1900s

1901

A Tree Grows on the Prairies... A massive Prairie tree planting program begins with the first of 50 million tree seedlings distributed over 15 years to help settlers conserve soil, manage snow and stabilize crops.

1902

Up, Up and Away... Inventor Wallace Rupert Turnbull clears a space in his private research lab in Rothesay, New Brunswick to build the first wind tunnel in Canada, a structure less than two-meters long that generates a 16 km per hour flow of air. In it, he develops the world's first controllable pitch propeller, introduced during a test flight staged by the Canadian Air Force in 1927.

1902

Down to Earth... The Dominion Observatory in Ottawa takes its first precise gravity measurements.

1906

On The Map... The first edition of the National Atlas of Canada is published, making it one of the world's first national atlases. Unlike its predecessors, the sixth edition, published in 1999, is completely digital, interactive and available 24-hours a day on the Internet.

1907

When Horse was Car and Tractor... The cause of dourine, a chronic and usually fatal disease of horses, is uncovered by scientists at the Animal Diseases Research Institute in Lethbridge, Alberta. As a result, a test allows Canada to eradicate the disease by 1920.

1909

The Mighty Marquis... The first samples of Marquis wheat, an early-maturing strain developed by Charles Saunders, are sent to the Prairies for final testing. Saunders, the first Dominion Cerealist, began cultivating the strain from 12 kernels he chanced upon in a wheat plot at the Experimental Farm. Marquis literally opens the Prairies to agriculture and gives Canada entry to international markets.

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