Minnesota, its story and biography - 1915, page 1164-1165:
Henry Benson Rutledge. One of Minnesota's most interesting citizens is Henry B. Rutledge of Minneapolis. Mr. Rutledge in local business circles is known as the head of the firm of H. B. Rutledge & Company, electric light and power operators, with offices in the Plymouth Building. He is president of several of the large public service and light and power companies operating in both Minnesota and Iowa, and his record shows him to be one of the most widely experienced and capable electrical engineers now in the Northwest. Mr. Rutledge has been identified with Minnesota several years, but for a long time the duties of his profession kept him moving from place to place, and there is probably no man in Minneapolis who has traveled the world and seen more of its industrial and economic de- velopments than Mr. Rutledge. For a man who is still in the thirties he has compressed a wonderful amount of activity, practical accomplishment and experience into his years.
Henry Benson Rutledge was born in Detroit, Michigan, July 21, 1876. His parents, D. T. and Elizabeth (Reid) Rutledge, were natives of the Province of Ontario, Canada. His father followed various occupations, was a traveler, lecturer, and a valuable stump speaker in political campaigns, and during his residence in Canada was a Grand Lodge organizer among the Orangemen. His home is 'now in San Francisco, California. The mother died in Canada in 1888. There were nine children, six sons and three daughters, and four sons and two daughters are still living. Henry B. Rutledge and his oldest brother, W. R. Rutledge, whose home is in Spring Valley, are the only members of the family in Minnesota, and they are business associates.
Henry B. Rutledge acquired his education in the public schools of Belleville, Ontario, Canada, Belleville being the county seat of Hastings County. On leaving school his first work was as driver with the fire department in Belleville. Two years later he began an apprenticeship at the machinist's trade, and worked along that line at Montreal one year. At Winnipeg he was employed a year in the locomotive shops of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1897, while the big mining boom was on in the Kootenai District of British Columbia, he was one of the young men attracted to that locality and for a year was engaged in installing mining machinery in some of the largest mines around Rossland. His next experience was at San Francisco, where for about six months he was employed in the navy yards at Mare Island. In the meantime the United States had engaged in the war for the conquest of the Philippines, and Mr. Rutledge became engineer in the transport service, and on his return from the islands was given a position as engineer with the Pacific Mail Line on a vessel from San Francisco to Panama. Swift & Company, packers, next employed him as refrigerating engineer on vessels carrying meat from New York to Cuba.
From New York Mr. Rutledge again crossed the continent to San Francisco, and his next venture was to take a ship load of horses to Taku Bay at the entrance to Tien-tsin, China. That was the time of the Boxer Rebellion, and when the captain reached Tien-tsin Harbor the ship was not allowed to land since the port was under martial law and the bay filled with warships. The vessel then went back to Nagasaki and Mr. Rutledge then returned to the Philippines. He spent about eight months on a hospital ship cruising around the islands picking up soldiers during the period of the Boxer troubles. Returning to Nagasaki and going from there to Shanghai and thence to Hong Kong, Mr. Rutledge took passage on the American cable ship "Burnside" for Manila as a marine engineer. From the Philippines his next important "port of call" was Sydney, Australia, and he was employed at that city and in different parts of Australia in engineering jobs and later took employment with the General Electric Company. In this capacity he installed the street railway power house at Sydney, and did much other engineering service in that country, installing electric equipment on two bridges at Sydney, and in 1901 and 1903 assisted in laying the submarine cables in the Sydney Harbor. Mr. Rutledge installed the electric equipment for the A-i gold mine, in the Gibbsland country in Victoria, which was the rendezvous of the notorious Australian bushman, Ned Kelley.
From Sydney Mr. Rutledge shipped as an engineer on a White Star Line steamer by way of Cape Town to London, spent some ten days in London and Liverpool, and finally arrived in New York on the Umbria. Entering the service of the General Electric Company of Schenectady, New York, the company sent him to various points, Syracuse, Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, and El Paso, Texas, and finally put him in charge of the Fiske Street Station in Chicago when that station was first put in operation. Mr. Rutledge was in San Francisco during the earthquake and fire, and for nearly six years worked up and down the coast, installing big power plants for the Electric Light & Power Company and the General Electric Company, and during the greater part of the time was superintendent of steam turbine construction. For about eight months he was manager of the Ely Light & Power Company of Ely, Nevada, and later organized the California Iron Works of San Diego, California. Then followed another two years' residence at San Francisco, during which time the General. Electric Company employed him in different capacities.
In May, 1911, Mr. Rutledge came to Minnesota and bought the Electric Light Company of Glencoe. That plant was under his management for two years. In Minnesota his unusual experience has been bearing fruit, and for several years the interests under his direction have expanded rapidly. Mr. Rutledge organized the Central Minnesota Light & Power Company, becoming its president, and this company purchased and developed power plants in seven towns along the Great Northern Railway. In May, 1913, Mr. Rutledge sold the Glencoe plant to the Northwestern Light & Power Company. In June, 1913, was organized the Southern Minnesota Power Company, with Mr. Rutledge as president, his brother, W. R. Rutledge, as secretary. This company bought the Spring Valley Electric Light & Investment Company at Spring Valley, also the Stewartville Light, Heat & Power Company, and the company is now engaged in consolidating these different power plants by means of a transmission system connecting seven towns, including Spring Valley, Grand Meadow, Wykoff, Racine and Stewartville. Mr. Rutledge also organized the Renville County Electric Company, and is now installing an electric plant at Bird Island, Minnesota, and constructing a trans- mission line for Olivia, Hector, Buffalo Lake and Stewart. His operations also extend into the State of Iowa where Mr. Rutledge bought the Rockwell City Electric Company, and organized the Calhoun County Public Service Company, developing a light and power service for a number of towns in Calhoun County, Iowa. Mr. Rutledge is president of this company with his brother as secretary. For a man who has learned his profession by practical experience and self-study, and who claims no degree from a technical institution, it is doubtful if any of his competitors in the field of electric engineering have gone further in practical achievements than Mr. Rutledge, and he easily ranks among the ablest experts in the profession in this country. He has membership in the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.
The exceptional opportunities that have been presented to Mr. Rutledge during his extensive travels have been well utilized, and he has an intimate knowledge and grasp of international politics such as the ordinary traveler never acquires. As a patriotic American he has some well grounded convictions on the subject of our American insular possessions in the Philippines. His opinions on this subject are not manufactured from an "arm chair'' but from personal observation and experience, and he strongly advocates the retention of the islands by the American Government. On this subject he has written a number of articles which have been published in newspapers over the country. As a summary of his own convictions on the subject, the best expression of his views is exemplified in a speech made by Republican House Leader Mann in Congress in opposition to the Jones resolution to relinquish American control of the Philippine Islands. Mr. Rutledge heartily agrees with Mr. Mann when he said : "I have no doubt the conflict is to come across the Pacific Ocean between the far East and the West. The logic of history teaches us that the avoidance of this conflict is impossible. I hope it will be only a commercial conflict ; I hope war may not come; but I have little faith that in this world of ours, people and nations meeting in competition for a long time, we may avoid an armed fight. The fight for commercial supremacy in the end leads to a fight with arms. We now command the Pacific Ocean. If we should let the Philippine Islands go today without a string to them, they would belong to some other nation inside of ten years. But if they kept their independence twenty-five or fifty years, in the end they would be used against us, instead of for us, in this inevitable conflict between the races." From these premises Mr. Mann argued for a liberal policy of supervision over the Filipinos in their local affairs, in such a way as to secure their loyalty and friendship, and consequently their active support in the event of an armed conflict between the East and the West. And also, on the same principle that the United States should not permit a foreign naval base in Mexico or British Columbia, the United States should not release the Philippines without reserving a naval base.
Mr. Rutledge and family are members of the Methodist Church. He was district president of the Epworth League of San Francisco and as such, and as a local preacher, has filled all of the Methodist pulpits in St. Paul.
He was married at Three Rivers, Quebec, July 31, 1903, to Miss Eva Anna Trenaman, who was born and educated in Montreal and for several years before her marriage was a teacher in that city. They are the parents of five children : Ruth Evangeline, Margaret Helen, Doris Elizabeth, Elva and Henry Trenaman. The family reside at 1922 Willow Avenue in Minneapolis.
Henry Benson Rutledge. One of Minnesota's most interesting citizens is Henry B. Rutledge of Minneapolis. Mr. Rutledge in local business circles is known as the head of the firm of H. B. Rutledge & Company, electric light and power operators, with offices in the Plymouth Building. He is president of several of the large public service and light and power companies operating in both Minnesota and Iowa, and his record shows him to be one of the most widely experienced and capable electrical engineers now in the Northwest. Mr. Rutledge has been identified with Minnesota several years, but for a long time the duties of his profession kept him moving from place to place, and there is probably no man in Minneapolis who has traveled the world and seen more of its industrial and economic de- velopments than Mr. Rutledge. For a man who is still in the thirties he has compressed a wonderful amount of activity, practical accomplishment and experience into his years.
Henry Benson Rutledge was born in Detroit, Michigan, July 21, 1876. His parents, D. T. and Elizabeth (Reid) Rutledge, were natives of the Province of Ontario, Canada. His father followed various occupations, was a traveler, lecturer, and a valuable stump speaker in political campaigns, and during his residence in Canada was a Grand Lodge organizer among the Orangemen. His home is 'now in San Francisco, California. The mother died in Canada in 1888. There were nine children, six sons and three daughters, and four sons and two daughters are still living. Henry B. Rutledge and his oldest brother, W. R. Rutledge, whose home is in Spring Valley, are the only members of the family in Minnesota, and they are business associates.
Henry B. Rutledge acquired his education in the public schools of Belleville, Ontario, Canada, Belleville being the county seat of Hastings County. On leaving school his first work was as driver with the fire department in Belleville. Two years later he began an apprenticeship at the machinist's trade, and worked along that line at Montreal one year. At Winnipeg he was employed a year in the locomotive shops of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1897, while the big mining boom was on in the Kootenai District of British Columbia, he was one of the young men attracted to that locality and for a year was engaged in installing mining machinery in some of the largest mines around Rossland. His next experience was at San Francisco, where for about six months he was employed in the navy yards at Mare Island. In the meantime the United States had engaged in the war for the conquest of the Philippines, and Mr. Rutledge became engineer in the transport service, and on his return from the islands was given a position as engineer with the Pacific Mail Line on a vessel from San Francisco to Panama. Swift & Company, packers, next employed him as refrigerating engineer on vessels carrying meat from New York to Cuba.
From New York Mr. Rutledge again crossed the continent to San Francisco, and his next venture was to take a ship load of horses to Taku Bay at the entrance to Tien-tsin, China. That was the time of the Boxer Rebellion, and when the captain reached Tien-tsin Harbor the ship was not allowed to land since the port was under martial law and the bay filled with warships. The vessel then went back to Nagasaki and Mr. Rutledge then returned to the Philippines. He spent about eight months on a hospital ship cruising around the islands picking up soldiers during the period of the Boxer troubles. Returning to Nagasaki and going from there to Shanghai and thence to Hong Kong, Mr. Rutledge took passage on the American cable ship "Burnside" for Manila as a marine engineer. From the Philippines his next important "port of call" was Sydney, Australia, and he was employed at that city and in different parts of Australia in engineering jobs and later took employment with the General Electric Company. In this capacity he installed the street railway power house at Sydney, and did much other engineering service in that country, installing electric equipment on two bridges at Sydney, and in 1901 and 1903 assisted in laying the submarine cables in the Sydney Harbor. Mr. Rutledge installed the electric equipment for the A-i gold mine, in the Gibbsland country in Victoria, which was the rendezvous of the notorious Australian bushman, Ned Kelley.
From Sydney Mr. Rutledge shipped as an engineer on a White Star Line steamer by way of Cape Town to London, spent some ten days in London and Liverpool, and finally arrived in New York on the Umbria. Entering the service of the General Electric Company of Schenectady, New York, the company sent him to various points, Syracuse, Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, and El Paso, Texas, and finally put him in charge of the Fiske Street Station in Chicago when that station was first put in operation. Mr. Rutledge was in San Francisco during the earthquake and fire, and for nearly six years worked up and down the coast, installing big power plants for the Electric Light & Power Company and the General Electric Company, and during the greater part of the time was superintendent of steam turbine construction. For about eight months he was manager of the Ely Light & Power Company of Ely, Nevada, and later organized the California Iron Works of San Diego, California. Then followed another two years' residence at San Francisco, during which time the General. Electric Company employed him in different capacities.
In May, 1911, Mr. Rutledge came to Minnesota and bought the Electric Light Company of Glencoe. That plant was under his management for two years. In Minnesota his unusual experience has been bearing fruit, and for several years the interests under his direction have expanded rapidly. Mr. Rutledge organized the Central Minnesota Light & Power Company, becoming its president, and this company purchased and developed power plants in seven towns along the Great Northern Railway. In May, 1913, Mr. Rutledge sold the Glencoe plant to the Northwestern Light & Power Company. In June, 1913, was organized the Southern Minnesota Power Company, with Mr. Rutledge as president, his brother, W. R. Rutledge, as secretary. This company bought the Spring Valley Electric Light & Investment Company at Spring Valley, also the Stewartville Light, Heat & Power Company, and the company is now engaged in consolidating these different power plants by means of a transmission system connecting seven towns, including Spring Valley, Grand Meadow, Wykoff, Racine and Stewartville. Mr. Rutledge also organized the Renville County Electric Company, and is now installing an electric plant at Bird Island, Minnesota, and constructing a trans- mission line for Olivia, Hector, Buffalo Lake and Stewart. His operations also extend into the State of Iowa where Mr. Rutledge bought the Rockwell City Electric Company, and organized the Calhoun County Public Service Company, developing a light and power service for a number of towns in Calhoun County, Iowa. Mr. Rutledge is president of this company with his brother as secretary. For a man who has learned his profession by practical experience and self-study, and who claims no degree from a technical institution, it is doubtful if any of his competitors in the field of electric engineering have gone further in practical achievements than Mr. Rutledge, and he easily ranks among the ablest experts in the profession in this country. He has membership in the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.
The exceptional opportunities that have been presented to Mr. Rutledge during his extensive travels have been well utilized, and he has an intimate knowledge and grasp of international politics such as the ordinary traveler never acquires. As a patriotic American he has some well grounded convictions on the subject of our American insular possessions in the Philippines. His opinions on this subject are not manufactured from an "arm chair'' but from personal observation and experience, and he strongly advocates the retention of the islands by the American Government. On this subject he has written a number of articles which have been published in newspapers over the country. As a summary of his own convictions on the subject, the best expression of his views is exemplified in a speech made by Republican House Leader Mann in Congress in opposition to the Jones resolution to relinquish American control of the Philippine Islands. Mr. Rutledge heartily agrees with Mr. Mann when he said : "I have no doubt the conflict is to come across the Pacific Ocean between the far East and the West. The logic of history teaches us that the avoidance of this conflict is impossible. I hope it will be only a commercial conflict ; I hope war may not come; but I have little faith that in this world of ours, people and nations meeting in competition for a long time, we may avoid an armed fight. The fight for commercial supremacy in the end leads to a fight with arms. We now command the Pacific Ocean. If we should let the Philippine Islands go today without a string to them, they would belong to some other nation inside of ten years. But if they kept their independence twenty-five or fifty years, in the end they would be used against us, instead of for us, in this inevitable conflict between the races." From these premises Mr. Mann argued for a liberal policy of supervision over the Filipinos in their local affairs, in such a way as to secure their loyalty and friendship, and consequently their active support in the event of an armed conflict between the East and the West. And also, on the same principle that the United States should not permit a foreign naval base in Mexico or British Columbia, the United States should not release the Philippines without reserving a naval base.
Mr. Rutledge and family are members of the Methodist Church. He was district president of the Epworth League of San Francisco and as such, and as a local preacher, has filled all of the Methodist pulpits in St. Paul.
He was married at Three Rivers, Quebec, July 31, 1903, to Miss Eva Anna Trenaman, who was born and educated in Montreal and for several years before her marriage was a teacher in that city. They are the parents of five children : Ruth Evangeline, Margaret Helen, Doris Elizabeth, Elva and Henry Trenaman. The family reside at 1922 Willow Avenue in Minneapolis.
Minnesota, its story and biography - 1915, page 1164-1165:
Henry Benson Rutledge. One of Minnesota's most interesting citizens is Henry B. Rutledge of Minneapolis. Mr. Rutledge in local business circles is known as the head of the firm of H. B. Rutledge & Company, electric light and power operators, with offices in the Plymouth Building. He is president of several of the large public service and light and power companies operating in both Minnesota and Iowa, and his record shows him to be one of the most widely experienced and capable electrical engineers now in the Northwest. Mr. Rutledge has been identified with Minnesota several years, but for a long time the duties of his profession kept him moving from place to place, and there is probably no man in Minneapolis who has traveled the world and seen more of its industrial and economic de- velopments than Mr. Rutledge. For a man who is still in the thirties he has compressed a wonderful amount of activity, practical accomplishment and experience into his years.
Henry Benson Rutledge was born in Detroit, Michigan, July 21, 1876. His parents, D. T. and Elizabeth (Reid) Rutledge, were natives of the Province of Ontario, Canada. His father followed various occupations, was a traveler, lecturer, and a valuable stump speaker in political campaigns, and during his residence in Canada was a Grand Lodge organizer among the Orangemen. His home is 'now in San Francisco, California. The mother died in Canada in 1888. There were nine children, six sons and three daughters, and four sons and two daughters are still living. Henry B. Rutledge and his oldest brother, W. R. Rutledge, whose home is in Spring Valley, are the only members of the family in Minnesota, and they are business associates.
Henry B. Rutledge acquired his education in the public schools of Belleville, Ontario, Canada, Belleville being the county seat of Hastings County. On leaving school his first work was as driver with the fire department in Belleville. Two years later he began an apprenticeship at the machinist's trade, and worked along that line at Montreal one year. At Winnipeg he was employed a year in the locomotive shops of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1897, while the big mining boom was on in the Kootenai District of British Columbia, he was one of the young men attracted to that locality and for a year was engaged in installing mining machinery in some of the largest mines around Rossland. His next experience was at San Francisco, where for about six months he was employed in the navy yards at Mare Island. In the meantime the United States had engaged in the war for the conquest of the Philippines, and Mr. Rutledge became engineer in the transport service, and on his return from the islands was given a position as engineer with the Pacific Mail Line on a vessel from San Francisco to Panama. Swift & Company, packers, next employed him as refrigerating engineer on vessels carrying meat from New York to Cuba.
From New York Mr. Rutledge again crossed the continent to San Francisco, and his next venture was to take a ship load of horses to Taku Bay at the entrance to Tien-tsin, China. That was the time of the Boxer Rebellion, and when the captain reached Tien-tsin Harbor the ship was not allowed to land since the port was under martial law and the bay filled with warships. The vessel then went back to Nagasaki and Mr. Rutledge then returned to the Philippines. He spent about eight months on a hospital ship cruising around the islands picking up soldiers during the period of the Boxer troubles. Returning to Nagasaki and going from there to Shanghai and thence to Hong Kong, Mr. Rutledge took passage on the American cable ship "Burnside" for Manila as a marine engineer. From the Philippines his next important "port of call" was Sydney, Australia, and he was employed at that city and in different parts of Australia in engineering jobs and later took employment with the General Electric Company. In this capacity he installed the street railway power house at Sydney, and did much other engineering service in that country, installing electric equipment on two bridges at Sydney, and in 1901 and 1903 assisted in laying the submarine cables in the Sydney Harbor. Mr. Rutledge installed the electric equipment for the A-i gold mine, in the Gibbsland country in Victoria, which was the rendezvous of the notorious Australian bushman, Ned Kelley.
From Sydney Mr. Rutledge shipped as an engineer on a White Star Line steamer by way of Cape Town to London, spent some ten days in London and Liverpool, and finally arrived in New York on the Umbria. Entering the service of the General Electric Company of Schenectady, New York, the company sent him to various points, Syracuse, Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, and El Paso, Texas, and finally put him in charge of the Fiske Street Station in Chicago when that station was first put in operation. Mr. Rutledge was in San Francisco during the earthquake and fire, and for nearly six years worked up and down the coast, installing big power plants for the Electric Light & Power Company and the General Electric Company, and during the greater part of the time was superintendent of steam turbine construction. For about eight months he was manager of the Ely Light & Power Company of Ely, Nevada, and later organized the California Iron Works of San Diego, California. Then followed another two years' residence at San Francisco, during which time the General. Electric Company employed him in different capacities.
In May, 1911, Mr. Rutledge came to Minnesota and bought the Electric Light Company of Glencoe. That plant was under his management for two years. In Minnesota his unusual experience has been bearing fruit, and for several years the interests under his direction have expanded rapidly. Mr. Rutledge organized the Central Minnesota Light & Power Company, becoming its president, and this company purchased and developed power plants in seven towns along the Great Northern Railway. In May, 1913, Mr. Rutledge sold the Glencoe plant to the Northwestern Light & Power Company. In June, 1913, was organized the Southern Minnesota Power Company, with Mr. Rutledge as president, his brother, W. R. Rutledge, as secretary. This company bought the Spring Valley Electric Light & Investment Company at Spring Valley, also the Stewartville Light, Heat & Power Company, and the company is now engaged in consolidating these different power plants by means of a transmission system connecting seven towns, including Spring Valley, Grand Meadow, Wykoff, Racine and Stewartville. Mr. Rutledge also organized the Renville County Electric Company, and is now installing an electric plant at Bird Island, Minnesota, and constructing a trans- mission line for Olivia, Hector, Buffalo Lake and Stewart. His operations also extend into the State of Iowa where Mr. Rutledge bought the Rockwell City Electric Company, and organized the Calhoun County Public Service Company, developing a light and power service for a number of towns in Calhoun County, Iowa. Mr. Rutledge is president of this company with his brother as secretary. For a man who has learned his profession by practical experience and self-study, and who claims no degree from a technical institution, it is doubtful if any of his competitors in the field of electric engineering have gone further in practical achievements than Mr. Rutledge, and he easily ranks among the ablest experts in the profession in this country. He has membership in the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.
The exceptional opportunities that have been presented to Mr. Rutledge during his extensive travels have been well utilized, and he has an intimate knowledge and grasp of international politics such as the ordinary traveler never acquires. As a patriotic American he has some well grounded convictions on the subject of our American insular possessions in the Philippines. His opinions on this subject are not manufactured from an "arm chair'' but from personal observation and experience, and he strongly advocates the retention of the islands by the American Government. On this subject he has written a number of articles which have been published in newspapers over the country. As a summary of his own convictions on the subject, the best expression of his views is exemplified in a speech made by Republican House Leader Mann in Congress in opposition to the Jones resolution to relinquish American control of the Philippine Islands. Mr. Rutledge heartily agrees with Mr. Mann when he said : "I have no doubt the conflict is to come across the Pacific Ocean between the far East and the West. The logic of history teaches us that the avoidance of this conflict is impossible. I hope it will be only a commercial conflict ; I hope war may not come; but I have little faith that in this world of ours, people and nations meeting in competition for a long time, we may avoid an armed fight. The fight for commercial supremacy in the end leads to a fight with arms. We now command the Pacific Ocean. If we should let the Philippine Islands go today without a string to them, they would belong to some other nation inside of ten years. But if they kept their independence twenty-five or fifty years, in the end they would be used against us, instead of for us, in this inevitable conflict between the races." From these premises Mr. Mann argued for a liberal policy of supervision over the Filipinos in their local affairs, in such a way as to secure their loyalty and friendship, and consequently their active support in the event of an armed conflict between the East and the West. And also, on the same principle that the United States should not permit a foreign naval base in Mexico or British Columbia, the United States should not release the Philippines without reserving a naval base.
Mr. Rutledge and family are members of the Methodist Church. He was district president of the Epworth League of San Francisco and as such, and as a local preacher, has filled all of the Methodist pulpits in St. Paul.
He was married at Three Rivers, Quebec, July 31, 1903, to Miss Eva Anna Trenaman, who was born and educated in Montreal and for several years before her marriage was a teacher in that city. They are the parents of five children : Ruth Evangeline, Margaret Helen, Doris Elizabeth, Elva and Henry Trenaman. The family reside at 1922 Willow Avenue in Minneapolis.
Henry Benson Rutledge. One of Minnesota's most interesting citizens is Henry B. Rutledge of Minneapolis. Mr. Rutledge in local business circles is known as the head of the firm of H. B. Rutledge & Company, electric light and power operators, with offices in the Plymouth Building. He is president of several of the large public service and light and power companies operating in both Minnesota and Iowa, and his record shows him to be one of the most widely experienced and capable electrical engineers now in the Northwest. Mr. Rutledge has been identified with Minnesota several years, but for a long time the duties of his profession kept him moving from place to place, and there is probably no man in Minneapolis who has traveled the world and seen more of its industrial and economic de- velopments than Mr. Rutledge. For a man who is still in the thirties he has compressed a wonderful amount of activity, practical accomplishment and experience into his years.
Henry Benson Rutledge was born in Detroit, Michigan, July 21, 1876. His parents, D. T. and Elizabeth (Reid) Rutledge, were natives of the Province of Ontario, Canada. His father followed various occupations, was a traveler, lecturer, and a valuable stump speaker in political campaigns, and during his residence in Canada was a Grand Lodge organizer among the Orangemen. His home is 'now in San Francisco, California. The mother died in Canada in 1888. There were nine children, six sons and three daughters, and four sons and two daughters are still living. Henry B. Rutledge and his oldest brother, W. R. Rutledge, whose home is in Spring Valley, are the only members of the family in Minnesota, and they are business associates.
Henry B. Rutledge acquired his education in the public schools of Belleville, Ontario, Canada, Belleville being the county seat of Hastings County. On leaving school his first work was as driver with the fire department in Belleville. Two years later he began an apprenticeship at the machinist's trade, and worked along that line at Montreal one year. At Winnipeg he was employed a year in the locomotive shops of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1897, while the big mining boom was on in the Kootenai District of British Columbia, he was one of the young men attracted to that locality and for a year was engaged in installing mining machinery in some of the largest mines around Rossland. His next experience was at San Francisco, where for about six months he was employed in the navy yards at Mare Island. In the meantime the United States had engaged in the war for the conquest of the Philippines, and Mr. Rutledge became engineer in the transport service, and on his return from the islands was given a position as engineer with the Pacific Mail Line on a vessel from San Francisco to Panama. Swift & Company, packers, next employed him as refrigerating engineer on vessels carrying meat from New York to Cuba.
From New York Mr. Rutledge again crossed the continent to San Francisco, and his next venture was to take a ship load of horses to Taku Bay at the entrance to Tien-tsin, China. That was the time of the Boxer Rebellion, and when the captain reached Tien-tsin Harbor the ship was not allowed to land since the port was under martial law and the bay filled with warships. The vessel then went back to Nagasaki and Mr. Rutledge then returned to the Philippines. He spent about eight months on a hospital ship cruising around the islands picking up soldiers during the period of the Boxer troubles. Returning to Nagasaki and going from there to Shanghai and thence to Hong Kong, Mr. Rutledge took passage on the American cable ship "Burnside" for Manila as a marine engineer. From the Philippines his next important "port of call" was Sydney, Australia, and he was employed at that city and in different parts of Australia in engineering jobs and later took employment with the General Electric Company. In this capacity he installed the street railway power house at Sydney, and did much other engineering service in that country, installing electric equipment on two bridges at Sydney, and in 1901 and 1903 assisted in laying the submarine cables in the Sydney Harbor. Mr. Rutledge installed the electric equipment for the A-i gold mine, in the Gibbsland country in Victoria, which was the rendezvous of the notorious Australian bushman, Ned Kelley.
From Sydney Mr. Rutledge shipped as an engineer on a White Star Line steamer by way of Cape Town to London, spent some ten days in London and Liverpool, and finally arrived in New York on the Umbria. Entering the service of the General Electric Company of Schenectady, New York, the company sent him to various points, Syracuse, Los Angeles, Nashville, Atlanta, and El Paso, Texas, and finally put him in charge of the Fiske Street Station in Chicago when that station was first put in operation. Mr. Rutledge was in San Francisco during the earthquake and fire, and for nearly six years worked up and down the coast, installing big power plants for the Electric Light & Power Company and the General Electric Company, and during the greater part of the time was superintendent of steam turbine construction. For about eight months he was manager of the Ely Light & Power Company of Ely, Nevada, and later organized the California Iron Works of San Diego, California. Then followed another two years' residence at San Francisco, during which time the General. Electric Company employed him in different capacities.
In May, 1911, Mr. Rutledge came to Minnesota and bought the Electric Light Company of Glencoe. That plant was under his management for two years. In Minnesota his unusual experience has been bearing fruit, and for several years the interests under his direction have expanded rapidly. Mr. Rutledge organized the Central Minnesota Light & Power Company, becoming its president, and this company purchased and developed power plants in seven towns along the Great Northern Railway. In May, 1913, Mr. Rutledge sold the Glencoe plant to the Northwestern Light & Power Company. In June, 1913, was organized the Southern Minnesota Power Company, with Mr. Rutledge as president, his brother, W. R. Rutledge, as secretary. This company bought the Spring Valley Electric Light & Investment Company at Spring Valley, also the Stewartville Light, Heat & Power Company, and the company is now engaged in consolidating these different power plants by means of a transmission system connecting seven towns, including Spring Valley, Grand Meadow, Wykoff, Racine and Stewartville. Mr. Rutledge also organized the Renville County Electric Company, and is now installing an electric plant at Bird Island, Minnesota, and constructing a trans- mission line for Olivia, Hector, Buffalo Lake and Stewart. His operations also extend into the State of Iowa where Mr. Rutledge bought the Rockwell City Electric Company, and organized the Calhoun County Public Service Company, developing a light and power service for a number of towns in Calhoun County, Iowa. Mr. Rutledge is president of this company with his brother as secretary. For a man who has learned his profession by practical experience and self-study, and who claims no degree from a technical institution, it is doubtful if any of his competitors in the field of electric engineering have gone further in practical achievements than Mr. Rutledge, and he easily ranks among the ablest experts in the profession in this country. He has membership in the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.
The exceptional opportunities that have been presented to Mr. Rutledge during his extensive travels have been well utilized, and he has an intimate knowledge and grasp of international politics such as the ordinary traveler never acquires. As a patriotic American he has some well grounded convictions on the subject of our American insular possessions in the Philippines. His opinions on this subject are not manufactured from an "arm chair'' but from personal observation and experience, and he strongly advocates the retention of the islands by the American Government. On this subject he has written a number of articles which have been published in newspapers over the country. As a summary of his own convictions on the subject, the best expression of his views is exemplified in a speech made by Republican House Leader Mann in Congress in opposition to the Jones resolution to relinquish American control of the Philippine Islands. Mr. Rutledge heartily agrees with Mr. Mann when he said : "I have no doubt the conflict is to come across the Pacific Ocean between the far East and the West. The logic of history teaches us that the avoidance of this conflict is impossible. I hope it will be only a commercial conflict ; I hope war may not come; but I have little faith that in this world of ours, people and nations meeting in competition for a long time, we may avoid an armed fight. The fight for commercial supremacy in the end leads to a fight with arms. We now command the Pacific Ocean. If we should let the Philippine Islands go today without a string to them, they would belong to some other nation inside of ten years. But if they kept their independence twenty-five or fifty years, in the end they would be used against us, instead of for us, in this inevitable conflict between the races." From these premises Mr. Mann argued for a liberal policy of supervision over the Filipinos in their local affairs, in such a way as to secure their loyalty and friendship, and consequently their active support in the event of an armed conflict between the East and the West. And also, on the same principle that the United States should not permit a foreign naval base in Mexico or British Columbia, the United States should not release the Philippines without reserving a naval base.
Mr. Rutledge and family are members of the Methodist Church. He was district president of the Epworth League of San Francisco and as such, and as a local preacher, has filled all of the Methodist pulpits in St. Paul.
He was married at Three Rivers, Quebec, July 31, 1903, to Miss Eva Anna Trenaman, who was born and educated in Montreal and for several years before her marriage was a teacher in that city. They are the parents of five children : Ruth Evangeline, Margaret Helen, Doris Elizabeth, Elva and Henry Trenaman. The family reside at 1922 Willow Avenue in Minneapolis.
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