WILLIAM H. DUNCAN. 
 


	The consensus of public opinion places William H. Duncan among the
most prominent citizens of the province of Saskatchewan.  He home-
steaded in this province, near Regina, in 1882. He had his share of the
early trials of living in Saskatchewan, and he is one of the noblest char-
acters in the modern, as he was through the old, era of Saskatchewan.
He has been builder and merchant and today is a man of large affairs.
The business interests with which he is officially concerned are among
the most important in Regina.  He has been a vigorous promoter of
progress and civic enterprise since this was a town of tents.
	William H. Duncan was born at Almonte, Ontario, on the 4th of
March, 1858, a son of James and Elizabeth (Lockhart) Duncan.  Upon
the completion of his studies in the Almonte high school he came to the
west in 1879 and for a time taught school north of Winnipeg. In 1882
(the year the railroad reached Regina, and the years of the first coloniza-
tion in this region of any important extent he located here and took up
a homestead just south of the present capital city. During the eight years
he spent in agricultural pursuits he likewise engaged in contracting and
in 1890 he went to the new railroad station and settlement of Saskatoon.
There he opened a general store in partnership with the late Neil Mac-
Kay, who was at one time a member of the legislature of British Co-
lumbia.  One of the principal commodities in which the partners dealt
was buffalo bones, which they shipped south in large quantities and which
were ultimately sold to large sugar refineries in the States. They often
had as many as twenty carloads of bones piled along the track, covering
ground that is now one of the most valuable pieces of business property
in the city of Saskatoon. Some nine months after selling his share in the
business to Leslie & Wilson, Mr. Duncan returned to Regina and with
Charles Willoughby, extended mention of whom is made on another page
of this work, he formed the Willoughby & Duncan Lumber Company.
Subsequently that company amalgamated  with the  Regina Lum-
ber & Supply Company, and that in turn with the Beaver Lumber Com-
pany, which is one of the largest lumber corporations in Canada, with
one hundred and fifty yards located in different parts of the west and
with its producing mills in the mountain forests.  For some time Mr.
Duncan and Mr. Willoughby were engaged in contracting and building,
and the Willoughby-Duncan block on Scarth street is a monument to
their joint enterprise.  Mr. Willoughby and Mr. Duncan also erected a
two-story stone building on Cornwall street, where they have their offices.
The Saskatchewan General Trust Company, of which Mr. Duncan is
president, is also located in the same building and other well known
firms occupy offices in the building. Mr. Duncan has done a large busi-
ness as a financial agent and is also a director of the Beaver Lumber
Company, the Saskatchewan General Trust Company, the Saskatchewan
Life Assurance Company, the Regina Brokerage & Investment Company,
the Western Manufacturing Company, the Regina Foundry Company and
the Capitol Ice Company, all among the most representative concerns in
the financial and industrial resources of Regina.  During the Rebellion
of 1885 Mr. Duncan was in the transport service.  He was in Regina
when Governor Dewdney selected the site of the old government house,
Regina then being a town of tents. The civic service of Mr. Duncan has
been of solid value.  For two years he was on the city council and he
was chairman of the board of works in 1891 and 1892, at the time the
first sewerage system was installed. He,has been a member of the Col-
legiate Institute since its establishment and has been a director of the
Young Men's Christian Association since its organization in Regina.
	In Regina, in 1890, Mr. Duncan was married to Miss Mary Grassick,
a daughter of George Grassick of Yellow Grass. To them two children
have been born: Thelma, the wife of V. E. Duclos, a salesman with the
Western Implement Company, Regina; and Margaret, living at home.
Fraternally Mr. Duncan is identified with the Masons and he also holds
membership in the Canadian Order of Foresters. His religious faith is
that of the Presbyterian church and socially he is identified with the
Country and Golf Clubs. He owns a fine farm near Regina and one of his
hobbles is its cultivation and improvement. He is also fond of golf and
motoring.  Mr. Duncan is now withdrawing from active business life,
although the many concerns of which he is a director make extensive de-
mands upon his time and attention.




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