Sorry there, got busy with life for a bit took me a bit to get back down to earth
Anyhoo, I did go to the archives on Monday and was able to some information although they did not have much I'm afraid.
The reference that you found for Arthur is in fact a series of books (like an encyclopedia set), in each volume are snippets, short stories, or in this case a diary of your ancestor. The actual pages that include the diary are actually about 8 pages and does not contain anything specific to his family and such.
It does however mention the date when he immigrated to Canada, which was April 17ish, 1881 on which he came across aboard the S.S. Circassian landing in Halifax. His brother Ernest came the following year aboard the same ship both of their final destinations was listed as Winnipeg..
In the diary Arthur relays his first journey to his final destination, which took him to the cities of Montreal and passing by Toronto. He also mentions taking a ferry ride from Sarnia, ON along one of the great lakes to Detroit entering Canada again through the Emerson, Manitoba border crossing.
There is a place in the diary where he states he chained 3,056 miles, walked 3,003 miles, and travelled by cart 3,056 surveying about 7,000 square miles for his boss. As well as a story where he shot his dinner with a Colt revolver, and getting so wrapped up in the moment that he almost forget to get a shot off before his dinner escaped lol.
In the early 1900's the government of Canada was hoping to development the majority of the western provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) so they gave individuals (mostly immigrants) cheap land to buy in order to development the land out west. Homestead files are the government record of individuals, who after 4 years or so of breaking the land, would apply for a patent for the land in which case they would take ownership of said land.
Arthur applied for and received his patent on April 3, 1886 near Spy Hill from the Canadian government. Unfortunately the file is fairly light in terms of information, although there is a personal note that Arthur had sent to the government which bears his signature.
When I went to the archives I was short on funds in order to get photocopies on the information that I could copy, but I know where the information is and I should be able to get it again. The homestead files may be for posterity than anything else.
Let me know if I can help more, or photocopy the pages of the diary.
Jeff
