The Irish standard., 1886-04-24
FOUR WEALTHY IRISHMEN.
How the Famous Emerald Nillionaires Of the
Pacific Coast Made Their
Money.
FORTUNES THEY HAVE AMASSED.
Beginning Life III Poor Circumstances,
and Now the Wealthiest Men in the
World.

and Now the Wsalthiest Men in the
World,
Tie four bonanza kings were Fair
Flood, Maokay, and O'Brien,- ali Irish
men and all Catholics, WritesIlicheliel
in The Brooklyn Eagle. james Gra
ham Fair, United States senator from
Nevada. whose residence is given as
Virginia City, was born On Dec. 8, 1881
at C}oghe1, in the county Tyrone, Ire
land, near tie birthplace of Archbis.
hop Hughes. When II years OF age he
came to this country with his parents
and settled i'll Illinois. where he re-
ceived his education at Geneva and
Chicago. He paid attention more par
ticu]arly to scientific pursuits, which
served him we'll in his after life Of min.
ing. He quite naturally took the gold
fever, and III 1S49, at the age OF Is, he
went to California, overland, where he
engaged in mining for ten Or eleven
years. He went to Nevada in 1860, and
mas since had bis residence there, en-
gaging i'll mining and constructing
water-works and immense quartz mills.
Nevada was then q portion Of Utah,
and was not organized as G. separate
territory until March 2, 1851. 1t then
had q popuia tion of forty thousand, not
one-third OF the population of one of
our present congressional districts, and
had not porceptibly increased when it
was admitted as State March Is, 1854.
James W. Kye. was appointed by Pres
ident Lincoln governor Of the new ter
ritory, and continued as such Till 1864,
when it WAS admitted as one Of the
states and he became one of its first
senators, with William M. Stewart as
his colleague. John G. Cradlebaugh of
Carson City, WAS its first delegate,
whose SUCCESSORS we're Gordon N. Mott
and Henry e. Worthington, the latter
becoming its first representative on it's
admission as Il state, Delos Il. Ashley
'cceeding hi1a III that capacity.
IA 1857 Mr.. Fair formed a partner
snip with John w. Mackay, James G.
Flood and William S. O'Isrien, This
firm purchased the control of the bon
anzas and other mines, which under
the superintendency Of MIR. Fair
yielded $500 ,0O0,000 Of go!d and silver.
He was also largely interested in real
estate and buildings i'll San Francisco
and iii manufactures On the Pacific
coast. He WAS elected as q senator
from Nevada for a term OF six years,
commencing March 4, 1881. to succeed
William Sharon, republican. He is
said to he worth over $40 900, 600 in per-
sonal property.
When Mr.. Fair first arrived at Cali
fornia he went to mining with the SIM
plest machinery, on Feather river, and
in various parts OF California met such
success in moderate way as to keep
him intent on larger projects. Mr..
Flood was his first partner in success
full mining business. It is said he
owned about seventy acres Of land in
the city OF San Francisco, and has been
building in the most costly part OF the
city prince]y residence to cost q mill
ion dollars. .Hc also hat an elegant
rural residence OF Menlo park.
1t was on Jan. IL, 1871, that the four
kings mounted the throne OF the Big
Bonanza Mr. Fair took a prominent
part III the direction. The work of
sinking q prospective shaft was pro
jected, and rapidly pushed. A thin
seam OF ore was detected, and Mr.. Fair
traced it foot by foot through more
Than a hundred feet, as q thread lead
ing to clew. Sometimes it narrowed
to Il mere film of clay, bnt ii was never
lost to the keen eye Of Mr.. Fair. Many
thought it Il will q the wisp. Mr. Fair
was tahen sick and retired for a month.
Work was continued in his absence but
without success. III February, 1873. q
vein Or ore seven feet in width was cut,
widening To twelve feet. The shaft
was then 40 feet. The air was foul
and hot for lack OF Il ventilatiug draft.
although fresh air was forced in by
powerful blowers. The lia Of the Big
Bonanza was taken off. Never in the
history Of time was such treasure un-
covered. The BONANZA Was cut at a
point 1,l67 feet below the surface, and
pierced again as the shaft went down
at the l,2u0-foot level. Another and
another hundred feet deeper, and at
1,500 ore richer than was ever before
discovered was revealed to view. What
the extent OF the great bonanza was
none could tell. Cross-cuts showed
that it's width Was from l5o to 22O feet.
Cribs of timber were constructed from
basement to dome.
On the 10th OF March. 1875, 461 tons
of ore were hoisted through the Consol-
idated Virginia mine shaft alone, and
in March of the folio wing year 9O8 tons
were taken through the same shaft in