(13 May 1860-19 March 1936 ), railway contractor and rancher. (James A. Cashion, Jim Cashion) Born in GC, probably at Cashion’s Glen. Parents: Daniel Cashion and his wife Jane Burton. Daniel (or Donald) Cashion (1831-6 July 1916), of Cashion’s Glen, the father of James A. Cashion of the present entry, was a hotelkeeper in Williamstown and Cornwall, and “was a fine speciman of the old type of Glengarrian,” and “was born on the homestead where he died” (presumably at Cashion’s Glen). (Obituary of Daniel Cashion, Glengarry News 14 July 1916) At the age of 19, in 1879, James A. Cashion left Canada for the United States, and began his long involvement with the railway construction business by working as a mule driver in Kansas. In half a year, he had worked up to foreman. James A. Cashion was in Arizona in the 1880s as a construction superintendent for Grant Brothers. Later he was the president of Grant Brothers (see A.A. Grant). Phoenix was his base from about 1900. James A. Cashion was active as a contractor in building many railroads especially in the American Southwest. He built the Southern Pacific Railroad along the west coast of Mexico. He was a friend of the Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz, and is said to have had to flee from Mexico on the fall of Diaz. Cashion owned a ranch (640 acres) west of Phoenix, and was the founder of the town of Cashion (begun c. 1910) at that location. Cashion took shape around its railway station and its post office was established in Nov. 1911. James Cashion is said to have had “a magnificent house” there. Today the little town of Cashion (where no trace of the house is evident) has been largely absorbed by the growth of greater Phoenix, but still serves as a local agricultural centre. James A. Cashion was a canal builder and a promoter of irrigation, and supervised the construction of the Arizona Canal. He was president of the Reid-Cashion Land and Cattle Company. In his last years he divided his time between Phoenix and Los Angeles–perhaps for business reasons, but also, probably, in accordance with the practice of affluent Phoenix dwellers in fleeing the scorching “valley” heat of the summers. He died in Los Angeles. His obituary in the Phoenix Gazette states that he was a “famed builder of the west and one of Arizona’s most widely-known pioneers… From his toil had sprung great sectors of the railroad lines which brought the state into touch with the world.” The Cornwall Standard-Freeholder obituary mentioned that his survivors included a brother “on the old homestead at Cashion’s Glen.” James Arthur was married 24 Dec. 1900, at Ventura, Calif., to Jessie McDonnell. (two children) She died in Los Angeles a month after her husband. He was a brother of Angus D. Cashion.
Phoenix Gazette, 19 March 1936, Standard Freeholder 27 March 1936, Arizona Historical Review (July 1936) 92 * Press Reference Library (Southwest Edition): Notables of the Southwest Being the Portraits and Biographies of Progressive Men of the Southwest, Who Have Helped in the Development and History Making of This Wonderful Country (Los Angeles, The Los Angeles Examiner, 1912) p. 220: biog. sketch, with much detail about railroads he built (portrait) * Fraser, Gravestones, I, 23, 44 * town of Cashion: Will C. Barnes, Arizona Place Names, revised by Byrd H. Granger (1960); Byrd Howell Granger, Arizona’s Names (1983); John & Lillian Theobald, Arizona Territory: Post Offices and Postmasters (1961) 89 * Phoenix city directory, 1919-1936, for the Cashion brothers and their wives * obituary of Mrs James A. Cashion, Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Ariz.) 15 April 1936 * life of Francis Arthur Reid of the Reid-Cashion Land and Cattle Company in History of Arizona, Biographical Vol. IV (1930) pp. 204-207 * obituary, report on funeral, of another James A. Cashion, aged 63, born at Cashion’s Glen, GC, SFH 26 & 31 May 1933 * obituary of W. M. Eamer, native of Cashion’s Glen and former employee in New Mexico of the Cashion brothers, railroad contractors, SFH 15 July 1936 * obituary of John R. McDonell, 84, former reeve of Charlottenburgh Township, former employee of the Cashion brothers and other contractors, SFH 11 Jan. 1944