | July | Lawrence Vankoughnet has Thos. Page Wadsworth appointed “inspector of agencies in the N-WT. |
| 1879 | Summer | Indian Reserves Nos. 147A and 147B laid out for Piikani in the valley of the Oldman River. |
| 1879 | Summer | H.J Taylor established DIA “supply farm” near Pincher Creek, AB. Thos. Wright establishes a second farm near Fort Calgary. |
| 1879 | Late Summer | Indian Branch contracts the I.G. Baker Co. of Fort Benton, Montana Territory, to run a herd of cattle into the Porcupine Hills. |
| 1879 | Sep. 29 | Francis Jones Bernard (Conservative) declared MP for the District of Yale, B.C. |
| 1879 | End | Mission St. Eugene comprises 552 acres of the St. Mary’s River valley in B.C. |
| 1879 | End | Begins the “Snow Winter” on the Prairies. |
| 1880 | | Farwell (re-named “Revelstoke” in 1886) established. |
| 1880 | | N-WT.: Jim Bruneau, Isaac May and A.H. Lynch-Staunton establish a ranch on Pincher Creek. “Jug Handle” Smith upstream. Sam Sharpe and George Ives range government cattle herd nearby. |
| 1880 | | Norman Thos. Macleod appointed Agent to Treaty 7 tribes. |
| 1880 | | Under unsupportable hunting pressure, the bison population in the Judith Basin in present-day Montana crashes. |
| 1880 | Circa | Farm No. 21 established on Piikani Reserve. |
| 1880 | Jan. 29 | P.R. Neale and S.B. Steele register the first cattle brand in the N-WT: the “71.” (!!? See 1878) |
| 1880 | February | Edgar Dewdney appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs in the Province of Manitoba (in addition to his duties in the N-WT) |
| 1880 | Mar. 19 | Wm. Winder registers the “double crank” brand in the N-WT. |
| 1880 | April | Contractor D.O. Mills of California sends Andrew Onderdonk to B.C. to start construction of the CPR eastbound. |
| 1880 | May 7 | Federal political: Assent given to the Indian Act, 1880 - “An Act to amend and consolidate the laws respecting Indians” creates the Department of Indian Affairs under the Minister of the Interior who is the Superintendent of Indian Affairs. |
| 1880 | May 7 | Federal: Great North Western Telegraph Company incorporated. |
| 1880 | May 11 | Federal political: Honourable Sir A.T. Galt assumes his duties as High Commissioner for Canada in London (to May 30, 1883). |
| 1880 | May 14 | B.C.: Andrew Onderdonk commences construction of the Fraser River leg of the CPR at Emory’s Bar. |
| 1880 | Summer | B.C.: George Hearst comes to Kootenay Lake to examine “the Ledge.” |
| 1880 | Summer | N-WT: New reserve, IR #148, laid out for the Kainai between the Belly and the Waterton rivers in what is now southern Alberta. Ration house built. |
| 1880 | Summer | N-WT: Elliott Torrance Galt visits the “coal banks” on the Belly River. Took Samples. |
| 1880 | Oct. 21 | Syndicate of George Stephen, J.J. Hill, J.S. Kennedy, R.B. Angus and D.A. Smith sign contract with Canadian government to complete the CPR within 10 years. |
| 1880 | Nov. 1 | Acheson Gosford Irvine appointed fourth Commissioner of the N-WMP (to March 31, 1886). |
| 1880 | Nov. 13 | Lieutenant-Governor Laird proclaims the Electoral Districts of Salisbury, Lorne and Kimberley in the N-WT. |
| 1880 | Dec. 6 | Edmonton Bulletin first published. |
| 1881 | | Allison family returns to the Similkameen region after a sojourn of 8 years in the Okanagan at “Sunnyside.” |
| 1881 | | N-WT/B.C.: Dr. George Mercer Dawson of the Geological Survey of Canada examines the Crowsnest Pass area and the “coal banks” on the Belly River. |
| 1881 | | Federal political: Senator Peter McLaren buys Mountain Mill on the Castle River near today’s Cowley, AB, from the Dominion government. |
| 1881 | | IR 148, N-WT: Cree thieves make off with Kainai horses. |
| 1881 | | Gretna, MB.: The Ogilvie Milling Co. builds the first classic elevator in western Canada. |
| 1881 | | The N-WM Police establish a post on Police Flats near present day Bellevue, AB. |
| 1881 | | Max Brouilette begins stage coach service in N-WT: Coal Banks (now Lethbridge), Fort Macleod, Pincher Creek. |
| 1881 | | IR 148, N-WT: John Maclean of the Church Missionary Society arrived to proselytize on behalf of the Methodist denomination, and teach. |
| 1881 | | IR 148, N-WT: Anglican Reverend Samuel Trivett, also sponsored by the Church Missionary Society, arrives to proselytize and teach. |
| 1881 | | The T.C. Power Co. of Fort Benton, Montana Territory, abandons Fort Macleod, N-WT, to its Fort Benton competitor, the I.G. Baker Co. |
| 1881 | Feb. 15 | “An Act Respecting the Canadian Pacific Railway, Victoria 41, Chapter 1” (“Pacific Railway bill”) ratified by the Federal parliament. CPR enchartered and given until May 1, 1891, to finish the line. |
| 1881 | Feb. 16 | Upon the receipt of a $1 million surety bond, Charles Tupper, federal Minister of Railways, signs papers to create the third incarnation of the Canadian Pacific Railway with the CP syndicate of George Stephen, Duncan McIntyre, J.J. Hill, J.S. Kennedy, the Kohn, Reinach and Co. of Paris, and the Morten Rose and Co. of London. |
| 1881 | Feb. 18 | CPR Company incorporated. |
| 1881 | Mar. 1 | Hayter Reed appointed Indian Agent at Battleford. |
| 1881 | Mar. 9 | First member elected to the North-West Council; Lawrence Clarke from the Electoral District of Lorne. |
| 1881 | April | The first of some 2500 starving Kainai begin straggling onto Reserve 148. |
| 1881 | April | Maj. Albert Bowman Rogers engaged by the CPR to find a route through the southern Rockies. |
| 1881 | Apr. 21 | Elliott Torrance Galt appointed Assistant Indian Commissioner for Manitoba and the North-West Territories. |
| 1881 | May | Senator Matthew Henry Cochrane incorporates the Cochrane Ranche Company and establishes its headquarters some 20 miles up the Bow River west from Calgary, N-WT. |
| 1881 | May 21 | Maj. “A.B.” Rogers locates a promising pass through the Selkirk Range. Unable to confirm. |
| 1881 | June 21 | Honourable C.F. (Clement) Cornwall commissioned lieutenant-governor of B.C. |
| 1881 | Summer | Robert Evan Sproule locates “the Ledge” on BC’s Kootenay Lake and stakes his dog-legged Bluebell claim. |
| 1881 | July 19 | Having been starved out of Canada, Sitting Bull surrenders at Fort Buford, Dakota Territory. |
| 1881 | Aug/Sep | Sir John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, the Marquis of Lorne, the governor-general of Canada and his entourage tour Canada’s West. |
| 1881 | Sep. 9 | Marquis of Lorne, et al, at Blackfoot Crossing. |
| 1881 | Sep.15 | Henry Villard (formerly Ferdinand Heinrich Gustav Hilgard) elected president of the Northern Pacific Railroad. |
| 1881 | Sep. 17 | Marquis of Lorne, et al, arrive at Fort Macleod. |
| 1881 | Oct. 3 | David Laird’s term as lietenant-governor of the N-WT ends. |
| 1881 | Oct. 20 | Fred Stimson registers his “Bar U” brand in the N-WT. |
| 1881 | December | The Northern Pacific Railroad reached Pend Oreille Lake in what is now Idaho. |
| 1881 | Dec. 1 | Andrew Onderdonk awarded the contract to built the CPR Mainline from Emory Bar in the Fraser River canyon to tidewater at Port Moody. |
| 1881 | Dec. 3 | Edgar Dewdney succeeds as lieutenant-governor of the North-West Territories (to 1888). |
| 1881 | Dec. 23 | Dominion Lands Regulations, cattle leases defined: 21 years, maximum $10.00 per 1000 acres per year to 100,000 acres; minimum 10 acres per head. |
| 1881 | Christmas | A.T. Galt resigns as the Canadian High Commissioner to London. Rejected. |
