George Lyman Cannon, Jr.

(1860-1922)

President of the Colorado Scientific Society – 1892

President 1892, Honorary member 1909

• Teacher of geology and biology at East Denver High School
• Manager of Colorado Chemical Company
• Assistant geologist, U.S. Geological Survey
• University of Colorado, Colorado School of Mines, Special work at Harvard, Cornell, and Columbia Universities. Honorary M.A. University of Denver, 1900
• Author of many articles on the geology and fossils of the Denver area
• Avid fossil collector, especially dinosaurs (collected the type specimen of Triceratops alticornis) and many fossil leaves. Five fossils were named for Cannon

Short Biography

by Beth Simmons, Colorado Scientific Society Historian

George Lyman Cannon, Jr. (Mar. 10, 1861-Feb. 15, 1922)

Born in New York, George Cannon attended Jarvis Hall in Golden, where he went on numerous field trips with his writing/drawing instructor, Arthur Lakes. He and other students assisted in the extraction of the dinosaur bones north of Morrison in 1877, where Cannon cemented his love of paleontology. George Cannon’s father, George L. Cannon, Sr., a chemist and mining manufacturer, originally settled in Idaho Springs, but eventually came to Denver where he started his own Colorado Chemical Works in Highland, north Denver, with George’s younger brother, Wilbur F. Cannon. George Cannon, Sr. authored an article published in the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian in 1877; it told of the Paleoindian site now called Apex or Magic Mountain on Golden Open Space near Lena Gulch and Colfax Avenue.

1877- Cannon, George, Sr., Antiquities of Jefferson and Clear Creek Counties, Colorado, Annual Report of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, p. 236-239 (scan included below)

Wilbur was an extract manufacturer, a member of the Colorado General Assembly, and eventually appointed to be the State Pure Food and Drug Commissioner. In 1881, both father and son were affiliated with a company called “Cannon and Morrison;” young George was the bookkeeper. In 1885, George was simply listed as a chemist along with his brother; his father was into real estate, particularly mines. In 1888, the year George, Jr. joined the Colorado Scientific Society, he was working for his brother as a chemist, but later in 1888 and 1889 he worked as assistant geologist for the US Geological Survey with Emmons and Cross, who were probably instrumental in his joining CSS. In connection with the survey, he also studied at Harvard, Columbia, and Cornell.

In 1889, Cannon was listed as a teacher at the new Denver High School District No. 1 (old East). He arranged for the CSS Geological Collection to be exhibited there until 1894, then it was moved from pillar to post and eventually in 1911 was moved to North High School with the Denver Public Library. In 1900, Cannon was awarded an honorary Master of Arts at U. Denver.

Cannon was a major player in the Colorado Scientific Society about the turn of the 20th century, serving as vice-president in 1890 and 1891, then as president in 1892, on the executive committee for many years, and as treasurer from 1902-1907. Along with other early presidents, he was made an honorary member in 1907.

Cannon’s presidential address “The Geology of Denver and Vicinity,” was published in the CSS proceedings. Along with many other articles published in the proceedings, he also authored “Denver Nature Studies”.

Cannon went on to make many more paleontological discoveries. On June 30, 1889, he discovered the first Ornithomimus bones in the Denver Formation on the northwest slope of Green Mountain, a specimen and name still valid. Cannon is usually credited for discovering the first Triceratops from beds west of Denver in 1887. However, Otis Rooney had unearthed bones of a ceratopsian from the southeast slope of Green Mountain in 1879, when Lakes was at Yale. Five plant fossils were named for Cannon – Cissus? cannoni Knowlton, Ficus cannoni Knowlton, Palmoxylon cannoni Stevens, Miocidaris cannoni Jackson, and Rhamnus cannoni Knowlton now labeled as Ficus artocarpoides Lesquereux). Cannon served as president of the Denver Microscopical Society and the State Science Teachers’ Association, was a member of the International Congress of Geologists, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Still teaching, George Cannon died at the age of 62 in 1922. His books and specimens were willed to the city of Denver.

George L. Cannon, Jr. Publications

1888- The Quaternary of the Denver Basin, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 3, pp. 48-70

1888- On the Tertiary Dinosauria found in Denver beds, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 3, pp. 143-147

1889- On stegosaurs near Golden, Colorado: Informal notes on Dinosauria, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 3, p. 190

1889- Notes on the Aboriginal Remains near Denver, Colorado, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 3, pp. 200-204

1889- Informal Notes on a Horn-Core, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 3, p. 215

1889- Notes on the formations in eastern Colorado, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 3, pp. 215-216

1890- Identification of Dinosaurs from the Denver Group, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 3, pp. 253-254

1890- Notes on the geology of Perry Park, Colorado, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 3, pp. 308-315

1891- Notes on a discovery of Radiolites austinensis Roemer (?) (Denver, Colorado), Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 4, pp. 75-76

1892- Notes on the geology of Palmer Lake and the Paleozoic exposures along the Front Range, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 4, pp. 224-234

1892- Address of the Retiring President – The geology of Denver and vicinity, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 4, pp. 235-270

1903- Fossil woods of the Platte River Valley, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 7

1904- Informal discussions; Cannon and R.D. George, Carpenter and Comstock – “New Geology,” Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 7

1904- The Drift Apron of the Front Range, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 7

1905- Some Recent Conglomerates Near Denver, Colo., Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 8

1906- Remarks by Mr. Cannon, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 8, pp. 192-193

1906- Notes on some fossils recently discovered near Denver, Colorado, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 8, pp. 194-198

1907- Notes on Quaternary Phenomena – informal talk, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 9

1908- Sand dykes in the Denver formation, Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society, Vol. 9

Fossils named for George L. Cannon Jr.

Cissus? cannoni – Knowlton

Ficus cannoni – Knowlton

Palmoxylon cannoni Stevens

Rhamnus cannoni – Knowlton = Ficus artocarpoides Lesquereux

Miocidaris cannoni – Jackson