James Douglas died at his residence at Spuyten Duyvil, near New York City, on June 25th, 1918, aged 81 years. His death was not unexpected as his health had been failing for some time past, and two or three years previously he had, on that account, resigned his presidency of the Phelps Dodge Corporation. He was buried at Quebec, his native city, where he was born on November 4th, 1887.
The son of Dr. James Douglas, a prominent surgeon in the Dominion, James Douglas, as he approached manhood, decided to follow his father’s profession and studied medicine in Canada and Germany. He was for some time professor of chemistry at Morrin College, Quebec, but ultimately he decided that medicine was not his vocation, and, crossing over to Europe, came to Scotland and entered Edinburgh University as a theological student. He received his licence to preach in 1875, when he had attained the age of 38 years, but he was never ordained; and about this time his father’s affairs were undergoing a period of financial stress, owing to some unfortunate investments.
Dr. Douglas returned to Canada to assist his father, and took over the management of a lunatic asylum in Quebec, which the elder Douglas had founded and which was the first institution of its kind in Canada to employ modern and enlightened methods in the treatment of the insane. It was due to his efforts to adjust his father’s affairs that Dr. Douglas gained an insight into mining in its financial, and later on in its scientific aspects. Money had been invested in the Harvey Hill Copper Mines, Quebec, and James Douglas set out to try and retrieve what had been lost in them. He thereby acquired that interest in mining and metallurgical operations which he retained throughout his life and which, aided by his exceptional ability and versatility, led ultimately to his marked success and pre-eminence in the mining profession.
It was not possible to make a great success of the Harvey Hill mines, but the experience which he gained there led Dr. Douglas to take charge of the copper extraction plant of the Chemical Copper Co. at Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, whither there came in course of time consignments of copper ore from Arizona, which attracted his attention and led him, in 1880, to pay a visit to the Copper Queen mine at Bisbee, which had recently been opened. This was the origin of Dr. Douglas’s connection with the copper mining industry of Arizona, which lasted nearly 40 years and was only terminated by his death. He succeeded in interesting some of the partners of Phelps, Dodge & Co. of New York in the property; and after four or five years of uncertainty and anxiety, during which, under Dr. Douglas’s advice, further areas were carefully prospected, the discovery of rich ore-bodies brought about the complete and permanent success of the undertaking.
This reward of his efforts, his researches and his business foresight was not attained until Dr. Douglas was nearly 50 years old. The Copper Queen Co. afterwards expanded into the Globe, Morenci and Prescott districts of Arizona; the Nacozari district of Sonora, Mexico and the Burro Mountain district of New Mexico; while the fuel requirements of the various companies led to the purchase of a large colliery at Dawson, New Mexico. The need for transport of the products of all these undertakings caused Dr. Douglas to play a prominent part in the initiation and construction of the El Paso and South-Western Railway, which was started in 1886 and has since developed into a great railway with over a thousand miles of standard-gauge permanent way. The companies, with their varied operations and interests, were all consolidated in 1908 into the Phelps Dodge Corporation, of which Dr. Douglas was president and manager.
James Douglas was a man of simple tastes and preferred a modest style of living. His personal needs absorbed but a small portion of the great wealth which he had acquired, and large sums were devoted to educational and charitable purposes. One of his most noteworthy benefactions was the gift of nearly a million dollars to the General Memorial Hospital of New York, for the furtherance of the study of cancer therapeutics.
The Engineering and Mining Journal of New York expresses the opinion that humanity owes Dr. Douglas a greater debt for his services in tearing away the veil of secrecy that used to shroud industrial operations, than for any of his philanthropies or his work in developing the mining districts of Arizona and Sonora. He was one of the chief agents that inspired the spirit of reciprocity in scientific research, and his influence in this direction upon the welfare of the world at large cannot be over-estimated.
Dr. Douglas was twice -President of the American Institute of Mining Engineers; in 1899, and again in 1900. McGill University bestowed on him the degree of Doctor of Laws, and in 1911 Queen’s University, Canada, his alma mater, elected him as its Chancellor. He was also awarded the John Fritz Medal for philanthropic work, in 1915.
Besides being the writer of many scientific and technical articles Dr. Douglas was an author of repute upon literary; historical and philosophical subjects, his most noteworthy contributions being to the history of his native country. ‘Quebec in the Seventeenth Century’; ‘New England and New France’; and ‘Canadian Independence’, may be cited as his chief historical books. The Transactions of the Institution contain three papers written by him: ‘The Treatment of Copper Matte in the Bessemer Converter’; ‘The Influence of the Railroads of the United States and Canada on the Mineral Industry’; and ‘The Copper Queen Mines and Works, Arizona,’ which were published in 1899, 1909 and 1918, respectively. Dr. Douglas was awarded the Gold Medal of the Institution in 1908, ‘in recognition of his services in the advancement of the educational, technical and commercial interests of mining and metallurgy, and of his contributions to technical literature.’
He was elected a Member of the Institution in 1895, and for several years was a Member of the Council, a number of meetings of which he attended during his frequent visits to England.
Vol. 27, Trans IMM 1917-18, pp.391-393
