Stone quarried only in Manitoba receives international heritage recognition
A stone that is in many buildings throughout the province and is found only in Manitoba, is now getting international attention.
Tyndall Stone is mined in Garson, Man. and has been fitting builders’ visions for nearly 200 years. The limestone dates back more than 400 million years and is filled with fossil fragments.
It was first used to build the walls and warehouses of Lower Fort Garry in 1832 and it now can be found as part of the Manitoba Legislative Building, the Manitoba Museum and in the Centre Block of Parliament in Ottawa.
Tyndall Stone was used to build the walls and warehouses of Lower Fort Garry (CTV News Winnipeg file)
Number TEN Architectural Group decided to go with the Manitoba stone when designing the Richardson Innovation Centre.
“We had a particular vision in mind of the combination of glass and very clean smooth material with some textured features. And so it fit very well with the overall vision,” said Doug Hanna, an architect at the company.
Donna Gillis, the operations manager at Gillis Quarries – the quarry in Garson, said most of the time the stone is used for exterior cladding.
“But we do do it on other interior things based on what the person wants. It could be interior rooms, it could be for table tops, you know giving it a different look, a different modern use of the same material,” said Gillis.
Now the stone is being recognized on the world stage by the Subcommission on Heritage Stones.
Donna Gillis, the operations manager at Gillis Quarries, says Tyndall Stone has a variety of uses. (CTV News Photo Jon Hendricks)
“There was no Canadian stone on the list. They had Carrara Marble that Rome was built from. They had Portland Stone that London was built from. They had Tennessee Marble that has been used across North America. There was no Canadian stone,” said Graham Young, the curator of Geology and Paleontology at the Manitoba Museum.
Young, along with a colleague of his at the University of Saskatchewan, nominated the stone and now the international organization is listing the Tyndall Stone as a designated global heritage stone resource.
“Humans have this relationship with geological materials, we take them for granted. We shouldn’t take them for granted,” Young said, adding, especially when one of the materials is only quarried in Manitoba.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
First court appearance for boy and girl charged in death of Halifax 16-year-old
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.