James Douglas (businessman)
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James S. Douglas (1837-1918) was born in Quebec City. His father had earned the reputation of being the fastest surgeon in town, capable of performing an amputation in less than one minute. Dr. Douglas transmitted his thirst for adventure to his son, taking him on numerous expeditions to Egypt and the Holy Land in the mid-19th century. He brought back several mummies from these journeys, selling them to museums in North America. One of these, sold in Niagara Falls, was recently discovered to be the corpse of Ramses I.
James S. Douglas initially chose a different career from his father, studying to become a minister in the Presbyterian Church. He studied at Queen’s College, Kingston and later at the University of Edinburgh. By the end of his studies, however, Douglas had second thoughts: “When therefore I was licensed to teach, my faith in Christ was stronger but my faith in denominational Christianity was so weak that I could not sign the Confession of Faith and therefore was never ordained.” He was granted a license to preach but never became a full minister. This secularism remained with Douglas all his life. He was primarily responsible for making Queen’s into a non-denominational University when he served as Chancellor in 1912.
In the 1860s, Douglas helped his father at the Beauport Asylum while studying towards a career in medicine. He worked as a librarian at the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, and later became the youngest president in the history of the Society. There, he presented numerous lectures to the Society’s members, the first on Egyptian hieroglyphics and mummies, and later ones on mining and geological issues.
This interest in mining and geology eventually supplanted his interest in medicine and Douglas embarked on a third career. In 1869, Douglas’ scientific experiments with the assistance of Dr. Thomas Sterry Hunt at Laval University led him to a discovery that was to change his life. Together, they elaborated a patent for the “Hunt and Douglas” process of extracting copper from its ore. Although Douglas had no formal education in chemistry, he was considered competent enough to fill the Chair of Chemistry at Morrin College from 1871 to 1874. His evening lectures were among the most popular in the history of the College.
Douglas’s patents attracted attention in the United States, and he soon began working for a Pennsylvanian copper company in 1875. In 1881, Douglas was recruited by the trading company Phelps Dodge and helped transform it into the Fortune 500 company it is today. The company sent James Douglas to Arizona to investigate mining opportunities in 1881. This eventually led to the creation of the Copper Queen Mine, which became one of the top copper-producing mines in the world. James Douglas also founded the copper smelting Mexican border town of Douglas, Arizona. He eventually became president of Phelps Dodge.
James S. Douglas was always known as Dr. Douglas. His son, James Douglas Jr. "Rawhide Jimmy" (-1949), followed in his father's footsteps, and built a major fortune with the United Verde Extension mine in Jerome, Arizona. His Jerome mansion is open to the public as the Jerome State Historic Park .
Throughout this time, Douglas maintained an interest in Canadian history and heritage. He wrote several books on the subject in his lifetime, namely Canadian Independence, Old France in the New World, and New England and New France—Contrasts and Parallels in Colonial History. In addition to bailing Queen’s University out of a financial crisis with approximately a million dollars from his own pocket, Douglas also established the first chair in Canadian and Colonial History there in 1910. He also financed many libraries, such as the library of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, where interest from his donations are still used to purchase books.
Douglas also donated to several medical causes, most notably the Douglas Hospital in Montreal, Quebec. This institution pursued the cause which had been taken up by his father, a pioneer in the treatment of mental health in Quebec. Douglas’ donations helped keep the hospital alive in the institution’s early years. Originally called the “Protestant Hospital for the Insane”, the institution took on the name of Douglas Hospital in 1965 as a tribute to James Douglas, jr. and his father.
The American Institute of Mining Engineers annually awards the James Douglas Gold Medal in his memory. The Douglas Library at Queen's University, Quebec, is named in honor of James S. Douglas.
