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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



termined the principles 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 ; 

 visited them and inspected their work 

 from summer to summer ; supervised the 

 conversion 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 in existence, and re- 

 mains practically unchanged, except as 

 changing local conditions and new geo- 

 logical developments require that new 

 maps shall supersede the earlier. His 

 work commanded such universal ap- 

 proval that before very long n6w legis- 

 lation extended the topographical survey 

 from the public domain, to which it was 

 limited when the Geological Survey was 

 organized, to the entire United States. 



During his career as Chief Geogra- 

 pher more territory was mapped by the 

 Government of the United States, under 

 his direct supervision, than was ever 

 mapped before in the same length of 

 time under the supervision of any one 

 man. 



Dr. Gannett served as geographer of 

 the censuses of 1890 and 1900, the while 

 continuing as Chief Geographer of the 

 U. S. Geological Survey. In 1904 it be- 

 came necessary to secure a census of the 

 Philippines. This census was directed 

 by the military, but Dr. Gannett was 

 asked to take charge of its statistical ac- 

 tivities. The results of that census are 

 published in four volumes, large' parts of 

 which stand as a monument to, the zeal 

 and devotion of the subject of this 

 sketch. 



He was also in charge of the statistical 

 work in the censuses of Cuba and Porto 

 Rico. He was Geographer of the United 

 States Conservation Commission and one 

 of the pioneers in the forest preservation 

 movement in the United States. His 

 sympathetic interest and wise counsel 

 were always to be counted on and were 

 freely given while these important poli- 

 cies were taking shape. 



The United States Board of Geo- 

 graphic Names, now the U. S. Geo- 



graphic Board, affords another illustra- 

 tion of Dr. Gannett's skillful adaptation 

 of the science of geography to the pur- 

 poses of government. It was originally 

 an unofficial organization, brought to- 

 gether 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 governmental 

 publications. They convinced President 

 Harrison that their work should be offi- 

 cially confirmed. He issued an execu- 

 tive order, dated September 4, 1890, con- 

 stituting the Board and directing that 

 all unsettled questions concerning geo- 

 graphic nomenclature and orthography, 

 particularly upon the maps and charts of 

 the government, be first referred to the 

 Board, and its decisions accepted as the 

 standard authority. Dr. Mendenhall was 

 named as chairman, and served until he 

 left Washington, in 1894, when Dr. Gan- 

 nett succeeded him, serving as chairman 

 of the Board for twenty years. 



When this Board was created, new 

 counties and towns were being founded 

 in the great West with an amazing ra- 

 pidity. They were often christened on 

 the spur of the moment, often in keeping 

 with some individual caprice. The re- 

 sult was a rapidly increasing hodge- 

 podge of geographical nomenclature. 

 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 situated. Many instances were 

 found 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 gov- 

 ern 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 countries. This is one of 

 the many ways in which geographic sci- 

 ence promotes world civilization. Dr. 

 Gannett did more work in this field than 

 any other American. 



Mr. Gannett was a voluminous writer 

 on geographical, statistical, and inter-re- 



