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A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

George Mercer Dawson began life in Pictou, Nova Scotia, being born there on 1 August 1849. When still a little fellow, he went to live in Montreal when his father² became principal of McGill College in 1855. George was a robust child, but at the age of eleven or twelve became ill from a severe chill contracted by playing in the cold spring water of the McGill College stream. His subsequent illness prevented further growth and left him with a hump on his back.³ In spite of these permanent handicaps he never complained nor allowed them to stand in his way, but bravely went forward. Prior to his illness, George spent one year at the Montreal High School, where he took a high place in his classes. After this, frail health made it necessary for him to continue his studies with tutors. This system no doubt cut him off from some advantages, but did give him wider opportunities for pursuing subjects in which he was interested such as: painting, photography, book-binding, making lantern slides, experimenting with chemical apparatus, and even cheese making and baking clay articles in an outside oven. He also operated a small hand printing press on which he printed money or tokens which he gave to his brothers for chores and errands. George absorbed knowledge readily which was carefully stored away in his orderly mind for further use. He owed much to his father, J.W. Dawson, who never ceased to promote his son’s interest in science, and who always watched over George’s poor health and obtained the best available medical advice.

The east wing of the Arts Building of McGill College was the Dawson family home and what is now the McGill University campus was the grounds of the residence. Here was where George began his first explorations. In the 1860s the campus was not the trim and mellow spot of today, but had a rugged country-like look. A stream heavily overhung with alders wound its way down the eastern side, where the Science Buildings now stand. George’s adventures on stream and campus foreshadowed in miniature his greater experiences later, on the roaring Yukon and other great western Canadian rivers.

At the age of nineteen, Dawson entered McGill in 1868 as a part-time student, attending lectures in English, Chemistry, and Geology. While there he wrote a poem on Jacques Carrier which was praised by his instructors. He also gave evidence of his keen love of nature and poetic instinct in a poem describing the view from the summit of Mount Royal:

“Far on the western river lay,

Like molten gold, the dying day.

Far to the east the waters glide

Till lost in twilight’s swelling tide;

While all around, on either hand,

Spread the broad, silent, tree-clad land;

And in the distance far and blue

Long swelling mountains close the view.”

Subsequently, George decided to attend the prestigious Royal School of Mines in London, England, in their three-year program in geology and mining. George studied there from 1869 to 1872, excelled, and graduated as a distinguished student.

From the time Dawson began his serious geological work with his appointment to the Geological Survey of Canada in 1875, his many explorations in Western Canada brought great credit to him and his country. Consistently, his reports were of the highest order, bearing evidence of his striking powers of observation and deduction. Though thoroughly scientific they always took account of the practical and economic sides of geology, and, accordingly, commanded the attention and confidence of mining capitalists, mine managers and others interested in the development of mineral resources. When in the field, geology was, of course, the principal object of his investigations. But, Dawson’s wide knowledge of collateral sciences enabled him not merely to collect natural history specimens in an intelligent and discriminating way and discuss the flora and fauna of different regions, but also to make important observations on the customs and languages of Indians, keep meticulous meteorological records, and determine latitudes and longitudes.

In 1895, George Dawson was appointed director of the Geological Survey of Canada. Later, in connection with his holding this position, it was said: “In one sense he is the discoverer of Canada, for the Geological Survey of which he has been the chief, has done more than all agencies combined to make the potentialities of the Dominion known to the world.”

Because of his many excellent contributions to geology and science Dawson received much acclaim. George received the degree of D.Sc. from Princeton in 1877, and that of L.L.D. from Queen’s University in 1890, McGill University in 1891, and the University of Toronto in 1899. He was awarded the Bigsby Gold Medal by the Geological Society in 1891 for his services in the cause of geology, and was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Two years later, in 1893, he was elected president of the Royal Society of Canada, and in 1897 president of the geological section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at their Toronto meeting. In 1897 he also was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1896 he was president of the Geological Society of America, and his retiring address at their Albany, New York, meeting, “The Geological Record of the Rocky Mountain Region in Canada,” later published as a bulletin of the Geographical Society of America,⁴ was prized as a summary of Dawson’s latest views on problems connected with the complex geology of the west.

Many other distinctions, which cannot be enumerated here, fell to his lot. It was said: “It fails to few men to have so many high honors and grave responsibilities thrust on them in so short a period; the succession is probably without parallel in Canada’s history; yet it is the common judgement that the honors were fully merited, the responsibilities borne in such manner as to add renown to the country and the crown.⁵”

²Sir John William Dawson (1820-1899) was one of the most prominent figures in nineteenth-century Canadian intellectual and scientific life. After studies at Edinburgh University in the 1840s, Sir William was appointed Nova Scotia’s first superintendent of education. Serving for three years, he resigned in 1853 when seeking a position at Edinburgh. Though unsuccessful, Sir William was unexpectedly offered the principalship of McGill in 1855, a position he held for some forty years until retiring in 1893. Under his leadership, that institution emerged as a reputable centre for teaching and research. He was also active in a variety of intellectual pursuits and was often embroiled in controversy because of his unflinching theological conservatism.

³George was suffering from Pott’s disease, tuberculosis of the spine, a slow-working and painful disease that causes the affected vertebrae to soften and collapse and the spine to twist and curve.

⁴“Geological Record of the Rocky Mountain Region in Canada,” Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 12 (1901):57-92.

⁵W.J. McGee, “George Mercer Dawson,” American Anthropologist n.s., 3 (1901), 160.