Mr. A. B. Stickney was born in Walton, Maine, June 27, 1840. In his earlier years he taught school and in 1862 he was admitted to the bar, practicing law for seven years. He engaged in railway construction in 1869.
In 1871 Mr. A. B. Stickney organized and built the first section of the Northern Wisconsin Railway. In, on the behalf of James J. Hill, 1879 he began the construction of about 500 miles of the Great Northern and Canadian Pacific railways.
In 1884, he organized and Constructed the Minnesota & Northwestern Railway, the forerunner of the Chicago Great Western. Mr. A. B. Stickney was its president from 1884 to 1909 and receiver during the last two years of his presidency.