Sacramento County
Biographies
JAMES WESLEY HOWARD
JAMES WESLEY HOWARD.--Among those whose efforts are concentrated upon the development of California’s rich mineral resources is numbered James Wesley Howard of Sacramento, one of the largest gold-mine operators of this part of the state and a man of notable business acumen. He was born in Saline County, Mo., January 20, 1874, a son of George W. and Susan F. (Wolford) Howard. The Howard and Wolford families are both of old and prominent Southern stock and were early settlers of Missouri. During the Civil War some of the brothers served in the confederate Army, while others were in the Union Army. George W. Howard remained loyal to the Union and served in a Missouri regiment, joining the Union Army when eighteen years old, and served through the Civil War. After his return to civil life he was wounded by bushwhackers.
James Wesley Howard was four years of age at the time his parents came to California. They first settled at Leesville, Colusa County, and the father took up a tract of government land, which he cleared and developed, transforming it into a productive and well-improved farm. At the same time he purchased land at Grimes, Grand Island, where he eventually moved and resided until he moved into Sacramento, where he passed away. His widow resides in Sacramento. J. W. Howard attended the rural schools in Colusa County and aided his father in cultivating the home ranch until he reached the age of seventeen, when he started out in life for himself. Coming to Sacramento in 1891, he secured employment in the shops of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and there learned the machinist’s trade, remaining in the service of that corporation for about seven years. His attention has since been devoted to gold-mining, and his activities in this field have been attended by a marked degree of success. He is a member of the firm of White, Howard & McCormick, Inc., and secretary of the Golden Center of Grass Valley Mining Company. Mr. Howard was one of the prime movers in the consolidation of several valuable mining properties he was interested in into the above company, namely, the Dromedary, operated since the early fifties, Rock Roche, Peabody and Cabin Flats, as well as the Berriman mines, covering an area of 150 acres. Much of this property is located in the center of Grass Valley, the company having acquired by purchase the mineral rights of the lot-owners in about 100 acres of the business portion of Grass Valley, obtaining title to all the mineral under the lots below seventy-five feet under the surface. The acquiring of these deeds took several years of hard work on account of other companies who were also making a fight for the same property. However, Mr. Howard and his associates were successful, and they now have one of the best mining properties in the district, having a series of veins which yield free milling ore of high grade and picture-rock quality. One main shaft is now down 1,350 feet. The company gave fine specimens to the mineral department at the San Diego Exposition and also to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, the value of the mineral so given amounting to several thousand dollars. The property, with equipment and development, represents an investment of over $400,000, and it will take more than 100 years to work it out. Mr. Howard is also president of the Kern Mining Company, operating the Blue Gold Mountain Mine, which is also a large producer. He owns the controlling interest and is president of the Twin Sisters Mining Company of Nevada County, operating a gold mine of seven claims, a continuation of the famous Plumbago and Gold Canon veins. From the time he was a boy he had a desire to mine, a liking that would not down even when he was learning the machinist’s trade in the Southern Pacific Railroad shops. By close economy he was ready when he finally found the way open, and immediately embraced the opportunity presented. Since then he has followed his chosen enterprise diligently and has made a study of mineralogy, geology and mining methods, and particularly of mineral deposits in California. However, he finds the days spent in the Southern Pacific machine shops of great advantage in his present calling, as the experience gained there gave him the technical knowledge needed incidental to operating mines.
Mr. Howard began at the bottom when he started in the Southern Pacific shops. His salary at first was only ten cents an hour, nine hours a day, and he had to pay his own way. The close application, perseverance, self-denial, and economy he had to practice, however, fitted him well for the experience of later years, and no doubt explain the secret of his success. His experiences in the mining world have given him a new schooling; and feeling the great need of more production of gold, he is intensely interested in producing the yellow metal that is the standard of value in our government, and he thoroughly enjoys the creating of new dollars and more wealth for the country at large. Mr. Howard is a member of the Metal Producers’ Association of California, with headquarters in the Merchants National Bank Building in San Francisco. He is also a member of the executive committee of the Department of Mines and Mining in the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the American Mining Congress of Washington, D. C. In addition to his other business enterprises, he is also interested in farming, owning a ranch in Yolo County. Mr. Howard possesses the broad vision, initiative spirit and administrative powers characteristic of the man of large affairs, and his business associates have the utmost confidence in his judgment and reliability.
James Wesley Howard married Miss Joan Wills, one of California’s native daughters, and they have become the parents of two children, Phyllis Elizabeth and Dorothy Denise. Mr. Howard is a Knight Templar Mason and a charter member of Ben Ali Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Sacramento; while Mrs. Howard is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Native Daughters of the Golden West. Mr. Howard is also an Elk, and likewise holds membership in the Sutter Club, while his political support is given to the Republican Party. He has spent practically his entire life in California, and has contributed substantially toward, its development and progress through his mining operations, which have been of a most important character. He has found that the field of opportunity is open to all, and notwithstanding the fact that others have been more advantageously equipped at the outset of their careers, he has nevertheless outdistanced many and gained a position of leadership in his chosen line of activity.
Transcribed
Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 518-521. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
1923.
© 2007 Joyce Rugeroni.