James Douglas (businessman)

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James Walter Douglas
Lewis Douglas (grandson)
Signature

James Walter Douglas (4 November 1837 – 25 June 1918) was a

James Walter Douglas Jr. was born in Quebec City, Lower Canada on 4 November 1837. His father James Douglas Sr.,^[1] a native of Scotland, was a surgeon and manager of the Beauport Lunatic Asylum. His mother, Elizabeth Ferguson, was also a native of Scotland. James Douglas graduated from Queen's College, Kingston, Province of Canada in 1858 and continued his studies at the University of Edinburgh. He studied both medicine and theology with the intent of becoming a minister but was never ordained. For several years he served as professor of chemistry at Morrin College, Province of Canada, and in 1864 became managing director of the Harvey Hill Copper Company in the Province of Canada. In 1875, he moved to the United States to take charge of the copper works at Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.^[2]

Douglas' father's influence

Douglas'

Initial career – ministry

James 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 from 1856-1858, 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."^[3] He was granted a licence to preach, but never became an ordained 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.

Second career – medicine

In the 1860s, Douglas helped his father at the

Third career – mining

This interest in mining and geology eventually supplanted his interest in medicine and Douglas embarked on a third career. In the 1860s, his father's financial fiasco investing in the Harvey Hill copper mine, Province of Canada, brought to Douglas the opportunity to save the family fortune by finding a way to make the mine profitable (it never was).^[4] In 1869, Douglas' scientific experiments with the assistance of Dr. Thomas Sterry Hunt at Université Laval led him to a discovery that was to change his life.^[5] The Harvey Hill operation failed though their process worked. Together, they elaborated a patent for the "Hunt and Douglas" process of extracting copper from its ore.^[6] Although Douglas had no formal education in chemistry, he was considered competent enough to fill the Chair of Chemistry at his hometown's Morrin College affiliated with McGill University, from 1871 to 1874. His evening lectures were among the most popular in the history of the College.

Mining-related inventions

With Thomas Sterry Hunt, Douglas was involved with many experiments in the hydrometallurgy of coppers and devised what is known as the "Hunt-Douglas" process (first patented 1869) for extracting copper from its ores.^[6][7] Douglas was also the inventor of several other improvements in the mining industry, consisting of the invention for calcining ores (1884), a furnace for calcining ores (1898), a process for extracting copper from cupriferous nickel ore (1892), a process for separating and recovering copper (1896), and an improved smelting furnace in 1897. During the early 1870s, he traveled to copper mines in Chile and Ore Knob, North Carolina to introduce the Hunt & Douglas process.^[8] In 1874, he introduced an improvement on the Hunt-Douglas process at J. Oscar Stewart's quartz mill in Georgetown, Colorado to also recover silver.^[9] In 1890, he hired the young Dr. L. D. Ricketts, one of the brightest metallurgists of his generation, to introduce the Hunt Douglas process in Arizona. Then, in little over a decade, Douglas employed research chemists at each of the major Phelps Dodge operations in Arizona: Morenci, Globe, Bisbee, and, later, Tyrone, New Mexico, directed by a chief chemist in the Phelps Dodge research labs outside New York City.^[10][11] Dr. Douglas' emphasis on research chemistry supported by Phelps Dodge was one of the first such efforts in the mining industry. He is praised as a proponent of the open exchange of ideas, scientific and technological innovations, especially during the secretive years of 19th century copper metallurgy.^[12][13]

Phelps Dodge and the Copper Queen Mine

Douglas' patents attracted attention in the United States, and in 1875 he quit his teaching post to work as superintendent for the Chemical Copper Company, Phoenixville, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, then a major center of the chemical industry. In 1883, after the Phoenixville works burned down, he made his last permanent move, to the New York City area to be closer to the financial hub. During this period, he also performed mining consultant work, which took him to mining camps across the far West. In 1880, Douglas was recruited by Professor

In 1885, Douglas helped negotiate the purchase of the Copper Queen for Phelps Dodge after the Atlanta and Copper Queen both hit the Atlanta ore body, resulting in the formation of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company, with Douglas as president and general manager. Under Douglas, the Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee, Arizona Territory, became one of the top copper producing mines in the world. Its former headquarters office (built 1896) is now the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum.^[15][16]

His deep interest in transportation and mining were united in an essay he wrote in 1885 on "Historical and Geographical Features of the Rocky Mountain Railroads" which detailed the geological features of the land near the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, Denver and Rio Grand, Southern Pacific, Atlantic and Pacific, Northern Pacific, and the Canadian Pacific railroads.^[17][18][19]

Douglas, Arizona and the Phelps Dodge Corporation

In the late 1880s early 90s, with the success of the Copper Queen and backing of Phelps Dodge partners, Dr Douglas acquired for them additional property and built up other spectacular copper mines, including the Detroit Copper Company at Morenci Arizona, the Moctezuma Copper Company^[20] at Nacozari, Sonora Mexico, and the United Globe–Old Dominion mines at Globe Arizona. In 1905, the partnership purchased the vast coal lands of Dawson, New Mexico and organized the Stag Canyon Fuel Co. He was made president of each of the operating companies by the Phelps Dodge partners. Importantly, he recruited talented young engineers, including his sons James and Walter, Dr. L. D. Ricketts, and Charles E. Mills, to manage the expanding business. When the Copper Queen company built a new smelter in the flats east of Bisbee, the founders of the adjacent Mexican border town named Douglas, Arizona for him.^[21]

On a quest for ever cheaper freight rates for materials, along with outgoing copper and upset with those offered by the two present railroads (

With the passing of the senior members of the Phelps Dodge partnership, the firm was dissolved and replaced in 1908 with Phelps Dodge & Company, a holding company of all the subsidiary properties. Douglas became the first president. This was reorganized in 1917 as the Phelps Dodge Corporation, with each of the subsidiary companies becoming operating divisions. Douglas became CEO with son Walter as president, and helped transform the corporation into a Fortune 500 company. He began reducing his business commitments and delved into philanthropy more until his death in 1918, at his home in Spuyten Durvil, New York.^[22][21][23]

James Douglas was always known as Dr. Douglas or Prof. Douglas. His son,

Publications and philanthropy

Throughout this time, Douglas maintained an interest in

Douglas also donated to several medical causes. In 1912 Douglas gave $100,000 to General Memorial Hospital (which would become known as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) for the endowment of ten beds for clinical research work, and the equipment for an X-ray plant and clinical laboratory.^[26]

In 1915 Dr. Douglas, working with Dr. James Ewing, helped to establish a radium department and lay the foundation in the United States for radiation therapy.^[26]

Also of note is the

In 1913 Douglas donated nearly a million dollars of radium to Johns Hopkins University, helping medical research.^[27]

Professional accolades

He was a member of a number of technical or scientific societies and served twice as president of the

In 2018, the City Council of Nacozari de García, Mexico, honored Dr. Douglas by enacting an ordinance designating the Municipal Auditorium to be known as "James Douglas". This resolution was adopted as a posthumous tribute in memory of Dr. James Douglas on the 100th anniversary of his death.

Professional memberships

• American Institute of Mining Engineers
• Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks
• North American Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers^[29]
• Institute of Mining & Metallurgy
• Iron and Steel Institute
• The American Academy of Political and Social Science
• The Blue Pencil Club of the State of New York

Works by James Douglas

• Memoir of T. Sterry Hunt, F.R.S. (1898)
• Untechnical Addresses on Technical Subjects (1905)
• Old France in the New World (1905)
• The Influence of the Railroads of the United States and Canada on the Mineral Industry (1909)
• Journals and Reminiscences of James Douglas, M.D. (1910)

References