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William Francis Ganong

Natural History Society of New Brunswick

William Ganong, a member of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick, is not known as a geologist but as a physical geographer and botanist.  He spent much of his career as a professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Geographers like Ganong often conduct work similar to geologists working on surficial deposits. Ganong described many of the landform features in the Province shaped by glaciers. One of William Ganong’s contributions to New Brunswick is both familiar, but unknown, to most of its citizens. Ganong’s work on place-nomenclature has had a lasting impact on the Province. He named a number of geographical features in central and northern New Brunswick, including the highest peak Mount Carleton. In 1899 he also gave names to the “Geologists’ Range” a ridge of mountain peaks along the ancient Appalachians. Ganong recognized the contributions of early geologists working in New Brunswick by naming Mount Bailey, Mount Chalmers, Mount Ells, Mount Matthew, Mount Robb and Mount Hartt.