George Mercer Dawson (August 1, 1849 – March 2, 1901) was a Canadian
geologist and
surveyor
Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...
.
Biography
He was born in
Pictou, Nova Scotia, the eldest son of Sir
John William Dawson, Principal of
McGill University and a noted geologist, and his wife, Lady Margaret Dawson. By age 11, he was afflicted with
tuberculosis of the spine (
Pott's disease
Pott disease is tuberculosis of the spine, usually due to haematogenous spread from other sites, often the lungs. The lower thoracic and upper lumbar vertebrae areas of the spine are most often affected.
It causes a kind of tuberculous arthrit ...
) that resulted in a deformed back and stunted growth. Physical limitations, however, did not deter Dawson from becoming one of Canada's greatest scientists.
Tutors and his father provided his education during his slow recovery from the illness. Dawson later attended the
High School of Montreal and
McGill University (part-time) before moving to
London to study
geology and
paleontology at the
Royal School of Mines (now part of
Imperial College London) in 1869. Dawson graduated after three years with the highest marks in his class.
Dawson began his career in the 1870s as a professor of chemistry at
Morrin College
Morrin College, the first anglophone institute of higher education in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada flourished between the years 1862 and 1902.
History
It was founded following an important bequest from Joseph Morrin, former city mayor and promin ...
in
Quebec City. From 1873 to 1875, Dawson worked for the British North American Boundary Commission surveying the International Boundary. The result was the 387-page ''Report on the Geology and Resources of the Region in the Vicinity of the Forty-Ninth parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains'', which established Dawson's reputation as a respected scientist.
Dawson joined the
Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) in 1875 and led many field parties in Canada's north and west. His work is credited as having laid the foundations of much of our knowledge of the geology and natural history of those regions. For example, during 1883 and 1884, Dawson travelled through the
Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...
, where he mapped out the major mountains, mountain passes, and rivers. Some of the many peaks he charted were
Mount Assiniboine
Mount Assiniboine, also known as Assiniboine Mountain, is a pyramidal peak mountain located on the Great Divide, on the British Columbia/Alberta border in Canada.
At , it is the highest peak in the Southern Continental Ranges of the Canadian Ro ...
, , and
Mount Temple, . As a result of his field research, a map of his work was published in 1886 covering the Canadian Rockies from the US border to the
Red Deer River Valley and
Kicking Horse Pass.
In addition to his geological work, Dawson was keenly interested in the languages and cultures of the
First Nations peoples he met in his travels. While studying the coal deposits of the Queen Charlotte Islands (
Haida Gwaii) in 1878, he prepared a comprehensive report on the
Haida people
Haida (, hai, X̱aayda, , , ) are an indigenous group who have traditionally occupied , an archipelago just off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, for at least 12,500 years.
The Haida are known for their craftsmanship, trading skills, and ...
, which included a vocabulary of their
language. His photographs of Haida villages and
totem poles remain a treasured and unique record. He also published papers about the
Indigenous peoples of the
Yukon and northern
British Columbia, the
Kwakiutl people of
Vancouver Island and the
Shuswap people of central British Columbia.
The field season of 1887 saw Dawson and his assistant R.G. McConnell exploring northern British Columbia and the headwaters of the
Yukon River, during which they made an arduous circuit by separate routes, on foot and by boat, of an area of , which had been previously unknown except for First Nations accounts and those of a few prospectors. The results of the work included some of the first maps of the Yukon. His report was republished ten years later to satisfy interest in the region as a result of the
Klondike Gold Rush.
Dawson City, Yukon, was named in his honour, as was
Dawson Creek, British Columbia
Dawson Creek is a city in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The municipality of had a population of 12,978 in 2016. Dawson Creek derives its name from the creek of the same name that runs through the community. The creek was named after ...
.
In 1898, Dawson lead a field expedition with the intent of surveying resources, along with the famed anarchist,
Peter Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...
, who was awed by the skill that he saw in Dawson and wrote that he knew "the Rocky Mountains and the coast ranges as his own garden."
Dawson became assistant director of the GSC in 1883 and was appointed its third director in 1895. Under his leadership, the GSC continued its far-flung expeditions to study all aspects of Canada's geology and natural history. Reflecting Dawson's interest in
ethnology, the GSC's museum increased its indigenous collections, and these formed the basis of what is now the
Canadian Museum of History. He also lobbied the government tirelessly to secure funding for a more suitable building to house the GSC's museum and scientific staff. This funding was granted just one month before his unexpected death in
[Ottawa on March 2, 1901, after a one-day bout with acute bronchitis">[Ottawa.html" ;"title="[Ottawa">[Ottawa on March 2, 1901, after a one-day bout with acute bronchitis. He was interred in the family plot in the Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal. The building that resulted from his efforts was the Canadian Museum of Nature, Victoria Memorial Museum Building.
Honours
Dawson received an LL.D. from Queen's University, Kingston, Queen's University in 1890 and from McGill University in 1891. In 1891, Dawson was also named a fellow of the
Royal Society of London. In 1892, he was made a Companion of the
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III.
...
.
He was president of the
Geological Society of America in 1900,
[Eckel, Edwin, 1982, GSA Memoir 155, The Geological Society of America — Life History of a Learned Society, ] just seven years after his father served in the same role.
See also
*
Boundary Commission Trail
References
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External links
* '
''The History of the Geological Survey of Canada in 175 Objects''''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, George Mercer
1849 births
1901 deaths
Alumni of Imperial College London
Anglophone Quebec people
Canadian cartographers
Canadian geologists
Geological Survey of Canada personnel
High School of Montreal alumni
Canadian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
Canadian Fellows of the Royal Society
Infectious disease deaths in Ontario
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
People from Pictou County
Presidents of the Geological Society of America
Burials at Mount Royal Cemetery
Deaths from bronchitis