Arthur Oliver Wheeler
| Arthur Oliver Wheeler | |
|---|---|
A.O. Wheeler
|
|
| Born | May 1, 1860 Kilkenny, Ireland |
| Died |
May 20, 1945 (aged 85) Banff, Alberta |
| Nationality | Irish Canadian |
| Occupation | Land Surveyor |
| Employer | Dominion of Canada |
| Known for | Co-founder and first president of the Alpine Club of Canada |
| Spouse(s) |
Clara Macoun (m. 1888–1923) Emmeline Savatard (m. 1924–45) |
| Children | Edward Oliver Wheeler |
Arthur Oliver Wheeler (May 1, 1860 – May 20, 1945) was born in Ireland and immigrated to Canada in 1876 at the age of 16. He became a land surveyor and surveyed large areas of western Canada, including photo-topographical surveys of the Selkirk Mountains and the British Columbia-Alberta boundary along the continental divide through the Canadian Rockies. In 1906, he and journalist Elizabeth Parker were the principal founders of the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC). He was its first president, from 1906 to 1910, and editor of the Canadian Alpine Journal from 1907 to 1930. He remained Honorary President of the ACC from 1926 until his death in 1945. The Arthur O. Wheeler hut of the ACC is named after him.
Wheeler was born on May 1, 1860 at The Rocks, the Wheeler family estate near Kilkenny, Ireland. He was educated at Ballinasloe College, County Galway, and at Dulwich College, London. The family fell upon hard times in Ireland, and in 1876 they sold their estates and moved to Canada, where his father took up the post of harbour master in Collingwood, Ontario. In 1876, at the age of 16, Wheeler met noted land surveyor, Lauchlan Alexander Hamilton, and became his apprentice. In 1877, Wheeler was hired by surveyor Elihu Stewart to work north of the Great Lakes in the Algoma District of Ontario, where he spent the summer paddling a birch bark canoe. In 1878 he again worked for Stewart and traveled from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Battleford, Saskatchewan using Red River ox carts to survey Indian reserves near Battleford and Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. In the following three years he returned to Ontario and studied to qualify as a Dominion Land Surveyor. He qualified as Ontario Land Surveyor in 1881; as Manitoba and Dominion Land Surveyor in 1882.
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