The First Furrow

c. 1907

Also called: The Homesteader No. 2. The First Furrow c.1907

Signed l.R.: C.W. JEFFERYS 

Inscribed l.l. to l.r: The Western Homesteader breaking ground. He has planted a pole with a red handkerchief/ as a mark to guide his plow across the open prairie. In the middle distance is seen his covered wagon and/ the tent which shelters himself & family for the first season while he is getting in his crop.

Provenance

Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. Gift of Imperial Oil Ltd., 1972: c73566

Exhibited

• 1984 - Western Sunlight: C. W. Jefferys on the Canadian Prairies

Publication References

• Canadian Courier 2 (28 September 1907): 16-17

• Staley, J. Edgcumbe (1913), Jefferys - Painter of the Prairies, MacLean's Magazine

• Paterson, Gilbert. (1933)The Story of Britain and Canada
• Jefferys, Charles W. (1950) The Picture Gallery of Canadian History Volume 3, p.149

• Campbell, Sandra 2013 Both Hands: a Life of Lorne Pierce of Ryerson Press, p.326