The Bonanza Kings, also called the Silver Kings, was a nickname given to the four men who started a stock brokerage called ''Flood and O'Brien'', more commonly known as the Bonanza Firm. Bonanza is a Spanish term, meaning a rich ore body; in 1873, after gaining control of the

Consolidated Virginia Mining Company Consolidated may refer to: * Consolidated (band) **''¡Consolidated!'', a 1989 extended play *Consolidated Aircraft The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet in Buffalo, New York, the result of the Gallaude ...

, they discovered a large vertical ore body more than 1,200 feet deep which became known as the "big bonanza".

Mining success

In 1871,

Irish-Americans , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

John William Mackay John William Mackay (November 28, 1831 – July 20, 1902) was an Irish-American industrialist. Mackay was one of the four Bonanza Kings, a partnership which capitalised on the wealth generated by the silver mines at the Comstock Lode. He als ...

James Graham Fair James Graham Fair (December 3, 1831December 28, 1894) was an Irish immigrant to the United States who became a highly successful mining engineer and businessman. His investments in silver mines in Nevada made him a millionaire, and he was one o ...

James Clair Flood James Clair Flood (October 25, 1826 – February 21, 1889) was an American businessman who made a fortune thanks to the Comstock Lode in Nevada. His mining operations are recounted to this day as an outstanding example of what may be done with a ...

, and William S. O'Brien, organized the Consolidated Virginia Silver Mine near

Virginia City, Nevada Virginia City is a census-designated place (CDP) that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada, and the largest community in the county. The city is a part of the Reno– Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. Virginia City developed as a boom ...

, from a number of smaller claims on the

Comstock Lode The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in the Virginia Range in Virginia City, Nevada (then western Utah Territory), which was the first major discovery of silver ore in the United ...

and later added the nearby California mine. Mackay and Fair had the mining knowledge and Flood and O'Brien raised the money. The purchase price of the claims, later to become a fabulous source of wealth, was about $100,000. The original stock issue was 10,700 shares, selling for between $4 and $5 a share. In 1873 the "big bonanza" was uncovered and San Francisco and the entire mining world were hurtled into a fever of excitement. The first stock issue was converted into two issues of 108,000 shares each, and by the middle of 1875 the speculative value of the two mines were close to $1,000,000,000. Shares went as high as $710. For three years after the discovery of "big bonanza" the two mines produced $3,000,000 per month. In 1876, for exhibition purposes, $6,000,000 was taken in one month from both mines. Production began to fall off in 1879 but in twenty-two years of operation the two mines yielded more than $150,000,000 in

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

, and paid $78,148,800 in dividends, making the four owners into some of America's wealthiest men.

References

* *{{Citation , publication-date=1876-12-15 , title=THE MINING ARISTOCRACY.; SOCIAL STANDING OF SAN FRANCISCO'S BONANZA KINGS. THE ANCIENT FEUDS OF THE MAGNATES OF THE MINES--FLOOD AND O'BRIEN, FAIR AND MACKEY, MORROW AND BALDWIN IGNORED IN SOCIETY--RALSTON'S RUIN--THE EXPLOITS AND CHARITIES OF "KNIGHTLY JIM" KEENE. , newspaper=

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, publication-place=

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, page=7 , url=https://www.nytimes.com/1876/12/15/archives/the-mining-aristocracy-social-standing-of-san-franciscos-bonanza.html , access-date=2011-10-01 , first=Our , last=Own Mining in Nevada Silver mining in Nevada Gold mining in Nevada Mining in California Quartets Mining in Utah