Memorial to Victor Dolmage 1887-1980

J. W. STEW ARTDolmage, Mason and Stewart Ltd., Geological and Mining Engineers,

1119-355 Burrard Street, Vancouver, B.C., V6C 2G8, Canada

Victor Dolmage passed away in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, on June 5th, 1980. His active career as a civil servant, teacher, and private consulting geologist and engineer spanned a period of more than 60 years and was highlighted by his principal role in the planning and exe­cution of the Ripple Rock Blast, a major and unique project to improve the navigational channel in Seymour Narrows between the mainland of British Columbia and Vancouver Island. He had a close working relationship with Karl Terzaghi on all the latter’s consulting assign­ments in British Columbia, and he also worked in asso­ciation with Leopold Müller on a geologic and rock mechanics problem at the Kainji project in Nigeria.

He was actively involved in the geologic investiga­tion and planning of :nany large engineering projects in

Canada, including the Kitimat-Kemano Project, Portage Mountain Peace River Damsite, Highbury and Eighth Avenue Sewer Tunnels, and CN’s Thornton Railway Tunnel in Vancouver.

He was awarded the Barlow gold medal in 1945 for co-authoring “Contact Metamor­phism at Nickel Plate Mountain, Hedley, B.C.,” which was published in the Transactions of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. He was awarded the Leonard gold medal in 1958 for co-authorship of “Demolition of Ripple Rock,” which was published in the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Bulletin.

His professional affiliations included Fellowships in the Royal Society of Canada since 1922 and the Geological Society of America since 1928; Life memberships in the Engineer­ing Institute of Canada, The Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (in which he served as vice-president from 1930 to 1932), and the Association of Professional Engineers of British Columbia (in which he served on Council in 1932, 1947, and 1948); memberships in the Association of Consulting Engineers of Canada, the International Commission on Large Dams, the Canadian Advisory Committee on Rock Mechanics, the International Society of Rock Mechanics, the Society of Economic Geologists, the B.C. Mining Associa­tion, the B.C. Chamber of Mines (in which he served five years as president), and the Committee on Properties of Soils and Rocks of the U.S. Highway Research Board (for­merly the Rock Mechanics Committee).

He was a member of the initial committee of 10 members from Allied Sciences called in1962 by the Geological Society of America to organize the new science of Rock Mechanics and, as such, attended the international conference at Santa Monica, California, in 1963, which organized amalgamation of North American and European groups to form the International Rock Mechanics Association.

Victor Dolmage was born in Souris, M anitoba, in 1887. He attended the University of Manitoba, graduating in 1912 with a B.A. in geology. He obtained a Ph.D. with majors in geology and mining engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1917. His doctoral thesis was based on a report of the independent mapping of an area in the Telkwa M ountains in central British Columbia when he was with the Geological Survey of

2 TH E GEO LO G ICA L SOCIETY OE AMERICA

Canada. During the summer field seasons from 1912 to 1918, he worked as a geologist for the Geological Survey of Canada, assisting in the mapping of large areas of Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands. In 1918 he became a permanent member of the Geological Survey of Canada, first as an associate geologist, then as a geologist, and continued in employment until 1929. From 1922 to 1929, he was chief of the British Columbia Division of the Geologic Survey of Canada, during which time he acquired the basis for study of the full range of the wide variety of rock formations and mineral deposits that occur in British Columbia.

From 1918 to 1928 he was in charge of field parties that mapped large sections of the coast line from Vancouver Island to the Alaskan boundary as well as a large strip along the eastern margin of the coast range from Bridge River to Bella Coola. In 1927 he made a geologic reconnaissance of the Parsnip and Findlay Rivers, returning via the Peace River. He commenced a study in 1923 of the geology and ore deposits of Copper Mountain, which was continued in 1926 and finished in 1929 after he had left the Geological Survey. The report was published in 1934 as Memoir 171.

In 1929 he began practice as a consulting geologist based in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, an activity in which he was engaged for the rest of his life.

During the period from 1929 to 1952, he was engaged chiefly in the field of economic geology, in association with R. H. (Pat) Stewart. Some of the more important mining investigations in which he was engaged included the publishing of Memoir 171 and the Copper Mountain Study, which he continued to work on as a consultant to Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company. His work contributed to the know­ledge of the economic geology of the Princeton District, where new ore deposits are still being discovered and brought into production.

In 1950 he was retained to find an iron mine to ship ore to Japan. He recommended the iron deposits on Texada Island and proved up the necesary tonnage by drilling. This became a high-grade iron mine, which continued to produce iron and copper concentrates until 1976. As the result of his investigation of the limestone deposits of southwestern British Columbia, the Lafarge Cement Company made the Texada Island deposits the basis for their large cement plant which supplies most of the province’s needs. After the war, he was retained by some of the pulp and paper companies to investigate coal deposits as an alternative to oil as a fuel. He studied the reserves and mining and transportation costs of the deposits at Princeton, Tulameen, Vancouver Island, Fernie, Cadoman, Luxor, Coal Spur, and Telkwa. In 1958, his firm, Dolmage, Mason & Stewart Ltd., was retained to evaluate the size and grade of the now well-known Hat Creek coal deposits.

In the early 1930s, his report on the Island Mountain Property in the famous Cariboo Placer District resulted in its acquisition and successful operation as a lode mine for some years by the Newmont Mining Corporation. It was sold to Cariboo Gold Quartz and operated until the early 1960s. During this stage of his career, he taught structural and economic geology at the University of British Columbia in the 1932-1933, 1935-1936, and 1938-1939 terms.

In 1955 he became president of the newly formed company of Dolmage & E. E. Mason Ltd., which successfully undertook the conception, planning, and supervision of the re­moval of Ripple Rock from Seymour Narrows from 1955 to 1958. In 1958 he assumed the office of president of a new company—Dolmage, Mason & Stewart Ltd.—formed in associ­ation with E. E. Mason and J. W. Stewart. Still later, in 1966 he also became associated with D. D. Campbell in another company—Dolmage, Campbell and Associates—engaged in the field of engineering geology. His work subsequent to this emphasized engineering geology and was characterized by a large number of projects involving rock excavation and support problems. These included long power tunnels for the Bridge River, Cheakamus,

M EM ORIAL TO V ICTO R DOLM AGE 3

and Jordan River Projects for B. C. Hydro (formerly B. C. Electric); removal of the aforementioned Ripple Rock for the Federal Department of Public Works, which involved sinking a shaft, driving tunnels, raises, and blastholes for the placement of explosives for the detonation of the largest non-nuclear blast up to that time; the Iron Gates Traffic Tunnel at Radium, B.C.; the Post Office Tunnel in downtown Vancouver for the Federal Government; the Highbury and Eighth Avenue Tunnels for the Greater Vancouver Sewer and Drainage District; the Babine Development for the Federal Department of Fisheries, involving construction of a dam, tunnel, and pipeline; the Vancouver-Burnaby (Thorton) tunnel for the Canadian National Railway; consulting on the rock plug blast a t Chute-des- Passes, Quebec, for Alcan; reopening of the obstructed Tahtsa-Kemano tunnel for Alcan; feasibility studies for possible railway tunnel sites in Alaska and the Yukon for Canadian Bechtel; oil pipeline tunnel site to Bute Inlet; water supply tunnel from Sooke to Victoria; and various tunnel sites for the C.N.R. line from Kamloops to Yale, B.C.

His investigative work for major damsites and surface and underground power houses for the B.C. Electric Co. and B.C. Hydro and Power Authority was carried out on some twenty projects, including the Seton-Cayoosa Project, 1952-1954; the Mica Dam Reser­voir, 1955-1956 and 1973-1974; the gas turbine generating station at Port Mann, 1956; the Cheakamus-Squamish Project, 1930, 1950-1955; the Bridge River Powerhouse on Seton Lake; the M oran Damsite on the Fraser River above Lilooet; the Terzaghi Dam (originally Mission Dam); the second tunnel through Mission Mountain and second powerhouse on Seton Lake; and the Peace River Project, which is one of the world’s greatest hydro power developments. He investigated and selected the site of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam and conducted the investigation for and discovery and testing of some 60 million cubic yards of gravel, sand, and silt for the construction of the dam.

He consulted for the Greater Vancouver Water Board on numerous projects, including the Cleveland Dam site; the Seymour Dam site; investigation of ground-water resources of the Fraser Valley from Steveston to Langley, B.C.; and the First Narrows Water Tunnel (1930).

His work for the Aluminum Company of Canada included reports on the relative feasibilities of power sites along the British Columbia coast from Bute Inlet to Gardner Canal, a distance of 280 miles, among which were the Chilko Lake-Bute Inlet Scheme (1936), Taseko-Chilko Schemes “A” and “B” (1948-1949), the Pondosy Kimsquit Diver­sion, the Kimsquit Penstock and Powerhouse sites, the Tahtsa-Kemano Diversion Tunnel, and the Nanika River Diversion and Dam. He made detailed geologic reports on the nine-mile-long Kemano Tunnel (again in 1962 when it was reopened); the Kemano Under­ground Powerhouse; and the Kitimat Townsite, which was located on thick, gently sloping deposits of marine silts that were difficult to drain and prone to slide. His studies of snow-slide conditions along the Kemano-Kitimat Transmission Lines resulted in a solution to the problem.

He investigated the rock conditions and recommended the design for a thin arch hydro dam on the Lois River for the Powell River Company (1941-1946) and also investigated the foundation of the Westridge Marine Terminal of the Transmountain Oil Pipeline for Canadian Bechtel (1953).

His firm, Dolmage, Mason & Stewart Ltd., planned and supervised the blasting out of a ship channel in the MacKenzie River at Sans Sault Rapids north of Norman Wells for the Department of Public Works (1970-1972).

He examined a number of sites and participated in the selection of Nanaimo as the site for the Harmac Pulp Mill, for H. A. Simons. His investigations included a search for a water supply for the mill and examination of a tunnel site from Sproat Lake to Alberni, B.C.

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He and Karl Terzaghi investigated a submarine land slide at the Woodfibre Pulp Mill on Howe Sound. They designed a new dock site and prescribed maintenance procedures to inhibit further slides of this nature.

He made geologic investigations for Standard Oil of B.C., Shell Oil Co., and British American Oil Co. Ltd. (Gulf) of the soil conditions at the sites of the refineries located along the south shore of Burrard Inlet at Vancouver, B.C. (1962-1969). These are on unstable silts and clays, which have at times caused ground movement and mud slides (1962-1969).

He participated with T. F. Thompson in an examination and report on the Bayano Hydroelectric Project in the Republic of Panama for Instituto de Recursos Hidráulicos y Electrification, financed by the World Bank (1970).

As can be judged by the above lengthy list of projects and achievements, his technical interests were wide, and he always had a tremendous interest in them and a zest for his work, as witness the fact that he never seriously considered retirement as long as he was able to travel. He also had interests that were not concerned with the earth sciences, such as his love of music, literature, and the theatre. He had, in fact, so many interests that he developed firm friendships with people of many callings in many parts of the world, all of whom will regret the passing of a well-beloved friend.

Dr. Dolmage is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Willard Waldon of Winnipeg and Mrs. Grace Bredin of Vancouver; a daughter, Mrs. Mary Inman of Vancouver; and two grandchildren, Mrs. Janet Arbuckle and Mr. Victor Inman, both of Vancouver, B.C.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF V. DOLMAGE1918 Quatsino Sound and certain mineral deposits on West Coast Vancouver Island.1919 Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island Sunloch Copper District, Vancouver Island.1920 West Coast Vancouver Island between Barkley and Quatsino Sounds.1921 Coast and islands of British Columbia between Burke and Douglas Channels.1922 Coast and islands of British Columbia between Douglas Channel and Alaskan Boundary.1924 Chilco Lake and vicinity.1925 Tatla-Bella Coola, Coast District, British Columbia.1928 Gun Creek map-area, British Columbia.Above reports were published in the Geological Survey Summary Reports for the years indicated.

1918 The copper-silver veins of Telkwa District, British Columbia: Economic Geology, v. 13, p. 349-380.

1921 The Marble Bay Mine, Texada Island, British Columbia: Economic Geology, v. 16, no. 6, p. 372-392.

1924 Post-Pleistocene volcanics of the British Columbia coast: Journal of Geology, v. 32, no. 1, p. 36-48.

----- The B.C. silver mines [Stewart district, British Columbia]: Canada Mining Journal, v. 45,no. 30, p. 711-712.

----- Prospecting: Canadian Mining Journal, v. 45, no. 17, p. 391-396.1934 Geology and ore deposits of Copper Mountain, British Columbia: Canada Geological Survey

Memoir 171, 69 p.1945 (and Brown, C. E. Gordon) Contact mctamorphism at Nickel Plate Mountain, Hedley,

British Columbia: Canadian Mining and Metallurgical Bulletin 393.1950 Geological examination of a dam site: B.C. Professional Engineer.1958 (and Mason, E. E.) Demolition of Ripple Rock: Canadian Mining and Metallurgical Bulletin.1963 (and Campbell, D. D.) Geology of Portage Mountain damsite: Canadian Mining and Metal­

lurgical Bulletin.1963 Rock mechanics and geology in relation to damsites, in Proceedings, Rock Mechanics

Symposium, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario: Canada Department of Mines and Technical Surveys Mines Branch, p. 137-147.

Printed in U.S.A. 10/81