In 1873 McGill University granted its first Engineering degrees which at the time were known as Applied Science. Robert James Brodie (1851-1938) was one of only six scholars to be awarded this recognition. To this day he remains a McGill posterboy. Photographs of the bearded, Chateauguay-born, Fenian Raid veteran, grace the walls and website of the 200-year-old institution.

Employment was immediate and Robert Brodie began work for the Canadian Pacific Railway, surveying a route between Montreal and Saint Jerome in Quebec. He then served with the engineering team who conducted the original survey across the Canadian Prairies. Brodie made news headlines by saving his team from starvation. He traveled with a dog sled team for miles, in the brutal cold of winter, to acquire much needed food and supplies from Edmonton. When broken equipment threatened serious delays in their work, Brodie’s ingenuity prevented weeks of delay. He repurposed a spider’s web discovered in a hollow tree and used it to replace a broken wire in their Theodolite instrument.

Upon his return to Montreal in 1875, Robert Brodie formed a business with his brother-in-law, Robert Harvie. Harvie was married to Brodie’s sister, Henrietta. Brodie & Harvie’s Self-Raising Flour became a household word and can still be found on grocery store shelves today.