The Prairie West as Promised Land : University of Calgary Press : 9781552382301 : 1552382303 : 30 Aug 2007 : So the emblem of the West / Our bright Maple Leaf is bless'd  / To its children of the goodly open hand; / All the nations of the earth / Are now learning of its worth / And are flocking to this wealthy, promised land. - The Sugar Maple Tree Song, 1906 In 1906, the Sugar Maple Tree Song was just one example of the rhapsodic pieces that touted the Prairie West as the "promised land." In the formative years of agricultural settlement from the late nineteenth century to the First World War, the Canadian government, along with the railways and other Prairie boosters, further developed and propagated this image within the widely distributed promotional literature that was used to attract millions of immigrants to the Canadian West from all corners of the world. Some saw the Prairies as an ideal place to create a Utopian society; others seized the chance to take control of their own