George Wingfield

George Wingfield (August 16, 1876 – December 25, 1959) was a Nevada cattleman and gambler who became a financier, investor and one of the state's most powerful economic and political figures during the period from 1909 to 1932. With future senator George S. Nixon as his mentor after he settled in Winnemucca in 1899, and fellow gambler John Hennessy as his partner in the mining boomtown of Tonopah after 1901, Wingfield rose from faro-dealer to become richest man in Nevada in less than five years.

Early and family life

George Wingfield was born at Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1876 to Thomas Yates Wingfield and his wife, the former Martha Matilda Spradling. His grandfather Edward Wingfield had moved his family (including his 3 sons, William, Thomas and Henry and their families) from Albemarle County, Virginia to Fort Smith in 1853, then moved to Missouri during the American Civil War, then back to Arkansas, and would move through Nevada, but settle in Oregon, only to resettle in Arizona, where two of his sons had settled and he died in 1880. Meanwhile, Thomas Wingfield's family moved with his extended family to Oregon when young George was five years old, and he would become a buckaroo on a ranch in Burns. He married, but after he made his first fortune in 1906, as discussed below, his wife, May, filed for divorce; the couple received an annulment. Wingfield later married Roxy Thoma.

Career

By age 20, Wingfield had become a cattle drover, and drove herds from Oregon and California eastward to Winnemucca in Humboldt County (in the state's northwestern corner). Winnemucca was the Humboldt county seat, as well as (approximately since the Civil War) a stop on the Southern Pacific Railroad (the transcontinental railroad which acquired the Central Pacific). It was known for a variety of businesses more hidden in respectable towns, including saloons, gambling and brothels. In Winnemucca, Wingfield met former railroad man turned banker and future United States Senator George S. Nixon, sixteen years his senior, and who became his mentor. In 1899, Wingfield decided to leave the cattle business and opened a saloon in Golconda, also in Humboldt County, but sold it by 1901.

He used the proceeds to travel south, arriving in Tonopah, then the county seat of Nye County and a town of about 250 residents, which was booming because Jim Butler had discovered silver ore and established a mine nearby in 1900. At first, Wingfield played poker and dealt cards for faro at the Tonopah Club, but by 1902, he and fellow gambler John Hennessey took over the club and soon made $200,000 in profits. By October 1902, Wingfield and Nixon formally became business partners, investing in mining and real estate. Wingfield also returned to his cattle-ranching roots, operating a ranch and dairy farm in Fallon. After his mentor Nixon died in 1912, Governor Tasker Oddie appointed Wingfield to serve out the remainder of Nixon's Senate term, but after consulting with Nixon's financier friends, including Bernard Baruch and Henry Clay Frick, Wingfield turned down the appointment.

Much of Wingfield's fortune was lost during the Great Depression. In 1931, $500,000 in state funds were missing and Wingfield was accused of embezzling them. He put up the money himself, but soon declared bankruptcy. However, by 1935 he was rebuilding his fortune, investing in the Getchell Mine near Winnemucca. By 1955, he was ready to retire, selling his Reno security company and the Riverside Hotel. His widow and son were later buried beside him in Reno. In 1992, he was inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame in Leadville, Colorado. Red Hawk at Wingfield Springs was completed in 2005 and named after Wingfield by its developer, Harvey Whittemore.