James Duncan McGregor

Who was James Duncan McGregor?

James Duncan McGregor was a Canadian agricultural pioneer and office holder. He served as the 11th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba between 1929 and 1934.

McGregor was born in Amherstburg, Canada West, and was educated at public schools in Windsor. He did not attend college. He moved to Manitoba in 1877, and worked in his father's cattle business in Brandon.

McGregor was one of several pioneers to the Yukon following the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896, and served as Mine Inspector of the Yukon Territory from 1897 to 1899. He subsequently bought a ranch near Medicine Hat, and owned 200,000 acres with 10,000 head of cattle and 2,000 horses. For ten years, McGregor also managed the British-owned Canada Land and Irrigation Company and helped build reservoirs and canal systems near Milo, in Vulcan County, Alberta. McGregor Lake, a 40 kilometres-long irrigation reservoir in the Oldman River drainage basin, was named for McGregor.

McGregor gained international fame for his pioneering efforts in stock breeding. He was the first farmer to cultivate alfalfa in the western provinces, thereby reducing the region's dependency on the wheat market. He also founded the Glencarnock stock farms of western Canada, and won a number of international livestock prizes.