John W. Mackay

Life & Legacy

John William Mackay (November 28, 1831 – July 20, 1902) was an Irish-American industrialist who rose from rags to riches. Born into abject poverty and raised in the slums of New York City, Mackay joined in the California gold rush in 1851. He did not find gold but moved to Nevada in 1859 and found silver. He became one of the four Bonanza Kings, a San Francisco partnership which capitalized on the wealth generated by the silver mines at the Comstock Lode in Nevada. He was one of the richest Americans in his time. He also headed a telegraph business that laid transatlantic cables, and he helped finance the New York, Texas and Mexican Railway Company.