ike the others he enjoyed only a fair education,
starting for California at about the same time as the rest; he taking
the overland route while they went by water. His only capital consisting
of a miner's outfit, and with those simple implements he began his hard
fought battle for wealth. He made mining a scientific study and after
about six years of variable success, he became known as an expert. Soon
after this he accepted the superintendency of the Ophir mine, and later,
the Hale & Norcross; since which time he has gone on, until now, he can
count his worldly possessions by the million. He is a most thorough
miner, and his long continued life at the bottom of the mines has had a
telling effect on his health. That he has successfully managed such wild
and wicked men, as many miners are, without becoming the victim of some
"accident," indicates something of his ability. Finally his impaired
health necessitated his withdrawal from active work, and he made an
extended voyage, returning in a much improved condition.

In 1881 he was elected to the United States Senate, where he acquitted
himself with credit. He charged nothing for his services, an event
without parallel in our history, however, he received all for which he
went to Washington--honor. He is assessed for over forty millions, and
can well afford to donate his salary to the Government.

Like the other bonanza kings he seems to have been specially favored by
fortune, but the old saying, "Birds of a feather will flock together,"
is true in this case, for these men are all practical miners and changed
partners often until the firm of Flood, Fair & MacKay was formed, since
which time they all seem perfectly satisfied each with the other. All
had been sorely tried during their earlier life and were not found
wanting either in ability or stick-to-it-iveness as they passed through
the crucible of Dame Fortune.

As we have just been reading the lives of the three bonanza kings, J. C.
Flood, J. C. Fair and J. W. MacKay, possibly a description of one of
their enterprises in the shape of a flume will be interesting as
described by a New York _Tribune_ correspondent:

A fifteen-mile ride in a flume down the Sierra Nevada Mountains in
thirty minutes was not one of the things contemplated in my visit to
Virginia City, and it is entirely within reason to say that even if I
should make this my permanent place of residence--which fortune
forbid--I shall never make the trip a