The settlers in Markland were promised their own plots of land to farm. All the men knew where their own land was, but at first, everyone farmed together. The first crops were planted in community (or communal) plots of land. Potatoes, turnips and cabbages were grown.

Everyone who visited Markland in the first year noticed how hard-working and happy the men were. The trustees talked about the "Markland spirit." They said, "the chance of becoming independent and self-supporting has a strong attraction...the men take a pride in calling themselves 'Marklanders.'"⁵ The trustees were no longer worried about the men. They wrote, "by the end of June it was clear that the question of the moral recovery of this class presented no difficulties."

Things went so well that the trustees asked the Commission of Government to make the Markland project bigger. One of the trustees, Rudolph Cochius, was hired as the project manager. He moved to Markland. Ten more men were brought to Markland as well. By October, 1934, 20 families were settled there. Two school teachers were hired and the first school opened near the end of October. The men had worked by lamp light to finish the school on time.

Part Four
The Idea of Land Settlement

As Markland grew, the idea of the project began to change. At first, it was just a way to get a few families off the dole. Now, the trustees began to think that Markland was more important than that. At the end of 1934, they felt land settlements might change Newfoundland completely. They began to see Markland as a "social experiment." They wanted Markland to provide "a social organization of the people, a raising of the deplorably low standard of life, [and] the creation of a community sense." Two of the commissioners, Thomas Lodge and John Hope Simpson, agreed. Early in 1935, these two commissioners began to talk about Markland as an experiment in "social regeneration." (Regeneration means to grow again.)