Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Reid, Robert Gillespie
REID, Sir ROBERT GILLESPIE (1842–1908), Canadian contractor and financier, born of Lowland parents at Coupar Angus, Perthshire, in 1842, received his early education there and was trained as a bridge-builder by an uncle. Entering into business on his own account, he made some successful contracts and with the proceeds emigrated to Australia in 1865. In Australia he engaged principally in gold mining and the construction of public works. In 1871 Reid went to America, and ultimately settled at Montreal. He at once made a reputation by building the International Bridge across the Niagara river at Buffalo. He was subsequently entrusted with the construction of several bridges between Montreal and Ottawa on the line of the Montreal, Quebec, and Ottawa railway, which now forms part of the Canadian Pacific system. Another international bridge across the Rio Grande between Texas and Mexico greatly extended his fame. Other great bridges of his construction span the Colorado at Austin, Texas, the 'Soo' at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and the Delaware at the famous Water Gap in Pennsylvania. In 1886 the directors of the Canadian Pacific railway, without inviting tenders, commissioned him to undertake the Lachine Bridge across the St. Lawrence above Montreal, three-quarters of a mile long. The work was completed in six months. The bridge across Grand Narrows, Cape Breton, was built for the Canadian government in connection with the railway in that island in 1889-90. Reid was as active and efficient in the building of railways as in the construction of bridges. The difficult Jackfish Bay section of the Canadian Pacific railway on the rough and almost impassable northern coast of Lake Superior was his work. Newfoundland, with which Reid's association began in 1890, was the scene of his most varied activities. He first contracted for the building of the Hall Bay railway (260 miles), which he undertook in 1890 and completed in 1893. He then contracted to build for the Newfoundland government the Western railway from Whitbourne Junction to Port-aux-Basques (500 miles). This was accomplished in 1897. The contract gave Reid the right to operate the whole road for ten years from Sept. 1893. Meanwhile his firm had secured a charter for constructing an electric street railway in the city of St. John's, and had leased coalfields from the government. Owing to the geographical difficulties in organising an efficient transport system of the island and the financial embarrassment of the time the Newfoundland government made, in 1898, a new contract with Reid on a gigantic scale, which Mr. Joseph Chamberlain described as 'without parallel in the history of any country.' An effort to arrange terms of confederation with the Dominion of Canada had just failed, owing to the amount of the Newfoundland debt ($16,000,000), and some heroic step was deemed necessary by the government. The agreement with Reid, dated 3 March 1898, and known as the 'Railway Operating Contract,' empowered him to work free of taxation all trunk and branch railway lines in the island for fifty years and gave him control of the telegraph system. Reid was to provide an improved mail service by eight steamboats plying in the bays and between the island and the mainland. For $1,000,000, to be paid within a year after the signing of the contract, Reid was further to obtain the reversion of the whole railway system at the end of fifty years. The agreement at the same time transferred to Reid, for a consideration, the St. John's dry dock, the largest at that time on the Atlantic coast of British North America, and it conceded to him some 4,500,000 acres of land, including 'mines, ores, precious metals, minerals, stones, and mineral oils of every kind therein and thereunder' (sec. 17). The government promised to impose a duty of not less than one dollar a ton upon imported coal so soon as the contractor was able to produce not less than 50,000 tons per annum from his mines, provided he supplied coal to wholesale dealers at prices agreed upon (sec. 45). The government also reserved the right of imposing royalties upon minerals raised from the contractor's lands.
The transfer to Reid of the 'whole realisable assets' of the island was ratified by the Assembly, but there was strong opposition among the people. An effort was made to prevent the royal assent being given to the bill on the ground that it would interfere with the interests of the holders of Newfoundland government bonds. But Mr. Chamberlain (Colonial Office Despatch, No. 70, 5 Dec. 1898) traversed this plea, maintaining (sec. 20) that 'the debts of the colony have been incurred solely on the credit of the colony,' and he could sanction 'no step which would transfer responsibility for them in the slightest degree to the imperial government.' The agitation continued. Sir James Spearman Winter [q. v. Suppl. II], whose government passed the contract, fell from power, and was replaced after a general election by a liberal government under (Sir) Robert Bond, who was supported by an overwhelming majority. On the accession of the new government to office Reid applied for permission to transfer all his interests under the contract to the Reid-Newfoundland limited liability company. Negotiations which lasted eighteen months followed between the new premier and Reid. By a new agreement, which was ratified by the House of Assembly in July 1901, Reid's former contract was materially revised. Reid surrendered the control of the telegraph, the reversion of the Newfoundland railway at the end of fifty years, and 1,500,000 acres of land. He received in exchange $2,025,000 cash, and a further claim was referred to arbitration. The Reid-Newfoundland Company was duly authorised by the legislature, and to it Reid made over the property and privileges of the old contract which the new arrangement left untouched.
Of the 'Reid-Newfoundland Company,' with a capital of $25,000,000, of which he held the largest share, Reid became the first president (9 Aug. 1901) and worked with his usual energy to ensure its financial success. If the terms of the contract justified to some extent the bestowal on Reid of the title 'Czar Reid,' he showed benevolence and beneficence in developing the resources of the colony. In 1907 he was knighted as a reward for his services to the island. Meanwhile Sir Robert kept up his residence in Montreal, where he retained large financial interests, being a director of the Canadian Pacific railway, of the Bank of Montreal, and the Royal Trust Company. His rugged constitution broke down under the strain of his labours in Newfoundland. He suffered from inflammatory rheumatism, and found no relief in the many health resorts to which he had recourse. He was in Egypt when his son, as his attorney, signed the contract of 1898. Keenly interested in his various enterprises to the last, he died of pneumonia at his home, 275 Drummond Street, Montreal, on 3 June 1908. His remains were cremated at the Mount Royal Crematorium. By a resolution of the Board of Trade of St. John's, Newfoundland, all stores and public places of business were closed during the funeral.
Reid's integrity was unquestioned, his judgment was sound, and his disposition generous. His relations with labour were invariably harmonious: he never had a strike and never employed a private secretary. He left large sums to charitable and educational institutions. In 1865 he married Harriet Duff, whom he met on his way out to Australia. She survived him with three sons and a daughter. The eldest son, William Duff Reid, succeeded his father as president of the Reid Company, and the second, Henry Duff Reid, became vice-president.
[Morgan, Canadian Men and Women of the Time, 1898, 2nd edit. 1912; Prowse, History of Newfoundland, pp. 619-29 (portrait); Canadian Mag. xvi. 329-34 (portrait); Montreal Gazette, 19 June 1908; Montreal Witness, 3 June 1908; Montreal Star, 3 and 8 June 1908; St. John's, Newfoundland, Royal Gazette, 21 Dec. 1898; Free Press, 24 July 1901; St. John's Daily News, 25-29 July 1901; St. John's Evening Herald, 23 July 1901; Toronto Mail, 19 Aug. 1901; Toronto Star, 4 June 1908; personal information.]