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The Man Who Cornered The Comstock Lode

Wikimedia/Public Domain
Miners in Nevada's Comstock Lode in the 1880s.

Quick, name some of the fabulously rich men of the 19th century.  John D. Rockefeller?  Check.  Andrew Carnegie?  Check.  John W. Mackay?  Uh, who? 

Not a household name in our time, but John Mackay got rich in the Comstock Lode of silver and gold in Nevada, and went toe-to-toe in competition with some of the richest men of his time. 

Gregory Crouch profiles Mackay (pronounced "Mackie") in the book The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle Over the Greatest Riches in the American West.  The author gives us a glimpse of the life and times of Mackay. 

 

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Geoffrey Riley is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has hosted the Jefferson Exchange on JPR since 2009. He's been a broadcaster in the Rogue Valley for more than 35 years, working in both television and radio.