Nevada Biographies ~ Davis to Nixon
Davis, James R.
James R. Davis was born in Columbus,
Indiana, on the 16th day of December, 1872. His parents were of
Scotch and English stock, and from them he inherits the
characteristics of the race grim determination and perseverance.
Mr. Davis was educated in the public schools of Indiana and
Kansas. At the age of seventeen he left home and went to Denver
and from that time up to the present time, he has been engaged
in the mining business. The greater part of his time from 1890
to 1904 was spent in prospecting in Arizona, California, Oregon
and Alaska, and while he was not successful in accumulating a
fortune, he did succeed in getting experience in the mining
industry which has been invaluable to him ever since.
He went to Goldfield, Nevada, in 1904 when the boom was on and
has been generally successful in all his mining ventures at
Goldfield, Fairview and Round Mountain, Nevada. He is at the
present time president and manager of the Round Mountain Mining
Company, vice-president and manager of the Great Bend Mining
Company, vice-president of the Nevada Hills Mining Company,
vice-president and manager of the Loftus-Davis Federated Mines
Company, and vice-president of the Nevada Exploitation Company.
Dowlen, Walton E.
Perhaps no man is better known and has
done more for the up-building of the city of Goldfield than
Walton E. Dowlen, who came to this camp in the fall of 1905. His
knowledge of mines and metallurgy stood him in hand when
arriving there and it is to his credit that the mines of that
camp can now ship $25-ore at a profit, when two years before
nothing but $100-ore was looked at. A representative of people
across the water, in Paris and in England, he utilized the
moneys of his associates so judiciously that today his interests
as well as those of his backers are some of the most important
in the Goldfield District.
Mr. Dowlen was born in Denver, on the 14th of July, 1872, and
received his education and technical training in mining and
metallurgy in London, England, at the Polytechnical School of
Mines in that city. When but eighteen years of age, he went to
British Columbia and entered the service of the Mines
Department. He remained there three years, and by his thorough
knowledge of the mining industry, coupled with his persistence
and perseverance, he was very successful. After remaining in
this department three years, the young man went as assistant
engineer with the Santa Fe Railroad, built from San Fran-cisco,
of which Claus Spreckles was president. He stayed with this
position for two years. He then was given charge of the "Villa
Rica" gold- mines in Georgia, and remained with that concern
until 1897. Seeing opportunities, and many of them, in London,
England, he crossed the water, and from there was sent to
British Columbia by an English syndicate. He remained here for
about a year, and was very successful in the enterprise. He was
recalled, however, to London, and a syndicate sent him to
Eastern Siberia for a syndicate known as the East Siberian
Syndicate of London and Paris. He remained in that country for a
while, gaining all the while valuable experience, and then
drifted over to Nome, Alaska, for the same company, and then
returned to London.
About this time the name of Dowlen, the engineer, was becoming
very prominent in the mining and metallurgical world, and the
successes of the young engineer were universally known and
recognized. When in London on this trip the African Founders
Syndicate sent him to Central Africa, and it was here that he
did some of his best work. He was unfortunate in contracting the
African fever. He was compelled to return to London in 1901, and
remained in a hospital for four weeks, suffering the ravages of
the disease. The same syndicate were anxious to have him, and
when he recovered from the illness he was sent to the California
oil fields. He remained in that country for two years, and then
returned to England, going by the way of Alberta, where he made
very extensive and complete reports of the coal properties in
that country, in which the famous Emil Arton was interested,
who, it may be recalled, was the last of the three promoters of
the Panama deal in Paris to commit suicide. His operations from
this time on have been in and around Goldfield, and he has been
uniformly successful in all of his undertakings.
He is vice-president of the Nevada Goldfield Reduction Company,
one of the biggest propositions in the State, and this plant
alone is a monument to the keenness and ability of this young
man. He is a prominent club man, being a member of the Montezuma
Club of Goldfield, the Sports Club of London, and an associate
of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in London, as well as
an associate of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers of London.
His domestic life is a happy one, he having married Miss Marie
Boulfrois in January, 1906. His career to the present time has
been a most remarkable one, and the fact that he is still a
young man would indicate a brilliant future. He is a tireless
worker and very straightforward in all dealings. His efforts in
settling the trouble between the Mine Owners' Association and
the miners while acting president, and settling everything
amicably, will be a lasting monument to his fairness and
honesty.
Lee, Frank More
Frank Moore Lee is a native of
California and was born in Long Valley, January 10, 1867. His
father was Levi W. Lee and his mother Julia De Ette Moore. When
a small boy his parents moved to Reno. Nevada, where he was
educated in the public schools. He was married to Ada Finlayson
at Reno, on January 18, 1892, and they have one daughter,
Margerie Lee.
Mr. Lee engaged in the livery and stock-shipping business during
the years 1884-1886, when his father died. He then accepted a
position in the First National Bank of Reno and he later became
a director and assistant cashier of the Washoe County Bank,
which was the successor of the First National. In 1901 he became
the cashier of the First National Bank of Winnemucca which he
and Senator Geo. S. Nixon had organized in 1886. In 1906 he was
associated with Senator Nixon and others in organizing the Nixon
National Bank of Reno, which is one of the largest capitalized
institutions in the West. He is now serving the Nixon National
as its cashier and has the reputation of being one of the best
bankers in the inter-mountain country. Mr. Lee is now also
vice-president of the First National Bank of Winnemucca and of
the Tonopah Banking Corporation of Tonopah, and is secretary of
the Lovelock Land and Development Company. He has held no
political office.
Mr. Lee is a Mason, Knight Templar, Shriner and an Elk, and is
vice-president of the Reno Commercial Club. He lives at Rio
Vista Heights, Court Street, Reno, Nevada.
Lockhart, T. G.
Nevada and the States surrounding it
have produced many millionaires and great mining magnates, some
who were wealthy before they struck the new country, and others
who caught the fever and, starting in with nothing, amassed
fortunes. Thomas Gaskill Lockhart is known to all Nevada, and
his meteoric rise and his keen insight, good judgment and fair
dealings will always be remembered as a tribute to him. He was
born in Burlington, Burlington County, New Jersey, on the 2nd of
May, 1848. He attended the public schools in Burlington and
Birmingham. To secure this education, he was by force of
circumstances compelled to work all the spring and summer on the
farm in order to get this schooling, his parents not having too
much of this world's goods.
When twenty-one years of age Mr. Lockhart left Philadelphia with
a capital of $95 and arrived in Omaha, Nebraska, on March 18,
1869. The only thing to do in that country at that time was to
engage in the cattle business. He secured employment herding
cattle near Fremont, Nebraska, and remained one year at this
occupation. The mining industry was what he was looking at and
leaving Fremont he went to Georgetown, Colorado. For thirty
years he engaged in mining in this State and was considered one
of the best prospectors and practical men in the State.
Prospecting seemed to be very much to his liking, and in 1899 he
started on a trip of this kind, going through Utah, Arizona and
Nevada. In March, 1901, he landed in Tonopah. The Nevada country
was still unopened, but the conditions in this place so pleased
Lockhart that he decided to settle. He took up the Tonopah
Extension claim and many others, including the Unlucky 13. He
worked on these for two years, and, hearing of the country in
and around Goldfield, he disposed of his interests and in 1903
arrived at Goldfield. Goldfield at that time consisted of four
tents and a 12x12 blacksmith shop.
It was here that Mr. Lockhart "came into his own." He sized up
the conditions in this wonderful camp, and the future looked so
excellent and auspicious that he decided to stake his chances
there. That he was successful almost beyond measure is obvious.
Among some of the properties bought by him in that year was the
famous Florence property, which was at that time a ten-foot
hole. A sixty per cent, interest was what Mr. Lockhart secured,
and the fact that this one property has produced over $6,000,000
since that time, and $60,000 a month, is proof positive of his
excellent judgment and wonderful sagacity. Mr. Lockhart at the
present time is the president and general manager of the
Florence Goldfield Mining Company, and president and general
manager of the Jumbo Extension Mining Company, both of which are
in the category of big mines in the State.
The domestic life of Mr. Lockhart is an extremely happy one. He
was married to Miss Minnie A. Haney in October, 1886. The union
has been blessed by three children, George Jerome, Myra Belle
and Harry Haney. His permanent address is Goldfield, and it is
natural that he desires to live in the place where he was so
successful. He is a prominent Elk and a member of the Montezuma
Club.
Mr. Lockhart is very modest and is reticent about telling of his
wonderful success or of the hardships endured before he
succeeded in surmounting the barriers and reaching that goal for
which we are all striving.
Loftus, J. P.
Recognized as foremost among successful
mine operators, J. P. Loftus is one of the best-known men in
Goldfield. His work dates from the sage-brush days of that camp,
and to him and his associates much that has gone to the making
of Goldfield stands as a credit.
Of Irish descent, he was born in 1856 in the village of Clinton,
New York. His education is the result of his own unaided effort.
Through the high school of Waterville, New York, he worked his
way, and later through Amherst College, graduating with honors
in the class of '84, degree of A. B., later A.M.
Though said to be a lawyer, a newspaper man and a college
professor, the fact is that he has never, except incidentally in
the beginning of his career, been any of those things. For
twenty years he has been in the business of mining, knows every
phase of it, from prospecting and hitting a drill to those
departments of the work requiring the highest skill and
experience. Outside of mining he professes to know nothing, and
cares less; and yet his capacity for doing things is so
generally recognized, that there is scarcely a matter of
importance in camp or State with which his name is not
connected. With a willingness to serve, he has never sought
honors or recognition of any kind. In politics a Democrat, in a
State overwhelmingly Democratic, with the governorship,
Congress, or even the United States Senate, within his easy
reach, he has never permitted his name to be used. He has no
ambitions, and professes no interest in public affairs, only to
the extent that he can be of service. His sole ambition is to do
his own work in his own way, out in the open, to continue the
career of builder empire builder, if you please a work for which
by temperament, capacity, courage and experience he is amply
fitted.
In his marriage Mr. Loftus was most fortunate. His wife,
Gertrude Portia Hopkins Loftus, is herself from a long line of
builders and educators, Mark Hopkins, who built the Union
Pacific, and those who have founded and directed universities in
the East. They have three children, James Hopkins, Margaret Edna
and Gertrude Portia. Though traveling extensively, having spent
the last season in Europe, the home of the family is Goldfield.
As president of the Montezuma Club Mr. Loftus served two years,
the period of its greatest social and community prestige. Under
his administration the splendid stone-and-steel building now the
home of the club was built. He built the News building, the
finest stone structure in camp. He is an owner in the "News"
itself, the leading newspaper in the State. He is the principal
owner and president of the Nevada Exploitation Company, a close
corporation that for four years has paid a five per cent,
monthly dividend, a record unparalleled in the mining business
of the State. He is president of the Great Bend Mining Company,
president of the Loftus-Davis Federated Mines Company; president
of the News Publishing Company; vice-president of the Round
Mountain Mining Company, another dividend-payer; an Elk; a
member of the University Club of Denver; in fact, a man all
around, that touches life on all its sides, and has touched it
fortunately and happily.
MacKenzie, T. M.
The friends of John Mackenzie declare
that if there is a man in the Western country that knows more
about the mining game, or if there is anyone who has had a wider
or more varied experience, they have never heard of him. Every
State in the inter-mountain region west to the Coast knows of
him and of his success in this big industry.
Mr. Mackenzie first saw the light of day in the city of Toronto,
Ontario, Canada, on the 24th day of May, 1858. His father,
William Mackenzie, was a blacksmith of the old type we see very
little of at the present time. He believed in educating his
children and sent John to the public schools in Ontario. He
finished the public schools, but the wandering fever seized him
and for two years he went before the mast and visited the .lands
across the water. After two years of the rough life at sea, Mr.
Mackenzie decided to take up a course of mechanical engineering
in Ontario. This training proved of invaluable service to him
through the many years of hard and arduous labor that followed.
After finishing his course in the engineering school, he was
employed by Cook Bros., Gordon & Co., of Ontario, as inspector
and purchaser of lumber and timber. After having mastered the
lumber business, the call of the West began to ring in his ears,
and he came to Eureka, Nevada, in 1887. Having an unlimited
amount of ambition, and being of the courageous Scotch blood, he
worked in the mines at this camp for two years, assimilating all
the time the knowledge of this business from a practical
standpoint. Leaving Eureka for new fields in which he could gain
more experience, he went to Colorado in the interests of John
Porter, in the capacity of expert timber man.
During the Black Range excitement of 1881 he went to that place,
but soon left and located in the following year at Tombstone,
Arizona. During all this time he was becoming an expert on
matters pertaining to mining, and was successful. At that time
there was very little doing at Tombstone, and, as he was being
sought for at Eureka, he went back to his first love and was
placed in charge of the construction crew of the Eureka
Consolidated Company's plant. After the plant was completed and
in operation, he assumed charge of the pumping operations then
being conducted on a large scale by the latter company.
This work being completed, the wanderings commenced again, and
in 1884 he went to Butte. Montana, taking charge of the North
Star Salisbury Mines. He remained in this famous copper camp for
two years, and his success at the mines mentioned is well known
to every one acquainted with Butte history. At the end of two
years, however, he began to look towards Eureka again, and began
leasing and mining in the Nevada camp. He stayed this time in
Eureka four years, and in 1891 he started for the Black Hills
country and took charge of the Orifino Mine and mill, situated
eight miles from Deadwood. As in all his other experiences, he
was successful in his supervision of the mines, but his life
seemed to turn towards new and verdant fields. Cripple Creek was
at the height of its boom at that time, and here went our friend
in 18!)3. The fact that he became manager of the famous Stratton
Mines, and also of the Portland Mine, is the greatest monument
to his ability and his thorough knowledge of mines and mining.
He left here in 1897, when the Alaska boom was on, and went to
Dawson City, where he worked some placer mines and also started
the building of the Klondyke Mines Railway which was finished in
1905. In 1899 he was engaged by the firm of Wherner, Beit & Co.,
of London, as manager of the old John C. Fremont grant in
Mariposa County, California. He opened up the mines of this old
estate, built two stamp mills, constructed a dam across the
Merced River, and erected a power plant for operating mines and
mills. When this work was completed, he accepted the management
of Le Roi Mine and Northport Smelter at Rossland, B. C., and
remained until the company had recovered from the disastrous
regime of Whittaker. Wright and associates.
In the fall of 1903 he retired from active management of this
property and joined F. W. Bradley, M. E., of San Francisco. This
firm entered actively into mine examination work and acted in
consulting capacity for several large properties. In 1904, M. L.
Requa, a mechanical engineer of San Francisco, joined this firm.
The latter had acquired options on the greater portion of the
holdings of what is now known as the Nevada Consolidated Copper
Company, at Ely, Nevada. The firm opened up these properties and
were heavily interested, and directed operations of the same
until the Guggenheims 'purchased control.
The career of Mr. Mackenzie for the past few years is too well
known to be told of here; suffice it to say that he is looked
upon and acknowledged as one of the foremost mining men of the
West.
He is prominently identified with a great many organizations in
Goldfield and San Francisco, living as he does between these two
cities. He is a member of the Pacific Union, San Francisco;
Montezuma Club, Goldfield; a thirty-second degree Mason,
Scottish Rite and many others. As a director and general manager
of the Goldfield Consolidated Mines he is a well-known figure in
the State, and is loved and respected by all who know him.
Nixon, George S.
United States Senator Geo. S. Nixon is
pre-eminently a self-made man. The record of his experience
indicates how industry applied to Western opportunities enables
one to be decidedly successful not with-standing the manifold
obstacles one must overcome. He was born in Placer County,
California, April 2, 1860, and worked on his father's farm until
19 years of age. He secured a very fair education in the schools
of his native State and in 1878 he became an employee of the
Southern Pacific Railroad Company at New Castle, California.
After acquiring a knowledge of telegraphy in a railway station
office, he was transferred in 1881 to Nevada points, serving as
an operator on the Central Pacific Railroad and the Carson &
Colorado Railroad. After three years of this service he was
offered and he accepted a clerical situation with the First
National Bank of Reno, an institution that afterwards became the
Washoe County Bank. Doubtless this new vocation was Mr. Nixon's
proper sphere, as he rapidly grew into prominence and public
confidence and is now representing Nevada in the United States
Senate.
Mr. Nixon succeeded the late Senator William M. Stewart, having
been elected on January 25, 1905, for the term beginning March
4, 1905. Prior to his election to the United States Senate
Senator Nixon was a member of the legislature of Nevada during
the session of 1891.
Senator Nixon is one of the most prosperous business men of
Nevada. For years he was the most active mine operator and is
now largely interested in banking, stock raising and farming. He
is the president of the Nixon National Bank of Reno, the First
National Bank of Winnemucca and the Tonopah Banking Corporation
of Tonopah.
Index
Source: Sketches of the Inter-Mountain
States, Utah, Idaho and Nevada, Published by The Salt Lake
Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1909
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