CARTOGRAPHER
EXPLORES THE ROCKIES
BY JACKIE GOLD BANFF CRAG & CANYON
STAFF
When examining a map of Canada it is sometimes hard to believe
that someone actually had to cover all that ground in order
to accurately reproduce it for publication. Cartographers have
played an instrumental role in charting the unknown in Canadian
wilderness: tramping through forest, marshlands, and prairies
and of course the mountain peaks, taking measurements and sketching
land masses so that they can later recreate on paper the very
land they explored.
George Mercer Dawson, a Canadian cartographer born in Nova
Scotia on Aug. 1, 1849, is considered to be one of Canada 's
most distinguished scientists and cartographers.
Although he had chronic chest weakness and a back humped by
a childhood disease that prevented his growth, leaving
him roughly the size of a prepubescent boy, Dawson was
extremely active in his mapping of Western Canada.
His illness did not prevent him from his academic work at
school either, and Dawson spent some time at McGill University
before later graduating with several honours from the
Royal School of Mines of London in 1872.
After his graduation Dawson returned to Canada to pursue a
career in geological research. A year after his return in 1872
he was appointed as a geologist and botanist of the British
North American Boundary Commission. He remained with the
Boundary Commission for two years, completing his work before
taking a position with the Canadian Geological Survey,
which would be the beginning of his travels into Western Canada
.
From 1872 to 1876 Dawson was recruited to help out with the
International Boundary Survey. While marking the boundary
between the United States and Canada , Dawson continued
his scientific studies of the areas he passed through.
His intense study of the land around the boundary eventually
led to a publication of his work during that period entited
Report on the Geology and Resources of the Recion in the Vicinity
of the 49 th parallel from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky
Mountains .
Led by a native guide who referred to Dawson as "Skookum
Tumturn" meaning "brave, cheery man” Dawson was often
described by those who met him as having a having a "cheerful,
amiable disposition combined with an indomitable will and an
insatiable passion for exploration and discovery.
Between 1883 and 1984 Dawson began what would be the first
official Government of Canada survey of the Rockies .
While there had been extensive studies of the area previously,
sponsored by the Canadian Pacific Railway and conducted by
the Palliser Expedition, these had all been focused on finding
an easy route through the mountains to British Columbia .
Dawson 's task however, was more general in nature, focusing
on the river paths as well as the locations of major passes
and mountain tops.
Dawson created excellent maps that were said to have been “a
literal photograph of the country containing information phenomenally
complete and accurate.”
In his first summer as government surveyor Dawson travelled
through the country from south of Crowsnest Pass, to the headwaters
of the Oldman River, up the Kootenay and Columbia Valleys to
the present site of Golden, and then through the Kicking Horse
Pass and down the Bow River Valley.
The following year Dawson travelled from the Bow Valley to
the headwaters of the Kananaskis River and south again to Crowsnest
Pass, returning to the Bow Valley in late July.
In August he explored the area from south of Mount Assiniboine
to the Kicking Horse and the following month he and his party
studied the area north of Castle Junction to the Red Deer Valley
and west to the headwaters of the Bow River.
All told his travels in the area over the two years covered
approximately 1,000 kilometres, which given the rough
terrain and the lack of cultivated walking paths that can be
found throughout Banff National Park these days, is a
remarkable accomplishment.
The trip probably took longer than it would for healthier
individuals, as Dawson had to stop occasionally due to his
weakened health, as well as occasional scientific field
trips that were unrelated to the geological surveys he
was conducting for the government.
By 1886 Dawson 's findings had been published as a map of
the Canadian Rockies, outlining the area from the U.S. border
to the Red Deer Valley and Kicking Horse Pass.
The map, which was incredibly detailed, was a compilation
of his work over the two-year period from 1883 to 1884, and
included geological surface information and six complete geological
cross-sections through various points in the Rockies.
As Dawson had help from a number of individuals, including
J.B. Tyrrell in 1883, J. White in 1884 and contributions of
R.G. McConnell in the Bow Valley area in 1885, he named
three of the mountain peaks after his assistants, Mount
Tyrrell , Mount White and Mount McConnell .
Although he was appointed the director of the Geological Survey
of Canada in 1895 Dawson had a number of other interests that
took up much of his time and attention, including poetry.
On
March 2, 1901, he was struck with acute bronchitis and died
within hours of contracting the illness.
His death was a blow to the scientific community and many
felt the loss, as at the time of his death he was still the
director of the Geological Survey of Canada as well as an editor
of the American Anthropologist.
While Dawson did not live in Alberta , his extensive exploration
of the area, and the maps that resulted from his studies have
been a boon for over a century after his death.
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