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Land surveyors have made, and continue to make, a significant contribution to the evolution of our province. Their descriptions of the topography guided the first homesteader, their planning established the survey system that produced the gridwork of sections and townships and their measurements fixed the locations of our railways and other transportation routes. The names of many geographical features commemorate these men who carriedestablishedsurveyingearly(1873) - Allbright Lake (55° 12’ - 96° 26’), Archibald W. Ponton (1859-1915) - POnton (Ry. Station - 54°38’ -99° 10’), Archie Lake (55°01’ - 101° 02*) and J.L.P. O’Hanly (1872) -O’Hanly (P.O.) (50°49’ - 96°20’), O’Hanly River (50°50’ - 96° 19’).The last article introduced PhilipTurner, a qualified English surveyorwho arrived in Canada in 1778. The development of our survey system which has left a permanent grid on the landscape is congruous with our subject which has left a permanent grid on the landscape is congruous with our subject matter and is briefly discussedhere.Peter Fidler, Chief Surveyor for the Hudson’s Bay Company (17% - 1821) was trained by Philip Turner. He surveyed 24 river lots for Lord Selkirk’s Red River Colony in 1813, which was the first formal survey on the prairies. The use of the river lot system (land parcels in narrow strips perpendicular to the river) was adopted by Lord Selkirk because of his concern for the welfare and protection of the settlers in the isolated colony.In 1835, George Taylor became the surveyor to the settlement and during his tenure he resurveyed all existing, as well as 1,542 additional lots, the plans for which became the basis of theHudson’s Bay Company Land Grants in the settlement. By 1860, three surveyors, William Inkster, Roger Goulet and Herbert Sabine were required to cope with increaseddevelopment.The Hind-Dawson (1857-58) and the Palliser (1857-60) expeditions, being explorative in nature, expanded the knowledge of the western territories as evidenced by the hundreds of geographical names in their reports. During the period immediately following Confederation, there was much concern by the Dominion government to have these territories brought into the union as quickly as possible. It was feared that the United States may annex portions of them since its own agricultural lands were almost completely settled.ancPlacelt;£NamesBy G. F. Holm Surveys Mapping Branch, Province of ManitobaThe first step in bringing the west into Confederation was the purchase of the Hudson’s Bay Company holdings, known as Rupert’s Land. Prior to the official land transfer, the government undertook to establish a land and water link between theCanadian ProvincesandtheNorthwest Territories. Simon Dawson was placed in charge of the work and he sent a survey and road-building party under John A. Snow to Fort Garry to begin work at the western terminus of the route, ( The Dawson Trail), portions of which are still in use. Snow’s was the first Dominion survey party to operate in the RedRiver Settlement.Lt. Col. John Stoughton Dennis,later the first Surveyor General of Canada, was asked to recommend a system of land survey for the Northwest Territories. He travelled overland and stopped over in St. Paul, Minnesota and conferred with that State’s survey officials gaining insight into the theory and application of the rectangular land system”. From these consultations, he proposed the with each township approximately eight miles square, divided into 64 sections of 800 acres each. The orginal Hudson’s Bay Company river lots were to be resurveyed, but left intact.beingDennis set out in 1869, ailt;Milner Hart and Major A.C Webb, toimplement this system pendingapproval from Ottawa. His instructions from the Lt.-Gov. of the Northwest Territories, William McDougall, were to select ‘‘the most suitable localities for the survey of townships for immediae settlement”.from a point on the International-Boundary ten miles west of Pembina. Hart set about surveying township lines in the Shoal Lake area, while Webb worked near St. Norbert, east ofthe Principal Meridian.On October 11, 1869, Webb’s crew was stopped by a Metis party led by Louis Riel. The Metis were concerned that the government was going ahead with its survey before their titles to Hudson’s Bay land grants had been verified. No violence ensued, and the survey party left quietly. All surveys were brought to an end by the Metis uprising late in the year.The uprising was ended by force in the early months of 1870, and in May of that year, the transfer of the Northwest Territories to the Dominion finally took place. The new Lt.-Gov„ Hon. Adam G. Archibald (1814-1892) suggested several changes to Dennis’ system. He favoured the rectangular system but recommended thit the smaller township divided into 36 sections of 640 acres be adopted to conform with the United States subdivisions. He felt that the immigrants throughout the world had come to recognize it as a standard unitof land division.Of the surveyors mentioned to this point, Lt. Col. J.S. Dennis and Milner Hart have had their names perpetuated - Dennis Lake near Teulon and Hart Mountain, Lake and Creek in thePorcupine Hills.From the time the survey system and settlement became established in the late 1800’s many professional survey system and settlement became established in the late 1800’s, many professional surveyors have carried the ‘tripod’ to explore and map new horizons in our province. These include the provincial boundary surveys which began in 1872 and completed in 1971. Carroll Lake, Garmon River, Lawe Lake, Warrington Lake and River, Sadler River, Hayward Lake, Breen Lake and Bray Lake are some names of surveyors we find along the Manitoba-Ontario boundary. A mosaic of feature names perpetuate those of other surveyors, for example, Cornwallis Municiplaity, Abrey, Denmark, Beresford and Gauer Lakes, Clarke Creek, Gammon River, Gray Point (Black Idland, Lake Winnipeg), Herriot (Locality) and Ogilvie(Settlement).Few surveyors ever applied their own names to features * such .applications were made by those who followed them and recognized the contribution of these pioneer surveyors to Manitoba’s evolution.Next Week: Homesteader Roots.
Newspaper Details
Swan Valley Star and Times
Swan River, Manitoba, CA
Thu, Feb 04, 1982
Page 13
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CA 08 Jun 2020
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