Joseph Obalski (14 September 1852 – 25 March 1915) was a French-

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

mining engineer Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...

, civil servant,

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

, and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. Born in Châteaubriant,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, of Polish origin from his father's side of the family, Obalski graduated from the

École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris Mines Paris - PSL, officially École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris (until May 2022 Mines ParisTech, also known as École des mines de Paris, ENSMP, Mines de Paris, les Mines, or Paris School of Mines), is a French grande école and a c ...

in 1877. After meeting the

Premier of Quebec The premier of Quebec ( French: ''premier ministre du Québec'' (masculine) or ''première ministre du Québec'' (feminine)) is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of th ...

Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau Sir Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau (November 9, 1840 – June 13, 1898), born in Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, was a French-Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 7th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec from 1892 to 1898. Life As a lawyer, he defen ...

, while Chapleau was vacationing in France in 1881, Obalski was offered the post of provincial mining engineer. In 1881, he was working for the Quebec Department of Railways. From 1882 to 1888, he was a professor at the

École Polytechnique de Montréal École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scal ...

. In 1889 he published ''Mines et minéraux de la province de Québec''. Joseph later became the Inspector of Mines for Quebec and visited the Chibougamau, Quebec gold prospect discovered by Peter McKenzie in 1903,publishing a report in 1904 stating his belief that one day Chibougamau would become an important mining district. L'Appel du Chibougamau by Larry Wilson-1956.

References

1852 births 1915 deaths Canadian people of Polish descent French emigrants to Quebec People from Châteaubriant Quebec civil servants Academic staff of the Université de Montréal {{Quebec-bio-stub