Joseph Tyrrell
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
geologist, cartographer, and mining consultant. He discovered dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
(Albertosaurus
Albertosaurus
Albertosaurus is a genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in western North America during the Late Cretaceous Period, more than 70 million years ago. The type species, A. sarcophagus, was apparently restricted in range to the modern-day Canadian province of Alberta, after which...
) bones in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
's Badlands and coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
around Drumheller in 1884.
Tyrrell was the third child of William and Elizabeth Tyrrell. He was a student at Weston Grammar School before graduating from Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College , located in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is an independent elementary and secondary school for boys between Senior Kindergarten and Grade Twelve, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The secondary school segment is divided into ten houses; eight are...
in 1876 and receiving a law degree from the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
in 1880. However, after articling for a law firm in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, his doctor advised him to work outdoors due to his health.
He joined the Geological Survey of Ottawa in 1881, leading or participating in numerous explorations. He led the 1893 and 1894 expeditions into the Northern Barren Lands - down the Dubawnt River - the first visit to the Kivalliq Region Barrenlands by a European since the explorations of Samuel Hearne
Samuel Hearne
Samuel Hearne was a an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, actually Coronation Gulf, via the Coppermine River...
in the 1770s. Younger brother, James W. Tyrrell accompanied Tyrrell on the expeditions, which included first European contact with the Ihalmiut
Ihalmiut
The Ihalmiut or Ahiarmiut are a group of inland Inuit who lived along the banks of the Kazan River, Ennadai Lake Little Dubawnt Lake , and north of Thlewiaza in northern Canada's Keewatin Region of the Northwest Territories, now the Kivalliq Region of present-day Nunavut...
, an Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
people, now almost extinct.
Tyrrell married Mary Edith Carey in 1894 and they had three children, Mary (1896), George (1900), and Thomas (1906). Mary Edith was founder and first president in 1921 of the Women's Association of the Mining Industry of Canada.
In 1894, Tyrrell stumbled upon biographical recollections (11 books of field notes, 39 journals, maps and a narrative) of Canadian overland explorer, cartographer and fur trader David Thompson
David Thompson (explorer)
David Thompson was an English-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer"...
and, in 1916, published them as "David Thompson's Narrative".
Tyrrell went into the gold-mining business in 1898, a career that would last more than 50 years. He was mine manager of the Kirkland Lake Gold Mine in northern Ontario for many years.
Tyrrell retired to northeast Scarborough on the Rouge River, where he established substantial apple orchards and interest in grafting and breeding. The expanded orchards, later managed by his son George, are now the site of the Toronto zoo.
A school was made by his name in Scarborough, Ontario in Canada M1W 1B3 J.B Tyrrell Senior Public School
Awards
- 1918, Murchison MedalMurchison MedalAn award established by Roderick Murchison, who died in 1871. One of the closing public acts of Murchison’s life was the founding of a chair of geology and mineralogy in the University of Edinburgh. Under his will there was established the Murchison Medal and geological fund to be awarded annually...
, Geological Society of LondonGeological Society of LondonThe Geological Society of London is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with the aim of "investigating the mineral structure of the Earth"... - 1933, Flavelle MedalFlavelle MedalThe Flavelle Medal is an award of the Royal Society of Canada "for an outstanding contribution to biological science during the preceding ten years or for significant additions to a previous outstanding contribution to biological science". It is named in honour of Joseph Wesley Flavelle and is...
, Royal Society of CanadaRoyal Society of CanadaThe Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada... - 1947, Wollaston MedalWollaston MedalThe Wollaston Medal is a scientific award for geology, the highest award granted by the Geological Society of London.The medal is named after William Hyde Wollaston, and was first awarded in 1831...
, Geological Society of London - Back Award, Royal Geographic Society
- Daly Medal from the American Geographical SocietyAmerican Geographical SocietyThe American Geographical Society is an organization of professional geographers, founded in 1851 in New York City. Most fellows of the society are Americans, but among them have always been a significant number of fellows from around the world...
- Professional Engineer's Medal from the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario
- Canadian Mining Hall of Fame
Honors
- Royal Tyrrell Museum of PalaeontologyRoyal Tyrrell Museum of PalaeontologyThe Royal Tyrrell Museum is a popular Canadian tourist attraction and a leading centre of palaeontological research noted for its collection of more than 130,000 fossils....
, Drumheller, AlbertaDrumheller, AlbertaDrumheller is a town within the Red Deer River valley in the badlands of east-central Alberta, Canada. It is located northeast of Calgary... - J.B. Tyrrell Historical Medal, Royal Society of Canada
- Tyrrell SeaTyrrell SeaThe Tyrrell Sea, named for Canadian geologist Joseph Tyrrell, is another name for prehistoric Hudson Bay, namely as it existed during the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet....
(prehistoric Hudson BayHudson BayHudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
) - "Tyrrell Arm", the east section of Yathkyed LakeYathkyed LakeYathkyed Lake is a lake in Kivalliq Region, Nunavut, Canada. Located between Angikuni Lake and Forde Lake, it is one of several lakes on the Kazan River....
, Nunavut - J. B. Tyrrell Senior Public School in Scarborough, OntarioScarborough, OntarioScarborough is a dissolved municipality within the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the eastern part of Toronto. It is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River...
is named after him.
Further reading
- Historica minute
- A biography by Heather Robertson, 2007, Measuring Mother Earth: How Joe the Kid became Tyrrell of the North, McClelland & Stewart Inc. ISBN 0771075391
External links
- Joseph Burr Tyrrell at The Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian EncyclopediaThe Canadian Encyclopedia is a source of information on Canada. It is available online, at no cost. The Canadian Encyclopedia is available in both English and French and includes some 14,000 articles in each language on a wide variety of subjects including history, popular culture, events, people,...
- Royal Tyrrell Museum website
- Historica’s Heritage Minute video docudrama about Joseph Tyrrell. (Adobe Flash Player.)Adobe Flash PlayerThe Adobe Flash Player is software for viewing multimedia, Rich Internet Applications and streaming video and audio, on a computer web browser or on supported mobile devices. Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool, by Adobe Flex or by a number of other...
- Joseph Burr Tyrrell Papers, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library