The journey from the villages of Galicia and Bukovina to the homesteads of western Canada was not an easy one. It required a minimum of two weeks of hard travel and would often consume all of a family’s available money. Steamship and railroad tickets cost an average of $85 for adults and half of that for children up to 10 years old. In addition settlers needed to show $25 at their port of entry to Canada and any excess money was often lost to various scams and exploitations along the way.
For most the journey began with a nine-hundred mile train trip lasting two days. The would-be immigrants would board the train in their own village or one nearby and then would travel northwest to Lviv across the Podilian plain or in the shadow of the Carpathian Mountains - a route recommended to upper-class European tourists as being one of the most scenic in Europe. From Lviv they crossed the northwestern (Polish) half of the Galician province until they reached Krakow some forty-five miles from the German frontier. At this point they would change trains and proceed to one of the nearby border towns, usually Szczakowa or Oświęcim (Auschwitz) and then to the German control station at Myslowitz. Here they would undergo medical examination and be required to prove they had sufficient means before continuing on another twenty hour, five hundred mile trip across central and northern Germany to one of the major seaports, either Hamburg or Bremen. Over 70 percent of Austrian immigrants leaving to the new world used these two ports though some did sail from Fiume, Trieste, Genoa, Le Havre, Rotterdam or Antwerp.
On these overland trains the immigrants travelled in stuffy, noisy, gloomy and crowded railway cars. Only a few could sit on the narrow benches that lined the sides of each car so most sat on top of their bags and belongings of which each settler was limited to 50 pounds. Very few of the women had ever traveled by train which must have made the journey that much more harrowing. Most of the men would have served in the army or worked abroad and thus would have been somewhat more familiar with the trip. For most, the physical discomfort would have been a small concern compared to the worry that they or a loved one might be stopped and turned back prior to reaching Canada. At county railway stations in Lviv, Krakow and again at the border, the police and other officials would check their passports, verify their funds and check for young men who were of military age. Naturally this gave rise to an industry in smuggling people out of the country with some such agents proving to be useful while others were con artists who would take the families money and disappear.
Once across the German border immigrants who had not booked on one of the two major steamship lines (Hamburg-America or the North German Lloyd out of Bremen) were removed from the train and examined for various contagious diseases, bathed and disinfected if necessary, subjected to further means tests and then steered if possible onto one of the two German steamship lines. Those with prepaid tickets were treated somewhat better and were allowed to proceed to the seaport with the steamship line being responsible for them. Even then they might still be subjected to further means tests around Berlin as the German institutions for paupers were swamped with destitute immigrants who had been rejected by the United States. Exploitation was rampant as commissioners, gendarmes, train conductors, border officials, innkeepers and doctors on both sides of the border frequently took advantage of the confused and overwhelmed travelers.
In Hamburg or Bremen all the immigrants underwent still another medical examination, were bathed and their belongings were disinfected. By the turn of the century, those at Bremen could stay either in a new, well-kept immigrant hotel owned by North German Lloyd and its principal booking agent, or seek lodgings in privately licensed boarding houses. In Hamburg most immigrants stayed at the Auswandererhallen, a "small but regularly laid out village on the outskirts of the city." Here, in the most complete immigrant facility in Europe, the travelers slept in large, well-ventilated dormitories and ate in large, clean dining halls, all for two marks (forty-six cents) a day. They were also relatively isolated from the legions of con men that swarmed the large port cities. Nevertheless, many, especially at other seaports, still fell victim to thieves, thugs, cardsharps, and dishonest moneychangers, while once again passing under the scrutiny of physicians, police and government officials before finally climbing aboard their vessel.
The next leg of the journey, crossing the Atlantic, took six to eighteen days (or more) depending on the type of vessel, the route used, the season of the year and other factors. Many of the immigrants would actually cross to England in order to sail from the port of Liverpool which added another day and a half. Generally ships would arrive in Quebec City and Montreal once the St. Lawrence was sufficiently free of ice, starting in late spring, while at other times of year the port of Halifax was used. Like most Eastern Europeans the Ukrainian immigrants traveled in the steerage compartment of the ship, located below water level and reached by descending a narrow, slippery and steep stairway. On many of the ships this compartment was used for hauling cattle or grain from North America to Europe and then used for hauling immigrants on the return journey. It would be furnished with two-, three- and four-tiered wooden or iron bunkbeds though some newer ships had separate rooms with two to eight berths. Invariably the space was hot, crowded, noisy, dirty and smelly with the food often unpalatable, especially to those who were accustomed to different cuisine.
A typical ship was described by one of the Ukrainian immigrants as follows:
It was a boat that had steam engines as well as sails which were hoisted when a favourable wind was blowing. Under the top deck there were about a dozen passenger cabins where the "city-coated gentlemen" travelled. Under the second deck were the galleys and the dining room. Below water level, under the third and fourth decks, there were no cabins, only one big space with rows of iron bedsteads, three or four storeys high. In the lower beds the women and children slept, and in the upper beds, the men and boys. If one wished to reach the upper storey, an iron ladder had to be used.
During the first few days the immigrants would often walk on the deck and get acquainted with their fellow passengers. Of course, most preferred the company of their fellow villagers. If there were any musicians with instruments on board an impromptu dance would often occur. Often the passengers would play cards, tell stories, sing or just contemplate the life that lay ahead of them. Once the ship reached the stormy high seas, the journey would rapidly change. The passengers would be stuck below decks once the ocean waves began to rock the boat and sea sickness was common. Naturally in a confined space the situation would rapidly deteriorate with the home remedies of garlic, onions and whisky combining with the odors of those who were already sick. Prayers were said and saints invoked, but there was nothing to be done but to wait for the storm to die out. Even those who were normally healthy men and women often would not be able to eat for days and there would occasionally be deaths amongst the very young and very old. It is little wonder that the first impression these Ukrainian settlers made on their new neighbors was less than favorable.
Once in Canada the immigrants were required to show their passports and undergo a routine medical examination that was not nearly as grueling as that found at Ellis Island in the United States. After 1906 immigrants were also required to show $25 upon arrival. They were then placed on special, unscheduled colonist trains bound for western Canada. The spacious colonist cars, with their bare wooden seats that could be converted into sleepers and their washrooms, cold running water, heaters and cooking stoves, were an improvement over the stuffy little rail cars in east central Europe. Unfortunately, most Ukrainian immigrants did not know how to use the modern facilities, and within a few hours the washrooms and cars were "veritable pigsties" with the stench "unbearable." When the train stopped, some men invariably went into town to purchase tobacco and alcohol and occasionally they were left behind to be picked up by the next train. During the early years some Bukovinians brought their own kegs of whisky on the advice of friends and relatives already in the west, who complained about the absence of taverns in rural Canada. Many saw no reason to abstain on the last leg of the journey. When the train would stop at stations along the way the passengers would once again be charged exorbitant prices by the local retailers, especially in Montreal, which led to the car doors being locked during many stops to protect the immigrants from these vendors.
The journey across Canada would rarely raise the spirits of the new immigrants who were already dispirited from their long journeys away from their former homes. As the train traveled for days through the unpopulated, desolate, barren and rocky wilderness of northern Ontario many would naturally wonder what they were getting themselves into. Many remarked on the vast swaths of forests which had been destroyed by uncontrolled fires - an incomprehensible thought in their homeland where forests were precious commodities. The train would discharge its passengers in the immigration halls of Winnipeg or Calgary, or after 1891 in Strathcona near Edmonton. The rail transport of settlers and their goods was provided free of charge, so more knowledgeable settlers would buy what they could in Winnipeg where prices were much cheaper than Edmonton. At this point most of the family would usually remain in the hall while the head of the family went looking for suitable land to file on. If the family already had friends or relatives in the area they would wait in the immigration hall until the friend could come with a wagon to greet them.