J.F. (Fred) Hamilton

James Frederick Hamilton was born in Singhampton, near Collingwood Ontario.

He graduated in civil engineering at the University of Toronto in 1904 as president of his class. As a land surveyor, Mr. Hamilton was a Dominion Land Surveyor with the Department of the Interior and a charter member of the Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association.

Mr. Hamilton did some of the first surveying in south Alberta. He came to Milk River in 1901 working for the Department of the Interior and, in 1902, helped survey land to be irrigated east of Calgary.

In the winter of 1905-1906, he surveyed the Bow River west of Calgary to determine the power potential. In 1903, he had run levels from the Bow River east of Calgary to what is now Lake McGregor and was then Rattlesnake Valley. The levels were extended on to Vauxhall in the winter of 1906-1907.

Mr. Hamilton came to Lethbridge in 1907 and worked actively as a land surveyor until his retirement in 1962.

He died June 16, 1963 at the age of 94.

Lethbridge Herald, June 18, 1963