University of Nevada - Artemisia Yearbook (Reno, NV)

Page 14 text:

133 fNl nature, a high-souled, royal-hearted gentleman, a man whom no disappoint- ment could cast down, a man who did not know dishonesty and a man who never speculated or borrowed a dollar. Keeping these words in mind and beholding the beautiful edifice erected to his memory on the University of Nevada Campus by his faithful wife and dutiful son we know that John W. Mackay has not died in vain and that the statute to his memory, whether it be interpreted as looking toward Virginia City or gazing heavenward, truly symbolizes wealth applied to nobler means. w j -» -

Page 13 text:

isIS s u I ' I be through virgin ground. This was done and the big bonanza was struck. In 1867 Mr. Mackay married Marie Louise Bryant, who was a widow and the daughter of Colonel Daniel E. Hungerford, a Mexican war veteran. From Virginia City they moved to San Francisco, in 1874, but Mr. Mackay spent most of his time in Virginia City, looking after his interests. In 1867 Mr. Mackay took his family to live in Paris and London, but he him- self, was constantly returning to Virginia City and New York City, to at- tend to his many interests, those in New York being cable and telegraph interests. Mrs. Mackay ' s daughter by her first marriage became Princess di Stigliano Colonna. Mr. and Mrs. Mackay had two sons, John William and Clarence Hungerford. John William was thrown from a horse and killed on October 18th, 1895. Clarence Mackay is successfully carrying on the interests inherited from his father. John W. Mackay ' s vast accumulations did not make him forget his old friends. He remained the same true man, humble and charitable in spirit, giving great sums to the needy, but he did not give for notoriety and osten- tation. After the Virginia City fire Mr. Mackay gave $150,000 to the destitute. For years he met all the expenses of the Sisters ' Orphan Hos- pital at Virginia City, which amount to about $5,000 per month. His greatest thought was to spend money in such a way that it would give the most employment. The biggest pleasure he got in life was working out big things. In 1884 he found the Western Union Telegraph Company, a strongly entrenched monopoly, without any opposition. Here Mr. Mackay saw that there was a vast piece of work to be done and he undertook it. In 1864 he laid two submarine cables across the Atlantic ocean from America to Europe through the Commercial Cable Company which he had organ- ized in 1883. The cable combine made war on him immediately. Cable rates were reduced to a ruinous basis. This war lasted one year and a half, but at the close of it Mr. Mackay came out the dictator of peace. In 1886 he organized the Post-Telegraph-Cable Company and began building land telegraph lines throughout the United States. At the time of his sud- den death in London in 1902 he was contemplating finishing his big Postal- Telegraph-Commercial Cable plans by laying a cable from San Francisco to Honolulu, Manila, China and Japan. This plan has been carried out by his son, Clarence H. Mackay. In Sam P. Davis ' History of Nevada we find it written that Mr. Mac- kay was an intense American, though born in Ireland, an industrial king by ■iKP :jj ' i r

Page 15 text:

(0)e? aE A T TEMISIA SPIRIT OF NEVADA U i - When I close my eyes and the present Fades from thoug-ht and view, Memories crowding from out the past, Visions of my years at Nevada U. I i I ' s Long have I strayed and wandered, Far from my former hfe, Left the Hill ' s peace and quiet, Entered the world ' s great strife. But when the battle is over, Whether I ' ve lost or won, I dream of my days on the campus The classes and sorrows and fun. Dreams of the days that have vanished, Gone, we know not where, But each with its message we tried to learn And the spirit of do and dare. So now though far I have travelled. Failed and succeeded, too. Always urged onward by that spirit. The spirit of our Silver and Blue. J UJL V S-