Photo courtesy of
National Library/
Archives of Canada

James MacDonald

(1828-1912)

The commissioner of the province’s railways from 1863-1864, from Bridgeville, in Pictou County, it was MacDonald who hired Sandford Fleming as the province’s surveyor for the extension of the railway from Truro to Pictou. The two men struck the deal during a coach ride over the rough rode between Truro and New Glasgow. He studied law with Martin Wilkins, who had at first opposed the construction of the railway, but later changed his stand and voted for the Pictou extension.

Sir William Mackenzie

(1849-1923)

Born in Southern Ontario, he was a railroad construction contractor in partnership with Sir Donald Mann. In 1888 the two men began to organize the Canadian Northern Railway, which became part of Canadian National Railways in 1919. The two men tried unsuccessfully to purchase the Intercolonial Railway as part of their scheme to create a second transcontinental railway in Canada. When that plan failed, they began purchasing smaller lines in the Maritimes, in an attempt to link them together. Their major investment in Nova Scotia was in the Halifax & Southwestern, and the coal-hauling Inverness & Richmond railways. In total, they controlled 600 miles of track in Nova Scotia. Mackenzie was said to be the financial brains behind the Canadian Northern.

Sir Donald Mann

(1853-1934)

Born in Acton, Ont. the partner of Sir William McKenzie, Mann is credited with being the organizational genius of the Canadian Northern, linking prairie grain towns with the railway, and earning it the nickname “The Farmer’s Railway.” Historian Donald MacKay describes the pair as “Backwoods boys” yet they made millions contracting for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He spent considerable time in Nova Scotia overseeing his railway properties.

Jonathan McCully

(1809-1877)

Never elected to public office, McCully was an Amherst lawyer who found himself commissioner of the Nova Scotia Railway in 1860, when the commission had been reduced to one member. McCully introduced severe cost-cutting measures that included wage rollbacks. He deserves credit for putting the railway back in financial shape, even though it made him highly unpopular.