John Rudolphus Booth

John Rudolphus Booth (April 5, 1827 – December 8, 1925) was a Canadian lumber and railway baron. He controlled logging rights for large tracts of forest land in central Ontario, and built a railway (the Canada Atlantic Railway from Ottawa through to Georgian Bay to extract his logs; and from Ottawa through to Vermont to export lumber and grain to the United States and Europe.

Early life

J. R. Booth was born on a farm at Lowes near Waterloo (Shefford County) in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. His parents, John and Eleanor Rowley Booth, Irish immigrants, had a number of children (variously reported as 5, 6 and 8). J. R. Booth left the family farm at the age of 21 and got a job as a carpenter with the Central Vermont Railroad. [Allan Bell, "A Way to the West" (Barrie, Ont.: privately published, 1991), p. 3. [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7900 |"Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"] ]

In 1852 he married Rosalinda Cook and moved to the Ottawa valley. His first business venture was a machine shop in Hull, Quebec which later burned down. He then opened a successful shingle factory. Later he accumulated enough money to lease (then buy) a small sawmill near the Chaudière Falls. He established his own lumber company and won the contract to supply wood for the Parliament buildings at the new Canadian capital in Ottawa, Ontario, selected by Queen Victoria in 1858. [Bell, p. 5.]

Harvesting timber from the upper Ottawa River and its tributaries, Booth expanded his timber limits into the Lake Nipissing region in 1881. In order to reach his Ottawa mills, Booth constructed a five and a half mile railway to carry sawlogs over the portage from Lake Nipissing to the headwaters of the Mattawa.

In 1867, he purchased, at a very reasonable price, the timber rights of John Egan's 250 square miles of pine on the Madawaks River in what is now Algonquin Park. For the next 50 years Booth harvested this land as well as other extensive tracts in northern and central Ontario. Often going there in his own private Railcar, and working beside his men during the day and on business affairs most of the night, seldom sleeping for more than a few hours. [Bell, p. 5.]

Building an empire

Booth's vision and boldness were qualities that made him a success. By 1892, he was the largest lumber producer in the world. He built Canada's largest sawmill in Ottawa, and very early on established a planing mill and offices in the United States. Fire was a constant threat to his mills, and they burnt down in 1893, 1886, 1900 and 1903. (Much of Booth's personal and business records were lost at these times.) Half of the mills'output was shipped to England; the rest to the United States and throughout Canada. [Bell, p. 8.] White pine from Booth's lumber yards was used to build the decks on the ocean liners of the Cunard Line.

In 1879 he established the Canada Atlantic Railway (an amalgamation of the Montreal and City of Ottawa Junction Railway [Statutes of Canada, 34 Victoria, chap. 47 (14 April 1871).] and the Coteau and Province Line Railway and Bridge Company) [Statutes of Canada, 35 Victoria, chap. 83 (14 June 1872).] to carry his logs from Central Ontario to Ottawa, and his lumber from Ottawa to the States. In 1890, he completed the Canada Atlantic Railway connecting Ottawa to the United States. He even built a railway bridge across the St. Lawrence River at Coteau Landing (1888-1890) to move his lumber faster than crossing the river on barges. [Bell, pp. 38-40.] By 1896, his Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway (later amalgamated into the Canada Atlantic Railway) ran from Depot Harbour on Georgian Bay through southern Algonquin Park to Ottawa.

Booth also operated grain elevators and steamships on the Great Lakes, a cement company and a pulp and paper mill. In 1904, he sold his railway to the Grand Trunk Railway (later incorporated into the Canadian National Railways. [Bell, p. 160.]

J.R. Booth continued to run his business empire well into his nineties. He died in 1925 at the age of 98 after being ill for several months.

Notes

ee also

*Booth House
*Fleck/Paterson House

External links

* [http://www.pastforward.ca/perspectives/Oct_272000.htm A closer look at lumber baron J.R. Booth]
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7900 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]