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| | LEVEL OF DESCRIPTION: | Fonds | | No.: | PR0401 | | TITLE: | Jean Leon Coté fonds | | CREATOR: | Jean Léon Côté | | DATE RANGE: | predominantly 1886-1924 | | EXTENT: | 0.30 m of textual records. – 9 negatives. – 3 photographs | | ADMINISTRATIVE | | HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Jean Léon Côté was born May 26, 1867 in Les Eboulements, Québec; he was the son of Cléophas and Denise (Boudreault) Côté. Jean Léon studied at the Academie Commerciale in Montmagny, Quebec and came to the Edmonton area, North-West Territories in 1886 as part of a survey crew. Encouraged by what he saw, he returned East to further his education and received his certificate as a Dominion Land Surveyor in 1890. He returned to Western Canada in 1893 and worked as a Dominion Land Surveyor for the Department of the Interior until 1900, taking part in projects such as being a member of the Alaska Boundary Commission in the mid 1890s. Mount Côté, near Ketchikan, Alaska, was named after him. In 1903 Côté surveyed the Edmonton, Yukon and Pacific railway's right of way, in Edmonton, from the foot of McDougall Hill, along the top of the river valley, to the area known as the West Junction. Over the next few years J.L. Côté was involved with numerous surveys in northern Alberta.
In 1909 he was elected as a liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly for the constituency of Athabasca. He was reelected in Grouard, Alberta in 1913, 1917 and 1921. Côté was appointed to the provincial Cabinet in 1918 as Provincial Secretary, responsible for the Mines Branch, and later became Minister of Railways and Telephones. He believed in the unlimited potential of Alberta's natural resources and felt that the Province should have full control over all of its resources. While Provincial Secretary, he formed the Scientific and Industrial Research Council of Alberta and sat as its first Chair. In 1923 Jean Léon Côté was appointed to the Senate where he served for approximately one year before his death September 24, 1924. Jean Léon and his wife Cécile Gagnon, whom he had married February 4, 1907, had five children: Jean, Paul, Ernest, Pierre and Jacques. The Jean Coté community in Northern Alberta is named after him. | | CUSTODIAL HISTORY: | Jean Gustave Côté, who was Jean Léon Côté's son, used the records to write his father's biography. When the book was published, he decided to donate the records to the Provincial Archives of Alberta. | | SCOPE AND CONTENT: | Fonds consists of biographical material, paper clippings, land survey records, provincial election papers, appointment to the Senate records, family and professional correspondence, maps and photographs. Three original photos were returned to the donor; a copy negative of each of these photographs was produced for use by the Provincial Archives of Alberta before the return of the photos to the donor. | | LANGUAGE NOTE: | The material is predominantly in English, but a few early family papers are in French. | | GENERAL NOTE: | Records relating to Jean Léon Côté's work as Dominion Land Surveyor are found in GR1983.0376, GR1985.0034 and GR1986.0417.
Senator Jean Leon Cote: Pioneer Land Surveyor and Early Legislator by by Jean G. Côté is available in the Provincial Archives of Alberta Reference Library, 923.2 C825 1992 PAA. | | RELATED FONDS: | PR2063 (Côté family fonds)
SL0401 (Fonds Jean Léon Côté)
| | RELATED ITEMS: | PR1993.0217-33a (J.L. Côté)
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