Storey County NV Archives Biographies.....Fair, James G. 1831 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com June 5, 2007, 6:31 pm

Author: Myron Angel (1881)

HON. JAMES G. FAIR,



United States Senator from Nevada, was born at Clougher, County Tyrone, Ireland,

December 3, 1831, and twelve years later came with his parents to the United

States, settling in Illinois. Though but eighteen years of age when the

discovery of gold was announced, he was ripe for action, and in 1850 we find him

tugging as hard as older men among the boulders at Long's Bar, in Butte County,

California, on Feather River, called by the Californians El Rio de las

Plumas-the river of feathers. This kind of scrambling, however, did not suit his

turn of mind. Placer mining, as then carried on, was a haphazard kind of

business, in bonanza one day, the next in borasca, the latter days having the

preponderance. The peculiarity of mind which characterized his later years, of

looking for the source of minerals, or, as a miner would say, of following

croppings or indications, soon asserted itself, and we find him early pounding

away at the quartz veins, with the full belief that his fortune was to be made

out of quartz. He early acquired all the knowledge attainable in regard to

quartz mining, and added considerable to the general stock by his own experience

while mining at Angel's Camp, in Calaveras County, and acting as Superintendent

of quartz mines in other parts of the State. On the discovery of the Comstock he

removed thither, and found a field worthy of his best powers. His California

experience soon proved of value, and in a few years he was made Superintendent

of the Ophir Mine, and in 1867 of the Hale & Norcross. In the Hale & Norcross,

he first became associated with John W. Mackay, and they subsequently induced

Messrs. James C. Flood and William S. O'Brien, capitalists of San Francisco, to

join them in that and other mining enterprises. With his judgment, knowledge of

mines and opportunity he could hardly fail to acquire money, and when the firm,

afterwards so famous as the owners of the richest silver mine the world ever

saw, was formed, he brought into it not only a share of the funds necessary to

carry on the expensive work of exploration, but a knowledge of mining and mines

that was second to no one on the Pacific Coast. Messrs. Fair, Mackay, Flood,

O'Brien and Walker constituted the firm, Mr. Walker selling to Mackay, and Mr.

Fair became the Mining Superintendent of the mines of the company.



  The long and persistent search for the lode afterward developed in the

Consolidated Virginia Mine, as well as the fortunate finding of it, are related

in the history of the Comstock Mines, and need not be repeated here. It is well

known to all the world, and will be a subject for historical writers as long as

men search for precious metals and silver remains money.



  Mr. Fair, as well as Mr. Mackay, is an operator outside of the mines, has

large blocks of land and buildings in San Francisco, knows as well as any one

when the market is in bonanza and borasca, and knows when to go in or go out. In

June, 1881, he commenced the construction of a grand building on the southwest

corner of Sansome and Pine Streets, San Francisco, which will be one of the most

costly and imposing structures of that city. Aside from the power which the

possession of enormous wealth gives him, he is a power himself, cool when others

lose their heads, consequently coming out with the balances on the right side of

the ledger.



  He has made various other ventures in mining; owns mines in Panamint, in

Arizona, Georgia, and it is said in the Lake Superior District. He has spread

his net into many out-of-the-way places, and it is quite likely that if a

discovery of rich silver mines were announced as having occurred in Patagonia,

or along the Straits of Magellan, with the same information would come the

statement that the most promising places were owned by James G. Fair, of Nevada.

When the great diamond swindle was perpetrated he had his trusty agents in

advance of the Ralston crowd, and knew before them that the matter was a

"first-class sell."



  For many years Mr. Fair spent a great deal of his time in the depths of his

mines, visiting the different workings at all times of the day or night, and

thus became thoroughly conversant with every part of the vast labyrinth of

drifts, cross-cuts, winzes, stopes, shafts, and inclines, as well as with the

army of men under his charge. There are few bodies so robust as to bear the

strain, and few minds so clear as to retain all the great works and workmen in

memory, giving directions with perfect confidence, managing the greatest work of

the age with unparalleled success, and making reports with the remarkable

accuracy and clearness shown by Superintendent Fair.



  He did not appear to know he was getting rich, or that he was a rich man. He

had been placed in charge of a great property, and there he faithfully remained,

toiling as when years before necessity required him to carefully husband his

daily salary. He was not making money in any ordinary way, but a thousand men,

deep in the sweltering mine were picking, shoveling, tearing the precious ore

away, heaving into his coffers gold and silver in countless dollars more rapidly

than one could think the figures, and was worth his millions before he was

reconciled to the fact. Still he kept faithfully at his post, as in truth the

property was too valuable and the responsibility too great to entrust to any

ordinary man.



  Fair had proved his ability, and with most laudable courage sacrificed his

comfort to his duties. But the best work being done he concluded to have a

little recreation, and proposed a journey with his family in the

circumnavigation of the globe. The tour of the world is now easily made, the

steamer and the rail car taking the traveler in comfort to all the great cities

and points of interest through the various countries and climes in the circuit.

Mr. Fair made the journey in triumph, visiting all the places of note, and

enlarging his mind in the studies and associations of the different countries,

men and governments he met, and returning the enlarged and cultivated gentleman,

he was prepared to enter upon the higher walks of life. His countrymen welcomed

his return by an invitation to stand for the office of United States Senator, as

successor to the position held by Wm. Sharon. The State of Nevada had always

been represented in the Senate by Republicans and it seemed impossible for a

Democrat to win the high prize. The course had been made easier by the neglect

of Mr. Sharon to attend to his duties, and the people of Nevada desired a

change. To Mr. Fair, one who had been so faithful to the trusts reposed in him

in a private capacity, one who had labored and dwelt among them from the

earliest Territorial days, they turned for a Senator. His colleague was a miner,

and had proven the ablest of the Senators, so try another, was the cry, and

James G. Fair, on the eighteenth of January, 1881, was triumphantly elected

United States Senator from Nevada, to hold office from March 4, 1881, until

March 4, 1887.



  He has the hearty, whole-souled expression that comes from a healthy body and

well-balanced mind, and makes friends instantly. His social qualities and

financial abilities are likely to make him an honor to Nevada and a useful

member for the country at large. He is a Democrat in politics, but so broad in

his views, so independent in character, that the party shackles will fail to

hold him to any rigid line of party action.



  He is a family man, having a wife and four interesting children, who, it is

hoped, will perpetuate the name of a deserving and successful man, and inherit

the forty or fifty millions he has taken from the depths of the earth and added

to the wealth of the world.



Additional Comments:
Extracted from:



History of Nevada with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its

Prominent Men and Pioneers



Oakland, Cal.: Thompson & West

1881



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