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Review By Ken Tingley
Mussieux, Ron and Marilyn Nelson. A
Traveller's Guide to Geological Wonders in Alberta
Edmonton: The Provincial Museum of Alberta, Federation
of Alberta Naturalists, Canadian Society of Petroleum
Geologists, 1998. Illustrations, drawings, maps,
glossary, index. 252 pp.
As Dr. Bruce McGillivray acknowledges
in the introduction to this guide book, "Museum displays
cannot do justice to geological sites." Although the
Provincial Museum of Alberta has an interesting
geological gallery, and Ron Mussieux, Curator of
Geology, continues to develop and improve it, it does
seem necessary to get people outside the four walls of a
museum to experience the true scale and nature of
Alberta's "geological wonders." This seems to be
inspiration for the second field guide recently
co-published by the Provincial Museum of Alberta and the
Federation of Alberta Naturalists.
The roots of this particular book go
back several years. Ron Mussieux has been Curator of
Geology at the PMA for over 25 years, and very active in
geological education through the Edmonton EdGeo
Workshops for over a decade. These workshops are co-ordinated
through geological societies such as the Edmonton
Geological Society. The societies have a professional
focus, but share a commitment to "educational outreach"
into the community. As Ron Mussieux taught Alberta
teachers in the EdGeo workshops, he was struck by "the
lack of readily available popular Alberta geological
information." He noted that most geological guidebooks
seemed to be written for geologists, oil people, or
others in similar fields.
He wished to produce a book for the
average "traveller" throughout the province. In other
words, not another textbook. It also had to cover the
whole of Alberta, an area about as big as western
Europe. At first he tried to select sites fairly easily
accessible to the public, but this impulse broke down in
the vast northern districts of the province, where many
important sites would be overlooked if this criterion
were adhered to.
Ron Mussieux co-operated with Marilyn
Nelson in preparing the book. Ms. Nelson, a career
geologist, worked for over 15 years on geology projects
through the PMA. Her father, Dr. Samuel Nelson, produced
the pioneering Face of Time (1970) for the Alberta
Society of Petroleum Geologists, through the University
of Calgary. She has long had a deep interest in
palaeontology. She also recently completed a study on
Evaluation of Geological Sites. This valuable resource
grew out of the need to name geological sites of
provincial significance under provisions of the Alberta
Historical Resources Act (1975).
This conjunction of Ron Mussieux,
"one of the most knowledgeable field geologists in
Alberta," in the words of Bruce McGillivray, and Marilyn
Nelson, who has the most current and comprehensive
overview of provincial geological sites of public
interest, has produced a valuable resource for the
interested traveller in Alberta. Mr. Mussieux observes
that the book was "fun to produce." There is no doubt
that his enthusiasm stems from the strong team support,
support from the geological societies, and his natural
pleasure in communicating the geological knowledge which
he has gathered over the years.
Wendy Johnson's outstanding location
maps add greatly to the usefulness of the text, as do
the excellent illustrations produced by Dan Magee,
through the co-operation of the Alberta Geological
Survey.
The guidebook is clearly directed at
the general public, and as such might benefit from a
somewhat more extensive bibliographical note for those
whose interest in a particular subject or site is
aroused by the book. As the book is organized according
to Alberta Tourist Zones, some sites are forced within
non-geological criteria. Sites were selected on the
basis of fieldwork, significance, interest and
accessibility. The somewhat startling disclaimer at the
beginning of the book reminds the reader that some of
the sites are located in areas where proper preparation
and safety concerns should be considered. An obvious
example is the section dealing with the Grand Rapids.
The geological sites have been
selected within a broad context. One of its strengths is
that they range from the familiar, such as the famous
"Big Rock" erratic near Okotoks, to sites with
historical and commercial significance, such as the
quarries located in the Paskapoo Formation west of
Edmonton, or the old industrial chimney at Marlboro.
Both of these books provide good
examples of what has come to be called the "outreach"
mandate of
public institutions. Both will remain
helpful to Albertans and "travellers" in our province
for years.
Ken Tingley is an historical resource
consultant living in Edmonton. He is Senior Researcher
at the Loyal Edmonton Regiment Museum. His latest book
is For King and Country: Alberta in the Second World
War.
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