Have you ever wondered how geological maps, that show the rock types, layers, folds and various other geological features, were made?

The story of a Jasper National Park (JNP) pioneer, Eric Mountjoy, who created geological map, will be on display for all to see from this Friday (Sept 18) at the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archives.

Mountjoy first came to Jasper in the late 1950s when he was busy mapping the Fiddle River and Miette Hot Springs area. 

According to Benn Gadd, fellow geologist and friend since the 1980s, JNP was Mountjoy’s favourite place to have worked.

“He did his PhD on the Miette area, and has been in love with the mountains ever since,” he said.

Despite Mountjoy’s quiet nature, Gadd said he was always “very excited about the geology of the Rockies.”

Teaching as a professor of geology at McGill University in Montreal, Mountjoy would bring his students on field trips to JNP.

During their trips he would often spend a day with park naturalists, such as Gadd, to keep them up to speed with the Canadian Rockies.

“He would spend a full day with the park naturalists to try and get them interested,” said Gadd, “that was really going the extra mile for a guy like that, who is very busy.”

From these trips, Gadd and Mountjoy forged a strong relationship that has lasted throughout the decades.

“I learned a lot from Eric in these field trips he would do,” said Gadd, adding that he enjoyed taking “Eric’s technical way of describing” and translating it into easy-to- understand language.

“Every time he’d come to the park, he’d come by our place as well just to keep me up to speed with it,” he said.

While Mounjoy’s love and early work began in JNP it eventually spread throughout the country, with the geologist doing a lot of work with the Geological Survey of Canada.

Gadd has put the exhibit together, with the help of Roger Maqueen, a student of Mountjoy’s who came to JNP with him in 1958. The exhibit, which Gadd and Macqueen hope to tour around Canada, will showcase a variety of colour-slide photos taken by Macqueen during the visit to JNP in 1958.

Also, if you’re still a bit confused about what exactly geological mapping is, then the exhibit will do its part to explain that as well, with faux rock slabs and all.

Informative panels paired with examples of mapping equipment help demonstrate how geological maps are created and Mountjoy’s famous map of JNP will also be on display.

Mountjoy will even be in Jasper for the free opening of the exhibit, which begins at 7:30 p.m.