John Rudolphus Booth - Building An Empire

Building An Empire

Booth's vision and boldness were qualities that made him a success. By 1892, he was the largest lumber producer in the world. He built Canada's largest sawmill in Ottawa, and very early on established a planing mill and offices in the United States. Fire was a constant threat to his mills, and they burnt down in 1893, 1886, 1900 and 1903. (Much of Booth's personal and business records were lost at these times.) Half of the mills'output was shipped to England; the rest to the United States and throughout Canada. White pine from Booth's lumber yards was used to build the decks on the ocean liners of the Cunard Line.

In 1879 he established the Canada Atlantic Railway (an amalgamation of the Montreal and City of Ottawa Junction Railway and the Coteau and Province Line Railway and Bridge Company) to carry his logs from Central Ontario to Ottawa, and his lumber from Ottawa to the States. In 1890, he completed the Canada Atlantic Railway connecting Ottawa to the United States. He even built a railway bridge across the St. Lawrence River at Coteau Landing (1888–1890) to move his lumber faster than crossing the river on barges. By 1896, his Ottawa, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway (later amalgamated into the Canada Atlantic Railway) ran from Depot Harbour on Georgian Bay through southern Algonquin Park to Ottawa.

J.R. Booth leased a property on Lac Deschênes to the Britannia Bay Boating Club; designed by Edgar Lewis Horwood, the clubhouse was opened in 1896.

Booth also operated grain elevators and steamships on the Great Lakes, a cement company and a pulp and paper mill. In 1904, he sold his railway to the Grand Trunk Railway (later incorporated into the Canadian National Railways.

J. R. Booth continued to run his business empire well into his nineties. He died in 1925 at the age of 98 after being ill for several months and was survived by his sons Jackson, John Frederick, daughter Helen Gertrude Fleck and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.