“The American Contracting and Dredging Company was formed about that time among other things for construction work upon the Panama canal under the French concessionaries. It controlled valuable patent rights in dredging machinery. It secured several important contracts from Count Ferdinand de Lesseps as president of the French company and afterwards constructed fifteen miles of the Panama canal. It was most successful financially and its careful management avoided serious complications with the misfortunes of the Frenchmen. When its contracts were completed it withdrew from the field. Mr. Phelan was one of the master minds in this great work. Among his associates were Eugene Kelly, Charles N. Fry and George Bliss of distinguished and honorable memory in American finance, and Commander Gorringe of the United States Navy, who will be remembered for his engineering success in transporting the obelisk from Egypt to Central Park and setting it in its place without a single mishap. “This, however, was but one of the important enterprises carried on by Mr. Phelan with success. His ability in commercial and corporate affairs was rare and as his remarkable grasp of great affairs and his skill in their administration became known he was invited into enterprises of the most important and lucrative character. He achieved from them a large fortune as well as a high reputation in finance. He died a member of the Chamber of Commerce of the City of New York. “His active business life did not absorb all his energies. He was a man who from his youth took active part in the political life of the city. He joined also the societies working in the field of religion and morality. He was fond of his friends and of social life. He was always faithful to the traditions of the old Irish race from which he was descended and active in its cause. “In 1890 he became a commissioner of the Dock Department of the City of New York on the appointment of Mayor Hugh J. Grant. He left upon that office the impress of his ability in one of the most important divisions of the affairs of the world’s greatest seaport, at a time when millions of dollars were available and were spent in providing for the oceanic trade of the port of New York. His service lasted four years, when he resigned with the praise and good wishes of the entire municipality. “He was identified almost from his youth with the work of the Xavier Alumni Sodality, of the Catholic Club and of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. He rendered each of them great service, both as an officer and as a member. He was a trustee of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum, of the Catholic Benevolent Legion, of the Catholic Summer School and of many other philanthropic societies. He was a member of many of them in their struggling years and he gave his powers and his industry in full measure to their proper development.