My armchair tour to some of the historically significant homes that have been preserved across Canada continues westward.  I have arrived (in my imagination) on the Praries and have so far completed two simple homes.  One is quite generic - one of hundreds scattered across the plains.  It is a precurser of the pre-fab house: a small farmhouse built from plans available from the Canadian Pacific Railway's B.C. and Alberta Land Dept. In 1913 a 2 bedroom frame house with space for extra sleeping rooms in the attic could be built for about $950.  The CPR provided the plans and the materials, after they sold homesteaders a tract of land from their vast holdings.  My children's great-grandpa was one of those homesteaders and may have lived in such a house.  

The 2nd house witnessed a unique episode in Canadian history: the execution for treason of the Metis leader Louis Riel.  Time has allowed a re-examination of the events and issues surrounding the Red River and Northwest Rebellions, and Riel is widely regarded as a Canadia folk hero.  His mother's home where his body lay after the execution remains as a testament to Riel's place in history and the significance of the Metis people in the cultural makeup of Canada.

While I am exploring the Prairie Provinces I am finding so many exciting options of what to build. The pioneers who settled the west built everything from sod huts and log cabins to elegantly appointed homes.  Which one shall I visit next?