John William Mackay (1831–1902) was an Irish-American industrialist who rose from poverty to immense wealth through silver mining. One of the Bonanza Kings, he capitalized on Nevada’s Comstock Lode, among history’s richest silver deposits.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Mackay emigrated to New York City (1840,) growing up in Five Points, a notorious slum. He worked as a shipbuilder’s apprentice before heading to California (1851) during the Gold Rush. After modest success, he moved to Virginia City, Nevada (1859,) working in silver mines.
His breakthrough came in 1873 when the Consolidated Virginia Mining Company struck the Big Bonanza, one of North America’s largest silver finds. His profits made him one of America’s richest men. He later expanded into telecommunications, founding Commercial Cable Company (1883) and Postal Telegraph Cable Company (1886,) breaking Jay Gould’s transatlantic cable monopoly.
His biography, John Mackay: Silver King in the Gilded Age (2009,) by Michael J. Makley, examines his life and ventures.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by John William Mackay
To have known the best, and to have known it for the best, is success in life.
—John William Mackay
Topics: Success & Failure, Success
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