DCHP-1 Online

Far West

• 1 Obs. until about 1840, that part of Upper Canada now known as Western Ontario. See 1845 quote at def. 2.

  • 1836  Being in the "far West" at the time I cannot enter into the particulars.
  • 1839  We regret to learn that many of our discontented inhabitants, still persist in selling out their properties, and running a wild goose chase in search of wealth and happiness in the "far west."

• 2 after about 1840, the territories west of Upper Canada, progressively Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, as settlement moved westward; in present-day use the term usually refers to the region west of the Prairies.

  • 1845  The Committee does not consider it out of order briefly to define in this place the term "Far-West," inasmuch as what was formerly known as such is not now even thought of in connexion with that term.
  • 1914  (1915)  This trade had gradually declined, so that the merchants were all the more anxious to establish permanent relations with the tribes in the Far West.
  • 1949  (1965)  To the native of the prairies Alberta is the far West; British Columbia the near East.