Alberta Prairie in Winter

What the Romans would call centuriation - the division of the prairie into lots which were then allocated to colonists - is here visible in the Alberta prairie east of Calgary. Mile after mile is demarcated into squares, with no regard to what limited elevation there is, and the streams and valleys that drain the prairie.

It shows up remarkably well in this slanting sunset light with snow on the ground.

Alberta was settled in large numbers, after the Canadian Pacific Railways was opened from Atlantic to Pacific, thus enabling the export of minerals and farm produce, and the influx of settlers.