About the Project
Once, the prairies drowned beneath an inland sea; Tyndall stone is what remained after the waters receded and the glaciers passed. Strength was born out of time, and these pieces of ancient history became the sturdy foundations of Saskatchewan’s future when the Legislative building was constructed of Tyndall stone 100 years ago.
HiddenTyndall is a public art project by Terri Fidelak in honour of the centennial anniversary of the Saskatchewan Legislative building. In 2012, Terri will place 100 cubes of Tyndall stone throughout the province’s landscape in hopes that they will be serendipitously discovered. Those who come across the cubes will find a message upon the stone, inviting them to participate by returning the Tyndall to the Legislative building in Regina. There the pieces will become part of a permanent installation celebrating the cooperative spirit of the people of Saskatchewan.
HiddenTyndall 
Love, love, love your project.
Thank you, Sharon, that’s great to hear!
Congratulations on a well thought out and thoroughly “engaging” community project. I look forward to hearing tidbits about the grand adventure.
Thank you, Corla, I look forward to sharing those tidbits. Stay tuned!
What a great project!! My great grandfather and some of my great uncles were involved in the construction of the Legislative building.
Hi Susan! Thanks, I’m glad you like the idea! I’m always so interested to hear stories about the people involved with the Legislative construction. It must have been amazing to see.
I just love this project – hoping to find one to be part of it all…any hints?
Hi Tammy! Thanks for your support on the project! Keep watching the blog for clues. I will likely be giving some hints soon. 😉
I am intrigued by your wonderful project. I recognize the
Silo in the falling down pictures . Any chance there is a stone hidden in that town ? hint hint … I shall look around anyway .
Thanks for the project !
Hi Cathy,
I’m so pleased you like the project! There may very well be a stone hidden around there; do keep your eyes open! Once all the stones are hidden (I have about 8 more to go) I will begin giving clues on the blog.
Good luck!
I came across Hidden Tyndall on our library website. I think it is an inspired AND inspiring project! Thank you for sharing Saskatchewan’s beautiful places and people through your art.
Thank you so much, Corianne! It is always wonderful to hear positive feedback and I’m happy that you appreciate our beautiful province as much as I do!
I’m wondering if any more Tyndall stones have been found? I haven’t heard much about it lately. What is the total number now. I’d forgotten about it until I came across the article I had copied about the project.
What a great project!!!!!
Hi Hilda,
Actually, there has been a significant lack of new discoveries, likely due to the large volume of snow covering our province at the moment! I’m hoping that there will be an upswing in Tyndall stone findings once spring arrives. So far there have been 21 stones unturned, and thirteen of those have been brought to the Legislative building. Thanks for following along, and I’ll try to update the blog soon!
Best,
Terri
Hi – I found your stone in Kerrobert! Do you still want them brought back?
Hi Andy,
Yes, please return the stone to the Legislative building when you have a chance. Congratulations and thanks for participating!
Best,
Terri
I was hoping you could give a clue to a stone location in the Regina area?
Hi Sheldon, I certainly can! There is a stone hidden in Regina, but there are also stones in communities nearby. I will work on getting some clues up on the blog right away. Thanks for your suggestion!
Best, Terri
I have been following this project for quite some time with much interest, and in light of the few stones found this summer, l was wondering if you could give some more clues, I am really interested in the Melfort to Prince Albert area!
Hi Holly, I’m so sorry to have missed your comment from so long ago! Thanks for your interest in this project. As far as I know, all the stones in those areas have either been found or have disappeared.
Very interesting project, good luck with it. Other than contacting Tyndall stone at the Leg, and in a major way at Regina’s TC Douglas building, and elsewhere, I have 2 major associations with the product, In the mid 1980s I was the project director for the Wascana Rehab Centre south. The board, the architects and I eventually chose red Estevan brick with Tyndall stone accents. I believe it remains highly attractive to this day.
If you visit http://www.svwm.ca you’ll see (on the home page) two very impressive war memorials that lie on the Leg grounds. The one on the left pays tribute to the 6000+ Sask boys and a few girls who gave their lives for Canada in WWI, on the right is the memorial for the 5000 WWII casualties plus Korea, peacekeeping and Afghanistan. Both monuments are faced with Tyndall stone. I and the other member of the war memorial committee are very proud of them, especially so since we are the only with a provincial memorial and also the only one with a website honouring our fallen.
“About the project” seems to suggest that Tyndall stone underpins the entire province of Sask, but I can find no source to corroborate that. Indeed all my contact with Tyndall stone has been with a quarry not fat from Selkirk MB>
Hello Terri:
Recently the students of the Gravelbourg Elementary School discovered one of your ‘stones’. As editor of the Gravelbourg Tribune I’m putting together a story for the newspaper. Would you be willing to answer a few questions? I know the reason why you did the project so here are a few follow up questions…
1) How many of the stones have been returned?
2) What was, and has been, the response over the years?
3) How long do you think it will go on until all are found?
4) Will you eventually put a time limit on the project?
5) What have you learned from this project?
Hope this is okay with you.
Thanks
Paul Boisvert
Editor
Gravelbourg Tribune
Wondering if there is a Humboldt Stone? Or one close to that hasn’t been found. Thought it would be a fun thing for me and my family to do!
Hello! There is not a stone in Humboldt and many of the stones I hid in that area have been discovered, including ones at Muenster and St. Brieux. I have been back to visit some hiding spots near Humboldt (relatively speaking), and the stones are no longer where I left them but I haven’t heard that they were discovered. Those places include Nokomis and Manitou Lake. You might look at Fort Carlton, Batoche, Wadena, Kuroki, Porcupine Plain, or Bjorkdale. I have heard nothing of the stones I left in those places and though I know they are not so close to Humboldt, you never know what you might find! Let me know if you’d like more specific clues. Best, Terri
Hi Terri
I found one!!!!! The one in Shaunavon on the Court House window sill. I took it and showed the local paper, the Shaunavon Standard and they did an article. I found it on May 5th 2016. It was very exciting as I had not heard of the project.
I am pasting the article from the paper ( see below) as it pretty well tells the story. I will be bringing the stone to the legislature hopefully in June.
All my best
Karl Bazin
Swift Current SK
Provincial court judge K.P. Bazin made an interesting discovery during a visit to Shaunavon last Thursday.
While Bazin was in town to preside over cases at the Shaunavon courthouse, his discovery had nothing to do with evidence, although it did lead to some investigative work.
With temperatures expected to hover around the 30 degree Celsius mark that day, Judge Bazin made a point of arriving early in Shaunavon. He makes the trip to hear cases in the Shaunavon courtroom on the first Thursday of every month and he is familiar with how warm the building can get under extreme conditions.
His plan was to open a few windows to help cool things off and joked that he didn’t want the room to resemble a scene out of “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning courthouse story that took place under the searing heat of southern Alabama.
Bazin’s effort, ironically, turned out to have a bit of a storybook quality itself. While opening the window to the judge’s chamber, he found a piece of tyndall stone with an engraved message sitting on the outside sill.
It turns out that the stone had been left in complete secrecy – even staff at the Town Office were unaware of its existence – as part of a public art project by Terri Fidelak in honour of the centennial anniversary of the Saskatchewan Legislative building.
In 2012, Fidelak placed 100 cubes of Tyndall stone throughout the province’s landscape in hopes that they would be serendipitously discovered. Each cube includes a message inviting finders to participate in the project by returning the Tyndall to the Legislative building in Regina.
There, the pieces will become part of a permanent installation celebrating the cooperative spirit of the people of Saskatchewan
Bazin says he does plan to bring the stone to the Legislature.
In her description of the project, Fidelak pointed out that the prairies once drowned beneath an inland sea and that Tyndall stone is what remained after the waters receded and the glaciers passed. Strength was born out of time, and these pieces of ancient history became the sturdy foundations of Saskatchewan’s future when the Legislative building was constructed of Tyndall stone 100 years ago.
When she started the project in 2012, Fidelak admitted that it could take years before all of the cubes were found. Many were hidden in locations such as provincial parks, small town communities and places with historical meaning.
“I want to make some of them easy to find because I definitely want some to return,” said Fidelak in an interview at the time. “But on the other hand I really like the aspect of time that is involved with this project and I would love it if some of them took 20 or 50 years to come back to the Lege.”
At the time she launched the project, Fidelak was one of eight artists in residence selected to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Legislative Building.
For more information about the project visit hiddentyndall.com
According to the website, Judge Bazin’s find would be the 40th piece discovered to date.
A former Swift Current lawyer, Bazin has served as a judge of Swift Current Provincial Court since 2014. He previously served a three year stint as a judge in the Estevan court. Bazin started practicing law in 1985 when he joined the MacBean Tessem law firm and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2005.
Congrats Karl! Thanks for sharing your story and for participating in the project! Best, Terri
Is there one hidden in Watrous or Manitou Beach ?
Hi Lynn, a stone was hidden at Manitou Beach but it’s no longer where I left it, so I can’t say where it’s gone!
You should allow the finders of the stone name to be caved on the stone.
Found by: joe smith
Date: bla bla bla.
Might give people who are wanting to keep the stone for themselves an Incentive to bring the stone back to its rightful place. They will then be part of the history at the ledge forever. How many regular joe blows get to have their name engraved in such an impressive building!
I work at the ledge and a gentlemen that also works here named Arnold met you. He remembers you telling him there is one hidden in the legislative building. He’s still looking, could you give a hint.?
Also have been back to Wadena ? Is the stone still were you left it? If it is, could you please give a hint? It is going to me my life goal to find one of your stones. I have to be apart of this.
Hi Daphne, That’s a nice idea. Please say hello to Arnold for me! I remember him well and always enjoyed having a chat. There is a stone in the building and as for a hint…. It’s somewhere up high, in a part of the building where few folks go. I’m doubtful the stone is where I left it in Wadena as it was a fairly obvious place. But I can’t say for sure! Look around the watertower. Good luck!