JOHN McKEY.
CHAPTER LXIX.
MILLIONAIRE PROPRIETORS.
A chapter giving a few words in regard to persons prominently connected with the big bonanza and the Comstock lode may be of interest to some readers. I cannot undertake to give more than the outlines in each instance. The biography of almost any man who has been ten years on the Pacific Coast would make a large volume, were all of his experiences written up.[up.]
John Mackey Esq., the millionaire miner of the “big bonanza,” was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, and served his time as a ship-carpenter. He came to California soon after the discovery of gold, and mined at and near Downieville, Sierra county, for many years. In the placer-mines he had his “ups and downs” the same as other miners, and often did a vast amount of hard work for a small amount of gold. Mr. Mackey came to the silver-mines of Washoe in the early days, and for a time after his arrival worked for wages at the Mexican and other mines—swinging a pick and shovel as an ordinary miner. It was not long, however, before he began to get ahead financially, and, it is said, made his first “raise” in the Kentuck mine, Gold Hill. He finally obtained a large interest in the Hale & Norcross mine, Virginia City. Here he took Mr. Fair in as a partner and the two men secured control of the mine, rescinded an assessment that had been levied, and began paying dividends. The Hale & Norcross being “in bonanza,” the partners soon had money with which to secure other mines. Finally, in company with Messrs Flood & O’Brien, of San Francisco, they purchased the Consolidated Virginia ground, getting it for about $80,000, and eventually acquired a controlling interest in the California mine.
Although Mr. Mackey is now worth fifty or sixty million dollars, yet, like Mr. Fair, he spends much of his time, when at Virginia City, in the lower levels. Almost every morning at six o’clock he descends into one or another of his mines, and often remains underground for several hours, passing through all the levels where work is being done, when there is anything that requires his attention. In passing through a level he sees all that is going on at a glance. Mr. Mackey is one of the most modest and unassuming of men, yet he is a shrewd observer of character, and of all that is going on in the world about him. Generally he has but little to say, but that little is to the point—goes directly to the bull’s-eye. He is not often misunderstood. He most thoroughly understands mining in all its branches, as there is nothing required to be done in a mine that he has not done with his own hands. No man is more ready to adopt improvements than Mr. Mackey. He is ever ready to spend money for labor-saving machinery. Those of his men who imagine they have discovered a new plan of doing any kind of work whereby a saving in time or muscle can be effected, always find an attentive listener in Mr. Mackey, and all the encouragement they require. He frequently stimulates their inventive faculties by telling them of certain things for which he desires some new mode of working to be thought out, or some new machine to be constructed.
Although one of the most kind-hearted and generous of men—as the hundreds he has befriended can testify—I may here state, for the benefit of a certain class of persons, that he pays no attention to the bushels of silly begging-letters which he receives from all parts of the United States and even from the remotest corners of Europe—all are tumbled into his waste-basket.
HON. WILLIAM SHARON.