Multnomah County OR Archives Biographies.....Macphail, William M. 1872 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila L. Wakley iwakley@msn.com May 28, 2009, 6:17 pm

Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     WILLIAM M. MACPHAIL.  One of Portland's leading business men is William 
M. Macphail, president of the Warren Construction Company, the operations of 
which over a long period of years have placed it in the forefront of the great 
road construction concerns of this country. Mr. Macphail is an expert engineer 
and has had extensive and varied experience in road building and other 
important engineering work throughout the United States and Canada, so that as 
the executive head of this company he holds a preeminent place in the business 
world. Born on Prince Edward island, Canada, in 1872, he is a son of William 
and Catherine Moore (Smith) Macphail, of an old and prominent family of that 
province. Receiving a good public and high school education, he then entered 
McGill University, at Montreal, from which he was graduated in engineering in 
the class of 1898. During the following years he was identified with railroad 
construction work in Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario, and later became 
connected with the Canadian-Niagara Power Company in the construction of the 
hydro-electric power plant at Niagara Falls. On the completion of his work 
there, he was appointed assistant city engineer of Toronto, Canada, and later 
became the representative of the Warren Brothers Company in western Canada, 
with headquarters at Winnipeg, in which capacity he served with such ability 
and success that in 1920 he came to Portland as president of the Warren 
Construction Company, which position he still holds. The reader is referred to 
other pages of this history for further reference to this well known concern, 
whose work in connection with the construction of the great Columbia River 
highway alone gained for it a wide and well merited reputation.

     On January 5, 1910, Mr. Macphail was united in marriage to Miss Ethel 
Penrose, of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, and they are the parents of two 
children, Marion and Catherine, both of whom are in school. Mr. Macphail is a 
Royal Arch Mason, and also belongs to the Arlington Club, the Waverly Club and 
the Portland Chamber of Commerce. In his political attitude he is independent, 
voting in accordance with the dictates of his judgments to men and measures. 
He is a stockholder and director in a number of important enterprises and is 
regarded as a man of clear-headed judgment, whose opinions in practical 
matters are highly esteemed by his business associates. He has made many warm 
and loyal friends in Portland and to a marked degree commands the uniform 
respect and confidence of all with whom he has come in contact.

Additional Comments:
History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. II, 
Pages 794-794

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