Gordon Leslie MacKenzie

(1893.02.22 – ?.?.?)
SLS
Commission #075
(1925.04.15)

As a Civil Engineer and a Professional Land Surveyor, Mr. MacKenzie commenced his career with the firm “Underwood & McLellan”, Engineers and Land Surveyors, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in the early 1920’s.

He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Queens’s University in 1919 and his commissions as a Dominion and Saskatchewan Land Surveyor in 1923 and 1925 respectively.

Mr. MacKenzie joined the Federal Government in Regina, Saskatchewan with the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act under the Department of Agriculture in 1934. He eventually became Director of the P.F.R.A. in 1956 for the prairie region.

Some of his activities included the Canadian Chairman of the International Engineering Board on the Souris - Red River reference scheme and he was the Canadian delegate to the United Nations Conference on conservation and utilization in New York in 1949.

The S.L.S. Association honoured him with a Life Membership in 1962. Mr. MacKenzie was married and they had three children.

The following biography of Mr. MacKenzie is from the book - "Muskeg, Outcrops & 40 Below”:

Mr. MacKenzie surveyed mineral claims in Manitoba as a Dominion Land Surveyor between 1924 and 1926, while working for Underwood and McLellan, out of The Pas, Manitoba. In 1924 he surveyed claims for Wekusko Mines Ltd. in Group 422, Township 67, Range 15 WPM, in the Weskusko Lake area of Manitoba.

In 1925 he surveyed many other claims; one in particular called the Triangle, Lot 147 in Township 67, Range 15 WPM. The owner of the claim, according to the filed mineral claim plan, was G.L. McKenzie. We assume it was a fractional claim that became an open area due to adjacent claims and Mr. MacKenzie staked it on behalf of the client.

The book "Underwood & McLellan" states that he and Mr. R. A. McLellan surveyed many mineral claims in 1934 with most of them being signed by Mr. McLellan. I can only assume that it was due to the fact that Mr. McLellan had his Manitoba commission and Gordon did not.

Mr. MacKenzie obtained his D.L.S. commission in 1923 and his commission as a Saskatchewan Land Surveyor in 1925.

Mr. MacKenzie was with the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act of the Federal Government for many years, working out of Winnipeg and then Regina, Saskatchewan.

In 1936 he was the Assistant Chief Engineer and after serving as Chief Engineer was made Director of the P.F.R.A. in 1956.

Mr. MacKenzie acted for Canada as Chairman of the International Engineering Board on the Souris - Red River Reference scheme and he was also a member of the Souris River Board of Control.

Besides the above he was the Canadian delegate to the United Nations Conference on Conservation and Utilization in New York in 1949.

After graduating from Queen’s University as a Civil Engineer with Honours in 1919, he went with Underwood and McLellan, Engineers and Surveyors in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and was with them until 1935. His undergraduate summers were with Dominion Government survey parties and he also had a short stint with the Canadian Pacific Railway Engineering Department in Montreal.

While with Underwood and McLellan, his work was held in the highest regard by his fellow surveyors. He was also responsible for many engineering and survey projects in Saskatchewan.

He was made a life member of the Saskatchewan Land Surveyors’ Association in 1960 and retired from the P.F.R.A. in 1962.

By J.H. Webb, SLS (L/M), CLS - 2005