[1] In 1882 Lougheed moved with his brother to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and then to Medicine Hat, North-West Territories, following the newly laid Canadian Pacific Railway main line.

[1] He started a legal practice in Calgary in the fields of real estate and transportation law, with the CPR as one of his main clients.

[4] She was a niece of Richard Hardisty (whom James Lougheed replaced in the Senate in 1889) and Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.

Beaulieu became the centre of Calgary's social scene, as the Lougheeds welcomed oil millionaires, politicians, royalty, and entertainment stars to their home.

Even so, his appointment to the Senate on 10 December 1889 (replacing Richard Hardisty, his wife's uncle, who had died[2]) came as a surprise to many, as Lougheed was only 35 years old at the time.

In order to protect his legal interests, he brought a young lawyer from New Brunswick named R. B. Bennett — later to become Prime Minister of Canada — to Calgary in 1897.

[5] Bennett and Lougheed worked together for over 20 years until an acrimonious dispute between the senator and the future prime minister caused each to go his own way.

He was a staunch advocate of provincial status for what became Alberta and argued that the province rather than the federal government should have control of natural resources.

James Lougheed died only four days after the 1925 Canadian federal election, in which his Conservative Party under Arthur Meighen returned to power with a minority government.