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George Tressler Bates (1911 - 1990) was a British-Canadian surveyor and historian. Born in Nottingham, England, Bates always dreamed about moving to Canada. On or around his 15th birthday, his father gave him a choice: a motorcycle or fare to Canada. He chose Canada. Bates arrived in Windsor, Nova Scotia, and already had a job on a farm operated by a help organization in Nottingham. This farm was created to ease the transition for immigrant boys, and Bates took to the work. Not long after he found a job working in a laundry, where he became an expert in ironing shirts (a skill he maintained for the rest of his life). He worked on an assortment of farms over the next several years: milking cows, picking apples, and cutting hundreds of cords of wood. He also spent a year teaching manual training at Kings College Institute in Windsor, and saved enough money for a trip home to England. During the voyage, Bates met Helen Cooke, who was celebrating her graduation from Dalhousie with a three week trip to England. Bates immediately fell in love and the two were married six years later. Bates moved to Halifax in 1936 and found a job as an axeman on a survey crew. From that first day he knew he had found his calling. He began rising through the ranks on the survey teams and became an apprentice to Charlie Roper in 1937. Bates attended night school, taking drafting and mathematics classes, and took a correspondence course in surveying from Nova Scotia Technical College. By 1939 he had qualified as a Nova Scotia Land Surveyor. Bates soon became an expert in town planning and helped produce a master plan of Halifax in 1942. In 1944 he set up a private practice as a land surveyor and his staff grew to 25. A large portion of his business was advising on town planning. His practice became involved in surveying the bridge approaches and land acquisitions for the Angus L. MacDonald Bridge, and from 1949 on his entire staff worked for C. A. Fowler in Company on this project. Not long after, Bates transferred his entire staff to Fowler's payroll. In the late 1950s or early 1960s Bates began drawing historical maps as his main hobby, including an 'illuminated map of the old forts of Halifax'. By 1975 he had completed over 40 similar historical works. Bates was an active member of the Association of Nova Scotia Land Surveyors and served as its president in 1967. He proudly represented Nova Scotia throughout Canada, handing out hundreds of Nova Scotia pins every year at survey conventions.
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This copy is copyright protected.
Copyright © 2024 Geographicus Rare Antique Maps