MACKENZIE & MANN, TIRELESS DEAL-MAKERS – PART 2 of 2

On July 5, 1905, Fort William’s Daily Times-Journal, William Mackenzie commented on the rumour about Grand Trunk Pacific buying out Canadian Northern:

“It is reported that when this latest report was shown to Mr. Mackenzie he simply  _____. He also simply stiffened his jaws, That seems explanation enough. When Wm. Mackenzie _____s and stiffens his jaws it means something, and the something generally is that he will carry through some huge undertaking. Wm. Mackenzie has started out to build a railway from ocean to ocean and those who know his characteristics say that nothing short of death will stop him.”

We can assume the _____ in the report is a censored word or action.

The same report states that Mackenzie’s ambition is to construct a short line from Sudbury (next door to  Capreol) to Port Arthur. The duo had a charter that allowed this but no government funding to accompany it.

The same news article narrated a fascinating anecdote about Donald Mann, familiarly called Dan by acquaintances.

“. . . Dan Mann wants to be busy. He tried the retiring act once and from those who have heard him express opinions on the retired life he will probably die in the harness of active work.

“Once, only a few years ago, Dan Mann is said to have made up his mind to retire and live on what he had accumulated. He closed up his active work, bought a fine residence and prepared to enjoy life. For several months he was busy making improvements on his new home. That completed he said to himself, ‘Now I will go around town and show some people how nice it is to be a gentleman.’ He went right down to Mr. Mackenzie’s office. ‘Good morning, Dan,’ Mackenzie would say and keep right on looking over his papers. Other business men would drift in. They would also say, ‘Good morning, Dan’ and the look on their face would indicate an expression of ‘I wonder what he wants?’ He seemed to be in the way. He had no business and the only thing his old business associates seemed willing to say to him was ‘Good morning, Dan.’

“That settled it with Dan Mann. He went back to work and at work he will probably remain.

“Many think that the building of the Canadian Northern is only a matter of speculation with Mackenzie & Mann, that it is for sale to the man who makes a bid high enough, but to more who have watched its growth and watched the pride with which its builders and owners have stuck to the task there is a feeling that the Canadian Northern will be the crowning work of these two energetic men . . .”

Just think, if the rumour about Grand Trunk Pacific buying out Canadian Northern had been realized, there would never have been a Kinghorn Subdivision. There would never have been a short line linking Capreol and Port Arthur. There would never have been a third transcontinental railway.

Now history tells a different story.