Instruments
Geologists had many jobs to do when they were working on the survey and used many different instruments and tools to do this work.
Surveying using a disk pole,
Lake Mistassini, Quebec, 1884;
photo taken by A.P. Low
Source
One of the geologists' jobs for the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) was to examine rocks and write descriptions of them. In some places rocks are found in layers called strata. The GSC geologists described and measured each layer to build a picture of the whole area. They took rock samples and fossils using hammers and chisels and shipped the samples back to headquarters. These samples were then studied, catalogued, organized and, later on, displayed in the Survey's museum.
Surveying atop summit of Skoatl Point, British Columbia, 1888;
photo taken by George Dawson
Source
The geologists also had to map the areas they were travelling through to show where they found their rock samples and fossils. (It is no use collecting rock samples or writing notes about them if you cannot remember where they came from.) They did this by using instruments that measured the distance and direction they travelled. Since the geological surveyors were exploring some places where Europeans had not been before, they did not always have maps to follow. Luckily, they were able to make their own surprisingly accurate maps using a few basic instruments.
Newsworthy Nuggets
- With the use of satellites and aerial photography, areas that took early geological surveyors years to map can now be recorded in seconds.
- Forget instruments! Logan often measured distances along the ground by counting his paces -- sometimes thousands at a time.
