Frederick Carlyle Lamb

(1887.12.11 – 1966.07.25)
SLS, DLS
Commission #058
(1913.04.07)

The recent E-Coli problems in Walkerton, Ontario reminded me that Fred was born there in 1887.

A man of high integrity and repute and a gentleman in all respects. Graduating in 1909 from the University of Toronto he was employed with Mr. J.W. Tyrell D.L.S; D.T.S. in northern Manitoba. During his student years he worked with James Warner D.L.S. and George Watts D.L.S. He must have enjoyed the West as he then made his permanent home in Saskatoon in 1910. He surveyed under Mr. W. M. Stewart D.L.S; S.L.S. near Lake Winnipeg and also joined the firm of Stewart and Lee where he obtained his commissions as a Dominion and Saskatchewan Land Surveyor in 1912 and 1913 respectively.

The Saskatchewan Department of Highways became Fred's life from 1913 to 1924 as a District Surveyor until he moved back into private practice in Saskatoon until 1935. Due to the depression, private practice was not the place to be. He therefore returned to the Department of Highways where he was in charge of the Carrot River Drainage program for the Northern Areas Branch. In 1937 he subdivided four townships in the Hudson's Bay area. Fred then transferred to the Natural Resources Department in 1938 and assisted Mr. M. Ney D.T.S. on the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary survey. In 1941 he surveyed the Northern part of the Saskatchewan-Manitoba boundary with Mr. E. Gauer D.L.S; M.L.S. In 1945 he transferred to the Surveys Branch, Saskatchewan Department of Highways and Transportation and remained there until his retirement in 1953.

There are hundreds of road diversion and highway plans in Northern Saskatchewan that Mr. Lamb surveyed throughout his distinguished career as a surveyor for the Department of Highways along with many other surveys and engineering projects.

Fred was President of the Saskatchewan Land Surveyors Association in 1949 and awarded a Life Membership in the Association in 1955.

Mr. Fred Lamb has been given permanent recognition in the naming of a lake in the Kamsack area.

His wife predeceased him in 1961 and they had three sons - Thomas lives in Saskatoon, John SLS, ALS (deceased in 1968) and Robert living in the United States.

By J. H. Webb, SLS (LM), CLS - Fall, 2000