Charles Montgomery Teasdale

(1879.10.18 – 1922.04.22)
SLS, DLS
Commission #063
(1913.09.15)

Little information is to be found about Mr. Teasdale's life, except from records covering his mineral claim surveys. Research into early mineral claim surveys in the Beaver Lake - Flin Flon areas of Saskatchewan indicate that plan number 484 was the first plan filed in Saskatchewan's Department of Natural Resources, and received from the Department of the Interior, Ottawa. Plan number 484 was the Kerr mineral claim, Lot 72 in Group 421. It had been surveyed by Mr. Teasdale in July, 1918. It was not the first claim surveyed, only the first one transferred to Saskatchewan in 1929.

Mr. Teasdale's mineral claim surveys, in part, included.

  • 1916 Flin Flon Mines

  • The Standard Trust Co. in Group 421

  • 1918 Maude 2, M/C as Lot 22 Group 420

  • Midnight M/C Lot 74 Group 421 Mr. Teasdale signed the plan as a Dominion Land Surveyor. He not only performed the actual survey on the claim but he also signed the plan C. M. Teasdale-Owner.

  • 1919 Maysie & Trenton M/C - west of Grassy Lake

  • 1920 Many mineral claim surveys for Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co. primarily in Groups 420 & 421, between 1920 and 1924

On June 20th and 21st, 1916 Mr. Teasdale surveyed the Snowshoe & Sunshine fractional mineral claims which are shown on his plan as being on the east side of Flin Flon Lake in Manitoba. However, in later years, when the Provincial boundaries were surveyed, the claims were found to be in both Provinces, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. His plan was approved but not confirmed by the Department of the Interior until June 24, 1918. I can only surmise that the two year delay was due to the department not knowing where the Provincial boundary was. The two fractional claims are shown between the Extension claim to the north and the Unique claim to the south. The eventual survey of the two larger claims left a small open strip of land. The Unique was surveyed by Mr. Teasdale on May 19 and 31, 1916 and the Extension mineral claim on June 17 and 18, 1916.

It is interesting to note that the two larger claims were surveyed for Standard Trust Company whereas the small strip claim was surveyed two days later for a Mr. M. H. Newman, Esq., on June 20th. Strange that Mr. Newman obtained the land and not Standard Trust. I have been led to believe that there has been a lot of controversy by various owners over these small .47 and .12 acre parcels of very valuable land. The two small claims are near Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company's mine site.

Mr. Teasdale also performed many mineral claim surveys in the Herb Lake area, Group 422, in Manitoba between 1916 and 1921, along with claims in Group 421 in the Athapapaskow and Schist Lake regions. He worked out of his base in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and was in private practice for many years.

Mr. Teasdale graduated with honors in mining from the University of Toronto in 1902. He received his Dominion Land Surveyors' commission #0309 in 1906 while living in the Township of Vaughn, Ontario. He obviously came West to work, obtaining his Saskatchewan Land Surveyors' commission, number 63, in 1913.

As a Dominion Land Surveyor he carried out surveys in the West for the Federal Government, private corporations and the public. From 1915 until his death in 1922 he headquartered in The Pas, Manitoba doing primarily mineral claim surveys.

His untimely death occurred when he was surveying at the Flin Flon mine (I have not been able to determine if this refers to the present day location of Flin Flon or some other location since the story refers to a camp 200 miles from The Pas.) The area was about 200 miles from the nearest railway. While in camp he took ill and died nine days later, on April 22, 1922. He was without medical aid except for the attention of his crew who tried to get help from the outside. The news of his death did not reach The Pas until three weeks after he died and the Royal Canadian Police found it impossible to travel on account of the poor travel conditions. He was therefore buried beside the trail near his camp. In July his remains were brought back to Toronto for proper burial

From “Muskeg, Outcrops & 40 Below” by J.H. Webb

(Any additional information would be appreciated)