The trail of the swinging lanterns : $b a racy, railroading review of transportation matters, methods and menCopeland, John Morison
History
The trail of the swinging lanterns : $b a racy, railroading review of transportation matters, methods and men
Copeland, John Morison
Railroads -- Canada
The proverb “Economy--easy chair of old age”, expounds a cardinal
requisite in railway construction. Deference to this admonition spelled
marked success financially for Donald and James A. MacIntosh, “Men
from Glengarry”, a team of contractors and graders favorably known to
western railroad builders. Jealous of reputation, by hewing to the
line they made good where others often failed and their forty years of
unremitting effort were crowned by enjoyment of the premium. Speaking
over the casket of Donald Alexander McIntosh in Forest Home Cemetery
Chapel, Milwaukee, 1915, the Reverend James Oastler, D.D., said in
part, “These Glengarry men are sons of the men who had come from the
highlands and islands of Scotland in the earlier days--and mighty men
they were--pioneers--builders of empires. Their manner of life bred in
them hardiness of frame, alertness of sense, readiness of resource, and
a courage that grew with peril. Fighting was like wine to them, when
the fight was worth while.”
We of the United States, can congratulate ourselves that some of the
Glengarry men found their way across the border, and brought with them
their courage, their resourcefulness, and their love of the open.
They did not ask for an opening. They asked this question: “What does
the world need to have done?” Then they set about doing it. Donald A.
McIntosh was a man from Glengarry.
I very distinctly recall my last visit with him and he convinced me
that there was within him a superb nature, a fine generosity--that
physically and mentally he was afraid of no man.
Dr. W. H. Stennett was born on a farm beside Lake Simcoe, Ontario, in
1832. When seventeen he settled in Rock Island, Illinois, as a junior
with a druggist, meanwhile gratifying his inclination to browse among
books. Later he was given charge of the production in a department of
a chemical manufacturing company and being an omnivarous reader of
publications pertaining to chemical, medical and surgical knowledge,
he undertook the study of medicine, graduating at the Medical College
of Missouri at St. Louis in 1859. With a partner he commenced practice
at Bloomington, Ill., and Miss Clara Hughitt became his wife there. In
1867 Doctor Stennett retired from practice to become General Agent,
Illinois Central Railway, St. Louis, and six years later was appointed
“G.P.A.” of C. & N.W.R. From 1884–7 he held the position of Assistant
to General Manager, afterwards assuming the duties of Auditor of
Expenditures with the same company and he retained his supervision of
that department for 19 years. While he was General Passenger Agent
of C. & N.W.R., his duties required that he travel a great deal. In
his later years he preferred to remain at home, and during the last
twenty-five years of his life, while working for the C. & N.W.R., he
did not take a vacation, nor during that time did he spend a single
night away from his home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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