Dan McCuaig was born of Highland Scottish parents at Dalkeith, Glengarry County, Ontario, June 29, 1855. 

He moved to Manitoba in 1877 and took up farming in the West Oakland district of the Portage Plains, where he farmed until his death in 1928.  A true pioneer was McCuaig, not only because he was one of the early settlers, but because he was always ready to adopt new, radical methods, if by their adoption the condition of the agriculturist might be improved.

McCuaig was well known throughout the province for the interest which he took in all public affairs. He was associated with the U.F.M. and was one of the early pioneers of the movement.

McCuaig was elected president of Manitoba Grain Growers' Association in 1904, a position he held with benefit to the association and credit to himself until he resigned in 1910. He was appointed president of the Manitoba Elevator Commission by the Roblin government in 1910 and was elected president to the Dominion Council of Agriculture. In this capacity, he went  to Ottawa on many occasions on behalf of the farmers of Western Canada. 

He was also president of the Farmers' Trading Company of Portage la Prairie and the Manitoba Farmers' Mutual Hail Insurance Company. 

McCuaig's work in the interest of Canadian agriculture was crowned with  success. He lived to see many of the reforms he advocated written into the Statutes of Canada. Thousands of farmers all over Western Canada are today enjoying facilities vital to a successful farming operation, which they owe in large measure to McCuaig and his associates.