Browse Items (232 total)

Treaties played a key role in the activities of Canadian Dominion Land Surveyors. They generally reflect the need for consensus between Aboriginals and the federal government concerning the transfer of land.

This is a photograph of a team of surveyors seemingly taking break while on their voyages "on the North Saskatchewan." Of particular interest is what look like Red River Carts in the background. It has been noted that Red River Carts were used…

This diagram shows how in the 20th century the original cast-iron monuments were reset with cement to stabilize them.

When later boundary commissioners checked the border, some of the monuments were in poor condition.

This is a page taken from A. W. Ponton's accounts of surveying that he conducted in the Northwest Territories in 1884. At this time, extensive surveying was being undertaken in the regions of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, aided in part by…

This photo shows a forested boundary area today, which has been maintained by the International Boundary Commission. The 1840s joint boundary commission removed all the trees within 30 feet of the line by hand.

This is a boundary monument today, located at Lake Pohenegamook in Quebec and Estcourt Station village in Maine.

Caroline Bucknall also kept a visual record of their time in Canada. Here she has illustrated a winter pastime. The Bucknalls enjoyed the winter landscape, describing "brilliant colours which the sun is now changing upon the white landscape. Pink,…

Estcourt kept a sketchbook and journal during the joint boundary commission. Here he shows a man writing by candlelight in his tent, with survey equipment at his side. It took several weeks for mail to cross the Atlantic by ship, and Estcourt always…

Estcourt sketched a surveying party at work in the Stanstead Plains, Maine during the joint boundary commission. The surveyors are using long poles to measure and compare their positions. At the bottom he wrote, "Now Maxime, I'll go over there and…