Alameda County
Biographies
WILLIAM WALLACE HARPER
WILLIAM WALLACE HARPER. Conspicuous among the most
successful business men of Alameda county is
William Wallace Harper, residing on Seminary avenue, near Mills
College. As a practical mining engineer, and an expert adviser in mining
pursuits, he has been closely associated with the advancement of the mineral
interests of the Pacific states and of Australia, and was active in the
development of the Comstock Lode mine. A native of England, he was born
December 22, 1843, in Cornwall, which was likewise the birthplace of
his father, John Harper.
A man of great mechanical knowledge and ability, John
Harper acquired great skill as an engineer, and for a long time was mining engineer
for a large London company, being employed at mines in England, Ireland and
Canada. He spent his last years in his native land, dying in England. He
married Jennie Phillips, whose birth and death occurred in England. Of
their union four sons and two daughters were born, William Wallace, the
subject of this sketch, being the second child in succession of birth.
After his graduation from the high school, William
Wallace Harper, at the age of fourteen years, began working with his father as
a miner, and in the various capacities in which he was employed became familiar
with mining pursuits. Emigrating to the United States
in 1866, Mr. Harper located at Houghton, Mich., on Lake Superior, where he
was engaged as a contractor for a year. The ensuing two years he spent in
Massachusetts, working on the Hoosac tunnel.
Migrating westward to Nevada in 1868, Mr. Harper assisted in the
development of the Comstock Lode mine, and was afterward for many years
employed as a boss contractor for the Mackay & Fair Company’s Virginia
City and California mines. He subsequently remained in the company’s employ for
twenty-one years, first as night foreman and then as day foreman. Receiving a
flattering offer from the owners of the richest mine in the world in 1888,
Mr. Harper accepted it and went to Australia to introduce the square set
system of mining, which he had previously used at the Comstock Lode mine, into
that country, and for four years served efficiently as manager of the
Broken Hill property. His services in this capacity were highly
appreciated by the Australian company, who increased his salary, which was
$15,000 the first year, to $35,000 per annum. His system in the meantime
becoming so impregnated with lead that his health was seriously impaired,
Mr. Harper, in 1891 and 1892, made a trip around the world, hoping to be
much benefited by a sea voyage. Not receiving the desired benefit, however, he
resigned his position in 1892, and came directly to California, locating in
Oakland. In 1896 he purchased his present fine estate, which is located on
Seminary avenue, Seminary Park, near Mills College,
and contains two acres of land. In its improvement he has used excellent taste
and judgment, having now one of the most attractive residence properties in the
county. In the various mines in which he has been employed Mr. Harper has
almost invariably been a stockholder, and at the present time he is interested
in the development of mines in Eldorado county, Cal.,
and also owns considerable valuable property in Fruitvale.
In 1845, in Virginia City, Nev., Mr. Harper married
Emma Day, who was born in Grass Valley, Cal., a daughter of Zebulon Day,
who came to California from Ohio, his native state, with the miners of the
early '50s, and is spending his declining days with Mr. Harper.
December 18, 1902, Mrs. Harper passed to the higher life,
leaving two children, Russell Wallace and Irene. She was a woman of
superior character, ever true to the highest ideals of wifehood and motherhood,
and her death will long be mourned by her large circle of friends, as well as
by her immediate family. A man of upright principles and strong personality,
Mr. Harper was always well liked by his employers, and was popular with
the men under his control. In his political affiliations he is a stanch Republican.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 17 April 2016.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page
1081. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Marie Hassard.
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