Mr. Badgley is a member of the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, and the Canadian Club.
JAMES ROSS.
For almost a half century James Ross was intimately associated with the growth and development of Canada and was an active factor in establishing, building and promoting many of the leading national and municipal railways of the country. It was under him that Sir William Mackenzie started his career and subsequently he cooperated with him in various enterprises throughout the world. He was also a long-time associate of Sir Sandford Fleming, Sir William Van Horne, Sir Thomas Shaughnessy and Lord Strathcona, more particularly in the ’80s, in the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was also actively interested in the executive control of the Montreal and Toronto street railways from 1892. The extent and importance of his business interests and investments made him therefore a most prominent factor in the upbuilding and development of the country and his name is inseparably interwoven with the history of Canada.
Mr. Ross was a son of the late Captain John Ross, merchant and ship owner, and Mary B. (McKedie) Ross, formerly of Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. His birth occurred in the year 1848 at Cromarty, Scotland, and after attending Inverness Academy in his native land he continued his studies in England. His initial step in the business world brought him into connection with railway, harbor and water works in Great Britain. Following his arrival in America he was appointed, in 1870, to the position of resident engineer of the Ulster & Delaware Railway, of which road he afterward became chief engineer. In 1872 he acted as resident engineer of the Wisconsin Central Railway and subsequently held a similar position with the Lake Ontario Shore road. It was not long before his efficiency as an engineer won him wide recognition and he was offered the position of chief engineer of the Victoria Railway, of which he subsequently became general manager. He was one of the most successful railway builders and owners in the Dominion, the construction of the Canadian Pacific over the Rockies being due to his power of organization and engineering ability, and when Sir Donald Smith, later Lord Strathcona, drove the last spike of the road, no one of that historic group held a higher place in public regard in Canada than Mr. Ross.
JAMES ROSS
His active operations in the field of railway construction included the building of the Credit Valley Railway in 1878-79 and upon its completion he was appointed general manager of the road and also filled the position of consulting engineer of the Ontario and Quebec Railway. In the spring of 1883 as general manager of construction, Mr. Ross began at Swift Current the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway over the Rockies, the Selkirks and the Gold Range, and early in November, 1885, this stretch of six hundred and twenty-three miles ending at Craig Ellachie, was completed more than a year ahead of time, creating a record for fast railway building on this continent and evoking from Sir William Van Horne the statement that such a record meant millions to the Canadian Pacific Railway. It was during the building of the road over the mountains that Mr. Ross might be said to have discovered and subsequently came into close touch with William Mackenzie, Donald Mann (both since knighted), Herbert S. Holt and several others who later on took a front place among the railway magnates and financial leaders of Canada. In 1886 Mr. Ross brought about the settlement of location of the Canadian Pacific east of Montreal and the legislative difficulties attending the entry of the road into the state of Maine. Upon completing his arduous and complex task he took the contract for the construction of the remaining portion of their line not already provided for. The extensions and improvements of the Canadian Pacific created difficult tasks of civil engineering which were ably performed by Mr. Ross who at the same time considered the question of railway construction in South America for which he had options. The railways of the southern continent were to be built in Argentine and Chile and the options in those two republics alone amounted to over twenty million dollars. Mr. Ross was also interested in important contracts in Chicago and elsewhere.
He established his home permanently in Montreal in 1888 and from this point supported his active professional interests, contracting and building the Regina and Long Lake Railways some two hundred and fifty miles in length. In 1889 he supervised the construction of the Calgary & Edmonton Railway, three hundred miles in length.
Having proven his capability in the field of steam railway construction Mr. Ross, in 1892, largely concentrated his energies upon problems of street railway building and in connection with Sir William Mackenzie purchased the Toronto Railway from the city of Toronto. He afterward rebuilt the tracks and installed electric power in the operation of the road. In 1892 he undertook the reorganization of the Montreal Street Railway, changing it from horse car to electric service. He was at the head of the syndicate that purchased the franchise from the old City Passenger Railway Company. In the same way he converted the street railways of Winnipeg and St. John, New Brunswick, into electric lines and in 1896 he joined Sir William Mackenzie in the purchase of the tramway systems of Birmingham, England, and organized the City of Birmingham Tramways Company for the operation of the road under an electric system. In the following year he secured a charter and franchise from the government of Jamaica to build electric tramways on the island.