Hunt, Herbert and Floyd C. Kaylor.  "Washington: West of the Cascades."  Vol.
II.  Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1917.  pp. 5-10.

John Joseph Donovan 

	There are times when human effort and enterprise seem to have no limit, when
the door of opportunity continuously opens to the insistent demands of the
individual and when ability finds its justification and raps its reward in
notable success. Such has been the record of John Joseph Donovan, who work has
been a vital force in the development and upbuilding of the northwest. He has
directed and controlled affairs of great magnitude, in many of which the public
has been a large indirect beneficiary, while at the same time his fortunes have
enjoyed a just increase. Mr. Donovan seems to think there is nothing unusual in
his life record, but when judge by what the great majority of men accomplish his
history stand out as a notable example of the force of perseverance,
determination, clear vision, and sound judgment. 
	Mr. Donovan was born at Rumney, New Hampshire, September 8, 1858, his
parents being Patrick and Julia (O'Sullivan) Donovan, the former a native of
County Cork, Ireland and the latter of County Kerry. The educational
opportunities of the father were limited, but laudable ambition prompted him to
try his fortune in the new work and in 1852 he arrived in the United States,
after which he secured a position in connection with the building of the Boston,
Concord & Montreal Railroad in New Hampshire. His ability soon won him promotion
to foreman and with his savings he afterward purchased a farm near Plymouth, New
Hampshire, where he carried on general agriculture pursuits until he permanently
pus aside business cares and took up his abode in the town Plymouth, where he
passed away. It as in July, 1856, in Concord, New Hampshire that he wedded Miss
Julia O'Sullivan, and to them were born seven children: John Joseph ; Katharine,
who is now living in Plymouth ; Dennis, who died in infancy ; Mary Agnes, who
became the wife of George Lynch, of Lancaster, New Hampshire, but both are now
deceased ; Julia  Teresa, the wife of Hon. F. F. Blake, of Plymouth, New
Hampshire, who served in the legislature of his state ; Daniel P. , who was
general agent for the Northwestern Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee at Boston
and died in 1911 ; and Margaret, the wife of A.N. Gilbert of Berlin, New
Hampshire, who was formerly mayor of his city and is now an architect and
building contractor doing business in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. 
	The boyhood and youth of John J. Donovan passed without any unusual
incident, his attention being given to farm work, to the acquirement of an
education and to the enjoyment of such sports as occupied the attention of the
youths of his locality. He supplemented his public school course by study in the
New Hampshire State Normal School, from which he was graduated, and then devoted
three years to teaching in the schools of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The
funds thus secured enabled him to carry out his well defined purpose, that of
pursuing a course in engineering in the Polytechnic School at Worchester,
Massachusetts, and in 1880 he entered that institution from which he was
graduated with valedictorian honors in a class of thirty-one in 1882. The
ambition which prompted him to take high rank in his class foreshadowed the
spirit which has actuated him in all of his undertakings. He has never been
content with the second best but has striven for the attainment of perfection in
all that he attempted. About the time of his graduation the Northern Pacific
Railway Company was completing its transcontinental system and applied to the
engineering school at Worcester, Massachusetts, to engage two members of the
graduating class for engineering work along its line. The two chosen were John
J. Donovan and J.Q. Barlow, the latter having also risen to eminence in railway
and engineering circles, being assistant chief engineer of the Southern Pacific
Railway. Going at one to Montana, they were given employment in adjacent fields,
Mr. Donovan's first duties being those of rodman of a surveying crew far in
advance of the western terminus. After a month he was made leverler, while six
months‚ service brought to him the position of assistant engineer of
construction.  He celebrated his twenty-fifth birthday by attending the imposing
and impressive ceremonies which were arranged by Henry Villard, president of the
Northern Pacific Railway Company, in honor of the completion of the road by
connection of the eastern and western division at Gold Creek in Montana, on
which occasion Mr. Villard's guests were taken to Gold Creek in five Pullman
trains and included such distinguished personages as President Ulysses S. Grant,
William M. Evarts, English and German nobleman who were financially interested
in the Northern Pacific, eminent engineers and railway officials, a number of
Crow Indian chieftains, cattleman of the neighboring ranches, several companies
of United States soldiers and the usual corps of Newspaper correspondents.  All
night long Mr. Donovan rode over lonely trails to reach Gold Creek and he
remembers the ceremonies on that occasion as among the most impressive he has
ever witnessed.  He then returned to camp and when he had completed some
important truss bridge work was transferred to Washington, where his duties
connected him with the construction of the Cascade division of the Northern
Pacific as engineer of track and bridges, locating engineer and engineer in
charge. His first work was about fifteen miles east of the present town of
Prosser and later as one of the engineers on the Cascade tunnel project he ran
surveys for the great bore, crossing the mountains almost daily throughout the
winter when twenty feet of snow lay upon their summits. He rode in the saddle on
the trails but had to cross the summit on the snowshoes.  On the 1st of June,
1887, the zigzag track of the switchback, which invariably precedes the tunnel
on large projects, was completed, so that the Northern Pacific could take people
to the coast over its own lines. At the time Mr. Donovan was engineer in charge
of the Cascade division west. A month later when granted a vacation he visited
Alaska and also his old New England home, but in September, 1887, returned to
the west to take charge of the construction of a number of lines than being
built by the Northern Pacific to connect important mining camps with the main
line in Montana. Upon the completion of that work in 1888 he again went to New
England and when he returned to Helena, Montana,  in the same year he was
accompanied by his bride. 
	Mr. Donovan's value in professional connections was recognized by others
aside from the Northern Pacific officials and various business propositions were
made him, so that he finally resigned his position with the railroad company to
accept the office of chief engineer for important enterprises then being
established on Bellingham bay. From Helena he went to Tacoma, and in December
1888, arrived at Farihaven, which later became a part of Bellingham.  There were
no stores in the town, merely a little cluster of dwellings in the midst of
dense forests, and the total population of Bellingham bay was not more than five
hundred, including men, women, and children.  One traveled from Fairhaven to
Whatcom by the water route, using a rowboat, for the road between the two places
was impassable.  Under the direction of Mr. Donovan as chief engineer the
companies with which he was associated soon wrought marked changes, his being
the directing force in all this important work. As chief engineer of the
Fairhaven land Company, the Skagit Coal & Transportation Company and the
Fairhaven & Southern Railway Company he directed the building of a railroad, the
opening of coal mines on the Skagit river , the platting of the town site of
Fairhaven and the construction of its wharves.  Fairhaven was organized as a
city and public improvement of importance were inaugurated and carried to
completion.  At this time he served on the city council for two terms, being
chairman of the street and sewer committee. Another important progressive step
was made in 1890, when the Fairhaven & Southern Railway Company projected a line
from Vancouver, British Columbia, south to Portland, Oregon, and east to
Spokane. The surveys were completed and eight miles of the road had been
constructed and was under operation when company sold out to the Great Northern
system and Mr. Donovan retired as chief engineer.  Once more he visited the
Atlantic coast and upon his return to the west became engineer for the tide land
appraisers and after chief engineer of the Blue Canyon Coal Mining Company and
the Bellingham Bay & Eastern Railway Company, formed by Montana capital in1891.
The railway company gradually extended its lines from Fairhaven to Wickersham on
the Northern Pacific by way of Lake Whatcom and in 1902 the  Northern Pacific
took over the road. In 1898 Mr. Donovan was made general superintendent and
chief engineer of the Bellingham Bay & British Columbia Railway and immediately
began the survey work for the extension of the line to Spokane.  The companies
under Mr. Donovan's directions devoted much time and capital to prospecting for
coal and other minerals  and to developing valuable water power on the Nooksack
at Nooksack Falls.  The water power was later sold to Stone & Webster, of
Boston, Mr. Donovan making a special trip to the east to negotiate the deal. The
Blue Canyon coal mines were leased to another company and the property is now
being gradually developed. 
	In 1898 Peter Larson, Julius H. Bloedel and Mr. Donovan organized the Lake
Whatcom Logging Company, of which Mr. Larson became president, Mr. Donovan vice
president and Mr. Bloedel manager.  In 1900 they also organized the Larson
Lumber Company and build a mill at the town of Larson on Lake Whatcom, the
latter company having the same officers as the former. At the time of the
organization Mr. Donovan became president of the Lake Whatcom Logging Company
and on the 1st of April 1913,that company and the Larson Lumber Company
reorganized and Mr. Bloedel become president with Mr. Donovan as vice president.
This company now owns three sawmills at Larson and one at Blanchard, Washington.
Their properties also include logging camps with five unites or side at Alger
and Delvan respectively. They operate thirty miles of railroad, own six
locomotives and complete rolling stock. The company has acquired timber lands in
Skagit and Whatcom counties which include twelve hundred million feet of timber
all at moderate elevation, which all is in solid block.  This timber has all
been acquired through purchase from one hundred different owners and none of it
from the government, railroad companies or by filing scrip.  They employ
directly one thousand people.  Aside from his extensive interests along that
line Mr. Donovan is vice president of the First National Bank of Bellingham. 
In Somerville, Massachusetts, April 29, 1888, Mr. Donovan was united in marriage
to Miss Clara Isabel Nichols, and they have become the parents of three
children.  Helen Elizabeth, the eldest, is a graduate of Dana Hall, Wellesley,
Massachusetts, and also of Smith College and was studying music in Berlin,
Germany, at the time of the outbreak of the present war.  John Nichols,
twenty-five years of age, graduated in civil engineering from the Worcester
Polytechnic Institute in 1913 and was a civil engineer with the Northern Pacific
Railway Company for a year. He is now efficiency engineer for the Bloedel
Donovan Lumber Mills in Bellingham, Washington. He was married in Bellingham in
September, 1914, to Miss Geraldine Goodheart, and John R. Jr, born May 12, 1916
to the pride of his family.  Philip, twenty-three years of age completed a
course in mechanical engineering at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1915
and is now active as his father's secretary and purchasing agent.  In July,
1916, he married Miss Hazel hart Prigmore, daughter of the later Judge Prigmore
and on May 23, 1917, Philip Hart entered their home. 
	Mr. Donovan is a member of the Catholic church and is now president of the
Catholic Federation of Washington. He has also taken the fourth degree in the
Knights of Columbus and has  held high offices in the order. He is prominently
identified with many club and trade societies and organizations for the benefit
of the public. His standing in business circles is indicated by the fact that he
was honored with the presidency of the Pacific Logging Congress from 1913 until
1915. Several times he has been president of the Chamber of Commerce of
Bellingham and he belongs to the Commercial Club of  Tacoma, the American
Historical Society and the American Irish Historical Society. That he casts his
influence in support of cultural forces is indicated by his membership in the
Washington State Art Association. He is likewise a life member of the Navy
League and he has membership in the Bellingham Country Club, the Cougar Club of
Bellingham, and the Rainer Club of Seattle. He is a member of the American
Society of Civil Engineers and was one of the organizers of the Montana Society
of Engineers, with which he is still connected. He has long been an ardent
advocate of the good roads movement and was a leader in the fight for
fortifications for Bellingham bay. He is a forceful write and a frequent
contribute of timely articles on vital subjects to the press. Bellingham has no
citizen who has been more keenly alive to the city's needs and possibilities or
who has persisted with greater energy and success in attaining them. 
	In politics Mr. Donovan is a stanch republican and has been a recognized
leader in political circles in his part of the state. He would never consent to
become an office holder, yet it would have been possible for him to secure
almost any position that he might desire, so great is the confidence reposed in
his ability and public spirit. He was chairman of the state commission of forest
legislation under Governor Hay, which commission was characterized as „twelve of
the strong men of the state‰.  Under appointment of Governor McGraw in 1894 he
was a member of the first state highway commission, for which he has since been
a worker, striving earnestly to promote good roads.  He was also on the state
board of charities and corrections for some years. He has given more liberally
of his time and money to hospital work and he served in an advisory capacity in
connection with St. Joe's Hospital in Bellingham for years. He instituted
progressive and humanitarian ideas in connection with his mills and amps which
have been generally adopted by other big companies.  Small reduction in the
men's pay guaranteed them medical attention and hospital service when needed and
gave them a choice of hospitals˜St. Jospeh's or St. Luke's ˆ and any surgeon or
physician they might select. For eight years he was a trustee of the State
Normal School and he was a member of the charter commission of fifteen which
framed the charter of the city of Bellingham when Fairhaven and Whatcom united.
This charter proved so satisfactory that later the people rejected the idea of a
commission form of government, deeming the old charter to be more efficient and
up-to-date.  Mr. Donovan was also a member of the Municipal League for Civic
Reforms and he has always been on the side of temperance, serving on the
executive committee in the fight for prohibition.  Bellingham was one of the
first cities of the state to go dry by men's votes and it remained consistently
dry through all reaction and was dry for six years before the state prohibition
law was passed. Bellingham therefore had not trouble in applying the statewide
law. 
	In a summary of his life it is noticeable, that Mr. Donovan as a man is
farseeing, honest and public-spirited and throughout his life has operated
boldly and continuously in the business field and by the stimulus of his efforts
has around the enterprise of others, through which means he has added to his own
great labors and furnished hundreds of workmen with remunerative employment. He
has never been a public man in the ordinary sense but during all his business
life he has held many important relations to the public interest through his
business concerns he had conducted , for  in all of them the public has been a
large indirect beneficiary.  He has never south to figure prominently before the
public in any light or any relation, yet his influence has been felt as a
strong, steady moving force in the social, moral, and industrial movements of
the community rather than seen.  There is one point in his career to which his
many friends refer with pride and that is, whether as a prominent lumberman or
financier, he has always been the same genial, courteous gentleman who ways are
those of refinement and whose word no man can question. 

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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in August 2008 by Amber Brock,
ajbrock at u dot washington dot edu.