ed the proposal to his colleague. Sir Adolphe Caron, Minister of Militia. A committee waited on the latter, urging Surveyors of The Past official acceptance of the offer of such a ------BY CHARLES FAIRHALL------corps, armed and mounted, and to act as intelligence men, scouts or as mounted rifles. The scheme was approved after the Minister had consulted by telegraph SURVEYORS AND THE with the Commanding Officer of the North West expedition, Major-General NORTHWEST REBELLION Frederick Middleton. The surveyors were then advised to appoint a captain to One of the most fascinating charac­ in April, 1882, took place in Ottawa. command the proposed unit. Arthur ters to emerge from the pages of Canada’s Word of the hostilities at Duck Lake Oliver Wheeler, who had qualified as a colourful past is Louis Riel. A recent reached the capital while the association Provincial Land Surveyor in Manitoba C.B.C. television programme has offered was in session and the news caused a in 1881 and as a Dominion Land Survey­ us a much more sympathetic portrait of considerable stir among those in attend­ or in the following year, was first offered this ill-starred man than that afforded by ance. Many of these men had surveyed the post. Although Wheeler had surveyed our history books. It is interesting to in the North West and realized at once Canadian Pacific Railway townsites in note the role surveyors played in the that the outbreak of violence would result the West in 1882 and township outlines unfolding drama. in a serious suspension of western survey in the following season, he felt he was not work for the 1885 season. experienced enough in conditions in the In the summer of 1869, Lieut.-Col. Midwest and declined the nomination. On April 1 an informal meeting of J. Stoughton Dennis (later to become The command was next offered to Lewis the surveyers took place in Russell Canada’s first Surveyor-General), Milner R. Ord, who had been appointed a House, a centrally-located Ottawa hotel, Hart and Major A. C. Webb, three Dominion Land Surveyor three years for the purpose of organizing a surveyors’ Provincial Land Surveyors from Ontario, previously. He, too, demurred and John militia unit to take an active part in any were actively engaged in the establish­ Stoughton Dennis Jr. was then elected. ment of township outlines in the Red military expedition formed to quell the River Territory, in anticipation of the disturbances. After discussion it was de­ The Dominion Land Surveyors In­ transfer of Prince Rupert’s Land from cided to ask ten Dominion Land Survey­ telligence Corps was quickly formed and the Hudson’s Bay Company to the Do­ ors to each provide four assistants (men proceeded by Pullman car to Winnipeg minion of Canada. Despite Dennis’ best who had seen survey service in the North by way of Chicago and St. Paul, arriving efforts to reach a basis of understanding West and who were familiar with condi­ in the Manitoba capital on April 11. At with the Metis leaders, a confrontation tions there) to form a corps of fifty men. Winnipeg more surveyors were recruited soon occurred. The following day a deputation waited for the unit and weapons were obtained on Sir David L. Macpherson, Minister as well as saddles and other equipment. On October 11, in the area slightly of the Interior, who strongly recommend- The Corps then proceeded to Qu’Appelle east of the recently established Winnipeg where horses were supplied from the Meridian, a group of Metis headed by winter depot for survey horses. The se­ Louis Riel approached Major Webb and quel of this move is related in Reminis­ his survey party. With his foot firmlv cences of a Bungle, the memoirs of a planted on the surveyor’s chain. Riel corpsman published anonymously but proclaimed his opposition to the Feder­ believed to be the impressions of Lieut. al Government’s presence in the Terri­ Lewis R. Ord: tory. “Our captain [then] prepared to put On March 4, 1870, Riel ordered us through our drill . . . “Pre-pareto- the execution of Thomas Scott, a member mount! Mount! Some of the troopers get of John Snow’s survey party carrying out up so rapidly that they fall over on the road surveys in the Red River Settle­ other side; some crawl up like a boy up a ment. This precipitous act led to the greased pole at a fair; here a horse stands dispatchment of Federal troops to the as if he had taken root; another pivots area, causing Riel to flee in great haste round and round on his own axis, and to seek sanctuary in the United States. many signify their distaste for riders by bursting from line like lightning from a He returned in 1885, ready to help cloud, bucking strenuously . . . we are redress the grievances of his people, and about as disorderly a lot as one could care at Batoche on March 18, the North to see . . . some were really good riders West Rebellion was bom. Once aeain but a great many would have felt much surveyors were directly involved, but not safer on the ground where, indeed, several in the manner one would suppose. were violently deposited during the first encounter with their charges.” The following excerpt from ‘Men & Meridians’. Vol. 2, is reprinted here Orders were finally received to with the kind permission of author Don travel on April 20 to Swift Current and Thomson, to whom I am indebted for from there to serve as a despatch-carrying past and present favours. unit, linking Swift Current to forces in the field. After the engagement at Fish Tn the spring of 1885 the annual Creek the Intelligence Corps joined the meetinq of the association of Dominion Scene of military action main column of the Expedition. In his Land Surveyors, organized in Winnipeg 1885 Rebellion special report covering the events of May

THE ONTARIO LAND SURVEYOR, WINTER 1980 11 10, 1885, Major-General Middleton 9 firing had begun. Fighting continued in having been shot through the head while states: “The Land Surveyor’s Scouts, 50 this operation over a period of four days. lying with the rest of his troop in a strong, under Captain Dennis, joined my Middleton, to the dismay of his Canadian bluff on our left”. (Only 8 men in all force in the afternoon . . . The general, militiamen, followed a most cautious were killed in the Expedition in its attack in his diary entries, seemed disposed to policy. Soon after the first shots were on Batoche.) avoid use of the more impressive title fired in this engagement he sent his chief In the last words of the surveyor- “Intelligence Corps”. Captain Dennis of staff, Lord Melgund, later Earl of reporter, “We are a hard and careless lot himself frankly admits that the latter Minto and Governor-General of Canada, as a rule, we surveyors, rough associates, name for the unit, though more official, in great haste to Ottawa to plead for the hard work, and lack of women’s society was less correct than the term used by the despatch of more men. He little knew the causes men to grow indifferent to the general as the ‘intelligence’ it had dared fighting calibre of men already under his feelings of others, but I noticed that the to offer the high command on several command and, least of all, of the redoubt­ troop was quiet and less joking carried occasions “was not looked upon with able Surveyors’ Corps. Ord takes up on. The first gap had been made in our special favour”. Another member of the the story of events: ranks and we could faintly imagine how Corps observed in this connection that Kippen would be missed in the little home “we were looked upon as very small “Wheeler suggested that we should circle in Eastern Canada [Perth, Ontario] potatoes by the gold-laced gentry of the go out and occupy one of the rifle pits . . . His quaint sayings and cheerful regular militia”. Derisively they were that had been dug along the top of the river bank . . . and for want of better laugh are gone from No. 1 tent. We labelled as the “49 officers and one cannot realize the sorrow of his parents scout” because of the high proportion of employment we did so.” It was after this sally that Lieut. Wheeler was shot when the first warning of their loss reach­ commision-holders, 22 out of a total en­ es them in a brief telegram, ‘A. W. listment of 53. Twenty-two men of the through the muscles of his arm near the Kippen, Surveyors’ Corps, killed’.” Corps were Dominion Land Surveyors, shoulder. including William Crawford of Milverton, May 12, a crucial day in the devel­ On May 15 and for some days Ontario, the first man to receive a Dom­ opment of the battle, dawned bright and following, the Surveyors’ Corps and inion Land Surveyor’s certificate from a warm, “ . . . were it not for the sight of Major Boulton’s Mounted Infantry were Board of Examiners (June 17, 1875). the hospital tent and its wounded, and ordered to round up hostile Indians Two other Dominion Land Surveyors, the crack of the skirmishers’ rifles near (Big Bear and his followers) and any Liet. E. W. Hubbell and Capt. J. L. Reid, the church, we could almost think it a rebel fugitives. Riel was brought into enlisted in the Midland Battalion for the survey.” Middleton had continued in his camp by scouts and was received court­ campaign in the North West. careful ways and after ordering a partial eously by Middleton. The Surveyors’ advance, went to lunch. His repast was Corps moved into Prince Albert after the Another important Canadian unit interrupted by an outburst of renewed capitulation of Batoche and was then in the Expedition was Boulton’s Scouts, firing and wild cheering. The Canadians, detailed to escort the transport train to a mounted outfit raised and commanded chafing for days under the tight rein of Battleford. As part of the chase after Big by Major Charles Arkoll Boulton (1841- what they considered to be an excessively Bear the Corps then moved on to Fort 99), who had been a member of J. S. prudent command, had utilized the mild Pitt and into the wilderness near Beaver Dennis’s survey crew of 1869 on the order to openly charge the rebel rifle River and Cold Lake. It was during this banks of the Red. Leader of the Portage pits. stage of the campaign that the experience Party in those earlier troubles Boulton of surveyors and of surveyors’ assistants had been captured by Riel’s men and “Handicapped by our heavy boots proved most useful. Moving through had been condemned to death. H;s and spurs and encumbered by our use­ rough country they opened roads, cor­ sentence was reprieved by Riel following less revolvers, cheering, laughing, swear­ duroyed swamps and muskegs and sur­ urgent representations on his behalf. ing, keeping up an irregular fire into the mounted various kinds of natural obstac­ Boulton became a senator in the last bush, and yet advancing at a rapid run les. Returning to Battleford the Corps year of his life, 1899. we charged [if the rush of a lot of un­ was detailed to establish a picket line disciplined ragamuffins can be called a along the south bank of the South At Fish Creek (Tourond’s Crossing), charge]. Officers are needless, for we Saskatchewan River to intercept hostile on April 23, Gabriel Dumont and his are unanimous in our attentions. There Indians heading south. During this period metis stalled Middleton’s advance north­ is no red tape to hold us back, the boys a number of Indians were arrested, a- ward along the South Saskatchewan have their heads now. The crack, crack River. It was at Batoche that the Survey­ mong them some who had participated of the repeaters come thick and fast. The in the Frog Lake massacre and who were ors’ Corps jomed the main Middleton whistle of bullets tell us the enemy are hanged for their crimes at Battleford. force. According to Ord, “Blankets under not idle. Now and again the dull boom of saddles, Johnson’s fluid beef, feed of a field gun sounds over the field, A memorable incident during the oats and a tin-billy tied on behind; small followed by the echo of a bursting shell.” May 12 fighting is reported in Middle­ package of tea, some hard tack biscuits ton’s despatch of that day, “In the middle and corned beef in canteen [two of us] In this stirring action, which resulted of our firing I saw a man riding twards rode out on April 24 with orders for the in the capture of Batoche, the surveyors me, waving a white flag. I rode forward other half of our unit. Soon fit was] rain did not emerge unscathed. Lieut. Thomas to meet him and found it was Mr. Ashley and snow ...” Fawcett and Lieut J. F. Garden were [sic], a surveyor, one of the men who wounded; Garden in the left arm and had been made captive by Riel. He told At the approaches to Batoche, Fawcett “had buckshot in the chest me he had just come from Riel, who when the metis had a dug in for a last muscles”. The wounding of Fawcett was apparently in a great stage of agita­ stand, the Surveyors’ Corps finally does not appear to have been official­ tion, and handed me a letter from him came under fire. Renowned for their ly recorded. But the most grievous in which he said that if I massacred his sharpshooting ability, the metis occupied casualty suffered by the unit was the loss women and children (by shellfire) they a defensive ring around the town. The of Lieut. Alexander Walter Kippen. In would massacre their prisoners . . . ring consisted of scattered, individual Middleton’s report (page 31) the Gen­ rifle pits. Riel held some ten prisoners in eral states, “I regret to say that one John William Astley faced the the basement of a Batoche store. On May of the surveyors’ Scouts was killed. dismal task of returning to the distressed

THE ONTARIO LAND SURVEYOR, WINTER 1980 13 Riel with a reply from Middleton. In the Moose Jaw, there to disband. In his re­ J. J. Burrows, appointed a Domin­ outcome the prisoners were not harmed port of May 12 Middleton paid a high ion Land Surveyor in 1878, served as but Astley at the time could hardly have compliment to the Corps commander, quartermaster of the Corps and so dis­ felt complete assurance of the safety of tinguished himself in that post that on “Captain Dennis, commanding the himself and his fellow captives. one occasion his commanding officer Surveyors’ Scouts, did excellent service was paraded before Major-General Astley is described by Middleton and deserves great praise for the way in Middleton to answer a complaint from and by others as a surveyor but his name which he handled his men.” the commissariat. The commissariat does not appear in any professional list officers stated that Quartermaster Bur­ of the time, provincial or federal. He The Corps contained a number of rows and his detail would swipe the was a witness for prosecution at the Riel men who later distinguished themselves very fillings out of their teeth unless trial in Regina and was sworn as such on in surveying and in public life. John S. they slept with their mouths tightly shut! July 28, 1885. G. W. Burbidge,Q. C., Dennis Jr., later became assistant to the asked of him the nature of his occupation. president of the Canadian Pacific Rail­ The activities of the Corps in 1885, “Civil engineer, land surveyor and ex­ way and chief commissioner of its immi­ in the estimation of their commander, plorer”. replied Astley, “I reside at Prince gration and colonization development proved the special adaptability of men Albert, having been there about three activities. He was made a Companion of of the surveying profession. They were years. During that time (I) engaged in the Order of St. Michael and St. George. able to participate effectively in military land surveying and exploration . . . ”. G. H. Brabazon became a member of operations and to care for themselves It is unlikely that Astley ever was in parliament for Pontiac; Thomas Fawcett resourcefully in a new and somewhat charge of a field party on a survey work on three separate occasions was made a unknown country. Most of the men but he could have been one of a party president of the Association of Dominion forming the Corps had experience in serving under a qualified surveyor in any Land Surveyors; B. J. Saunders was nam­ prairie transport and camping as well as one of several capacities. He could not ed, in the course of time, honorary Lieut.- in the use of firearms. As Capt. Dennis have signed a surveyor’s plan that would Colonel of the 101st Regiment, Edmon­ put it, the work performed [by the Corps] carry any official validity. ton Fusiliers, and A. O. Wheeler made may, I think, be reasonably included in a national reputation as a mapper and the statement of the important work done On June 30 the Dominion Lands surveyor in the Rocky Mountains and by the surveyors of Canada in the devel­ Surveyors’ Intelligence Corps rode to other rugged regions of the Far West. opment of our great Western territory.”

rights, the public as a whole, are com­ plaining much more to professional associations. The Complaints Committee and its procedures have developed in Scene from 6070 the ‘70’s so that now complaints are cfealt with quickly and generally satis­ LORRAINE SETTERINGTON ------factorily to all parties involved. The concern of the professional surveyor Changes in the Official Register which has been well attended from its with the work of other members is also Oct. 16, 1979, Young, John Frederick inception. The many students remaining reflected in the matters under study at Gordon, No. 1493, New Registration. under old By-law 95 have been diligent­ the Association offices. Discipline cases, ly striving to complete their examinations although averaging only one or two a Dec. 7, 1979, Hiley, John William, No. and become registered. The last seven 1494, New Registration. year, over the past decade, have been a students are, at this time, attempting to major concern to the Council of the Dec. 7, 1979, Reitsma, Peter Douglas, satisfy all requirements prior to the cut­ Association. No. 1495, New Registration. off date of October 1980. RESTRUCTURING: Dec. 7, 1979, Rabideau, Randall C., ARTICLING: The Association has committed No. 1496, New Registration. The term of articles is now two itself to the embracing of the various years following the completion of survey disciplines. The mid-70’s saw the Dec. 7, 1979, Nouwens, John Peter, academic requirements. Each articled No. 1497, New Registration. preparation of the report and proposal student is monitored by one member of for the “restructuring” of the Associa­ Dec. 7, 1979, Aron, Douglas Richard, the Board of Examiners, who examines tion. A slim vote resulted in the proposal No. 1498, New Registration. and comments on the work reports as presented to the membership being which must be submitted each three turned down. Many of the items in the 1979 months. Both the quality and quantity of proposal were of great concern to indiv­ Is rapidly drawing to a close as I specified types of experience are consid­ idual members, and it was felt that the write this column. We are seeing the ered. acceptable answers to problems would end not only of this year, but of the ASSOCIATION OFFICES: come with;n a few years. decade. The last ten years have seen November 1972 saw the Associa­ many changes within our Association. CONTINUING EDUCATION: tion move from downtown Toronto (8 The Blue Report (and the White EDUCATION: Kins Street) to our present quarters at Report) on Continuing Education and O/Reg. 35/73 brought into exis­ 6070 Yonee Street. We now own the Professional Development presented tence the implementation of our new building and rent out a portion of the several alternatives ranging from the admission requirements. In order to lower floor to ACSTTO. Since 1976, collection of “brownie points” to man­ qualify to article a potential student has storage areas have been added and a datory continuing education. A permiss­ to obtain in a degree in Survey Science board room constructed on the lower ive continuing education program at an approved school or receive its floor. policy was accepted and incorporated equivalent. Erindale College set up COMPLAINTS AND DISCIPLINE: into the Code of Ethnics. Since an approved course in Survey Science, With the emphasis on a person’s that time the number and range of

14 THE ONTARIO LAND SURVEYOR, WINTER 1980