now that is one of the few states where our first anglo-american industry here was mining and it wasn't agricultural. there has been mining nevada since it's early as 1850 51 and it really took off with the founding of virginia city in 1859 and 1860. rena was found in 1868 as part of the transcontinental railroad. we were a railroad hub for the central pacific railroad and we

connected with virginia city through the virginia truckee railroad. and reno really grew up as being the last stop before the desert and the last stop before the mountains and we are the main rail hub that the silver was sent through on its way to san francisco. so the comstock load was a large deposit of silver in virginia city on the virginia range, and it was mined in earnest from 1860 until about 1886. with boom and bus periods, but one of the largest discoveries of that period was the big bonanza of 1873 when the conversignia struck one of the largest silver deposits that we know about that. mine was owned by john mackey who is the namesake of this building? john mackie was born in the early 1830s in dublin, ireland and he and his family came over to new york where he grew up in the five points neighborhood of new york city. and when he was old enough he

left new york and took a ship to panama hiked to cross panama got on another ship and landed in the goldfields of california. he was part of the 1849 gold rush and what have arrived around 1850-51 he worked in the goldfields, but didn't find his fortune and in 1860 he walked from the goldfields of california to virginia city and according to the story entered virginia city penniles and because of his experience in the minds of california, he very quickly worked his way up through the minds of virginia city and became a superintendent of mine in the late 1860s and was able to buy in and purchase some mind by the early 1870s, and he was owner of the khan virginia. when most people thought i was defunct and he and his business partners kept it open for a few more weeks and it struck the big bonanza. and by the 1870s his minds were averaging about 300,000 a month in silver production and there

was an 1870s dollars and john mackey was a major part of the minds of virginia city all the way up until they shut up the pumps of the combination shaft which was kind of signaled the end of mining major the golden age of mining in virginia city in 1886 and he went on to invest in telecommunications his first investment was the transatlantic telegraph cable and by 1902 when he passed away the mackies were known as telecommunication barons and owned a telegraph and telephone company. and his son clarence mackey took over the business and he was the one that built the relationship with the university starting in 1907 that led to the creation of the mackie school. one of the unique aspects in nevada is according to the our 1864 constitution the land grant university in nevada has to teach mining.

and unr is the land grant university here in nevada? you and i was found in 1874 in elko, and it was can the elko experiment was considered a bit of a failure. nobody graduated in 10 years. so they moved the university to reno in 1885 and morrill hall was completed in 1886 which was the first building here at unr the first class graduated from unr in 1891. and mining education here at unr during that time was a lot of starts and stops it wasn't very consistent there would go a few semesters where no mining classes were offered and in those days you and r in those days. it was called the university of nevada was just a few buildings on the south end of what was then the evans alfalfa ranch and as the university moved north they bought a more of the alfalfa ranch.

in 1907 several politicians here in nevada. thought it would be a good idea to honor john mackey by having a statue of him. on the grounds of the capitol building so they approached john mackey's air clarence mackey about funding this statue and clarence becky agreed and reached out to the artist gutsenborglum who had later go on to design and implement mount rushmore to build the statue by the time was completed about 1907 1908. there was a lot of politics people remember john mackey. they thought it might be inappropriate that one man. one individual was honored on the capitol grounds. so there was a bit of a debate and doctors stubbs who was the president of the university at the time said, hey, we'll take it. and so that's how the statue of john mackey arrived at the university but clarence mackey saw this kind of plucky western university and wanted to quote

beautify the campus. so he donated money for the quad and our elm trees which are now over 100 years old and in 1908 donated thousand dollars to build the mackie school of mines. the keck museum which was originally known as the mackie school museum was founded in 1908. it was one of the original fixtures of the mackie mines building. these are the original red oak cases from 1908 and the museum is still displaying and storing items as it would have been in 1908. founded as a research museum. it endeavored to bring the world to the mackie student and we have collections from all over the world and many of our collection as of ores from very famous mining districts and mine some of which have been closed for over 100 years and these or samples were taking at depth in many cases. we know the actual shaft and

depth that the orr samples taken from the minerals on display and the objects on display really show about less than 5% of the collection the majority of the collection still in storage. and our three collecting areas is rocks and minerals with a special focus on ores paleontology and mining history in the last 10 to 15 years. we've really tightened our scope to focus on nevada. it's not only is that what we're good at but also nevada is a extremely interesting state from a geological perspective with over 35 minerals discovered here in the state of nevada. we are now in the lower level of the wm keck museum and next to me is the mary louise and john mackey silver collection mary louise and john mackey owned several minds in virginia city, which was of course the side of the comstock load and particularly the famous silver mine the conver virginia which in 1873 was the of the big

bonanza. by the end of the 1870s mayor louise asked john to make her something from all the silver that was being pulled out of their minds. john mackey sent four boxcars of silver bullion from his mind's in virginia city and they most likely went through reno on their way to new york and there they arrived at tiffany & company and tiffany and company manufactured this set it took 200 artists two years to make and these are only 58 of the original 1200 pieces in the collection, which originally sat 24 people. the mackies would have used this set daily in their homes in paris and london all the way up into turn of the century. in the 1950s the mackie family donated this silver service to the university the quote and unquote impractical pieces, like the 29 candle candelabras the cigar stands or the decorative celery vases.

and the university used this set as its state silver for many years. the service has been on display here at the keck museum for about 20 years. many of the items in the service really show the opulence of dining culture in the gilded age and there are many pieces here that we wouldn't normally find in a modern dinner service. so we have everything from crumb trays for so that the footmen can brush up crumbs in between courses. we also have melon eaters which were used to eat melons. i cantaloupe you slice with one side and you can use the fork on the other side to pick up the morsel. we also have wine siphons and all of forks and champagne holders and some one of my personal favorites a pair of ham holders, so that while the

footman where serving which the service of the style was called service day ruse where everything would be held by a servant and carved by the servant at the table and then served. the footman could hold the ham without without getting his white gloves so late. i'm really glad that visitors when they come to the tech museum can see objects such as the mary louise and john mackey silver collection that show not only the wealth of the minds in virginia city, but also that this is owned by the people of nevada and that this is on display for people to enjoy. nevada didn't take their earth science very seriously, and it's hard pressed to find a nevada and who does not claim they're a rockhound and nevada's love their geology. and mining has always been an important part of nevada since statehood.