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

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

mining engineer Mining engineering is the extraction of minerals from the ground. It is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, metallurgy, geotechnical engineering and surveying. A mining engineer m ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

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, and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

. Born in

Châteaubriant Châteaubriant (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Châtiaoberiant'') is a town in western France, about southwest of Paris, and one of the three Subprefectures in France, sous-préfectures of the Loire-Atlantique departments of France, department. C ...

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

École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

in 1877. After meeting the

Premier of Quebec The premier of Quebec ( (masculine) or eminine is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of the Coalition Avenir Québec, sworn in on October 18, 2018, following tha ...

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 defe ...

, 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 or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

. 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