ABSTRACT
In this chapter we shall describe the economy and occupational structure of the Jasper region and the processes influencing their development from pioneer days. The story is concerned almost exclusively with agriculture: 95 per cent of all income in the region is provided by agrarian activity or by businesses supplying agriculture with its tools and commodities. This economic pattern developed out of the settlement processes of a Western frontier; it began with the cattle and horse raisers on the unfenced and unsurveyed range and ended with the influx of farmers once the land was surveyed and opened for homesteading. The dominance of agriculture also means that occupational opportunities for young people have decreased steadily, since rising costs of operation and the need for mechanized efficiency have led to consolidation of agricultural enterprises into fewer hands. At all times Jasper agricultural economy has been influenced by the conditions of the national and continental economy for which it must produce: the market is a major factor in the total ecological system of the Jasper region. We begin with a general description of the relationship of Jasper, and Great Plains economy, to the national picture.
