JAMES GRASSICK.
Photograph
 


	In the city of Regina there is no one more highly respected as a citizen
than James Grassick, manager of the Capital Ice Company, former mayor
of the municipality and a prominent figure in local affairs since the
founding of the town. For when Mr. Grassick came to Regina with his
parents as a fourteen-year-old boy he made the journey from Rapid City
in an ox-cart instead of a Pullman car and found at the end of the tedious
trip not a well laid out modern city, with imposing buildings and electric
lights, but a little settlement scarcely more than an outpost of civiliza-
tion. James Grassick was born in Fergus, Ontario, on the 2d of March,
1868, the son of George Grassick, a native of Aberdeenshire, who had
come out from Scotland in early life.  In Fergus the young Scotchman
met and married an Irish girl, Ann Jane Bell, who was likewise an
immigrant from across the seas. In 1878 this young couple moved west
to Manitoba to take up some of the government land that was to be had
for little more than the asking, making the journey to Winnipeg via
St. Paul and going up from the latter city by boat, and in that year the
father took up a homestead at Rapid City. Four years later the family
moved on to Regina, traveling in an ox-cart, and here took up another
homestead. After farming and ranching in this district for some time,
George Grassick went to Broken Shell Creek and it was while the family
was living there that the mother passed away. In 1915 the father died
at Yellow Grass. George Grassick was a lifelong Conservative in politics
and a consistent member of the Presbyterian church, as was his wife,
their household always being regulated according to the simple tenets
of the old Scotch faith.  Five of the six children born into this family,
are living, and of these James is the oldest. James Grassick was edu-
cated in the public schools of Manitoba and Rapid City and after coming
to Saskatchewan had an extensive course of training in the greatest of
all universities, experience.  For several years after coming to Regina
the boy helped his father on the ranch before, he started out in the world
for himself, with one hundred and twenty-five dollars and a team of
horses, one of which was paid for and the other bought on time. This
was in 1889 and his business was that of carting, express hauling and
conducting a feed and sale stable.  For years he was the delivery man
for the Dominion Express Company in Regina. In 1906, about the time
that the rapidly developing motor car industry began to threaten the
supremacy of faithful Dobbin, on the city streets as well as on the coun-
try roads, Mr. Grassick organized the Capital Ice Company and has been
in active charge of its business ever since, developing the concern into
a highly profitable enterprise.  His time has not been confined to the
management of this business alone, however, and he has sought other
outlets for his capital and energies.  For some years he was agent for
the Imperial Oil Company.  As the city has developed and his own
financial resources have increased, he has from time to time invested
in real estate in Regina, buying his property with wise foresight and the
exercise of a keen sense of values, so that today his assets in a financial
way would be the source of gratification to a man with very high ambi-
tions in the business world.
	While Mr. Grassick is not without a commendable ambition, and he
is cognizant of the fact that the accumulation of wealth is the mark of
success for the business man, he has never held money-getting as the
chief end of his existence.  He has always had time to devote to civic
affairs and is ever ready to lend his support and encouragement to
any movement that will promote the welfare of his city. For four years
from 1900 to 1904-he was town councilman and for three years, in
1920, 1921 and 1922, held the office of mayor of Regina. Prior to that
time he had been an alderman for five years.  His political affiliations
are with the Conservative party. He was a member of one of the first
hockey teams organized in Regina and in his younger days took an active
part in football and baseball. Fraternally he is identified with the Ma-
sonic order, the Canadian Order of Foresters, the Sons of Scotland, the
Loyal Order of Moose, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the
United Order of Canadians.
	In March, 1897, Mr. Grassick was united in marriage to Miss Jessie
Beattie, who was born and educated in the province of Ontario. Three
children have been born to this union; Marion, who has completed her
education and is now living at home with her parents; Gordon, a medical
student at McGill University; and Lilian, who is a school girl.  The
family is associated with the Knox Presbyterian church, in which Mr.
Grassick has been chairman of the board of managers for the last six-
teen years.




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