George Shiras III / George Shiras III

George Shiras III (1859-1942) was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. He developed an interest in wildlife at the age of eleven when his father took him hunting and fishing near Marquette. Shiras received his law degree from Yale and practiced law in Pittsburgh. Near the turn of the twentieth century, Shiras and his guide, John Hammer, developed innovative flash and camera equipment that allowed them to take photos of wildlife in a natural habitat at night. Shiras won a gold medal at the Paris Exposition in 1900 and the grand prize at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis for his images, several of which were captured in the Marquette area. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt wrote Shiras and asked him to compile his photographs and notes on wildlife behavior into a book. Shiras published Hunting Wild Life with Camera and Flashlight in 1935. In addition to photographing wildlife, George Shiras III contributed to its conservation and study. While serving in the U.S. Congress for Pennsylvania (1903-1905), he introduced a bill to protect migratory birds. His concepts became part of the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act. In 1908 he discovered a new species in Yellowstone National Park, the smallest subspecies of moose in North America. It was named Alces americanus shirasi, or Shiras Moose. He advocated for a 1925 Michigan gun law that prohibited hunting wildlife out of season. Shiras was a part-time resident of Marquette for most of his life. Included in his philanthropy was the 1931 donation of this land at Picnic Rocks for a public park. In 1937 he founded the Shiras Institute to fund “beautification, recreation and cultural activities” for the City of Marquette. He is buried in Park Cemetery.