31 Search High and Low 1897

You need to do something very special to have two towns named for you. George Mercer Dawson did. Dawson City in the Yukon and Dawson Creek in Northern British Columbia are named after George Dawson. There are even mountains called the Dawson Range, named in George's honour.

George was born in Nova Scotia and he lived there until he was six years old. Then, his father got a job as principal of McGill College in Montreal. The family moved to Montreal. McGill College was built on a lot of land. George would spend the day playing there. George's father was a geologist. He taught George to love rocks and nature. George explored the grounds of McGill to find interesting rocks and flowers to show his father.

When George was 11 years old, he got sick. The bones in his back got an illness called tuberculosis. George was still growing. The sickness in his back made the bones bend and stopped George from growing tall. The sickness gave George terrible headaches all his life. That did not stop George from becoming successful. It did make his success even more amazing, though.

George studied hard and was a very good student. People liked George and he was a strong leader. He became a scientist. George was not an ordinary, Canadian scientist, though. He went on to study at one of the best schools in London, England with some of the best teachers. He was a top student and won many awards for his work. George knew he would not have to wait long for a job with the Canadian government.

He was right.When Canada was making a border with the USA(see 1888),George was offered a job. It was a job that everyone with George's education wanted. George was the best, so the government asked him. George was sent to study the rocks, plants, and animals along the border. It took him two years. He wrote a very good report.

George's report helped Canadians to learn about nature in their country. George knew about rocks and he wrote about them. This report was used by the Canadian Pacific Railway (see 1884) when they built the railroad through the mountains. George's report helped new settlers better understand the land they were farming. His report told Canadians and Americans things about the land that they had not known before. George's report sold out as soon as it was printed. His report was so good that the government wanted him to write more. George was sent to British Columbia to explore.

Canada needed an explorer. No one had walked through the Canadian Rockies before. The government asked George to walk through these very high mountains and make a map. This map was to show where the rivers and the mountains were. The map was to show where there were ways to go past each mountain without having to climb to the top of any of them. George took one year to walk and draw his map. He found some very tall mountains and he named them. He gave his map to the government. The government was very happy, so next, they sent George to the Yukon in Northern Canada.

GEORGE DAWSON WAS CANADA'S BEST EXPLORER, EVEN THOUGH HE WAS VERY SMALL

Canada has a lot of land in the north. Even so, most Canadians live in the southern part of the country, near the US border. Almost 75% of Canadians live within 160 kilometres of the USA. The Canadian Pacific Railway was built near the US border and so were the roads. People can travel in the south. It is warmer there and easier to grow food. In the 1800's, life was easier for the farmers when there were other people living near who could help them sometimes. The Northern part of Canada had too many rocks. The farmers knew it would be difficult to grow food there because the soil is not good and it is too cold. No one wanted to move to the north of Canada because life was hard enough in the south.

The government wanted to know if there were any rocks that were worth money in the north. The government was interested in gold. George knew about rocks, so in 1887, he was sent to the Yukon in Northern Canada to make maps of the area. Today, we know that George came to understand how the land in Canada was formed by exploring in the north. He could see how the ice and rocks had moved in the past and pushed mountains up high. He could see how the ice had made rivers. But at the time that George drew his maps, no one wanted to move north, so no one wanted to buy them. The government kept these maps, but did not use them.

Then suddenly, in 1896, George's maps became very important. All the people who were rushing to the Yukon to look for gold(see 1896)needed to see how to get there. Ten years after George had made his maps, they were finally printed. George's maps were so important to the gold prospectors and the North West Mounted Police (see 1873)that George became famous.The new town started by the people who arrived to look for gold needed a name. They called it Dawson City to honour George Dawson.

Later, these same maps of the north were used again. When Canada wanted to make the border with Alaska, they used George's maps to see where to put the line.

George had a very successful career as an explorer. His reports were important to all Canadians, including the Haida First Nations living on the Queen Charlotte Islands in Western Canada. George studied the Haida culture and took photos while he drew his maps. He reported on how smart, skilled and artistic the Haida were. He wanted the Haida culture to grow and he told other Canadians about their beautiful crafts and totem poles. George told Canadians to trade with the Haida. George told the government they had to negotiate well with the Haida for the land they wanted to get from them to build the Canadian Pacific Railway.

George's career was very important, but it was not long. When George was 52 years old he got sick again one night. He got a coughing illness called bronchitis. George's body was not strong and after just one day, he died in the hospital. George is forever remembered, though, mostly by the people living in the two towns named for him.