Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-07-11
A FAIR PILE.
Another Of the California Millionaire
Senators How He Gained HIS
Wealth
Nem Ynrk Morning journal.

Senators - How He Cameo his
Wealth.
New York Morning Journal
There have been FIVE great bonanza
kings of the western slope. They
were John w. Mackey, James G.
Flood. William S. O'Brien, William
Sharon, and James 6. Fair. Their
names are familiar as household
words in California and in the east
ern states, and in Europe their Won
derful experiences from poor and OBJ
scure miners TO great and powerful
millionaires have been the subject of
many a volume, and the discussion of
many an hour among the uptown
hotels of this city.
Among them all James g. Fair, at
present e. S. senator for his state, has
| been the subject of good share of
conversation, and this is particularly
noticed at the Gilsey house, the New
York headquarters of the senator.
| When in town or in transit to Wash
ington, he can be seen lounging about
| the corridors of the hotel as unassum-
ing and quiet IN his demeanor as the
| humblest of the frequenters of that
1 famous caravansary. In that quiet
and almost retiring character few
would recognize the strength of pur-
pose and determined spirit that CHS
eled its way from a penniiess miner,
who frequently was without the neces,
saries of life, TO occupy the position
md to have the power to command
at twenty four hours notice the vast
sum of $40, 900, 900 in clear, cold cash !;
and yet such is the fact.
| Senator Fair Is best known to the
general public as member OF the bon
ANA ring. But among miners and
mining men he is accorded rank as
one of the most accomplished mining
engineers America has ever developed ;
and there are experts, travelled and
experienced, who do not hesitate to
say that in the mechanical manage
ment of colossal mining enterprises
Senator Fair has no peer. He was
born Dec. 3, 1881, in Clougher, Ty-
rome county, ireland, and came to
this country poor and impoverished
in 1913. He was mere lad, and his
people settled in Geneva, Ill. 1t was
| hard scratching for them to give
young Fair an education, but they
finally succeeded in sending him to
Chicago, where he received a good
business training.
In common with other adventu.
rous spirits, Senator Fair was infected
with the gold fever in 1S49, and in
August of that year he proceeded to
Longs bar, Feather river, California.
He toiIed night and day amid the
greatest hardships, but the bar turned
out an Improbable venture and be
soon abandonedit. He was prouounc-
ed in his advocacy for placer mining.
| Placer mining was conducted IN a
| primative style in those days, and did
not afford Senator Fair fitting OPP
portunities for the exercise of his
peculiar mechanical genius. So that
from the placer bar to the quartz mine
was an easy transition for him. he
drifted towards Angeles, Calaveras
county, and at later period he tigur-
ed as the superintendent of quartz
mines in several California counties.
Even in those early days he ranked
high as professional miner
In 1855 Senator Fair assumed the
superlntendency of the Ophir mine,
and III 1857 the famous Hall & Nor
cross came under his direction, and
| while connected with this mine he
secured the first half million of his
princely fortune.
The idea then occurred to Messrs.
| Flood and Fair, the then moderately
successful and comparatively I'M
! known firm, to obtain control of what
was then known as the California and
Sides mine, the White and Murphy,
the Central, and the tract known as
| the Kinney ground. These claims
were eventually secured, and they in
part formed the famous Consolidated
| Virginia and California mines. The
action of the firm in regard to their
efforts to obtain control of these par
ticular claims was predlcated almost
entirely upon the opinion and theories
of Mr.. Fair, in whose unerriug judg-
ment and remarkable knowledge of
everything connected with mining
matters his confreres relied implicitly.
Then millions upon millions poured
INTO the lap of Senator FAIR, but his
serenity was by no means rutiied. He
maintained the same genial and unas,
Stming air that marked his earlier
days. He next turned his attention
to real estate speculations in San
Francisco, ard his wealth soon became
the subject of universal comment in
a community where millions were
considered as thous ands il the eastern
states He then drifted into politics
and now is recognized as one of the
solid and conservative members of the
| United States senate He has little to
say in that body, Or rather he rarely
speaks, bul when he does he is listen
ed to with rapt attention, for from his
lips come words of common sense as
applied to the welfare, financial and
otherwise, of the country.
Senator Fair has an elegant resi-
dence at Menlo Park, Cal, and also a
palatial home at Virginia City He
is known for his quiet charities aud
his beautiful remembrance to those
who knew HIM when he was toiling,
hungry and alone, on the hills of Cal
| lfornia.