Old France in the New World: Quebec in the Seventeenth Century
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James Douglas was a Canadian metallurgist, mining engineer, and industrialist, who worked mainly in the USA. He was the president of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company, and contributed to the development of the Southwest and building of the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad.
Background
James Douglas was born on November 4, 1837 in Quebec, Canada. His father was a prominent surgeon in the city of Quebec, whence he had come from England, and was a man of philanthropic and cultivated tastes; he introduced the modern treatment of the insane in Canada when he took charge of the Quebec Lunatic Asylum. The father was also named James Douglas; the mother was Elizabeth (Ferguson) Douglas.
Education
When Douglas was eighteen he went to the University of Edinburgh for two years’ study in theology. In 1858 James Douglas received an Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada.
Career
He then traveled with his father, visiting Europe and Africa. After more study abroad and at home, including some courses in medicine, he was licensed to preach, but not ordained, and served for a time as assistant minister at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Quebec.
On the basis of a rather slight instruction in chemistry while studying medicine, he served for several years as professor of chemistry at Morrin College, Quebec. His father had made an unfortunate investment in the Harvey Hill copper mines in Quebec. With Sterry Hunt the son experimented in the extraction of copper from the ores of these mines, and they invented the ingenious Hunt & Douglas process. In later life he paid a tribute to Hunt’s influence upon him by writing A Memoir of Thomas Sterry Hunt, M. D. , LL. D. (1898).
At the age of thirty-eight he came to Phoenixville, to take charge of the copper-extraction plant of the Chemical Copper Company. The plant was not a financial success and was finally destroyed by fire. These were hard years for Douglas and his family. The turning point in his career did not come until he was nearly fifty, but then fortune smiled upon him generously. In 1880, at the request of the conservative metal-dealers, Phelps, Dodge & Company of New York, he examined some copper claims at Bisbee, Ariz. , and on his recommendation these claims were acquired and became the nucleus of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company of which he became president. After several years of seeking an adequate supply of ore, during which his geological insight was of great value, the company began its successful expansion in mining, smelting, and railroading, which helped materially to develop the Southwest, and led to the building in 1886 of the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad.
Douglas combined the direction of metallurgical researches and industrial improvements with humanitarian interests. The town of Douglas, Arizona, a smelting center near the Mexican border, was named after him. His policy of publicity for metallurgical improvements helped to dispel secrecy and suspicion in technology in America — an important reform.
In 1906 he was awarded the gold medal of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (London), and in 1915 the John Fritz Medal for achievement in mining, metallurgy, education, and industrial welfare.
He published not only numerous technical papers but also historical books, such as Canadian Independence, Annexation and British Imperial Federation (1894), Old France in the New World (1905), New England and New France (1913). McGill University conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of laws, and he later became chancellor of Queen’s University. From 1899 to 1901 he was president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers; this institute awards annually the James Douglas gold medal for distinguished achievement in non-ferrous metallurgy. His numerous philanthropies included bequests to educational, medical, and engineering institutions.
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Personality
In appearance Douglas was spare, bearded, and Scottish-looking. He was a man sincerely loved by many friends, and his personal influence in the mining and metallurgical professions was productive of much good.
Connections
In 1860 Douglas married Naomi, daughter of Captain Walter Douglas of Quebec. His sons, James Stuart and Walter, became prominent in mining and financial circles.