Editing Sandford Fleming (section)

==Later life==
When the railway privatization instituted by Tupper in 1880 forced him out of a job with government, he retired from the world of surveying, and took the position of Chancellor of [[Queen's University at Kingston|Queen's University]] in [[Kingston, Ontario]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://data4.archives.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s2=&s4=&s3=&s1=kingston&s6=y+and+gif&s8=&Sect4=AND&l=0&Sect1=IMAGE&Sect2=THESOFF&Sect4=AND&Sect5=FOTOPEN&Sect6=HITOFF&d=FOTO&p=1&u=http://www.archives.ca/02/02011503_e.html&r=9&f=G|title=Descriptive records – National Archives of Canada|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824221638/http://data4.archives.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s2=&s4=&s3=&s1=kingston&s6=y+and+gif&s8=&Sect4=AND&l=0&Sect1=IMAGE&Sect2=THESOFF&Sect4=AND&Sect5=FOTOPEN&Sect6=HITOFF&d=FOTO&p=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.archives.ca%2F02%2F02011503_e.html&r=9&f=G|archive-date=August 24, 2013|df=mdy-all}}</ref> He held this position for his last 35 years, where his former Minister [[George Monro Grant]] was principal from 1877 until Grant's death in 1902. Not content to leave well enough alone, he tirelessly advocated the construction of a [[submarine communications cable|submarine telegraph cable]] connecting all of the [[British Empire]], the [[All Red Line]], which was completed in 1902.<ref>{{DFHD|921|Pacific Cable National Historic Event}}</ref>

Being a man of ideas, in 1882 he authored a book on the land policy of the HBC.<ref>Peel's Prairie Provinces (online), No. 1066</ref>

He also kept up with business ventures, becoming in 1882 one of the founding owners of the [[Nova Scotia Cotton Manufacturing Company]] in [[City of Halifax|Halifax]]. He was a member of the [[North British Society]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/annalsnorthbri00nort |title=Annals, North British Society, Halifax, Nova Scotia : with portraits and biographical notes, 1768–1903 |last=Macdonald |first=James S. |date=1905 |publisher=McAlpine |location=Halifax, N.S |pages=[https://archive.org/details/annalsnorthbri00nort/page/414 414]}}</ref> He also helped found the Western Canada Cement and Coal Company, which spawned the company town of [[Exshaw]], Alberta. In 1910, this business was captured in a hostile take-over by stock manipulators acting under the name [[Canada Cement Company]], an action which Fleming took as a personal blow.<ref>''The Western Canada Cement and Coal Company'', 1910 (CIHM microfilm collection); ''Journal of Commerce'', July 1930</ref>

In 1880 he served as the vice president of the [[Ottawa Horticultural Society]].<ref>[http://www.ottawahort.org/history/1880/1880premlist.pdf Premium list of Valley of Ottawa Horticultural Society] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226024336/http://www.ottawahort.org/history/1880/1880premlist.pdf |date=February 26, 2009 }}.</ref> In 1888, he became the first president of the [[Rideau Curling Club]],<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://rideaucurlingclub.com/historyPage.php | title=Rideau Curling Club :: Club History | access-date=December 17, 2018 | archive-date=December 18, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181218010625/https://rideaucurlingclub.com/historyPage.php | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/rideau-curling-club-celebrates-125-years-in-ottawa-1.2421739 |title = Rideau Curling Club celebrates 125 years in Ottawa &#124; CBC News}}</ref> after leaving the [[Ottawa Curling Club]] in protest of its [[temperance movement|temperance]] policy.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.ottawacurlingclub.com/about/history | title=The Ottawa Curling Club : Club History | access-date=December 17, 2018 | archive-date=December 18, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181218054407/https://www.ottawacurlingclub.com/about/history | url-status=dead }}</ref>

In early 1890s he turned his attention to electoral reform and the need for [[proportional representation]]. He authored two books on the subject "An Appeal to the Canadian Institute on the Rectification of Parliament" (1892) and "Essays on the Rectification of Parliament" (1893), which included an essay by Australian reformer [[Catherine Helen Spence]].

He became a strong advocate of a telecommunications cable from Canada to Australia, which he believed would become a vital communications link of the British Empire. The Pacific Cable was successfully laid in 1902.<ref>Canadian Encyclopedia</ref> He authored the book "Canada and British Imperial Cables" in 1900.<ref>Encyclopedia.com</ref>

His accomplishments were well known worldwide, and in 1897 he was [[Order of St Michael and St George|knighted]] by [[Queen Victoria]]. He was a [[freemason]], having joined St Andrew's Lodge No 1 [Now No 16] in York [now Toronto].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/textfiles/famous.html|title=A few famous freemasons|author=Trevor W. McKeown|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912081202/http://www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/textfiles/famous.html|archive-date=September 12, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://freemasonrytoronto.com/st-andrews-lodge/ | title=St. Andrew's No. 16 }}</ref>

In 1883, while surveying the route of the [[Canadian Pacific Railway]] with [[George Monro Grant]], he met Major [[A. B. Rogers]] near the summit of [[Rogers Pass (British Columbia)]] and co-founded the first "Alpine Club of Canada".<ref>{{cite book | title = The Great Glacier and Its House | last = Putnam | first = William Lowell | date = June 1982 | chapter = Chapter 8 | publisher = American Alpine Club | isbn = 978-0930410131}}</ref> That early alpine club was short-lived, but in 1906 the modern [[Alpine Club of Canada]] was founded in Winnipeg, and the by then Sir Sandford Fleming became the club's first Patron and Honorary President.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.accmanitoba.ca/acc-centennial-plaque-project/ | title = ACC Centennial Plaque Project | last = Cormie | first = David | work = Alpine Club of Canada - Manitoba Section | date = December 3, 2014 | publisher = Alpine Club of Canada, Manitoba Section | access-date = February 4, 2016 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170216012938/http://www.accmanitoba.ca/acc-centennial-plaque-project/ | archive-date = February 16, 2017 | df = mdy-all }}</ref>

[[File:Fleming cottage.jpg|thumb|left|Fleming Cottage, the 1886 summer residence of Sandford Fleming and location of his death in 1915.]]
In his later years he split his time between Ottawa at his house named "Winterholme" and Halifax where he owned a mansion known as "Blenheim Cottage", but often called "The Lodge" at the corner of Oxford Street and South Street overlooking the [[Northwest Arm]]<ref>John W. Regan, ''Sketches and Traditions of the Northwest Arm'', Halifax, 3rd Edition, 1928, p. 98</ref> as well as a summer estate across the Arm called "The Dingle" which included the Sandford Fleming Cottage, a small rustic residence he built in 1886. He later deeded the 95 acres (38 hectares) of "the Dingle" to the city, now known as [[Sir Sandford Fleming Park]] (Dingle Park). Fleming died at his Dingle summer Cottage<ref name="historicplaces.ca">[https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=2455 "Sir Sandford Fleming Cottage", The Canadian Register of Historic Places]</ref> while being cared for by his daughter on July 22, 1915.<ref name=dcbsf/> He was buried in Ottawa's [[Beechwood Cemetery]].