Surveyors Of Canada 1867 1967

History of surveying in Canada.

The Dept. of the Interior was in existence from 1873 to 1936.

Volume XVI of the Canadian Centenary Series Now available as e-books for the first time, the Canadian Centenary Series is a comprehensive nineteen-volume history of the peoples and lands which form Canada. Although the series is designed as a unified whole so that no part of the story is left untold, each volume is complete in itself. This pioneer study traces Canada’s northward expansion in the years after Confederation. In the forefront of the movement were fur-traders, missionaries, and gold-seekers. Behind them came provincial and federal governments, concerned for their authority, and anxious to develop the riches of the North. Under the Laurier government (1896--1911) the advance quickened, and the roles of the Geological Survey, North-West Mounted Police, and Departments of the Interior, Indian Affairs, and Marine and Fisheries, gained new importance. Professor Zaslow, in examining the opening of social, cultural, economic, and industrial frontiers, chronicles the outstanding achievements, as well as the far-reaching failures of the period. A country which, by Confederation in 1867, had barely extended beyond the Gulf of St. Lawrence and St. Lawrence Lowlands region, had by 1914 occupied the prairies. Aided by new transcontinental railways, its people had begun moving into the forests of the Middle North along a front that extended from Lake St. John to Dawson, and the Arctic frontier beyond received increasing attention. But the governments failed in their treatment of the Indigenous population, and in their eagerness to foster development they allowed the resources to be exploited blindly, for and by foreign interests in the main. These were exciting, complex years; in Professor Zaslow’s words, “years of apprenticeship, when Canada began to come to grips with the facts of its northern nature.” First published in 1971, Zaslow’s important contribution to the Canadian Centenary Series is available here as an e-book for the first time.

First published in 1938, this work is important for an understanding of the settlement of the three prairie provinces and of the implementation of the National Policy initiated by Sir John A. Macdonald.

The Romance of Science pays tribute to the wide-ranging and highly influential work of Trevor Levere, historian of science and author of Poetry Realised in Nature, Transforming Matter, Science and the Canadian Arctic, Affinity and Matter and other significant inquiries in the history of modern science. Expanding on Levere’s many themes and interests, The Romance of Science assembles historians of science -- all influenced by Levere's work -- to explore such matters as the place and space of instruments in science, the role and meaning of science museums, poetry in nature, chemical warfare and warfare in nature, science in Canada and the Arctic, Romanticism, aesthetics and morals in natural philosophy, and the “dismal science” of economics. The Romance of Science explores the interactions between science's romantic, material, institutional and economic engagements with Nature.

The working life of the distinguished surveyor Guy Blanchet reflects the story of northern Canada in the first half of the twentieth century. Beginning his career in the boreal forests of Alberta and Saskatchewan, using pack horses and dog teams, Blanchet went north to map large areas of the Barrens by canoe, and soon became caught up in pioneer northern aviation. His story encompasses the Great Depression and the Second World War, which in turn led to his work finding the routes for oil pipelines. His life was rich in contacts with First Nations people, and his friendships included most of the well-known northern travellers of the time. While Blanchet did not seek adventure, adventure often found him and he had many narrow escapes. While Blanchet published a number of articles about his experiences, this is the first time his fascinating life story has been told in book form.

The first Conference on the Study of the History of Canadian Science and Technology, held in Kingston, Ontario in November 1978, marks the emergence of a new Canadian discipline. This wide-ranging, bilingual collection of papers and workshops includes contributions by some of the historians, scientists, educators, students, archivists, and government representatives present at the conference. The papers discuss the nature of the new field, its objectives, and the problems of resources, funding, publishing, and practical uses which face historians of Canadian science and technology. Records of the workshops convey the flavour of excitement present at the conference. Included in the volume are an extensive bibliography and listings of museums and available collections, research in progress, and conference participants.