Joseph Burr Tyrrell died in Toronto on 26th August, 1957, at the age of 98.
He was born at Weston, Ontario, in 1858, and graduated at Toronto University in 1880. He had intended to make law his profession, but on doctor’s orders sought an open-air occupation and in 1881 joined the Geological Survey of Canada, then in a very early stage of its development. He began field work in the Rocky Mountains and in 1884 was in charge of a party in Alberta, later exploring Manitoba and the accompanied by his brother, made a hazardous trip from Lake Athabasca Hudson’s Bay. His determination of large areas of Pre-Cambrian rocks in this region led to fruitful mineral exploration. He worked north, exploring the Kazan system of lakes and rivers, then on to Ferguson River. It is reported that one of his surveys covered a distance of 2900 miles, 1750 by canoe and 725 on snowshoes. Further exploration took him to the Northwest Territories and he took part in the famed Klondike gold-rush.
Dr. Tyrrell resigned from the Geological Survey and settled in Dawson City 1898 to engage in private practice as a mining engineer for four years, when he principally occupied in placer and hydraulic mining of gold in the Yukon. He opened an office in Toronto in 1906 and built up a consulting practice in and was concerned with the beginnings of many of the mines, now big producers, in the northern part of the Province. He was called in to advise on the property Kirkland Lake Gold Mining Co., Ltd., in 1924 and arranged for the necessary financing of its further development. He was made a member of the board and in 1926 became managing director. He was appointed president of the company in 1931 and retained this position until two years ago.
He was a scholarly writer and edited the journals of explorers such as Hearne and Thompson and contributed a history of the Yukon Territory in the work Canada and its Provinces. Many of his articles were published in the technical press and he contributed three papers to the Institution: ‘The gold-bearing alluvial deposits of the Klondike district’ (vol. 8, 1899-1900); ‘The law of the pay-streak in plats’, deposits’ (vol. 21, 1911-12); and ‘Occurrence of gold in Ontario’ (vol. 23, 1913-14).
Dr. Tyrrell’s outstanding personality and his contribution to the expansion of Canada have been recognized on both sides of the Atlantic. He had conferred on him an honorary L.L.D. of his old University, Toronto, in 1930, and of Queen’s in 1940. He received the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society of London in 1918 and its highest award, the Wollaston Medal, in 1947; he had deposited a fund with the Society in 1928 to enable British geologists to study and gain experience in Canada. He received the Back Award of the Royal Geographical Society in 1896 and the Daly Medal of the American Geographical Society in 1930; the Flavelle Medal of the Royal Society of Canada; and the Engineer’s Medal of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario in 1954.
A Member of the Institution since 1900, Dr. Tyrrell was made an Honorary Member in 1955 ‘in recognition of his work in the exploration and development of the mineral resources of Canada’.
Vol. 67, Trans IMM 1957-58, pp.139-140
