Bonanza Kings - Mackay, Fair, Flood, O'Brien
United States
John Mackay, James Fair, James Flood, William O'Brien
In 1871, Irish-Americans John William Mackay, James Graham Fair, James Clair Flood and William S. O'Brien, organized the Consolidated Virginia Silver Mine near Virginia City, Nevada, from a number of smaller claims on the Comstock Lode and...
Elizabeth McCourt Tabor, aka “Baby Doe” McCourt
United States
Date of Birth: 1854 — 1935
Colorado's Silver Queen
Elizabeth McCourt Tabor (1854 March 7, 1935), better known as "Baby Doe", was the second wife of pioneer Colorado businessman Horace Tabor. Her rags-to-riches and back to rags again story made her a well-known figure in her own day and inspired an opera and a Hollywood...
James H. McKinley, and Ernest J. Darragh
Canada
James H. McKinley and Ernest J. Darragh were contractors providing lumber for a railway being pushed north through the thick Ontario bush. On August 7, 1903 the two partners were walking the right of way scouting for trees suitable for railway ties. As they passed through a rock cut on the banks...
Willett G. Miller
Canada
Date of Birth: 1866 — 1925
Dr. Willet G. Miller, a world-renowned geologist, had an enormous influence on the scientific advancement and mineral development of Canada, and particularly Ontario, in the early decades of the 20th century. His memory has been perpetuated by such practical tokens as a bronze plaque on a cairn...
Dan O'Connor
Canada
Date of Birth: 1864 — 1933
Daniel O'Connor (31 January 1864 – 30 March 1933) was a Canadian politician, businessman and prospector from Pembroke, Ontario. In the late 1880s, O'Connor moved to Sudbury where he became associated with economy, life and industry, becoming the town's second mayor in 1894. Inn and Ronnoco...
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Robert A. Quartermain
Canada
Date of Birth: 1955 — -
Inducted into the Silver Hall of Fame in 2017
Robert A. Quartermain has extensive global experience in geology, exploration and development. Over his 40-year career in the resource industry, he has established a solid track record in building shareholder value in the field of precious metals...
Paul Sarnoff
United States
Date of Birth: 1918 — 1999
Paul Sarnoff was, in addition to being a career commodities trader, a prolific writer. His 30-some titles include "Silver Bulls: The Great Silver Boom and Bust," covering the seven months leading up to the rise and fall of silver during 1979 and 1980. It is a constructive and contrarian...
Ed Schieffelin
United States
Date of Birth: 1847 — 1897
Edward Lawrence Schieffelin was an American prospector and Indian fighter best known for discovering the Tombstone silver mine in Arizona. He was born on May 7, 1847, in Aurora, Illinois, and was the son of a prominent family. However, he was interested in something other than following in his...
Giovanni Battista Serpieri
Italy
Date of Birth: 1832 — 1897
Giovanni Battista Serpieri was the first foreign "mega-entrepreneur" to invest in Greece. He was demonized almost immediately after he had invested fifteen million drachmas to gain the concession to re-open the Lavrion Mines, the same mines that had made ancient Athens an economic powerhouse....
Antonio Siraumea
Mexico
Date of Birth: 1710 — 1760
Antonio Siraumea, a Yaqui, was likely a resident of the rancheria Arizonac, a real or small mining camp at the edge of the northern frontier of the Spanish colonies of New Spain.
(Yaqui, Indian people centred in southern Sonora state, on the west coast of Mexico. They speak the...
Augusta Tabor
United States
Date of Birth: 1833 — 1895
As the first woman in the California Gulch district, Augusta Louise Tabor, fondly remembered as "The First Lady of Leadville," spent much of her life in helping make Leadville a great mining camp.
She was born in Maine and, in 1857, married the now famous mining magnate, Horace Tabor, who was...
Horace Tabor
United States
Date of Birth: 1830 — 1899
Horace Tabor's life story is a testament to hard work but also a great anecdote about short-sightedness. From a simple stone-cutter, he would grow to become one of the country's wealthiest men, only to lose his riches after spending lavishly and investing poorly.
Born in Vermont in 1830, Horace...
Noah A. Timmins
Canada
Date of Birth: 1867 — 1936
Noah Anthony Timmins (March 31, 1867 – January 22, 1936) was a Canadian mining financier and developer who is now counted among the founding fathers of Canada's mining industry.
Noah Timmins partnered with his older brother Henry in 1903 to buy into the La Rose silver claim in Cobalt, Ontario...