James Clair Flood (October 25, 1826 – February 21, 1889) was an American businessman who made a fortune thanks to the Comstock Lode in Nevada. His mining operations are recounted to this day as an outstanding example of what may be done with a rich ore body and a genius for stock manipulation. Flood piled up millions as one of the famed "Bonanza Kings" and is considered to have been one of the 100 wealthiest Americans, leaving an enormous fortune. He is famous for two mansions, the James C. Flood Mansion at 1000 California St. in San Francisco, and Linden Towers located in Menlo Park, torn down in 1936. Biography James Clair Flood was born on October 25, 1826 in Staten Island, New York to Irish immigrant parents. He had an eighth grade education, and was then apprenticed to a New York carriage maker. In 1849 he sailed for San Francisco and the Gold Rush. After some success in the mines, he returned east to marry Mary Emma Leary of County Wexford, Ireland. They were back in San Francisco by 1854. Flood had two children, Jennie who never married, and James Leary born in 1857. James Leary married Marie Rosina "Rose" Fritz, a burlesque dancer, who died in 1898. James L. had three children from his second marriage, James Flood (b.1900), Mary Emma Flood (Mrs. Theodore) Stebbins (b.1908), and a boy who died at age 5. As a tribute to his father, James L. built the Flood Building on San Francisco's Market Street, which in 2003 was still owned by the Flood family. Beginning of a fortune In 1857 James Flood opened a saloon with partner William S. O'Brien on Washington street in San Francisco. In 1858 they sold the saloon and went into business as stockbrokers. After the discovery of silver in Nevada in 1859, the partners began investing in mining stocks. The following year, Flood and O'Brien formed a partnership with fellow Irishmen James Graham Fair, a mine superintendent, and John William Mackay, a mining engineer. None of the four had impressed themselves on others than their immediate circle of friends and acquaintances until some time in the seventies they joined forces in operating the Consolidated Virginia and the California claims in the Comstock Lode. Mackay and Fair had the mining knowledge and Flood and O'Brien raised the money. The purchase price of the claims, later to become