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Israel Merritt Ross
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Railway contractor and financier.
Born in the Maritimes in 1842, of Highland Scottish descent. He was educated in the public schools of his native province, and came to Winnipeg in 1879.
He was a machinist with the Intercolonial Railway, and later became a locomotive engineer on the Pembina branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was in charge of the first locomotive that crossed the Red River in Canadian territory. In the late 1870s and early 1880s he was engaged in building the Canadian Pacific west of Winnipeg. On completion of the CPR he carried on railway construction in several northwestern states, returning to Winnipeg about 1896 to take up permanent residence. Active in financial circles, he became a director of several mortgage companies.
He married Georgiana Long (?-1917) of United Empire Loyalist descent. They had no children. For a number of years he was an official of the Winnipeg Industrial Exhibition Association and, at the time of his death, was a director of the Winnipeg General Hospital. He was an active Mason.
He died at his Winnipeg residence, 206 Donald Street, on 25 May 1911 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
Death registration [Israel Ross], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“I. M. Ross succumbs; died at midnight,” Manitoba Free Press, 26 May 1911, page 24.
“Death of I. M. Ross removes old-timer,” Winnipeg Tribune, 26 May 1911, page 3.
Pioneers and Early Citizens of Manitoba, Winnipeg: Manitoba Library Association, 1971.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 20 November 2025
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