James Graham Fair
| James Graham Fair | |
|---|---|
 | |
| United States Senator from Nevada | |
| In office March 4, 1881 – March 4, 1887 Serving with John P. Jones | |
| Preceded by | William Sharon |
| Succeeded by | William M. Stewart |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 3, 1831 Clogher, Ireland |
| Died | December 28, 1894 (aged 63) San Francisco, California |
| Resting place | Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Theresa Rooney (divorced) |
| Children | Charles L. Fair Theresa "Tessie" Alice Oelrichs Virginia Fair Vanderbilt |
| Residence | Geneva, Illinois, Virginia City, Nevada, San Francisco, California |
| Occupation | Prospector, mine supervisor, real estate developer, railroad builder, Senator |
| Religion | Roman Catholic[citation needed] |
| Known for | Being one of the "Bonanza Kings" |
| Net worth | USD $45 million at the time of his death (approximately 1/280 of US GNP)[1] |
| Cause of death | Diabetes mellitus, Bright's disease[2] |
James Graham Fair (December 3, 1831 – December 28, 1894) was the overnight-millionaire part-owner of several successful silver mines on the Comstock Lode. Fair later became a real estate investor and railroad builder in California. In 1881, he was elected a United States Senator from Nevada.
Early life
Born to a poor Irish family in Clogher, County Tyrone, James Fair came with his father to the United States in 1843 and grew up on a farm in Illinois. There he received an extensive education in business[citation needed] before moving to California in 1850, where he prospected the Feather River country for gold embedded in quartz rather than pan for placer gold. His attention shifted to Nevada, where he operated a stamp mill on the Washoe River and landed various mine superintendent positions around the Comstock Lode region. He became superintendent of the Hale and Norcross Mine in Virginia City, Nevada in 1867.
He formed a partnership with three fellow Irishmen, John William Mackay, and the San Francisco saloon owners James C. Flood, and William S. O'Brien. The company was formally Flood and O'Brien, but popularly known as the "Bonanza firm". The four made large fortunes in shares in silver mines on the Comstock Lode, struck in 1859. It was the first major silver discovery in the United States, producing over five hundred million dollars in twenty years' operation.[citation needed] Although Fair was acknowledged to be a capable mine superintendent and a shrewd businessman, he was not well liked, and carried the nickname "Slippery Jim."[3] He invested much of his income from the Comstock in railroads and San Francisco real estate. Fair and Mackay owned the Nevada Bank of San Francisco, a rival to William Chapman Ralston's Bank of California; after the collapse of Ralston's financial empire, the Nevada Bank was for a time the largest bank in America at the height of the silver boom.[citation needed]
South Pacific Coast Railroad
In 1876, in partnership with several others, Fair established the narrow-gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad. From its beginning near present-day Newark, the line extended down the east side of San Francisco Bay, through San Jose and Los Gatos and southward over the Santa Cruz Mountains over a route that entailed a 6,200-foot tunnel, another 5,000-foot tunnel and six shorter ones. Some six hundred Chinese workers were employed in clearing, grading, laying track and tunneling. In that last activity, thirty-one workers lost their lives, primarily from explosions of underground natural gas. At its southern end, the tracks connected with the already-operational Santa Cruz & Felton Railroad in Felton. The line over the mountains was completed in May 1880.
The South Pacific Coast Railroad was immediately successful and soon profitable but in 1886, for unexplained reasons, Fair sold his interest in the railroad to the Southern Pacific, which later converted it to standard gauge and operated it until 1940, when the over-the-mountains portion of the line was abandoned.[4]
Political career
Fair was elected by the Nevada legislature to the U.S. Senate in 1881. He was not much interested in Washington, where he promoted silver issues in the Senate at a time when a movement was afoot to demonetize silver. Fair only served one term due to his defeat in the 1886 election. Following the end of his term, he moved back to San Francisco.
Personal life
In 1861 Fair married Theresa Rooney, who had been keeping a boarding house. She divorced him in 1883 on grounds of "habitual adultery" and brought up their four children on her own, with a very considerable settlement.
When his daughter, Theresa "Tessie" Alice Fair was married in 1890 to Hermann Oelrichs of Norddeutsche Lloyd shipping lines, in the grandest wedding San Francisco had seen, he remained in his hotel suite[5] without an invitation. He gave her a million dollars as a wedding gift nevertheless (Ferguson 1977 p. 2)
Fair is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California. His will left $40 million in trust to his daughters, née Theresa "Tessie" Alice Fair, Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs, and Virginia Graham, later Mrs William Kissam Vanderbilt II and his surviving son, Charles Lewis Fair.
After his death, Mrs. Nettie Cravens came forward claiming to be his wife. She presented her evidence to the court trial, but lost the case. She moved to Iowa and lived in obscurity, spending her last days in a mental institution. Later, another woman, Phoebe Couzins, a women's-rights advocate, also claimed a relationship with Fair.
Legacy
The Fairmont San Francisco hotel was built and named after Fair as grand monument by his daughters, Theresa Fair Oelrichs and Virginia Fair Vanderbilt who built the hotel[6] Construction began in 1902, but they sold their interests in 1906, days before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Fair is remembered in Santa Cruz, California in the naming of Fair Avenue.
References
- ↑ Klepper, Michael; Gunther, Michael (1996), The Wealthy 100: From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates—A Ranking of the Richest Americans, Past and Present, Secaucus, New Jersey: Carol Publishing Group, p. xi, ISBN 978-0-8065-1800-8, OCLC 33818143
- ↑ "EX-SENATOR FAIR IS DEAD; His Fatal Illness of But Very Brief Duration. AN ESTATE OF FORTY MILLIONS One of the Earliest Victims of the Gold Fever, He Turned His Attention to Silver and Made a Fortune.", The New York Times (New York, New York), 1894-12-30
- ↑ Grant H. Smith (1943) The History of the Comstock Lode, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, Geology and Mining Series No. 37, p.118.
- ↑ Hamman, Rick. 1980. California Central Coast Railways. Boulder, Colo: Pruett Pub. Co.
- ↑ His hotel built that year survived the San Francisco Earthquake and continues as the "Queen Anne Hotel".
- ↑ Woodbridge, Sally B.; Woodbridge, John M. (1992). San Francisco Architecture. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. p. 62. ISBN 0-87701-897-9.
Further reading
- Tales of Love and Hate in Old San Francisco, Millie Robbins. Chronicle Books, San Francisco 1971.
- J. Walton Ferguson, Rosecliff (The Preservation Society of Newport County) 1977. Rosecliff was built for Fair's daughter, Mrs Oelrichs.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Graham Fair. |
- Entry from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- The Valley Post, 5/10/2005 Fair's South Pacific Coast Railroad
- James Graham Fair at Find a Grave
| United States Senate | ||
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| Preceded by William Sharon |
U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Nevada 1881–1887 Served alongside: John P. Jones |
Succeeded by William M. Stewart |
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