Alexander Duncan McRae, (November 17, 1874 – June 26, 1946) was a successful businessman, a Major General in the Canadian Army in First World War, a Member of Parliament, a Canadian Senator and a farmer.
Origins
Alexander Duncan McRae was born and raised on a farm in Ekfrid Township, Middlesex County, Ontario. His father was Duncan Alexander McRae and his mother was Mary (Mahwhinney) McRae. His cousin and longtime business partner, Andrew Davidson (b. May 18, 1853) came from the same area. The two of them each went on to study at a Business school in Chatham, Ontario.
Early career
In search of opportunities, at age 18 he went to work for his cousins, the brothers Alexander and Andrew Davidson of Duluth, Minnesota. The Davidsons had started in Little Falls, Minnesota, working for a railway company and moved into banking. Andrew had become mayor and they were involved in the business of buying, marketing and financing railway land to homesteaders. Minnesota made Andrew an honorary colonel. Their banking business spread through the region. In 1892, at 18 Alexander McRae joined them in Duluth and learned under Andrew.
McRae's first business venture on his own account started when his father put up $1,500 and McRae became a partner with the Davidsons in a company that insured grain elevators. The Davidson-McRae company sold fire and liability insurance and surety bonds. By the 1890s they had invested in various businesses and McRae became vice president of First National Bank of Hibbing. By age 25 he had $50,000 of his own earnings accumulated. He invested in other businesses including a granite quarry.
He married Blaunche Latimer Howe, of Pennsylvania who was the daughter of wealthy a forest industry father. They married in Minneapolis on February 23, 1900. They would eventually have three daughters, Blanche, Lucile, and Margaret ("Peggy").
As McRae and the Davidsons saw Minnesota land go up in price and farmers moving west for more land, they realized the Canadian prairies were an opportunity. They formed the Saskatchewan Valley Land Company headquartered in Winnipeg.
Land Speculation in Saskatchewan
Land in Saskatchewan between Regina and Saskatoon had been surveyed in 1882. Railway companies were compensated with land grants for the cost of railway construction. The railway companies rejected much of the land between Regina and Saskatoon as unfit for settlement and court proceedings began. McRae and the Davidsons thought otherwise. In 1902 they bought land surrendered by the Cree and Assiniboine people under Treaty 4, which the government had assigned to the Qu'Appelle, Long Lake and Saskatchewan Railway. Their first purchases were for $1.53 an acre and a further 250,000 acres of Treaty 4 land from the federal government for $1 per acre. They bought a further from the Saskatchewan Western Railway. They agreed to terms that required them to actively seek settlers for the land. They were also appointed land agents for the Great Northern Railway owned by Donald Mann and William Mackenzie in 1902. By the time they were done these and other purchases, their syndicate and the various companies it consisted of owned about of land which they sold between $2.25 and $12 per acre netting about $9 million.
In the summer of 1902, Davidson and McRae organized two promotional train tours from Minneapolis through to Prince Albert. Each of these journeys saw eight Pullman cars plus dining and baggage cars traveling through hundreds of miles of unbroken and uninhabited prairie lands. The passengers were wealthy investors from the United States. The promotion was a success. Large tracts were purchased and word spread in the business communities leading to further investment. The company developed a network of land agents to sell land to settlers which advertised and maintained sales offices in many locations. In 1901 the population of the North West Territories (which then included Alberta, Saskatchewan and most of Manitoba) was 158,940. In five years it had grown to 443,175. Under their colonization scheme 50,000 people settled in Saskatchewan.