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Surnames: McLean, Blakely
Classification: Obituary
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Ji.2ADI/2139
Message Board Post:
GREAT WEALTH
Amassed in the West By G.D. McLean, Formerly of Madisonville
His Remains Brought Back For Burial--His fortune of Three Millions Goes to His Sister at
Auburn
A bonanza king was laid to rest in his native Kentucky land Wednesday afternoon. The
mortal remains of one of the argonauts of nearly half a century ago was deposited in a
little grave yard in Auburn, Ky.
George Davidson McLEAN left his home in Madisonville, for the golden-straned beach of
California in 1853. His father gave him $3,000, his capital in life. On his death he had
as many millions, perhaps more than he had thousands when he went away.
During all those years in the West he never married, never had a son to raise his hope.
Now he has gone and has left no will, his fortune naturally reverts to his only
heir-at-law, his sister, Mrs. George Thomas BLAKELY, of Auburn, Ky. She is now seventy one
years of age, three years her late brother's senior. Her husband, who is still living,
is seventy-six years old.
They have three children living, Capt. William McLean BLAKELY, of Evansvillle; George
Davidson BLAKELY, the editor of a paper in Arkansas, and Mrs. T.W. BLAKELY, of
Hopkinsville, Ky. To them ultimately will come the McLEAN fortunes.
In his early twenties, George D. McLEAN went to San Francisco, Cal. His journey was from
New York by way of the Isthmus of Panama. He began life mining gold with pic and shovel.
But, ill health and poor fortune drove him from the mines to the prosaic duties of clerk
in a store. He worked here for several years when he formed a company for opening the
Idaho mines in Grass Valley, Cal.
That was a bonanza strike. The mine yielded the bright yellow ore to the value of
$14,000,000 before it was exhausted.
The Idaho mine was the beginning of Mr. McLEAN's fortunes. He devoted his life to the
work and became an expert miner with a State reputation. His judgement on a new mine was
greatly relied on. During the latter years of his life, he inspected many mines for his
friends.
The bulk of his fortune is in mines, quartz and gravel, in Nevada county, California. But,
besides he owned thousands of acres of land, stocks in railroads and real estate in the
heart of San Francisco, Cal. He was one of the builders and directors of the Nevada county
narrow guage road running from Colfax to the City of Nevada. He owned stock in the
Wheatland bank in California. In San Louis Obispo county, he had a ranch of 23,000 acres,
a princely playground even for a bonanza king. He was a half owner of 36,000 acres in
Santa Barbara county. His holdings in San Francisco, Cal., both in real estate and railway
stock was considerable.
Captain BLAKELY left Evansville, summoned to his uncle's bedside, October 23. He was
then in San Francisco, Cal., where he spent a part of each year, though he still kept a
residence in Grass Valley, the scene of his first great mining triumph. He was ill of
uremic poison, but neither he nor his friends thought it would be a fatal sickness. Had he
not been taken down, he would now be visiting friends at Evansville and in Kentucky. He
died in his apartments in the Lick House, November 4. Captain BLAKELY at once decided to
bring the body home. It was buried in the family graveyard at Auburn, Ky., Wednesday
afternoon.
Mr. McLEAN was an energetic, hard-working man. He gave his life to the development of gold
mining. There was no luck, no happen so, in his career. What he made was by untiring
industry. No man in the State had a better reputation for probity. It was the warm tribute
at his death that no one could say Mr. McLEAN had ever harmed him. As an instance of his
energetic nature, he often said before he died, if he were twenty years younger, he would
to the Klondike.
Captain BLAKELY will leave for California in a week or ten days to look after the immense
business interests left by his uncle. (Source: Madisonville (Ky.) Hustler, Tue., Nov. 16,
1897)