Dr Norman Maclaren 1880 to 1936. 
Born 1880, Scotland.
Died 1936,Glasgow, Scotland 
Son of Robert Maclaren 1817-1889 and Mary Jane Findlay. 
Husband of Margaret Garnet 1894-1989. 
Father of Patricia, Ian, Peter, & David

Worked at Glasgow University and had done work for the Royal
Geographic Society on trips to such places as the McKenzie river
Alaska, Borneo, and Tibet. Studied at University of Heidelberg in
Germany. (Where he got a Ph. D.?)

In the early 1900 Norman Maclaren had traveled through Alaska with
a team of husky dogs and a Chinese cook, making the first map of
large areas of Alaska, breaking an arm in a crevasse and setting it
himself. He was a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and the
Linean Society.

Note from one of Norman Maclaren's sons, Ian G Maclaren life story.
"During WW1 the family moved to Glasgow for a couple of years as
Grandfather (Norman Maclaren) was asked to work at Glasgow
University as lecturer of anatomy.  Out of this job he became very
interested in embryology and that became his life's work.  He made
ovens to grow the embryos and developed thermostats to keep the
temperature constant in the ovens. The development of these
thermostats which they then sold to other universities became one
of Norman's "little firms" of which he had several.  Robert
Maclaren, one of his older brothers, (20 years older)  put
$20,000.00 into the firm and then subsidized it for years. He never
got a penny out of it.  Maclarens as such never made a lot of money
until IGM took charge."

Deeshome was built by Norman Maclaren in approx. 1913, but he never
liked it, and they moved to Cubreshaw, East Kilbride, after the WW I.

From Angela Elliott about the Maclaren River & Glacier. 
"I received info from the University in Juneau to the effect that 
the Maclaren glacier and river were named for Norrie Maclaren, 
who had lead a party of gold prospectors up river. At a fork in 
the river the party split and Maclaren led the party up one arm, 
whilst his compatriot led a party up the other. Maclaren failed to 
find gold,but the other party were successful and the leader of 
that party named the river and glacier after Norrie Maclaren in 
recompense for his failure. "

Alaska Range and Maclaren River viewpoint MP 37.0/98.0     
(Found at http://www.ak.blm.gov/gdo/DenaliHwy/denali.html) 
"You are now at
an elevation of about 4,000 feet, just a short distance from the
Maclaren Summit (4,086'), the second highest highway summit in
Alaska. Stop and enjoy the panoramic view of the Alaska Range and
the Maclaren River. Mt. Hayes (13,832') and the Maclaren River and
Glacier are dominant features, but Aurora Peak, Mt. Shand and Mt.
Geist may also be seen. The Maclaren River flows from the Maclaren
Glacier south to the Susitna River and then into Cook Inlet just
west of Anchorage. Vegetation at this elevation is low-growing
alpine tundra. Wildflowers bloom in abundance during the short
Alaskan summer (June and July). Look for pikas, ground squirrels
and ptarmigan"

From the Linean Society 
The only reference to Dr Norman Maclaren
that has been uncovered is to a set of 83 photos of Alaska and
British Columbia taken by him and presented to the Society. These
photos are now with our Picture Library. If you wish to find out
more then you will need to contact Joanna Scadden the Picture
Librarian at j.scadden@rgs.org 
The reference for the pictures is the Geographical Journal, 
Indexes 1903-12; p.700, this lists then photos.

Stories 
Stories we heard from our Grandmother, Granny Mac, wife of
Dr Norman Maclaren our Grandfather.

The Husky. 
While in Alaska/Canada on one occasion he came across a
group of men who where getting ready to shoot a very fine looking
husky. Dr Norman ask what was going on and was told the dog was
uncontrollable, and had tried on several occasions to attack its
owners. Dr Norman agreed to buy it, but as soon as it was untied it
attacked him and he had to knock it unconscious. He then tied the
unconscious dog to a small tree by his tent and left a large bowl
of food beside it.

In the morning he awoke to find the dog sleeping beside him in the
tent. It had eaten the food, chewed its way through the tree to
release the rope, and crawled into his tent. From then on the dog
was incredible loyal and was a superbly skillful lead dog for his
sled.

Royal Salute 
On one occasion Dr Norman, while wearing his kilt, was
in a small canoe (which he had become quite proficient at in his
travels in Canada and Alaska) in the middle of the Firth of Clyde
using a line (a knotted line with a weight a one end used by
sailors to measures the depth of sea) to measure depths for a chart
he was making of that section of the Clyde.  The Royal Yacht of
King George V(?) came up the Clyde and passed close to Dr Norman,
at which point he stood up in the canoe and saluted the king with
his paddle.

This got quite a bit of newspaper coverage and a day or two later
Margaret Maclaren  (Granny Mac) was at a smart cocktail party
talking with a group of acquaintances and one lady asked if "anyone
had heard about that crazy man in a kilt, in a small canoe, in the
middle of the Clyde, standing to salute the king with his paddle.
Granny Mac remarked "Yes, he is my husband."

Pearls 
On One occasion Norman Maclaren went, with his wife (Granny
Mac) into a jewelers shop in Glasgow to look at some pearls. The
jeweler started talking about this wonderful article he had just
read about pearls, and he went on and on about great it was. Granny
Mac said she noticed a funny smile on Norman's face and when they
left she asked him what that was about. He explained that he had
written the article.

Family Reunion? 
At one point while Norman Maclaren (Norrie) was
in Alaska his brothers and sisters started to notice that no one
had seen or heard from Norrie for a long time. So one of his
brothers went off to look for him. At one point looking through the
window of a local bar in some very remote place, he saw Norrie
partying with the locals. Apparently Norries had "gone native", so
without even entering the building the brother turned round and
returned to Scotland. He had the brief message passed around the
family that "Norrie is still alive." And that was all that was said
about it.

Norman Maclaren recounted a different version of the story. He had
seen his brother approaching some way off, ridiculously over
dressed, with huge amounts of equipment and provisions, plus quite
an assortment of servants and guides. Seeing this incongruous group
arriving, Norman hid until they had gone passed.