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Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Alberta
By: Danek Mozdzenski
On Saturday mornings, I work at the Cabbagetown Regent Park Museum. I've written about the museum, its history and its neighborhood here and here.
Yesterday, an elderly gentleman stopped by and gave me a check, saying that this is his donation to the museum. "You know what to do with that, don't you?" he asked politely concerned. I said, yes I do, and thank you very much. After he left, I opened the (unsealed) envelope, and was shocked to find a $500 check. I placed it carefully away, and waited for the museum supervisor to show up at the end of the morning. I gave her the check, "Five hundred dollars!" She was too busy bustling around and didn't hear me. I waited, then I interrupted her:
"Here's a donation check for five hundred dollars!"
"I thought you said five dollars!"
"No a generous, and kind, five hundred. Bye, see you next week!"
His last name is Tyrrell. I looked up Tyrrell and Cabbagetown together, and here's what I found on a Joseph Burr Tyrrell, listed under "Cabbagetown People":
Born in Weston, Ontario in 1858, he was the son of an Irish immigrant who was a successful builder. Tyrrell represented a new breed of explorer; a wilderness traveller who was also a scientist. He worked for The Geological Survey of Canada for 17 years from 1881- 1898 spending a great deal of time mapping the Northwest Territories.I'm not sure if this gentleman is related to this famous Tyrrell, yet it would make sense that a relative of someone listed under "Cabbagetown People" would make such a contribution. Perhaps I will solve the mystery next week.
His most famous discovery was of the first Dinosaur bones in the Badlands of Alberta, the largest find of its kind in North America to date.
He travelled up unmapped rivers to Fort Churchill and Dawson City, discovered coal deposits in Alberta and British Columbia and participated in the Klondike Gold Rush. He helped to develop many mines in Northern Ontario, including gold mines, and retired a wealthy man.
Later on in life he bought 600 acres of land for an apple orchard that is now the site of the Toronto Zoo. He died at 99 years of age in Toronto in 1957 having lived a full life, by any measure.
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At my job at Laura's, a middle-aged woman walked by my "zone" (each salesgirl is given an area called a zone, where she manages the customers that pass through). This customer eventually bought several hundred dollars worth of merchandize (pants, tops, cardigans, jewellery), which she said she needed both for office Christmas/winter attire, and for the holiday season in general. She says she comes in about twice a year to update her wardrobe. I told her she could wear these same clothes next year (i.e., no need to replenish her wardrobe). The store manager couldn't believe it, and it seemed like some big occasion (don't these people sell anything!?).