Road Trip Beausejour to Tyndall – Tyndall Stone Quarry & Fossils
Beausejour
Tyndall
45
km
0h48
drive
Summer
season
The Itinerary
Tyndall Stone, a characteristic mottled dolomitic limestone quarried in southeastern Manitoba since 1832, is one of Canada's most famous ornamental stones — clad on the Ottawa Parliament Buildings, Manitoba Legislative Building, Bank of Montreal and hundreds of other heritage buildings. Its particularity: Ordovician marine fossils (450 Ma) visible in every block.
Gillis Quarries at Garson (since 1898) is the world's only source of Tyndall Stone. Guided tours (summer, by reservation) show extraction, in-situ fossils — Receptaculites corals, 1 m straight cephalopods, gastropods — and cutting workshops. It's industrial "fossil rock," unique in the world.
Beausejour (3,100 inhabitants), capital of the "Sunova SnoMan" (winter snowmobile festival) and home of Sunova Credit Union, hosts Lake Brokenhead Provincial Park. 15 minutes away, the East Selkirk Mennonite heritage village and Cooks Creek mill (1930 Ukrainian cathedral) tell Manitoba's ethnic diversity. Whittier and Tyndall villages themselves preserve houses built of local Tyndall stone by quarry workers.
Gillis Quarries at Garson (since 1898) is the world's only source of Tyndall Stone. Guided tours (summer, by reservation) show extraction, in-situ fossils — Receptaculites corals, 1 m straight cephalopods, gastropods — and cutting workshops. It's industrial "fossil rock," unique in the world.
Beausejour (3,100 inhabitants), capital of the "Sunova SnoMan" (winter snowmobile festival) and home of Sunova Credit Union, hosts Lake Brokenhead Provincial Park. 15 minutes away, the East Selkirk Mennonite heritage village and Cooks Creek mill (1930 Ukrainian cathedral) tell Manitoba's ethnic diversity. Whittier and Tyndall villages themselves preserve houses built of local Tyndall stone by quarry workers.
Points of Interest
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Gillis Quarries TyndallWorld's only Tyndall quarry, 450 Ma fossils.
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Parliament Hill StoneOttawa's Parliament clad in Tyndall stone.
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Cooks Creek Ukrainian Cathedral1930 Orthodox cathedral, blue dome.
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Sunova SnoMan FestivalBeausejour winter snowmobile festival.
Protected areas along the route
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Birds Hill Provincial Park
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St. Andrews Lock and Dam Special Conservation Area
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Lockport Provincial Park
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Birds Hill
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Mars Hill Wildlife Management Area
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River Road Provincial Park
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Agassiz Provincial Forest
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Hyland Provincial Park
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Netley Creek Provincial Park
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John T. Williams Wildlife Management Area
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Oak Hammock Marsh Wildlife Management Area
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Pinawa Provincial Park
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Take this route offline
Cell coverage thins out fast once you leave Beausejour. Export the map as a geo-referenced PDF before you go and open it in BorealMaps — your GPS position shows on the map with no signal at all.
Try PDF Export How geo-referenced PDF maps workPractical info
- Departure Beausejour
- Destination Tyndall
- Distance 45 km
- Duration 0h48
- Category Short (< 100 km)
- Best season Summer
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