John William Mackay (1831-1902), American miner and business leader, controlled the richest ground in the Comstock mining area of Nevada and founded the Postal Telegraph Company.

John William Mackay was born on Nov. 28, 1831, in Dublin, Ireland. In 1840 his family emigrated to New York City. On his father's death 2 years later, Mackay had to leave school and find employment. He worked at temporary jobs in New York and in Louisville, Ky., and for 4 years served as an apprentice to a builder of clipper ships. Caught up in the gold fever then sweeping the nation, Mackay went to California in 1851.

For 8 years Mackay labored in the diggings along the Yuba and American rivers and in the Sierra Nevada foothills. In 1860 he joined the miners going to test their luck in the new mines of the Comstock Lode in Nevada.

Mackay became a mining contractor, accepting shares in mines in exchange...