MemorySask

Engineering Building - Exterior

A-3676
Item
[ca. 1925]

Parte de University of Saskatchewan Photograph Collection

Early view of first Engineering Building.

National Research Council and Engineering Building

A-3678
Item
summer 1953

Parte de University of Saskatchewan Photograph Collection

Elevated view looking northeast at National Research Council building, with Engineering Building in background.

Bio/Historical Note: In 1916 the National Research Council legislation was enacted and the institution was formed with the mandate to advise the government on matters of science and industrial research. For the first 15 or 16 years of its existence the NRC consisted of offices and borrowed lab space. It launched Canada’s first research journal, “Canadian Journal of Research” and funded research for human and bovine tuberculosis – a significant domestic problem in the 1920s. In 1932, NRC’s first dedicated lab was built in Ottawa. The NRC established a laboratory on the east side of the University of Saskatchewan campus in 1948. The original purpose of the facility was to “use chemistry and biology to diversify Canadian agriculture.” Originally called the “Prairie Regional Lab” then the “Plant Biotechnology Institute,” the facility is now known as “NRC Saskatoon.”

Engineering Building - Fire

A-370
Item
[13 Mar. 1925]

Parte de University of Saskatchewan Photograph Collection

View of ruins after fire destroyed the first Engineering Building on Friday, 13 March 1925. Bushes and lamp post in foreground.

Engineering Building - Fire

A-371
Item
[13 Mar. 1925]

Parte de University of Saskatchewan Photograph Collection

View of ruins after fire destroyed the first Engineering Building on Friday, 13 March 1925.

Engineering Building - Fire

A-374
Item
[13 Mar. 1925]

Parte de University of Saskatchewan Photograph Collection

View of ruins after fire destroyed the first Engineering Building on Friday, 13 March 1925. Two unidentified men standing among ruins.

Engineering Building - Fire

A-375
Item
[13 Mar. 1925]

Parte de University of Saskatchewan Photograph Collection

View of ruins after fire destroyed the first Engineering Building on Friday, 13 March 1925.

Agriculture - Sheep

Parte de University of Saskatchewan Photograph Collection

Ewes and lambs grazing in a fenced-in enclosure. Engineering Building and Livestock Pavilion in background.

Straw Gas Car

A-3766
Item
[between 1915 and 1920]

Parte de University of Saskatchewan Photograph Collection

[R.D. MacLaurin] standing (left) in front of a vehicle with a large tank attached on top which reads "Straw Gas"; [F.H. Edmunds] sitting inside. Two unidentified men walking away at right. Sign on running board reads: "McLaughlin Motor Car Model D45". Engineering Building in background.

Bio/Historical Note: Prof. R.D. MacLaurin, head, Department of Chemistry, was interested in the production of gas from straw as a fuel for heating and for engines. Though he was not alone in the research field, MacLaurin built a small extraction plant in the late 1910s and operate a McLaughlin Motor Car using straw gas. The research was promising but far from a breakthrough. The volume of gas produced was small and the mileage between fill-ups low. The most significant aspect of the research was not scientific but financial. MacLaurin felt cheated when Walter C. Murray, University President, distributed provincial research funds to several campus projects. Though he had the largest share of the grant, MacLaurin felt he deserved it all. He alleged Murray had misappropriated funds. A battle ensued for the control of the University administration. Murray was able to maintain the confidence of the Board of Governors and MacLaurin and three of his supporters - Samuel Greenway, Extension director; Ira MacKay, professor of Law; and John L. Hogg, head, Physics - were dismissed. Research into straw gas was discontinued.