Philip Turnor ( – c. 1799) was a surveyor and cartographer for the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

. Turnor hired on for three years as an inland surveyor with the HBC and landed at

York Factory York Factory was a settlement and Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) factory (trading post) located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. ...

(Man.) in August, 1778. After mapping York itself, he set out to map the route to

Cumberland House Cumberland House was a mansion on the south side of Pall Mall in London, England. It was built in the 1760s by Matthew Brettingham for Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany and was originally called York House. The Duke of York died in 176 ...

(

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

) and the newly established post of Upper Hudson House. He is credited with exploring and mapping many of the settlements and their connecting rivers and lakes for the company in the late 18th century. A variety of willow, unique to the sand dunes of

Lake Athabasca Lake Athabasca (; French: ''lac Athabasca''; from Woods Cree: , "herethere are plants one after another") is located in the north-west corner of Saskatchewan and the north-east corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N in Canada. The lake ...

, is named "Turnor's willow" in his honour. He is credited with teaching David Thompson and

Peter Fidler Peter Fidler (16 August 1769 – 17 December 1822) was a British surveyor, map-maker, fur trader and explorer who had a long career in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in what later became Canada. He was born in Bolsover, Derbyshire ...

the skills of surveying.

References

* * Journals of Samuel Hearne and Philip Turnor between the Years 1774 and 1792. Joseph Tyrrell ed. Toronto: Champlain Society, 1934. * Mitchell, Barbara''. Mapmaker: Philip Turnor in Rupert's Land in the Age of Enlightenment''. Regina: University of Regina Press, 2017. Canadian explorers Canadian cartographers Canadian surveyors Hudson's Bay Company people Year of birth uncertain Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 1751 births {{Canada-business-bio-stub