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 John William MacKay - Brooklyn NY Posted by:  Don.Morfe
N 40° 39.248 W 073° 59.020
18T E 585920 N 4500860
Businessman. A mining magnate and transatlantic cable-layer, he developed the Big Bonanza Silver Mine in Nevada in the 1860s, and the famous Comstock Lode beginning in 1869.
Waymark Code: WM12V5F
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 07/17/2020
Views: 0
He is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Section 125, Lot 29275, Mackay Mausoleum.
Description:
From Wikipedia: John William Mackay was an Irish-American industrialist. Mackay was one of the four Bonanza Kings, a partnership which capitalized on the wealth generated by the silver mines at the Comstock Lode.Gold and Silver Mining-In 1851, he sailed by clipper around the Horn to California and worked eight years in placer gold fields in Sierra County without much success. In 1859, he went to Virginia City, Nevada, site of the recently discovered Comstock Lode, and there began work at $4 a day laboring in a mine by day and working his own small claims in his spare time. He bought small claims or "feet" and used the proceeds of his labor and finds to buy more feet. In 1865 he used his savings to buy into the Kentuck mine and hit big, he was suddenly worth US $1.6 million, more than enough to retire for life. He then began investing in other mines, sometimes risking everything he had. He formed a business partnership with fellow Irishmen James Graham Fair, James C. Flood, and William S. O'Brien, later known as the Bonanza Kings. The four dealt in mining stocks and operated silver mines, and had a success in the Hale & Norcross mine. In 1871, using proceeds from the Hale & Norcross they bought out a number of smaller mine claims under the name of the Consolidated Virginia Mining Company, and later added the nearby California mine. In 1873, the Con Virginia made the greatest ore body discovery ever found in North America, known as the "Big Bonanza". The strike would pay out US$181 billion in current dollars, with Mackay's portion being about $50 billion. The bonanza was in a location previously overlooked and outside where other strikes had been found. The four-way partnership was more commonly known as the "Bonanza firm". With the proceeds, together they established the Bank of Nevada of San Francisco to compete with the Bank of California.
Date of birth: 11/28/1831
Date of death: 07/20/1902
Area of notoriety: Science/Technology
Marker Type: Tomb (above ground)
Setting: Outdoor
Fee required?: No
Web site: [Web Link]
Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Not listed
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