Matt Plunkett Biography

	This biography appears on pages 1027-1028 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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	MATT PLUNKETT, who has been identified with the mining industry in 
the Black Hills for more than a quarter of a century, and now maintains 
his home in Central City, Lawrence county, was born in the parish of St. 
Sylvester, province of Quebec, Canada, twenty-eight miles southeast of 
the city of Quebec, on the 11th of November, 1850, and comes of stanch 
old Irish stock. His parents, James and Mary (McKelvie) Plunkett, were 
born and reared in the north of Ireland, while their marriage was 
solemnized in Canada. As a comparatively young man James Plunkett came 
with his widowed mother to America and settled in the parish of St. 
Sylvester, where he engaged in farming until about 1865, when he 
disposed of his interests there and removed to the city of Alpena, 
Michigan, on the shore of Lake Huron, where both he and his wife passed 
the remainder of their lives. He was well advanced in years at the time 
of this removal and lived practically retired thereafter until his 
life's labors were ended. He and his wife were members of the Catholic 
church and were folk of sterling character. Of their nine children eight 
are living at the time of this writing. 

	Matt Plunkett passed his school days in his native parish and after the 
removal of the family to Michigan he identified himself with the great 
lumbering industry in that state, while later he was similarly employed 
in Wisconsin. In 1877 he came to the Black Hills, by the way of 
Bismarck, having no trouble with the Indians while enroute, and he 
arrived and settled in Golden Gate, adjoining Central City, in December. 
He devoted the first year to prospecting, and has located a number of 
valuable properties, some of which are now yielding large returns. At 
the head of Nevada Gulch, in July, 1878, in partnership with John McVain 
and Dave Arno, he located the Signet and Black Moon lodes, which they to 
a certain extent developed. Our subject retained an interest in this 
property until 1902, when it was sold to the Horseshoe Mining Company, 
the lodes being a low-grade ore and well adapted to reclamation by the 
cyanide process. In 1896 Mr. Plunkett and his partner, Charles F. 
Abbott, located the Metallic Streak (1 to 6, inclusive), on which they 
did  considerable development, having some of the ore treated, and in 
1890 they sold the property  to the Spearfish Mining & Milling Company, 
who are now working the same very successfully.  Mr. Plunkett has at the 
present time a number of interests in patented and unpatented mining  
lands, and some of these properties are promising prospects. In 1896 Mr. 
Plunkett was elected  sheriff of Lawrence county, on the Fusion ticket, 
and was re-elected in 1898. He had all the  stirring experiences which 
usually come to a sheriff in a mining district, but his administration  
was characterized by directness of action, alertness and vigilance and 
by great personal  courage and self-reliance, so that he gained a high 
reputation as a capable and discriminating  officer. He now devotes his 
attention principally to mining. In politics he is a Bryan Democrat  and 
he has been a member of the Miners' Union of Central City since 1878, 
and has held an  office in the same at -various times. 

	At Central City, on the 1st of August 1882, Mr. Plunkett was 
united in marriage to Miss  Margaret Cunningham, who was born in County 
Sligo, Ireland, whence she came with relatives  to America in 1880, 
while she came to the Black Hills with her sister, Mrs. Herman Carroll. 
Of  this union have been born five children, namely: James Joseph, who 
remains at the parental  home and who is working in the DeSmet Mill; 
Mary Ellen, who is attending the public schools;  Matthew J., who is 
attending school; William, who died at the age of one month, and 
Margaret  Pearl, a winsome little lass of nine years (1904).