CITATION

Robert Bell (1841-1917)

2025 ILSG Pioneer

Robert Bell had a decided taste for the natural sciences, especially for geology. In 1856, at the age of 15, he secured a temporary position with the Geological Survey of Canada. He assisted Sir William Logan, the Survey’s Director, beginning an illustrious career with the GSC that would span half a century. While working summers for the Survey, Bell graduated in 1861 from McGill College and received the Governor General’s Medal. Two years later, after study at the University of Edinburgh, he joined the faculty of Queen’s College. All the while, he spent summers with the GSC and was made a permanent officer in 1869, named Assistant Director in 1877, Chief Geologist in 1890, and, finally, Acting Director in 1901. He also earned a medical degree in 1878 so that he was prepared for any mishap in the field.

Bell is best-remembered for his extensive explorations in northern Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and the eastern Arctic in the 1870s and 1880s. He mapped the rivers between Hudson Bay and Lake Superior and reconnoitred part of the route that would be adopted for the National Transcontinental Railway. In 1859, Bell assisted in mapping the north shore of Lake Huron and first visited the Lake Superior region in 1860, west of Sault Ste. Marie. His Report on the Geology of the Northwest Side of Lake Superior and of the Nipigon District was published in 1870. In 1870 and 1871, he continued to work north of Lake Superior. In 1872 and 1873, he assisted GSC Director Alfred Selwyn on a preliminary exploration westward from Lake Superior to Fort Garry (now Winnipeg). In 1876, Bell examined the eastern shore of Lake Superior, as well as the Garden River and Echo Lake areas and the northeastern shore of Georgian Bay. A reconnaissance survey was undertaken between Parry Sound and the Ottawa River. In 1881, Bell carried out additional surveys in the Hudson Bay basin and in the Lake Superior region. During 1883 and 1884, Bell continued work near Lake of the Woods. In 1887, he continued a survey, started in 1886, between the Montreal River and Lake Huron to clarify the nature of the Huronian, especially in connection with its mineral deposits. He served as a member of the Royal Commission on the Mineral Resources of Ontario from 1888 to 1889. Between 1888 and 1892, Bell mapped the Sudbury and French River areas. His 1890 paper, On Glacial Phenomena in Canada, was regarded as the most significant advance in Canadian glaciology since Logan’s first acceptance of glacial action in Canada in 1847. Bell was the first to recognize ice streaming in the Laurentide ice sheet and also noted the occurrence of diamonds in glacial drift from Ohio through Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, suggesting a possible provenance in Ontario.

Of particular interest to the ILSG is Bell’s involvement on a Special Committee created in 1903 on the nomenclature and correlation of the Lake Superior region geology of the United States and Canada. Its findings led to the first joint report by geologists of the two countries. The Committee comprised C.R. Van Hise and C.K. Leith of the United States Geological Survey, A.O. Lane, State Geologist of Michigan; Robert Bell and Frank D. Adams of the GSC, and W.G. Miller, Provincial Geologist of Ontario. In August, 1904, the committee met in the Marquette district, and, during the six weeks following, visited the Gogebic, Mesabi, Vermilion, Rainy Lake, Lake of the Woods, Animikie, and Huronian districts. As a result, both countries adopted a common stratigraphy and nomenclature that served as a basis for later iterations and our current stratigraphic framework.

Bell also made field notes on flora and fauna, forests, climate, soil, indigenous people, ethnology and resources. He performed much of his field work without maps and had to do topographical surveys as he went along. It is estimated that Bell named over 3000 geographical features, prompting colleagues to call him the “Father of Canadian Place-Names”. Bell authored 32 GSC reports, 111 journal papers, 17 solo-authored geological maps, 46 other geological, topographical, and cadastral maps as senior author, and 38 maps as junior author. He gave numerous lectures to natural history, historical, and charitable societies.

In 1865, at the age of 23, he was elected a fellow of the Geological Society of London. A charter-member of the Royal Society of Canada (1882), he became a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1897. In 1903, he was made a companion of the Imperial Service Order and in 1906 was awarded both the Patron’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of London and the Cullum Geographical Medal of the American Geographical Society of New York.

Bell retired from the GSC in 1908. His career exemplified the wide-ranging reconnaissance work performed by the government geologist in the late 19th century. He was a generalist who valued field work over more detailed, specialized study. Few could match Bell’s travels, eclectic interests, and length of service. As Ami (1927) memorialized, “Bell was especially fond of investigating and exploring regions hitherto untraversed. Pioneer work of this nature can scarcely be appreciated today, when newer and more up-to-date methods of examining a hitherto-unknown territory are employed.”

Citation by: Mark Smyk (Lakehead University / Ontario Geological Survey (retired))

References
Adams, F.D., Bell, R., Lane, A.C., Leith. C.K., Miller, W.G. and Van Hise, C.R. 1905. Report of International Committee on Lake Superior Geology; Journal of Geology, February-March, 1905; in Precambrian nomenclature; Ontario Bureau of Mines, Report for 1905, v.4, part 1, 1905, pp.269-277.
Ami, H.M. 1927. Memorial of Robert Bell. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, v.38, pp. 18-33; PLS. 1- https://archive.org/details/sim_geological-society-of-america-bulletin_1927_38/page/n41/mode/2up?view=theater
Brookes, I.A. 2016. All that glitters… The Scientific and Financial Ambitions of Robert Bell at the Geological Survey of Canada; Geoscience Canada, v. 43, pp. 147–158; http://www.dx.doi.org/10.12789/geocanj.2016.43.098.
Waiser, W.A. 1998. Robert Bell. Dictionary of Canadian Biography, v. XIV (1911-1920), https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/bell_robert_1841_1917_14E.html.