John Gray Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1766-1768 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	JOHN GRAY, one of the sterling pioneers of the Black Hills, was born 
in Durham, England, on the 28th of February, 1846, and is a son of Henry 
and Elizabeth (Nelson) Gray, both of whom were born in Cumberland, 
England, as was also his grandfather, Henry Gray, who was there 
identified with mining during his entire business career. The father of 
the subject was reared in Cumberland and there followed the same 
vocation as did his honored sire. In 1840 he removed to Durham, where he 
continued the mining operations until his death, his wife also passing 
the closing years of her life there. Of their nine children six are 
living, while but one of the number is a resident of the United States.

	The subject received somewhat limited educational advantages, since, 
as was customary with the majority of miners' sons in the locality, he 
early went to work in the mines. At the age of eight years he began work 
as a trapper in the Durham mines, and gradually rose step by step until 
he had attained the dignity of a full-fledged miner. He continued to be 
employed in the mines of his native county until he had attained the age 
of twenty-three years, when, in March, 1869, he came to America. He 
first located in Steubenville, Ohio, where he was engaged in mining for 
nine months, after which he went to the city of Pittsburg and there 
secured a position in the mines at Saw Mill run, on the Monongahela 
river, where he was employed until 1870, when he removed to the Scranton 
district and worked in the Dunmore mine for several months, after which 
he passed about six months in the Pittsburg district, where he had 
previously been employed. He then went to the Sugar Creek mines, in 
Ohio, and three months later went to Brazil, Clay county, Indiana, where 
the work of opening the first block-coal mines in this district was in 
progress, Mr. Gray being one of the first miners to be employed there. 
He remained until September, 1872, when he came west to Rock Springs, 
Wyoming, being one of the pioneer miners in that locality, and there 
organizing the first miners' union. In January of the following year he 
left for French Guiana, being one of a party of fifty-two men, recruited 
from Wyoming, Utah and Montana. They proceeded to Salem, Massachusetts, 
and there embarked on a sailing vessel, which in due time bore them to 
their destination. There they engaged in prospecting for gold, but owing 
to the peculiar laws in force in the country they found it practically 
impossible to secure title to any ground. John Murphy, with his wife and 
son, were the first to strike the pay streak, but conditions were such 
that they could not work the property to any profit, owing to the legal 
restrictions. Nine of the party died of yellow fever, and twenty-two 
were sent back to New York through the kindly interposition of the 
British consul, nineteen others scattered about in various localities 
and the four Wyoming men, John Hartler, John Brunskill, Edward Jeffries 
and Mr. Gray, sailed to Georgetown, British Guiana, where they remained 
four months and then set sail for New York, having been absent about 
nine months from the time of leaving Salem.

	From the national capital the subject went into the Cumberland 
mountains in Tennessee, where he was employed for a while, and then he 
returned to Rock Springs, Wyoming, where he entered the employ of the 
Rock Spring Mining Company, by which he was sent to the mines in Carbon, 
that state. There he shortly afterward organized a company to start for 
the Black Hills, the intention being to make the trip under the guidance 
of "Tom's Son," a well-known stock man of Wyoming, but this individual 
received an offer of two thousand dollars from another party to 
compensate him for his services as guide, and as he accepted the 
proposition the other company abandoned the expedition. In the fall of 
1875 Mr. Gray went to Des Moines, Iowa, where he remained until February 
of the following year, when he returned west to Cheyenne. In June 
following he started for the Black Hills with what was known as the 
Colorado Charlie and Wild Bill train, the first named being captain of 
the expedition, while Wild Bill and the husband of Madame Mustachio were 
his two lieutenants, the three being well-known characters on the 
frontier. They found a number of dead men at Indian creek and Red Canon, 
showing that the hostile Indians were in the proximity, but as their 
party was a large one, comprising one hundred and ninety persons, they 
were not molested by the savages while enroute, and arrived in Custer on 
the 14th of July. Among the women in the party were Calamity Jane (whose 
death occurred about a year ago), Madame Mustachio and Dirty Em., each 
of whom will be remembered by the old timers. Mr. Gray went to work in 
mine No. 79, below the smelter, on Whitewood creek, and Jack McCall was 
working on the next claim. On the 2d of August, 1876, McCall killed the 
man known as Wild Bill, the subject being at work at the time. He was 
intimately acquainted with the victim, and speaks of him as having been 
a square man, generous to a fault and possessed of many other admirable 
qualities. In April, 1877, Mr. Gray returned to Cheyenne for his wife, 
and they had a pleasant trip on the way back. After his return to the 
hills Mr. Gray purchased claim No. 2 above discovery in Deadwood gulch, 
and continued to work the same until November of the following year, 
when he found it unprofitable to continue operations, as it was 
virtually worked out. He realized a large sum from this claim. In 
December, 1878, he removed to Terraville, where he purchased what was 
then known as the Caledonia boarding house, which historic building he 
still occupies as his home, having modernized and otherwise improved the 
property. He continued to be identified with mining enterprises, having 
been for a time in the Carbonate camp in the Bald mountains, and in 
January, 1884, he left for the Coeur d'Alene mining district of Idaho, 
being one of the first in that now famous district. He bought the 
discovery claim on Pritchard creek, and there sunk what is known as the 
Combination shaft, this being the first sunk and drifted upon up to that 
time. The venture proved a distinctive failure and he sunk twenty 
thousand dollars as well as his unprofitable shaft, having remained 
there for a period of thirteen months He then returned to the Carbonate 
camp, where he had heavy interests, and there remained until the 
enterprise went down. He then went on with his mining in the Ruby basin, 
and still owns valuable interests in that section. In 1890 Mr. Gray, in 
company with John Blatchford, D. A. McPherson and W. L. McLaughlin, 
purchased what was known as the McShane property, in the Yellow creek or 
Flatiron district, and this was operated thereafter under the general 
management of Mr. Blatchford, as a shipping proposition---that is, the 
ore was shipped out instead of being treated on the ground. In 1898 Mr. 
Gray became general manager and work was continued as before until 1900, 
when the company built a fifty-ton cyanide plant, whose capacity was 
doubled five months later, and since that time the property has been 
working only quartzite, as a coarse-crushing proposition, quarter mesh. 
In 1900 the work was carried to a depth of only five feet into the 
quartzite ledge, and during the last year the company have penetrated to 
a depth of twenty feet, with a width of three hundred feet. The 
development is giving good returns and the subject is the largest 
individual stockholder, as well as general manager of the company, which 
is incorporated as the Wasp No. 2 Mining Company. Mr. Gray has 
maintained his home in Terraville since 1878 and is one of the honored 
and public-spirited citizens of the town and county. In politics he is 
found arrayed as a staunch advocate of the principles of the Republican 
party, and fraternally he has attained the thirty-second degree of 
Scottish-rite Masonry, being also a member of the Ancient Arabic Order 
of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine and the Order of the Eastern Star, 
while aside from the Masonic affiliations he has been identified with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1870 and with the Knights of 
Pythias since 1871; while he also enjoys the good fellowship implied in 
his membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a 
member of the American Mining Congress and a director of the Mining 
Men's Association of the Black Hills. He is also an ex-president of the 
Black Hills Pioneer Association.

	In 1875 Mr. Gray was united in matrimony to Miss Ellen Chamberlain, 
who was born in St. Ellens, Lancastershire, England, while her marriage 
to the subject was solemnized in the city of Chicago. She was summoned 
into eternal rest on the 13th of March, 1898, and is held in loving 
memory by all who knew her. No children were born of this union.