The Line Which Separates: Race, Gender, and the Making of the Alberta-Montana Borderlands (review)

In recent years there has been a proliferation of studies investigating the influence of national boundaries on the development of concepts regarding race, gender, and settlement. In this recent offering on the topic of borderlands, University of Lethbridge historian Sheila McManus argues that the establishment of the forty-ninth parallel separating Montana and Alberta was key to the development of distinct American and Canadian national identities during the nineteenth century. However, despite the desire of both nations to construct their own 'clear and unequivocal' notions of nationhood on either side of the border, policy-makers were often frustrated by the complex network of cross-border social and economic ties that hampered their efforts.

The bulk of McManus's text sets out to explore the task of nation-building by examining the various processes undertaken by both governments to establish legal and ideological domination of the northern plains, a project which was completed during the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s.

The first task involved the physical mastery of the landscape – the exploration and documentation of the region's climate, resources, and topography, and the dissemination of this information in the form of reports and maps. These initial forays onto the land by the agents of both countries confirmed that the region held considerable agricultural potential. However, before ranchers and other settlers could establish themselves permanently in the area, both nations had to subdue, and confine to reservations, the various groups comprising the Blackfoot Confederacy, whose traditional territory straddled the national boundary.

Because American westward expansion was proceeding at a much faster pace than that of Canada, there was pressure to negotiate treaties and establish reservations as quickly as possible. However, the Blackfeet were not inclined to abandon their seasonal subsistence rounds in favour of sedentary agricultural pursuits. The result was a group of highly mobile, warlike bands who persisted in moving back and forth across the forty-ninth parallel, making a mockery of the entire concept of a boundary dividing two nations, and rendering it almost impossible to engage on the task of 'civilization.' The remoteness of the border region from larger Canadian and American settlements meant that the area was inadequately policed, and the Blackfeet continued to roam across the border at will. Cross-border trafficking in illegal liquor, horse theft, and skirmishes between different groups compelled the authorities on both sides of the border to co-operate with each other in enforcing their respective laws.

The eventual decline in the cross-border movement of the Blackfeet, owing to a toxic combination of disease, starvation, and liquor, permitted the expansion of settlement by the 1870s. It was each country's goal to settle their borderlands with distinct and separate populations of non-Native agricultural settlers whose activities would reflect the divergent political interests of both countries and fuel the development of separate national trajectories.

Initially each country introduced land policies that favoured the development of 160-acre farms. However, the arid climate of the borderlands resulted in the promotion of large-scale cattle ranching over traditional crop production on small family farms. Since the ranchers opposed any form of settlement that might threaten their economic and political dominance, rapid population growth was impeded.

Eventually, thriving multiracial and multiethnic communities did evolve on both sides of the border, but not the nationally distinct and separate settler societies envisioned by the authorities. As McManus points out, an unacknowledged but essential element in successful Euro–North American settlement was the introduction of white women, whose permanent presence was essential to the development of stable families and communities reflecting mainstream social and economic norms. While the arrival of white women did succeed in creating and maintaining local social distinctions based on race and gender, their presence did not contribute to the florescence of distinctive 'Canadian' and 'American' national identities. White women tended to look at the commonalities of experience shared with each other, regardless of their place of residence...