Los Angeles County
Biographies
JAMES PINKERTON M’ALLISTER
M’ALLISTER, JAMES PINKERTON, Manufacturer, Los Angeles, California, was born in London Derry County, Ireland, August 25, 1842, the son of John McAllister and Elizabeth (Pinkerton) McAllister. He married Elizabeth McAllister at Virginia City, Nevada, June 4, 1873, and to them there have been born two children, Lillian (Mrs. C. A. King) and Frank Allister McAllister.
Mr. McAllister is one of those men who have had to make their own way in the world. His father died when Mr. McAllister was an infant and he lost his mother when he was only ten years of age. Orphaned at such an early age, his struggles began at once. He attended the National Schools of Ireland until he was fifteen years of age, but having no home ties he became a world wanderer, his travels finally leading to America.
He sailed from Liverpool in February, 1857, and landed in New York with thirty shillings in his pocket. He had no friends or acquaintances in this country, nor any definite idea of what he was to do for a living. He was fortunate, however, in obtaining employment on a farm in Orange County, New York, for in his employers he found true friends and was provided with a good home. He worked for the meager sum of four dollars a month, however, and remained on the farm for about a year.
In 1858, Mr. McAllister bade farewell to his friends, who he still regards as fine types of Americans, and went out in search of employment which would pay him better for his services. He halted at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, for a season and worked on the river boats, but in the Spring he left this life and obtained employment, although he was only seventeen years of age, as a driver in the Pittsburg Fire Department.
This place he filled only a few months, however, for in the Fall of 1860 he started for the Pacific Coast and landed in San Francisco in December. He was not of the body of men lured by the stories of the golden harvest in California, but was moved by a boy’s curiosity to see the “Big Trees” of Calaveras County. After gazing upon the great natural curiosities, he turned his attention to placer mining, but barely made a living.
After mining for several years in California, Mr. McAllister left in November, 1863, for Virginia City, Nevada, with his blankets on his back and $2.50 in gold dust in his pockets. He had before him a journey of two hundred miles over snow-clad mountains. At Stanislaus River, desiring to hoard his small supply of money as much as possible, he sought to work his way across on the ferry, but the ferryman refused to permit him to do so and Mr. McAllister, ignoring the fact that the water was ice cold, tied his outfit on his back and swam across. After reaching the other side he rested for a time, then donned snowshoes and resumed his journey across the mountains. At Silver Valley in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, he obtained employment on a ranch, receiving for his labor a dollar a day. He chopped trees all day and at night slept in a buffalo robe, with the snow for his bed. At the end of two weeks he left this place and took up his walk to Virginia City, arriving there in the early part of 1864.
Mr. McAllister’s first position in Virginia City was with the Fulton Foundry of that place. He began as an apprentice boy and remained with the company for nineteen years, resigning in 1882 the position of General Manager of the plant.
Leaving Virginia City, Mr. McAllister went to Tombstone, Arizona, to take employment as a machinist in a foundry there, but before the deal was closed he had purchased the plant in which he intended to work and thereupon began the operation of the Tombstone Foundry and Machine Shop. For eleven years he was thus engaged and during that time was one of the leading men of the town. He served as a member of the Board of Supervisors for one term and it was while he held office that an attempt was made to rid the country of Geronimo and his savage followers. A large reward was offered for the Chief and a lesser amount for each member of his tribe, but the whites were unable to capture or kill the redskins and the rewards were never claimed.
Mr. McAllister is not one of the men who tell of their Indian fighting days, although the early part of his residence if Arizona was during the time when the Apaches were most active. He was intimately acquainted with General Miles and Captain Lawton, also “Hualapai” Clark, for many years Chief of the Hualapai Indians, and did not share in resisting the attacks of the redmen, but disclaims any title of Indian fighter, for the reason that practically all the men who really fought the Indians paid for it with their lives.
In 1893, Mr. McAllister transferred his manufacturing business to Los Angeles and he has been steadily engaged there since that time, operating for many years in a small factory. In 1900, however, he built a modern plant, known as the Fulton Engine Works, and this ranks today with the leading establishments of the kind in the United States. He incorporated his company several years ago, increasing the capital and scope of it, and through his direction of its affairs, as President of the Board of Directors, he has made it one of the most successful enterprises in the Southwest.
Although he is regarded as one of the most public-spirited men in Los Angeles, Mr. McAllister has never taken an active part in politics. During his residence in Nevada and Arizona, however, he was a worker for the Republican party and on various occasions held public office. He served two years as a School Trustee in Virginia City, and also held the same office for two years in Tombstone. He next was elected Supervisor. He served four years as Treasurer and Tax Collector of Cochise County, Arizona.
Mr. McAllister is prominent in Masonic circles, having taken all the degrees, and also belongs to the Mystic Shrine. He is a member, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Gamut Club.
Transcribed 8-6-09
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 325,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2009 Marilyn R. Pankey.
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