He founded the Mount Cook Group of tourism and transport companies, which were taken over by his son Harry Wigley.
[2] His first business in 1904 was "Wigley and Thornton" which transported wool from South Canterbury sheep stations to Timaru using steam traction engines.
In 1906 he purchased a 6 hp De Dion car and drove it to The Hermitage hotel near Mount Cook; and subsequently dissolved his first firm and formed the "Mount Cook Motor Co Ltd" with four Darraq cars to provide transport for tourists to The Hermitage and from 1912 Queenstown also.
When the Lakes County Council tried to stop motor cars on the Queenstown route by banning any vehicle propelled by its own power from a critical two mile stretch, he hired men with horses to pull the cars with passengers over the section.
He was also a notable mountaineer, making the first mid-winter ascent of Mount Cook with two guides, on 11–12 August 1923.