Henry Norlande Ruttan
Henry Norlande Ruttan (1848-1925)
1927 Obituary [1]
KEENRY NORLANDE RUTTAN, C.M.G., son of Bir. H. J. Ruttan, was born on the 21st May, 1848, at Cobourg, Ontario, Canada. After being educated locally, he was appointed in 1867 to the engineering staff of the Grand Trunk Railway Company. In the following year he became assistant on the engineering staff of the Intercolonial Railway Company, and later was employed as resident engineer on construction works.
In 1874 he was engaged on preliminary surveys on the north shore of Lake Superior, for the Canadian Pacific Railway, and during the period 1875-1877 he was responsible for the survey of 400 miles, and location of 200 miles, of that railway east of Yellowhead Pass, Rocky Mountains. He acted as resident engineer from 1877 to 1880 for the contractors on the construction of the line from Lake of the Woods, Ontario, to Winnipeg.
Having commenced to practise privately in 1880, he designed and built swing bridges over the Red river at Emerson, and over the Assiniboine river at Winnipeg. He was engineer and contractor for the first 40 miles of the Manitoba North Western Railway, and was contractor for the construction of the first 50 miles of the Manitoba South Western Railway. Abandoning his railway work he became city engineer of Winnipeg in 1885, which appointment he held continuously until 1914. Among the more important of his municipal works may be mentioned the design and construction of an artesian well water-supply system in 1899, when the city took over the works of the Winnipeg Waterworks Company, and the design and construction of the sewerage system. Under his advice the city was equipped with a separate fire-service water-distribution system, with a capacity of 18 million gallons per 24 hours at a pressure of 300 lbs. per square inch. He carried out the original survey for the city hydro-electric installation. He was also Chairman of the Board of Consulting Engineers who designed the system.
In 1863 Mr. Ruttan enlisted in the Cobourg Rifle Company, 40th Regiment, Canadian Militia, in which unit he served 7 years. He was made a captain in the 90th Regiment (Winnipeg Rifles) in 1883, promoted. to the rank of major four years later, and in 1885 became Lieut.-Colonel commanding the unit. In 1900 he relinquished his command and was transferred to the reserve ; but in 1910 he was appointed to command the 100th Regiment (Winnipeg Grenadiers). From 1912 to 1918 he commanded the 20th Canadian Infantry Brigade, being appointed Temporary Brigadier-General in 1916. During the war he was also in command of Military District No. 10, and in recognition of his services at that time he was made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. He first saw active service during the Fenian Raid in 1866, and he was engaged in three actions during the North West Rebellion in 1885.
He became a member of The Institution in 1888, and was Canadian Representative Member of the Council from 1913 to 1916. He was elected a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1893, and was a member of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers (now the Engineering Institute of Canada), on the Council of which he served from 1887 to 1906. He was President of that Society in 1910, and was elected an Honorary Member of it in 1920. He married, in 1871, Andrina, daughter of Andrew Barberie, who survived him with four sons and one daughter.
He died at Winnipeg on the 13th October, 1925, having spent the last few years of his life in retirement.