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Within a few years, the first few hundred immigrants grew to a massive wave of emigration from Ukraine and thousands of Ukrainian immigrants landed in Canada. Under the leadership of Wilfrid Laurier and Clifford Sifton, the Canadian federal government encouraged this wave of immigration because they wanted to settle the Prairies with capable farmers.   By 1914, it is estimated that at least 100,000 Ukrainian immigrants had settled on the 'aspen belt', the wide area of land from Winnipeg to Edmonton.  Approximately ninety percent arrived from Halychyna and Bukovina (now western Ukraine) and ten percent from the Imperial Russian Empire.  Most of those who arrived quickly claimed their homesteads and set about the difficult task of clearing the land. They settled in close-knit communities for mutual aid and support. The earliest settlements were on the agricultural frontier and their homes and farms were built in the same style and tradition as those they had left behind in Ukraine.  However, not all immigrants became farmers and some sought employment in manufacturing, industrial and mine centers in eastern and central Canada. Others sought temporary work on the railways and on other farms to earn enough money to pay for their own farming expences. In many cases, the working conditions on the industrial frontiers were primitive and difficult.