[1] McArthur was assisted by the surveyors William Stuart Drewry and Arthur St. Cyr in the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) survey between 1886 and 1893, in which he mapped an area of 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi) at a scale of 1:20,000, with 100 feet (30 m) contours.

[6] Towards the end of autumn in 1887 McArthur, his assistant and a packer camped for four days in the Bow Valley during a blizzard, then set out to climb the surrounding peaks.

Climbing through the fresh snow, sometimes waist deep, wet our feet and legs above the knees, and on reaching the top and exposed to the cold wind, our boots and pants froze stiff and we were sometimes in great danger of freezing.

[7] The negatives were sent to be developed by Horatio Nelson Topley's Photographic Division in Ottawa, and the prints returned to McArthur, where he calculated topographical details between the triangulation stations using the principles of perspective.

In 1891 the surveyor William Stewart Drewry joined McArthur and the two began to survey using a double chain of triangles, a more efficient approach.

[10] McArthur and Drewry were able to draw topographical maps from the photographs showing mountain elevations, although they could not add contour lines.

Arthur Oliver Wheeler wrote of him, He is a quiet, unassuming man, who has probably climbed more mountains in these regions than any other person, and has made a large number of first ascents.

No flourish of trumpets ushered him forth to conquest, no crown of laurels awaited his victory; a corps of trained Swiss guides was not at hand to place his footsteps, to check his down-slidings, and select for him the surest road.

In all kinds of weather, through snow, over ice, and in pouring rain, many a difficult ascent has been accomplished, many privations encountered and much hardship endured; the only record being a few terse paragraphs in the Departmental Bluebook...[2] James McArthur's home in the Aylmer sector of the city of Gatineau is designated a heritage building.