Share on Facebook
Share on X
Share by Email
Share on Google Classroom
William Pearce, surveyor, civil servant (b near Port Talbot, Canada W 1 Feb 1848; d at Calgary 3 Mar 1930). Pearce journeyed west as a public-land surveyor for the federal Department of the Interior in 1874 and was promoted superintendent of mines in 1884.
William Pearce
William Pearce, surveyor, civil servant (b near Port Talbot, Canada W 1 Feb 1848; d at Calgary 3 Mar 1930). Pearce journeyed west as a public-land surveyor for the federal Department of the Interior in 1874 and was promoted superintendent of mines in 1884. Responsible for resource development and land use, Pearce was particularly concerned with arid-land administration and developed the federal irrigation and grazing policies in southern Alberta. In 1904 he joined the CPR to advise the company on its vast irrigation and settlement scheme. Pearce also helped establish Canada's national parks system.