45 Amazing Photos of Life in Canada During the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Reuben R. Sallows (1855–1937) was a professional photographer from Goderich, Ontario, a Canadian photographer known for his “portraits of children posed in bucolic settings, as well as for his lovingly humorous depictions of country youth.”

Sallows was an adopter of the pictorialism movement in Canada and a frequent contributor to Canadian Pictorial magazine. These amazing photos are part of the work of Reuben R. Sallows, who captured life in Canada during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

A boy holding a stick contemplates hitting backside of a large man (title 'Do It Now' printed under photograph)

Farmer riding a disc pulled by a team of horses

Fifteen men and women seated on porch, many wearing hats or holding instruments, bicycles in foreground, banner suspended from pillars (title 'At Home' written across bottom)

Four men and bicycles after crash on path; three women in background, trees frame view on either side (title 'Wrecked' written across bottom)

Four women in a field of wildflowers

Group photo of seventeen men and women in park setting, lake bank in background (title 'In the Park' written across bottom)

Group portrait in front of sugaring shack

Group portrait of family gathering, sixty-six people seated and standing in front of frame house, empty frame chair in front row on right (written across bottom 'John Morris Birthday Party, 1888')

Group portrait of five men, some of whom are dressed women's bathing attire posed building a pyramid on beach, canoe in foreground, dock in background (title 'Menesetung Park, July 1897' written across bottom)

Group portrait of five men, some of whom are dressed women's bathing attire posed climbing clay bluffs, men located in background (title 'On the Bluffs' written across the bottom)

Group portrait of five men, some of whom are dressed women's bathing attire posed on dock, canoe in foreground (title 'Bathing in Lake Huron' written across bottom)

Group portrait of fourteen men and women, figures alternate between men and women with men seated on bicycles, all men wearing hats, building in background with banner suspended from pillars (title 'The Start' written across bottom)

Group portrait of men standing in distance, facing front, Maitland River flats and town of Goderich in background (title written across bottom 'Turning First Sod, Goderich and Guelph Railway, September 12, 1904')

Group portrait of thirteen men and women, facing front (title 'Tuquallah Hut' written across bottom)

Haircut in snow

Horse pulling sled, woman sitting in sled wearing furry hat, snow covered trees surround sled

Little boy bottle feeding piglet

Loading the chuck sleighs

Making sugar

Man on snowshoes carries a Canadian timber wolf on back across flat snow-covered surface

Man pulling sled, laden with furs and two large packs, on path through snow covered cedars

Man shooting rifle from kneeling position in canoe

Man standing holding dead ducks on shore of marsh with canoe

Man tending flock of sheep in an open field

Moving logs

Older man reading paper, seated to left of roaring fire, wearing barn clothes and hat, calendar on wall to right of fireplace (written across top and bottom 'John McHardy, Pioneer of Colborne Township')

Parade of bicycles in centre of streetscape, buildings in background, small boys, pole and puddle reflecting same on right (title 'Square, Goderich' written across the bottom)

Port Albert Harbour

Pouring sap

Ships in Goderich Harbour

Small boy sitting on wooden box holds dish of feed for hen and chicks

Team of standing horses with full load of hay

Three young women paddling in a canoe with bow in lower right corner

Train engine with six cars on railway track (title 'Coming around curve in grove, Goderich' written across the bottom)

Two boys observe two women and a man unloading sap from a wooden barrel on a horse-drawn sledge

Two men cutting a pine tree with a cross saw

Two men with deer in canoe

Two women standing in snow-covered field wearing snowshoes

Two women, dressed in bathing costumes pose in field beside inland lake

Two young women and hats

Woman sitting on sand beach supporting a standing child

Woman standing in snow-covered field wearing skis

Woman standing on snow-covered balcony with snowshoes hanging on back

Woman standing, taking photograph of large man seated (writing on bottom 'Jonathan Miller, the largest man in Huron County, died November 8, 1909')

Woman stands in outdoors by incubator holding baby chick in outstretched hand