Mackay, << MAK ee, >> John William (1831-1902), was an American miner and financier. Along with another financier, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., Mackay organized the Commercial Cable Company and the Postal Telegraph Company in 1883. They laid two cables under the Atlantic Ocean and were beginning to lay one under the Pacific Ocean when Mackay died.
Mackay was born in Ireland but came to New York City with his parents as a boy. In 1851, he went to California to seek gold. Mackay made his fortune as one of the owners of the “Big Bonanza” gold and silver mine. This mine, discovered in 1873 at Virginia City, Nevada, was the richest deposit of gold and silver ore ever found. The value of a share in the mine shot up from 15 cents to $1,850. Mackay became a millionaire almost overnight. At their height, his earnings from the “Big Bonanza” were said to have reached $800,000 a month.
