Norman Bethune Sanson (1862–1949) was the curator of the Banff Park Museum in

Banff, Alberta Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise. At above Banff is the community with the second highest ...

from 1896 to 1932. Sanson traveled extensively through Banff, Yoho and

Kootenay Kootenay, Kootenai, and Kutenai may refer to: Ethnic groups *The Kutenai, also known as the Ktunaxa, Kootenai, or Kootenay, an indigenous people of the United States and Canada **Kutenai language, the traditional language of the Kutenai **Ktunaxa ...

National Parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

to collect specimens for the museum, and continued to volunteer for the museum for fifteen years after his retirement. Sanson was born in

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in 1862, the son of a clergyman. He traveled to the Canadian West with the Queen's Own Rifles, who were involved in the suppression of the North-West Rebellion of 1885. Finding employment as a bookkeeper at the

Mount Brett Mount Brett is a summit located in the Massive Range of Alberta, Canada It is situated in Banff National Park, west of Banff townsite, in the Canadian Rockies. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Ball, to the west. History Mount Brett was nam ...

sanitorium he became acquainted with a Mr. McLeod who was curator of the museum and the park meteorologist. Sanson took over McLeod's work on McLeod's death in 1896. In addition to his work at the Park Museum, he was a zookeeper at the Banff Zoo, established in 1905 on the grounds behind the Museum. In 1931 Sanson accompanied the

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and

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to the top of Sulphur Mountain. He accompanied King George VI to the top of Tunnel Mountain in 1939. Sanson remained active in the Banff community after his retirement, organizing snowshoeing expeditions and traveling extensively in North America and Europe, hiking in Britain and Europe. Sanson was in charge of the weather station on Sanson Peak, built there at his suggestion in 1903. The peak was named in his honor in 1948. Sanson made more than 1000 trips to the peak in his capacity as park meteorologist until 1945, when he was 84 years old. Sanson's reports were published in the Banff newspaper under the pseudonym "Seer Altitudinous." Sanson was a member of the

Alpine Club of Canada The Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) is an amateur athletic association with its national office in Canmore, Alberta that has been a focal point for Canadian mountaineering since its founding in 1906. The club was co-founded by Arthur Oliver Wheeler ...

and was the first president of the Skyline Hikers of the Canadian Rockies. He was active with St. George's Anglican Church in Banff and supported the Canadian Bible Society.

References

External links

Short biography of Sanson
at Parks Canada
Banff Park Museum
at Parks Canada
Sulfur Mountain Cosmic Ray Station
at Parks Canada {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanson, Norman Bethune Canadian naturalists Canadian curators People from Banff, Alberta 1862 births 1949 deaths