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HENRY GANNETT 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE 
 
 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 
 
 1910-1914 
 
 By 
 S. N. D. NORTH 
 
 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 
 1915 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE 
 
 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 
 
 1910-1914 
 
 By 
 S. N. D. NORTH 
 
 THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 
 1915 
 
> 
 
313221 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 President of the National Geographic Society, 1910-1914 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 HENRY GANNETT, one of the founders of the 
 National Geographic Society and its fifth 
 President, often called "the father of American 
 map-making," died in Washington on November 5, 
 1914. In his passing we parted with the man who did 
 more than any contemporary to systematize the science 
 of geography in its practical application, and to bring 
 within popular comprehension the fact that this science 
 lies at the basis of many of the sciences. The statement 
 claims much for the man and for the science ; it is a part 
 of the purpose of this memorial of Henry Gannett to 
 demonstrate its truth, both as to the man and the science 
 to which he devoted his life with a tireless consecration. 
 The other purpose is to pay affectionate tribute to a 
 friend of long years' standing, a citizen who lived a life 
 of modest and earnest usefulness, a public official whose 
 personality, zeal, and devotion contributed so unstint- 
 ingly to the splendid success of the National Geographic 
 Society throughout the twenty-eight years of its exist- 
 ence. The writer has known Henry Gannett since we 
 were fellow- workers in the Federal Census of 1880. 
 We were associated in the two subsequent censuses and 
 in the permanent Census Office. I write, therefore, as 
 a friend who had exceptional opportunity to know the 
 method and the quality of his work, and to study his 
 personal character. He had laid the enduring basis of 
 his reputation before we met, and it was as a topogra- 
 pher that he left his chief impress upon the history of 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 geographical science in the United States. But it was 
 the rare combination of the topographer and the statis- 
 tician which made his work so unique and so construc- 
 tive a combination not found in any like degree in 
 any of the scientists with whom he worked side by side 
 in those early days. 
 
 Born in Maine on August 24, 1846, the son of 
 Michael Farley and Hannah Church Gannett, of rugged 
 Anglo-Saxon stock, Henry Gannett took his degree as 
 bachelor of science (equivalent to the present degree of 
 civil engineer) at the Lawrence Scientific School of 
 Harvard in 1869, and his degree as mining engineer at 
 the Hooper Mining School in 1870. At Cambridge he 
 was a contemporary of Dr. F. W. Clarke of the Geo- 
 logical Survey and Dr. Charles E. Munroe of the 
 George Washington University, with both of whom he 
 touched elbows during the rest of his life. He was for 
 a brief period assistant in the Harvard Observatory, and 
 accompanied Professor Pickering to Spain in 1871, to 
 observe the total eclipse of the sun in that year. Upon 
 his return he received an appointment as astronomer in 
 Captain C. F. Hall's North Polar Expedition of 1871; 
 but there came simultaneously an invitation to join the 
 United States Geological and Geographical Survey of 
 the Territories under Dr. F. V. Hayden, and this latter 
 offer appealing more to his taste and education, he came 
 to Washington. He was appointed topographer for 
 the western division of the Hayden Survey, and con- 
 tinued actively in that work until 1879, when the Hay- 
 den Survey was merged in the newly created United 
 States Geological Survey. 
 
 Page Four 
 
HENRY GANNETT? 
 
 It was hazardous work and appealed to the adven- 
 turous spirit. It carried the hardy young engineer into 
 regions where the foot of white man had never before 
 trod; across mountain passes and torrential rivers; 
 among wild Indian tribes often on the war-path. 
 
 He first discovered and christened many a mountain 
 peak and hidden lake ; he was one of the first to ascend 
 Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the United States out- 
 side of Alaska ; and it was in recognition of his intrepid 
 pioneer work that his associates christened the highest 
 peak in the Wind River range in Wyoming "Mount 
 Gannett." There were hairbreadth escapes and great 
 physical fatigues, calling for dauntless courage and 
 great endurance. 
 
 Thus Henry Gannett had his schooling in American 
 geography at first hand, and thus he learned how to 
 write it down in the reports and maps which today com- 
 pletely reveal its physical characteristics. He was a 
 pioneer explorer and topographer of great sections, 
 more particularly Colorado and Wyoming, of the vast 
 empire which the Louisiana Purchase added to our 
 national domain. It was a region filled with geologic 
 wonders and immeasurable industrial possibilities, which 
 appealed equally to the imagination and the practical 
 turn of the young engineer's mind. 
 
 Dr. Gannett's first report, on Central Colorado, 
 appeared in Dr. Hayden's Seventh Annual Report 
 (1873), and other reports followed in each subse- 
 quent report of that survey. His final report (1878) 
 described the geographical field work in the Yellow- 
 stone Park, which he first surveyed. Among the bulle- 
 
 Page Five 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 tins and miscellaneous publications of the Survey are 
 his notes accompanying his Contour Map of the United 
 States (1879) , his lists of elevations in the United States 
 west of the Mississippi River (1873) , and his additional 
 lists of elevations (1879). 
 
 The quality and accuracy of his work brought young 
 Gannett to the immediate attention of all the men in 
 charge of the several Government surveys which shared 
 the earlier topographical and geological work of the 
 Government. 
 
 In 1879 the long agitation for the unification and 
 consolidation of the Government survey work came to a 
 head. Criticism of the then existing system, which was 
 in reality no system at all, had long agitated the scien- 
 tists. This work was then divided among no less than 
 five distinct organizations, no one of which had by law 
 any harmonious relations with the others: the Hayden 
 Survey, the Wheeler Survey west of the one hundredth 
 meridian, the Clarence King Survey, the J. W. Powell 
 Survey, and the Coast and Geodetic Survey. There 
 was much overlapping of work and a constant clashing 
 of plans between these surveys, each independent of the 
 others. Their results were based upon different units 
 of measurement, impossible of co-ordination and often 
 in conflict. The surveys were in a sense competitive, at 
 least in their efforts for congressional support, and in 
 the jealousies and frictions which resulted. It was 
 clearly not a good arrangement, from either a business 
 or scientific point of view. The consolidation was 
 strongly favored by the National Academy of Sciences, 
 and more vigorously opposed by the War Department, 
 
 Pagt Six 
 
HENRY GANtfETT 
 
 but it won on its merits. The consolidation was in- 
 spired by the conviction that the nation had a priceless 
 heritage in the ownership of these vast regions, and a 
 supreme national duty to perfect the legislation under 
 which they were to be opened up to make homes for the 
 teeming millions then pouring hitherward from the old 
 world. 
 
 And thus was born the United States Geological 
 Survey of the present day (which should have been 
 named the Geological and Geographical Survey). 
 This legislation was the most significant of the many 
 events which have gradually made the National Capital 
 the chief scientific center of the United States. While 
 the Smithsonian Institution was already conspicuous, at 
 home and abroad, as the representative scientific founda- 
 tion of the country, the real beginnings of Washington's 
 pre-eminence as a scientific center can be traced very 
 largely to the geographical and geological students and 
 explorers employed in one or another of the five surveys, 
 and many of whom remained with the new survey. 
 They included, with some who came in a little later, Dr. 
 W. H. Holmes, head curator of the National Museum ; 
 Professor A. H. Thompson, Dr. Charles D. Walcott, 
 Dr. William H. Dall, Professor F. W. Clarke, Grove 
 K. Gilbert, Dr. A. C. Peale, Frederick H. Newell, Dr. 
 C. Hart Merriam, Dr. George P. Merrill, J. H. Ren- 
 shawe, A. D. Wilson, Marcus Baker, Bailey Willis, 
 Gilbert Thompson, Arnold Hague, S. F. Emmons, 
 George F. Becker, Raphael Pumpelly, and John M. 
 Coulter. 
 
 Dr. Gannett's appointment in the new survey bore 
 
 Page Sewn 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 date of October 8, 1879, but by transfer to the Census 
 Office his first service was as geographer of the Tenth 
 Census. At the conclusion of that service, Director 
 Powell appointed him Chief Geographer, effective July 
 1, 1882. 
 
 His first report to Major Powell was dated June 80, 
 1883, and these reports were annually continued until 
 his temporary separation from the Survey in 1902, to 
 serve as assistant director of the Philippine Census. 
 
 The topographical work of the Government really 
 dates from Dr. Gannett's appointment as Chief Geogra- 
 pher. Most of the surveys of his predecessors had been 
 preparatory, and in the nature of reconnaissance. As 
 Chief Geographer, Dr. Gannett determined the princi- 
 ples and methods upon which the surveys have since been 
 carried on; he selected the sections to be surveyed and 
 the points of departure; organized and instructed the 
 parties sent into the field; inspected their work in the 
 field, from summer to summer, and supervised the con- 
 version of their field notes into the topographical maps 
 of which he designed the plan. Thus it was that he 
 came to be called "the father of American map- 
 making." The system of topography he built up is 
 recognized in other countries as the equal of any, and 
 remains practically unchanged. In 1887 he began the 
 use of the plane-table for platting roads, etc., in the field, 
 using vertical angles for carrying along elevations. In 
 1891 he began the use of the traverse by transit and 
 steel tape for primary control in place of triangulation 
 in level country; and about the same time he began the 
 present method of final contouring in the field instead 
 
 Page Eight 
 
HENR? GANNETT 
 
 of compiling the final map in the office from field notes. 
 All these improved methods contributed to quickness, 
 accuracy, and economy in the work. His work com- 
 manded such wide approval that new legislation 
 extended the topographical survey from the public 
 domain, to which it was confined when the Survey was 
 organized, to cover the entire United States. Some 
 forty per cent of this gigantic undertaking was com- 
 pleted under Dr. Gannett's direction, during a period 
 of about twenty-five years. I believe that there exists 
 no record, in any department of the Federal Govern- 
 ment, of a work of equal scientific importance, covering 
 a like period of time, and inspired and controlled by one 
 master spirit. Henry Gannett's hall-mark is indelibly 
 written upon the topographical history of our country. 
 Mr. Gannett's second important service to the science 
 of geography was in connection with the decennial cen- 
 suses. So far as we know, he was the first American to 
 discover that topography and statistics are twin sisters 
 of science. In the earlier decades it does not appear to 
 have been understood that geographical science is at the 
 root of an accurate and satisfactory census. General 
 Francis A. Walker came to realize it when superin- 
 tendent of the 1870 census. When he organized the 
 centennial census of 1880, one of his first steps was to 
 invite Dr. Gannett to become its geographer. Thus 
 began an intimate scientific comradeship and personal 
 friendship which survived until General Walker's death. 
 At that census every enumeration district in the United 
 States, some 2,000 in number, was for the first time 
 defined in advance for the guidance of the enumerator. 
 
 Page Nine 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 This was one of many distinctive features of that census 
 by which Dr. Gannett's knowledge and intuitive statis- 
 tical sense improved and strengthened it. Another was 
 his rearrangement of the geographical division of the 
 United States, which had long outgrown that utilized in 
 the text books. His regrouping and rechristening of 
 these divisions still stands in every geography. Still 
 another was his rectification of the areas of the States, 
 which involved many surprising reductions and addi- 
 tions in both the old and the new States. 
 
 Dr. Gannett developed to its present high degree of 
 effectiveness the graphic method of presenting the 
 results of statistical inquiries. This art, invented by 
 European statisticians, was first used for statistical 
 purposes in America in the Statistical Atlas of 1870. 
 It remained for Dr. Gannett to make the widest and 
 most effective application of the method in the Statis- 
 tical Atlas of 1880, published by the Scribners. 
 
 This volume marked a new epoch in statistical car- 
 tography. Associated with Dr. Gannett in its prepara- 
 tion was Fletcher W. Hewes, who undertook the 
 original preparation of the material, Dr. Gannett writ- 
 ing the text and revising, editing, and extending the 
 plates. Together they succeeded in symbolizing, by 
 means of "black and white" and colored diagrams and 
 charts, every branch of inquiry covered by that census. 
 No statistical atlas before or since, compiled in any 
 country, has covered so wide a variety of topics. 
 
 Dr. Gannett was also the geographer of the Eleventh 
 and Twelfth Censuses, ably assisted in the latter, during 
 his absence in the Philippines, by his understudy, Mr. 
 
 Page Ten 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 Charles S. Sloane, now Geographer of the permanent 
 Census Office. 
 
 By his ingenuity in visualizing statistical results in 
 many combinations, and the use of a variety of symbols 
 devised to meet special conditions, he brought all 
 branches of statistics within the ready comprehension of 
 the people, and enormously increased their usefulness, 
 particularly in schools, colleges, and public lectures. 
 He thus made possible the introduction and successful 
 use of the lantern slide in the teaching and understand- 
 ing both of geography and statistics. Nothing has 
 since been developed in the graphic method which 
 carries the art beyond his development of it. I recall 
 a talk of his at the Cosmos Club many years ago, in 
 which he lined the walls with colored drafts of the 
 various symbols he employed, in an endless variety of 
 combinations, suitable for any association of related 
 data, and described the particular advantage of each in 
 particular instances. I have often wished he had 
 reduced that informal talk to writing, for I know of no 
 treatise on the subject more illuminating than this 
 lecture. 
 
 Dr. Gannett's subsequent census work was chiefly 
 done as the Assistant Director, with Victor H. Olmsted, 
 of the census of the Philippine Islands in 1902, of 
 Cuba and Porto Rico in 1899, and of Cuba in 1906. 
 The Philippine census, being primarily a war measure, 
 was in charge of an officer of the army. In its statis- 
 tical features it was largely the work of Dr. Gannett. 
 The principal text of the report, together with the 
 charts, diagrams, and maps, are his. In carrying for- 
 
 Page Eleven 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 ward this work he penetrated with his associates among 
 savage tribes never before seen by white men and into 
 regions hitherto deemed inaccessible. This appealed to 
 the spirit of adventure in him, which was a large element 
 in his success in geographical field work. 
 
 In 1909 the Central American republics organized a 
 plan for a joint census of these republics, which was 
 officially communicated to the United States Govern- 
 ment, with the request that it nominate a census expert 
 competent to act as its director. The appointment was 
 tendered to Dr. Gannett on the ground of his knowl- 
 edge of the Spanish language and his census experience 
 in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. Differences 
 and divisions among the authorities of these republics 
 defeated the undertaking, after the nomination of Dr. 
 Gannett had been accepted. 
 
 The United States Board of Geographic Names, now 
 the Geographic Board, affords another illustration of 
 Dr. Gannett's skillful adaptation of the science of geog- 
 raphy to the purposes of government. It was orig- 
 inally an unofficial organization, brought together by 
 Dr. Gannett and Dr. T. C. Mendenhall of the Coast 
 Survey, and composed of ten governmental geogra- 
 phers, keenly sensitive to the confusion and contradiction 
 in geographic names constantly appearing in govern- 
 mental publications. President Harrison became con- 
 vinced that their work should be officially confirmed. 
 He issued an executive order on September 4, 1890, 
 constituting the Board, and directing that all unsettled 
 questions concerning geographic nomenclature and 
 orthography, particularly upon the maps and charts of 
 
 Page Tnvel<ve 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 the Government, be first referred to the Board, and that 
 its decisions be accepted as the standard authority. Dr. 
 Mendenhall was named as chairman, and served until 
 he left Washington, in 1894, when Dr. Gannett 
 succeeded him, serving as chairman of the Board while 
 he lived. A few days before his death he was again 
 elected president of the Board. To Secretary Sloane, 
 who told him of the fact, he remarked that the Board 
 should have selected a new president. When Mr. 
 Sloane replied that the Board was earnestly unanimous 
 in its desire that he continue, he replied: "You are de- 
 termined I shall die in the harness, and I will." 
 
 When this Board was created, new counties and towns 
 were being founded in the great West with an amazing 
 rapidity. They were frequently christened on the spur 
 of the moment, often in keeping with some individual 
 caprice. The result was a rapidly increasing hodge- 
 podge of geographical nomenclature. As an illustra- 
 tion of the work of the Board, it was directed soon after 
 its official organization to determine upon several hun- 
 dred cases of disputed names in Alaska, where the 
 nomenclature, derived from native, Russian, Spanish, 
 and English sources, was in great confusion. It 
 appeared that nothing less than a complete revision of 
 Alaskan nomenclature would remove this confusion. 
 Differences only less confusing appeared in all parts 
 of the country. Transliteration has everywhere been a 
 fruitful source of differences in geographic spelling. 
 The Board found hundreds of instances where the name 
 of the post-office did not conform to the name given by 
 local usage to the town in which the post-office was situ- 
 
 Page Thirteen 
 
HEKEY GANNETT 
 
 ated. Many cases existed where the same name had 
 been given to two or more towns in the same State. Up 
 to the time of its last report, the Board had decided 
 5,133 such cases. The rules outlined by the Board to 
 govern its policy are simple, sensible, and conservative. 
 They follow in the main the similar rules of boards and 
 national geographic societies of Europe working for 
 unification of geographic names in their several coun- 
 tries. This is one of the many ways in which geographic 
 science promotes world civilization. Dr. Gannett did 
 more work in this field than any other American. 
 
 Dr. Gannett took part in the forestry and conserva- 
 tion movements in the United States, both officially and 
 through his personal association with those who first 
 brought home to the public at large the national impor- 
 tance of the questions involved. His sympathetic 
 interest and wise counsel were always counted on and 
 were freely given while these questions were taking 
 shape, and entitle him to remembrance as one identified 
 with the small but ardent group of Government "con- 
 servationists," whose efforts in the latter part of Presi- 
 dent Roosevelt's administration inaugurated a new pub- 
 lic policy. 
 
 His official activities in this field lay along three lines. 
 As a geographer and statistician, both in the Geological 
 Survey and in the Census, he had had to do with the 
 gathering and compilation of data concerning forest 
 resources and the lumber industry. When in 1897 the 
 Geological Survey was by act of Congress assigned the 
 task of examining and surveying the forest reserves 
 which President Cleveland had set aside earlier in the 
 
 Page Fourteen 
 
HENBY GANNETT 
 
 same year, Dr. Gannett was placed in charge of the 
 examination work. In 1908, when President Roose- 
 velt's Conservation Commission undertook to assemble 
 authoritative data concerning the nation's resources, 
 their use, and the probable future needs of the country, 
 Dr. Gannett was selected to edit the report which pre- 
 sented the results of this epoch-making investigation, 
 
 National forestry became an important public ques- 
 tion only after it had been clearly established that our 
 national timber supplies were being drawn upon faster 
 than replaced through natural growth; and the gather- 
 ing and presentation of forest and lumbering statistics, 
 in which Dr. Gannett was engaged before the conserva- 
 tion movement gathered headway, was therefore valu- 
 able pioneer work. Still more important was the work 
 performed under his supervision in examining and 
 reporting upon the forest reserves, which are now 
 national forests. When first set aside, these forests, 
 situated in mountainous portions of the West, were 
 mainly wildernesses concerning which relatively little 
 was known. It was necessary to ascertain the extent 
 and character of their timber growths and the relative 
 suitability of the lands which they included for forest 
 purposes and for agricultural use, before a rational 
 administrative policy could be developed and applied. 
 Under Dr. Gannett the work of mapping the forest 
 conditions and classifying the land was carried forward 
 through a series of years, and the results were embodied 
 in a number of Geological Survey reports which are still 
 in many cases the most complete accounts of individual 
 national forest areas. 
 
 Page Fifteen 
 
HENBY GANNETT 
 
 As editor of the report of the National Conservation 
 Commission, Dr. Gannett had charge of the most 
 important stock-taking of national resources ever 
 undertaken by any government. It was a "domesday 
 book" of an entirely new order. The three volumes of 
 this report furnished the basis for the formulation along 
 constructive lines of public policies of far-reaching value, 
 and the report itself became and continues to be a 
 veritable arsenal of information on the topics covered. 
 
 Thus, within less than half a century after Henry 
 Gannett began his topographical work on the millions 
 of unsurveyed acres of our national domain, he was 
 called to act as statistician of a Conservation Commis- 
 sion dedicated to the work of saving from spoliation the 
 seemingly inexhaustible natural resources which his 
 surveys opened up to settlement. 
 
 There remain to be mentioned the contributions which 
 Dr. Gannett made, as a scientific investigator, to our 
 knowledge of the natural causes which control forest 
 distribution. It was doubtless his interests as a geogra- 
 pher which turned his mind to inquiries in this field. 
 The results were presented in published papers which 
 broke new ground regarding irrigation, precipitation, 
 the relation between climatic conditions and the distri- 
 bution of various Western tree species, and regarding 
 the establishment of the natural timber line in this 
 country. That he thus became a pioneer in the field of 
 American forest geography is further evidence of his 
 originality of mind. 
 
 Dr. Gannett was a voluminous writer on geograph- 
 ical, statistical, and inter-related subjects, and did much 
 
 Page Sixteen 
 
to enrich the geographical literature of the world. 
 Were it possible to compile a complete bibliography of 
 his writings, it would represent many thousand pages of 
 printed matter. It would include his reports as topog- 
 rapher of the Hayden and Geological Surveys; all his 
 text contributed, much without signature, to three 
 decennial censuses, and many census bulletins on special 
 topics, published over his name; his constant contribu- 
 tions to scientific magazines and societies, which were in 
 great demand, both in this country and in Europe; his 
 contributions to American and foreign encyclopedias, 
 which include the most important issued during a 
 period of thirty years. Only with such a bibliography 
 can one realize the tireless industry of Dr. Gannett's 
 brain and pen. To fully appreciate it, one must under- 
 stand that all these contributions were on highly 
 technical subjects, many of them advancing new facts 
 and ideas on controverted or unsettled questions. 
 
 He was the author of several books which hold a 
 permanent place in geographical and statistical science. 
 Among his earlier publications from the Survey were 
 gazetteers of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
 New Jersey, Kansas, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Vir- 
 ginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Porto Rico, 
 and Cuba. In 1893 he compiled his "Manual of Topo- 
 graphic Methods" (Monograph XXII), containing a 
 complete description of the topographic work, instru- 
 ments and methods of the Survey. His "Dictionary of 
 Altitudes," first published in 1884, has passed through 
 four editions. The above publications were incidental 
 to his official work. 
 
 Page Seventeen 
 
HENBY GANNETT 
 
 In 1895 Dr. Gannett compiled and published, in 
 collaboration with Carl L. Garrison and Dr. Edwin J. 
 Houston, a Commercial Geography, which was at once 
 recognized as the standard American authority in this 
 field, and is still extensively used in schools and colleges. 
 In 1895 he published "The Building of a Nation." The 
 volume was based upon the census of 1890, and pre- 
 sented a complete and impressive picture of the growth, 
 resources, present condition, and probable future devel- 
 opment of the United States. By a coincidence, it 
 appeared in the same year with Francis A. Walker's 
 book of nearly the same title, "The Making of the 
 Nation." It might almost have been intended as a 
 companion volume; General Walker condensed the 
 political history and development of the country, in a 
 popular and effective survey. Dr. Gannett supple- 
 mented this survey with a picture of the geography, 
 topography, resources, commerce, revenues, industries, 
 and wealth of the nation a complete statistical photo- 
 graph of the United States as it was, and is yet to be. 
 It was a unique and invaluable book. 
 
 Later, in 1898, his "United States" was published in 
 London as Vol. II of "Stanford's Compendium of 
 Geography and Travel." This was largely an elabora- 
 tion of the previous volume. Some day some American 
 geographer may be inspired to bring these books up to 
 date, for the service of millions of pupils in schools and 
 colleges. 
 
 In the last chapter of "The Building of a Nation," 
 under the title, "A Forecast of the Future," Dr. 
 Gannett ventured a series of prophecies, some of which 
 
 Page EighUen 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 are interesting revelations of his views on live questions 
 of the present day. "The utter savagery and folly of 
 the spoils system will be thoroughly realized long before 
 our second century has passed," is one of them. Others 
 follow: "The time is near at hand when immigration 
 will be closely restricted, and only the intelligent and 
 industrious of Europe will be allowed to make their 
 homes with us." * * * "With the restriction of 
 immigration and the exclusion of its worst elements, the 
 trades unions, whose members are almost wholly of 
 foreign birth or parentage, will disappear from our 
 midst." * * * "The restriction of immigration will 
 greatly check the foreign additions to our numbers, but 
 their places will be filled by our own flesh and blood; 
 and the natural increase, which has been depressed by 
 the flood of immigration, will quickly recover its normal 
 rate. With this restriction, also, illiteracy will rapidly 
 disappear." "As manufactures extend in the 
 
 South and the whites leave the farms for the city, their 
 places will be taken by the colored people, who will thus 
 become the farmers of that section. The colored people 
 will also become the land-holders of the South and will 
 produce the cotton of the world." * * * "The 
 position of woman in the future, already foreshadowed, 
 will be realized. She will no longer be secondary to 
 man, but his equal, or rather his supplement. Among 
 other things, she will naturally assume her share in those 
 great corporations known as municipal, State, and 
 national governments." * * * "Prominent among 
 the improvements we are destined to make will be the 
 simplification of our language ; phonetic spelling and a 
 
 Page Nineteen 
 
HENBY GANNETT 
 
 simple, consistent grammar are only a question of time." 
 * * * "For centuries to come the United States can 
 supply the whole world with fuel without depleting her 
 resources of coal." 
 
 These sentences are culled at random from Dr. 
 Gannett's "Forecast," because they at once illustrate his 
 terse simplicity of style and reveal some of his advanced 
 views. So far as we can yet judge, his prophetic 
 instinct was not at fault. 
 
 Certain features of all these volumes impress the 
 reader. Perhaps the most significant is the fact that 
 Dr. Gannett never used a superfluous word I mean it 
 literally; he was a literary trip-hammer. Both his 
 character and his training seem to have inculcated a 
 contempt for mere rhetorical effort in driving home the 
 significance of what he was saying. There was the 
 fact, often a novel and extraordinary fact. He stated 
 it clearly and left it; let the reader make the most of it. 
 In like manner all his writings lacked what we may call 
 the personal flavor. He never made reference to his 
 own contributions to geographical and statistical science. 
 He shrank instinctively from anything like self -ad- 
 vertising. 
 
 Dr. Gannett was one of the half dozen men who 
 conceived the plan of organizing the Cosmos Club, the 
 prime purpose of which was to bind the scientific men 
 of Washington by that social tie which promotes solidar- 
 ity and mutual sympathy. Among those who joined 
 him in 1878 in signing the articles of incorporation were 
 Major Powell, Theodore Gill, Major Clarence E. 
 Dutton, and Garrick Mallery. Major Powell was its 
 
 Page Twenty 
 
HENBY GANNETT 
 
 first president, and in 1897 Dr. Gannett Was elected 
 president. Of the ten incorporators, Dr. Gannett was 
 the last survivor. The Cosmos Club was a scion of the 
 Philosophical Society, well remembered by our elder 
 scientists as their only point of personal contact. 
 
 It has been seen that national geography was in its 
 infancy when Dr. Gannett first began its study in 1871. 
 The American Geographical Society, organized in New 
 York in 1852, had done much important work from the 
 beginning, as it continues to do. Dr. Gannett was long 
 an associate editor of its Quarterly Bulletin. In the 
 meanwhile there had been gathered in Washington the 
 body of young men, some of whom I have named, 
 intensely interested in the subject, who realized the need 
 of closer co-operation among themselves and a common 
 center for their activities. 
 
 In response to the call of Gardiner G. Hubbard, 
 General A. W. Greely, J. R. Bartlett, Henry Mitchell, 
 Professor A. H. Thompson, and Henry Gannett, 
 thirty-three scientists met at the Cosmos Club on Janu- 
 ary 13, 1888, and organized the National Geographic 
 Society. Mr. Hubbard was elected the first president, 
 and Mr. Gannett was one of the Board of Managers 
 and the Recording Secretary. He continued to serve 
 the Society as manager, treasurer, vice-president, and 
 president as long as he lived.* 
 
 The Society was not founded as a rival of the Amer- 
 ican Geographical Society, but rather to establish a local 
 
 * The presidents of the Society and the length of their service have 
 ."been as follows: Gardiner G. Hubbard, 1888- '97, ten years; Alexander 
 Graham Bell, 1898-1903, five years; W J McGee, 1904, one year; Willis L. 
 Moore, 1905- '09, five years; Henry Gannett, 1910- '14, five years. 
 
 Page Twenty-one 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 bond for the geographers resident in Washington. It 
 was christened the National Society because it was 
 located at the National Capital; but the name was also 
 intended to be significant of the whole national field 
 which it has since occupied. Its growth at first was 
 slow, its quarters were cramped, its membership small. 
 The magazine it established was largely technical, and 
 appealed to the professional geographers. Its publica- 
 tion was continued at a financial loss. Thus the Society 
 struggled along for ten years, when Alexander Graham 
 Bell's idea of utilizing the magazine for the purpose of 
 popularizing the science of geography, of making it an 
 instrument to appeal to the human interest, as well as a 
 source of income to the Society, took form and sub- 
 stance. Under the editorship of Gilbert H. Grosvenor 
 the magazine was converted into a powerful popular 
 agency for "the increase and diffusion of geographic 
 knowledge" the purposes to which the Society had 
 dedicated itself in its charter. So admirably has the 
 plan been worked out by Mr. Grosvenor that the 
 struggling technical journal has grown like Jonah's 
 gourd. Today it is at once the most popular magazine 
 in the world, judged by its enormous and steadily 
 increasing circulation, and the greatest agency for 
 creating a knowledge of and a love for geography as a 
 humanizing science, brought to the fireside by the best 
 material that travel, research, and exploration can sup- 
 ply* by pictorial and descriptive methods. It is unique 
 in its character and in its success. 
 
 Carried forward on the wings of its magazine, the 
 National Geographic Society now has a membership of 
 
 Page T<wenty-t<wo 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 850,000, in all countries of the globe, and a large 
 revenue, a considerable portion of which is dedicated to 
 the actual work of geographic research. So soon as it 
 was seen that such a revenue was to be increasingly 
 available, the Society organized its Research Com- 
 mittee, of which Dr. Gannett was the chairman, and he 
 continued to serve until his death. Under the advice of 
 its Research Committee, the Society sent expeditions to 
 study the volcanoes of Mt. Pelee and La Soufriere; 
 aided the Peary Expedition which discovered the North 
 Pole; studied the glacier system of Alaska, the results 
 being embodied in the beautiful volume, "Alaskan 
 Glacier Studies," by Professors Tarr and Martin, 
 edited by Dr. Gannett and recently published ; and has 
 supported the Hiram Bingham expeditions making 
 geographical, geological, and archaeological investiga- 
 tions in Peru. 
 
 Behold how great a tree has grown from the little 
 seed planted in 1888! 
 
 Mr. Gannett was chairman of the special committee 
 of the National Geographic Society which examined 
 and verified the records of Peary's discovery of the 
 North Pole. The other members of the committee of 
 the Society were O. H. Tittmann, Superintendent of 
 the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and C. 
 M. Chester, Rear Admiral United States Navy and 
 formerly Superintendent of the United States Naval 
 Observatory. 
 
 Dr. Gannett received the degree of LL/.D. from 
 Bowdoin College in 1899, in recognition of his service to 
 geographic science. He was a corresponding member 
 
 Page Twenty-three 
 
HENBY GANNETT 
 
 of the Royal Geographic Society, of the Scottish Society 
 of Geographers, of the Geographical Society of France, 
 and was the Secretary of the Eighth International 
 Geographic Congress, held at Washington, in 1904. He 
 was also the editor of the Proceedings of the Congress, 
 which was published by the United States Government. 
 
 I have thus inadequately sketched the services of Dr. 
 Gannett during the half century in which American 
 geographical science has grown from humble beginnings 
 to a development not surpassed elsewhere. For a quar- 
 ter of a century he was a central figure in that develop- 
 ment. During that long period he always worked in a 
 spirit of complete sympathy and helpful co-operation 
 with his fellow scientists, who respected the rare quality 
 of his work while he lived and recognize a personal loss 
 in his death. 
 
 It remains to speak of Henry Gannett the man. To 
 those who knew him intimately, his personality stands 
 out with rugged lines of strength, yoked with attributes 
 which commanded admiration and affection. To the 
 world at large, his striking traits of character were only 
 dimly revealed. It was always difficult, even for his 
 intimates, to induce him to speak of his own work and 
 achievements ; he held a wholly inadequate idea of their 
 permanent importance. He preferred to talk in appre- 
 ciative terms of what his fellow scientists were doing; 
 he was modest, unassertive, even to a fault. 
 
 Profound in his convictions on all live questions, he 
 never sought controversy; nor did he ever decline it, 
 
 Page Twenty-four 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 when his convictions were affronted. It was this char- 
 acteristic which attracted him to the late John Muir, 
 on the Harriman Expedition, to the scientific success 
 of which they were both contributors. He had a deep 
 contempt for scientific charlatanism, and an unerring 
 instinct in its detection. His convictions were founded 
 upon the thoroughness of his own researches, which was 
 the key to his methods of work. Between him and those 
 whose ideals were the same there existed a kinship at 
 once delightful and inspiring. His memory will be 
 gratefully cherished by many of the scientists now win- 
 ning their spurs at the National Capital, for the spirit 
 of practical helpfulness which marked their personal 
 relations. Quick to detect misdirected effort in any of 
 his younger associates, he was eager to point out a waste 
 of time and energy, and to reveal out of his long experi- 
 ence the pathway they could profitably follow. There 
 are many among them who gladly acknowledge that 
 his kindly counsels set their feet in the right ways. He 
 seemed always to be thinking how he could help others, 
 never how he could best help himself. This character- 
 istic is especially dwelt upon in many of the letters re- 
 ceived by his family since his death. We may truly 
 be sure that if, while he lived, the quality of his work 
 and the scientific disinterestedness of his services was not 
 officially recognized in the degree of their merit and 
 such, indeed, was the fact it was largely because of his 
 own self-effacement. 
 
 Such was Henry Gannett: spotless in private life, 
 gentle, modest, helpful, without jealousies or enmities, 
 eager to befriend, with a consuming love for his great 
 
 Page Twenty -five 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 science, an intense desire to promote and perfect it, and 
 a tireless industry to that end. There are not many like 
 him in all these respects ; and because such men are rare, 
 and because those who knew Henry Gannett best knew 
 how rare a character he was, they welcome the oppor- 
 tunity to pay their unstinted tribute to the geographer, 
 the statistician, and the man. 
 
 S. N. D. NORTH. 
 
 Page 
 
to ^wtrg (Sawrctt from ^!a &nntttfir 
 
 ADDRESS OF DR. WILLIAM H. BALL AT THE FUNERAL, 
 IN HUBBARD MEMORIAL HALL, NOVEMBER 8, 1914. 
 
 We are come together to pay to our friend and com- 
 rade a tribute of affection and respect. His was no 
 ordinary personality. True to the traditions of his fore- 
 fathers and of the community from which he sprang, he 
 fitted himself for the work of a pioneer. He added to 
 the spirit of adventure the curiosity of the seeker of 
 knowledge and the earnestness of the man of science. 
 He became skilled in recording and lucid in expositing 
 the knowledge gained by the severest of labors in the 
 wilderness. To the present generation scenes of his 
 early work belong to an old, forgotten, far-off time. 
 The vast unpopulated spaces, the unscarred mountain 
 slopes, the silent enmity of the watchful savage, belong 
 to the past. To him they were a daily experience. 
 Hunger, cold, fatigue, and danger were his companions, 
 the harvest of knowledge his reward. He was not con- 
 tented merely to garner it in. From his studies came 
 new and graphic methods, making clear the teachings of 
 experience. He became one of the little band of real 
 geographers. The earth was his book, from which he 
 translated for us the records of the unbounded past, and 
 the promise of the future. 
 
 Page Twenty -seven 
 
HENBY GANNETT 
 
 A great poet, dying unappreciated and prematurely, 
 in a foreign land, was moved by his thwarted ambition 
 to ask that this should be his epitaph: 
 
 "Here lies one whose name was writ in water." 
 
 The name of Henry Gannett is written on the peaks 
 of the Rockies, on the plains of the far West, and the 
 islands of the tropic seas. The record of his work in 
 Cuba and the Philippines will form a bench-mark from 
 which developing nations may measure their future 
 progress. 
 
 This stately hall will carry his memory with that of its 
 builders. 
 
 His kindly comradeship, his retiring modesty, his tire- 
 less industry, his pure life, will not be forgotten. Hid- 
 den behind the veil to which we all with measured and 
 inevitable tread approach, worthy leader, good comrade, 
 kindly friend, beloved and loving husband and parent, 
 for a little time, farewell! 
 
 * 
 
 RESOLUTIONS OF THE BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE 
 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY. 
 
 The National Geographic Society has lost its honored 
 President, Henry Gannett, after a devoted service to 
 the Society, covering the whole period of its existence. 
 
 In his death the Society has lost one of its most 
 enthusiastic supporters and one of its wisest counsellors. 
 He was one of the six men who organized the Society, 
 becoming its first Secretary, then its Treasurer, then its 
 Vice-President, and finally, in 1909, its President, an 
 
 Page Tiutnty-eigAt 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 office he filled with honor to himself and credit to the 
 Society to the day of his death. From the day of the 
 Society's founding he was also a member of the Board 
 of Managers, and for the last ten years of his life headed 
 its Committee on Research. 
 
 In his death geographic science has lost one of its 
 richest contributors. He was in large measure the 
 father of Government map-making in the United States. 
 As Chief Geographer of the United States Geological 
 Survey for many years, as Assistant Director of the 
 Philippine Census, as Assistant Director of the Cuban 
 Census, as Geographer of the Tenth, Eleventh, and 
 Twelfth censuses of the United States, as Statistician 
 of the National Conservation Commission, and as Chair- 
 man of the United States Geographic Board, his con- 
 tributions to geographic knowledge were of inestimable 
 value. 
 
 We feel deeply the great loss our Society has sus- 
 tained in Mr. Gannett's death, and extend to the mem- 
 bers of his family our own as well as the Society's 
 profound sympathy. 
 
 We have lost a valued friend, the community a most 
 useful citizen, his family a devoted husband and father, 
 and the cause of geographic science one who labored in 
 its behalf with unflagging zeal, with unremitting energy, 
 and with unusual success. 
 
 * 
 ASSOCIATES OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
 
 At a meeting at the office of the Geological Survey on 
 Monday afternoon, November 9, 1914, to express sym- 
 
 Page Twenty-nine 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 pathy at the death of Henry Gannett, some of his old 
 associates, F. W. Clarke, Arthur P. Davis, Morris 
 Bien, George H. Ashley, and Alfred H. Brooks, spoke 
 of Mr. Gannett's personal character and of his contribu- 
 tions to science, and the following resolutions were 
 adopted: 
 
 We have met today to express our sorrow at the death 
 of Henry Gannett, the first Chief Geographer of the 
 United States Geological Survey and the leading geog- 
 rapher of the United States, and to pay tribute to his 
 character and his work. When Mr. Gannett, in 1882, 
 took charge of the work of the Survey's topographic 
 branch he established the methods and fixed the stand- 
 ards that have since been followed in the great task of 
 making the maps for a Government atlas of the United 
 States, a task that will for many years continue to 
 employ a large part of the energies of the Geological 
 Survey. The general recognition of the high quality 
 of the Survey's maps is itself a testimonial of apprecia- 
 tion of Mr. Gannett's work. These maps are in large 
 part the products of field methods devised by him. He 
 first used the method of sketching traverse work on the 
 board graphically in the field and he established the 
 present method of primary traverse. His "Manual of 
 Topographic Methods" has been published in two forms 
 by the Survey and is still a standard book of reference. 
 
 Mr. Gannett was a geographer in no narrow sense of 
 the word ; his interest in geography included such diverse 
 subjects as forestry, rainfall, the profiles of rivers, the 
 origin of the names of places and the historical detail of 
 our national geographic expansion and of the determina- 
 
 Pagt Thirty 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 tion of the areas and boundaries of the States, on all of 
 which subjects he prepared reports that were published 
 by the Survey. 
 
 His government work outside of the Survey, chiefly 
 for the Census of the United States, the censuses of 
 Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, and his services 
 as Chairman of the United States Geographic Board 
 and as Geographer of the National Conservation Com- 
 mission, covered a wide field and showed large admin- 
 istrative power. 
 
 In Mr. Gannett's death the Survey has lost a man of 
 broad view, wise initiative, and great service, and the 
 science of geography has lost a master spirit. We ten- 
 der to his family our heartfelt sympathy in their bereave- 
 ment and feel that they may find consolation in the 
 knowledge that his work for mankind was faithfully 
 and well done. 
 
 * 
 
 THE TWENTY- YEAR SERVICE TOPOGRAPHERS. 
 
 At a special meeting of the Twenty-year Service 
 Topographers of the United States Geological Survey, 
 of which society Mr. Gannett was President for the year 
 1914, the following resolutions were adopted: 
 
 It is with deep sorrow that we learn of the death of 
 Henry Gannett, the first active chief of the topographic 
 branch of the United States Geological Survey. In him 
 we of the older topographers particularly have lost not 
 only a great leader, but a true and genial friend. 
 
 Mr. Gannett, immediately upon his assumption of the 
 duties of chief topographer, in the early years of the 
 
 Page Thirty-one 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 Survey, began the organization of the topographic 
 branch. He set a high standard for topographic work 
 and laid the foundation of a systematic survey of the 
 country. He laid down the broad general lines upon 
 which the work should be conducted, and which, as fol- 
 lowed by his able successors, have led to its present 
 development. 
 
 In Henry Gannett topographic work in America will 
 miss a pioneer and a leader, the Geological Survey a 
 broad-minded adviser, and its older members a beloved 
 
 friend. 
 
 * 
 
 RESOLUTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHIC 
 
 BOARD. 
 
 Whereas, death removed on November 5, 1914, the 
 chairman and the last of the original members of the 
 United States Geographic Board, Dr. Henry Gannett, 
 therefore, be it resolved : 
 
 1. Realizing keenly the void thus created in the 
 Board, we, his colleagues, give this expression of per- 
 sonal appreciation of his charming qualities and the 
 unflagging interest with which he served the Board from 
 its beginning. 
 
 2. We will always recall with pride his contributions 
 to cartography and statistics, and we join the scientists 
 of Washington in deploring the loss of a brilliant and 
 efficient officer, a rare organizer, a noted statistician, and 
 a man alive with enthusiasm for the increase and diffu- 
 sion of knowledge. 
 
 3. The members of the Board will always hold in 
 memory Dr. Gannett's intelligent and zealous interest 
 
 Page TAirty-tnvo 
 
HENRY GANNETT 
 
 in all its transactions, and unite in mourning the death 
 of a good man, a warm friend, a wise counsellor, and a 
 public-spirited citizen. 
 
 4. The Board sends to the beloved family of our dear 
 colleague assurance of its profound sympathy in its 
 affliction. 
 
 * 
 
 THE SOCIETY OF AMEEICAN FOKESTEBS. 
 
 The Society of American Foresters expresses its pro- 
 found regret at the death of Henry Gannett, an Asso- 
 ciate Member of the Society since its foundation, and 
 one of the pioneers in forest conservation in the United 
 States. 
 
 As a geographer of wide experience and travel, he 
 contributed largely to our knowledge of the forests of 
 the United States and its possessions. His description 
 and mapping of the early forest reserves led in large 
 degree to an accurate knowledge of the national forests 
 and their proper management. 
 
 He was one of the first to study the distribution of 
 forests with regard to climate and to investigate their 
 effect upon rainfall. 
 
 He was instrumental in organizing the collection and 
 analysis of forest statistics, which brought out the eco- 
 nomic importance of the lumber industry. 
 
 As Geographer of the Conservation Commission and 
 Editor of its report, he helped to crystallize for the first 
 time a comprehensive statement of the existing knowl- 
 edge of the natural resources of the country. 
 
 Page Thirty-three 
 
HENBY GANNETT 
 
 By his death the Conservation movement has lost one 
 of its earliest and most influential leaders and the pro- 
 fession of forestry a staunch supporter and warm friend. 
 A man of high scientific attainments and greatly diversi- 
 fied activities, closely interwoven with the interests of 
 foresters, his loss will be keenly felt, not only by mem- 
 bers of the Society of American Foresters, but by all 
 friends of forestry. 
 
 THE COSMOS CLUB. 
 
 At a meeting of the Board of Management of the 
 Cosmos Club, November 9, 1914, the following resolu- 
 tion was unanimously adopted : 
 
 In the death of Henry Gannett the Cosmos Club has 
 lost one of its most distinguished and respected mem- 
 bers. As one of the founders of the Club and during 
 many years' service as a member of its Committee on 
 Admissions, of the Board of Managers, and later as 
 President, he took an important part in determining the 
 character of the Club and in the maintenance of its 
 standards. Mr. Gannett's distinguished career as a 
 scientific man, his extensive contributions to geographic 
 knowledge, his wide understanding of economic prob- 
 lems, his democratic personality, his interest in all mat- 
 ters pertaining to the progress of civilization, and his 
 sympathy with younger men, have always made him 
 respected and honored by his associates. His death is 
 to them a profound loss. They extend to his family an 
 expression of their deepest sympathy. 
 
 Page Thirty-four 
 
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