As we approached the beginning of the 20th Century, baseball, the American game, began to make headway in Western Canada (as it was configured in 1900). Lacrosse was the "national game" but hockey was making serious inroads. Major League baseball consisted of only one league, the National
The political divisions of Canada included the provinces of Manitoba and British Columbia along with districts of the North West Territories (the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan wouldn't become a reality until 1905).
To provide some context for the early days of baseball in the West, we've dug out some of the population figures from the 1901 census. Montreal was the country's biggest city with a population of 266,826. Toronto was second with 207, 971. Winnipeg was the 6th largest (42,336) and Vancouver 12th (26,196). Calgary had just 4,398 and Edmonton 2,625. Surprisingly (and we are getting these double-checked) Nelson, BC, was shown with 4,610 people and Rossland 6,138. Kelowna was down at 375 residents. The Nelson-Rossland figures might represent the heavy interest in mining (gold, silver) during the heady "rush" days of the late 1800s and early 1900s.
On the world scene, the Boxer Rebellion was underway in China and up to 7,000 Canadian troops were involved in the South African Boer War. The newspapers didn't seem to pay much attention to this game of baseball. But, now and again, a game report would appear.
