Henry Gannett

Henry Gannett LL.D
Henry Gannett
Born	(1846-08-24)August 24, 1846 Bath, Maine
Died	November 5, 1914(1914-11-05) (aged 68) Washington, District of Columbia
Citizenship	American
Alma mater	Harvard University Harvard University School of Mining and Practical Geology
Occupation(s)	Geographer Topographer
Employer	United States Geological Survey
Organization(s)	National Geographic Society Cosmos Club American Statistical Association American Association of Geographers Washington Academy of Sciences
Known for	Father of Mapmaking in America

Henry Gannett (August 24, 1846 – November 5, 1914) was an American geographer who is described as the "father of mapmaking in America." He was the chief geographer for the United States Geological Survey essentially from its founding until 1902. He was the geographer for the U.S. Census in 1880, 1890, and 1900. He was also a founding member and president of the National Geographic Society.

Background

Gannett was born in Bath, Maine, son of Hannah Trufant (nee Church) and Michael Farley Gannett. He attended local schools, before going to Harvard for college. He graduated with a B.S. at from the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University in 1869 and received a M.E. at the Hooper Mining School (aka the Harvard University School of Mining and Practical Geology) in 1870.

From 1870 to 1871, he was an assistant at the Harvard College Observatory. In 1871, he went to Spain to observe a solar eclipse.

In 1871 he was offered positions with two expeditions: Charles Francis Hall's ill-fated Polaris Expedition or going with Dr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden's survey of Yellowstone National Park.He chose the Hayden Survey and served as a topographer for the western territories surveys from 1872 through 1879.

On July 26, 1872, while climbing the then unnamed highest mountain in the Gallatin Mountains, he and his party experienced electric shocks following a lightning event near the summit. He was to name the mountain Electric Peak.

Career

U.S. Geological Survey cartographers with Henry Gannett, circa 1890-1900

Review of Peary's Records: Gilbert Grosvenor, Otto H. Tittman, Willis L. Moore, Commander Peary, Henry Gannett, C. M. Chester

In 1879, Gannet was among those lobbying to centralize the mapping functions into one government agency. Previously individual mapmakers and agencies had to compete for money from Congress for funds for projects. He suggested calling the new organization "United States Geological and Geographical Survey" although the name United States Geological Survey would officially be approved. He also assisted in planning the work of the USGS.

His first job under the first USGS director, Clarence King, was geographer of the 10th United States Census in1880. He laid out 2,000 enumeration districts with such precision that for the first time, each census enumerator knew in advance the metes and bounds of his particular district. The completion of this work on July 1, 1882 is considered the start of true topographical work in the United States and the birth of the quad.

In 1882, John Wesley Powell appointed Gannett as chief geographer for the USGS, a position he held until 1896. Around 1884, he persuaded various organizations doing the surveys, including the railroads, to begin using similar datums so the data could interconnect. As chief geographer, he oversaw work on the topographical atlas of the United States. He also served at geographer for the 11th Census in 1890 and the 12th Census in 1900.

In 1890, he and Thomas Corwin Mendenhall of the U.S. National Geodetic Survey campaigned to establish the United States Board on Geographic Names to create official names for locations in the United States. He was named to the newly created Board on Geographic Names by President Benjamin Harrison in Executive Order No. 28. In 1896, his last year with the USGS, he started the use of the benchmark.

Supervisors for Puerto Rican Census, 1899

In 1899, he was invited on the Harriman Alaska Expedition. In 1902, he was appointed the assistant director of the Census of the Philippines. He was also the assistant director of Cuban Census in 1907. In 1909 he was named chairman of a special committee to examine and verify the records of Robert E. Peary in the controversy with Frederick Cook over who was the first to reach the North Pole.

Publications

Sierra Club Trek with John Muir, Henry Gannett and others at the General Sherman Tree, 1902

National Geographic Society members in front of Hubbard Hall, 1909.

Gannet Peak with Gannett Glacier, Pinedale, Wyoming, USA

Mount Gannett, Chugach Mountains, Alaska, USA

Gannett's published works are geographical and statistical. Although he did not public many works in geomorphology and physical geology, he offered valuable suggestions. For example, he recognized hanging valleys and their importance to interpreting a geological setting.

He was also a contributor to Baedecker's Guide to the United States, Encyclopedia Britannica, and The New International Encyclopedia. He issued a gazetteer for eleven states.

• The West with R. P. Porter and W. A. Jones (1882)

• Scribner's Statistical Atlas with F.W. Hewes (1883).
• "Dictionary of Altitudes." Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey, No. 70 (1884)
• Boundaries of the United States and of the Several States and Territories, with a Historical Sketch of the Territorial Changes (1885) first attempt to standardize the history of U.S. boundaries
• A Manual of Topographic Methods (1893) the basis for standardizing survey and mapping processes.
• The Building of a Nation (1893)

• A Manual of Topographic Surveying (1895)

• Commercial Geography with Garrison and Houston(1895)
• The United States (1898)
• Dictionary of Altitudes in the United States, 3rd edition (1899)
• Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States (1902) first compilation of place names for the United States, provided the toponymic origins of over 10,000 places
• A Gazetteer of Porto Rico (1901)
• A Gazetteer of Cuba (1902)
• Gazetteer of Texas1902)
• "The Forests of Oregon" USGS Professional Paper No. 4 (1902)
• "The Forests of Washington" USGS Professional Paper No. 5 (1902)
• A Dictionary of Altitudes in the United States (1906)

Professional affiliations

In 1888 Gannett was one of founding members of the National Geographic Society. He served as its first secretary, and later as treasurer, then vice-president, and president, in 1909. He was also Chair of the Society's Research Committee, organizing expeditions to Alaska, La Soufriere, Mount Pelee, Peru, and the Polar Seas.

From 1897 to 1909, he was a vice president of the American Statistical Association. In 1904 he was among the founders of the American Association of Geographers. Also in 1904, he was secretary of the 8th Geographic Congress.He was also a member of the Washington Academy of Sciences, the Royal Geographic Society of London, the Royal Scottish Geographic Society, the Philadelphia Geographic Society, and a charter member of the Cosmos Club.

Honors

Gannett received an honorary LL.D from Bowdoin College in 1889.

Gannett Peak, the highest peak in Wyoming, was named for him in 1906. The glacier at Gannett Peak also bears his name. In 1911, Lawrence Martin named Mount Gannett, a 10,000-foot peak in the Chugach Mountains of eastern Alaska, for Henry Gannett.

Personal

He married Mary E. Chase of Waterville, Maine on November 24, 1874. They had a son, Farley Gannett who was an engineer for the Water Supply Commission of Pennsylvania. Their daughters were May Gannett (Mrs. G. T. Backus) and Alice Gannett.

He died at his home in 1840 Biltmore Street, Washington, D.C. on November 5, 1914, after being ill for about a year with Bright's Disease. HIs funeral service was given by Rev. U. G. B. Pierce of All Soul's Unitarian Church. The day of his funeral, the National Geographic closed and draped the building in mourning.

External links

• Works by or about Henry Gannett at Internet Archive
• Works by Henry Gannett at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)