Conneticut River, Connecticut U.S.
Drawing or sketch is matted (original mat, acidic). Sketch is in a card stock frame, sealed on back with card stock. Foreground depicts cattle grazing along the banks of the Connecticut river. On the right side a man is seated at the foot of a large tree. Left side another large tree, rock at its base. The river narrows in the middle ground, trees on either side. Sky in the background.
From the Archives of Canada CAIN No. 270712: Morley Donaldson was born near Edinburgh, Scotland and came to Canada as a young boy. In 1869 he joined the Montreal engineering firm of E.E. Gilbert & Sons. Between 1871 and 1876 Donaldson worked for Walter Shanly, the chief engineer and contractor for the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts. Following this, Donaldson became a mining engineer and assayer in Colorado for four years. Returning to Canada in 1881, he became chief draftsman for J.R. Booth's railway, the Canada Atlantic Railway, which connected Ottawa to New England. Donaldson also served as mechanical and general superintendent for the Canada Atlantic.
When the Canada Atlantic was bought by the Grand Trunk Railway in 1905, Donaldson became superintendent of the Ottawa Division of the GTR. He retained this position until 1913 when he became vice-president and general manager of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, then building a railway line to the Pacific Ocean. He resigned in 1917 due to ill health., Drawing originally purchased by G. R. L. Potter (donor's grandfather) and offered for copying to CHS--see paperwork in artifact and originals in HC reg file. 2003 originals offered to HC from donor Dore Dunne of Canada.
*Hand printed on back, ink: "Endrosed on back: 'Scene on the Connecticut River- Conn U.S.'
Front lower right in the tree under seated man "M. Donaldson"