I'm researching the origins of the Rocky Mountain Trench theory, i.e. dates and basic knowledge publicly known in 1955. I have found early references to the publication regarding the first evidence of the tectonic plate theory in a symposium in Tasmania in 1956, and reference to articles regarding the Trench presented at a Holland symposium in 1959. I'd like to know if an interested amateur geologist in 1955 would have reasonable known that the northern Trench near Whitehorse existed and was creaated by faulting along the plates.

Thanks for anyone's help.