Janney, John, 1877-1967

John Janney was born in Leesburg, Virgina on August 15, 1877. In 1896, he graduated from the Virginia Military Academy Institute and then graduated law school in 1900, attending the Virginia School of Law. After law school, he moved west, first to Idaho and then eventually settling in Pioche, Nevada. In the early 1900s he became the Secretary of the Pioche Mines Company, then served in World War I. Upon returning from World War I, he returned to Pioche, growing his businesses there and acquiring more wealth. By 1920, John Janney owned the Nevada Volcano Mines Company, and controlling stock in the Mountain View Hotel, The Pioche Record, and the Pioche Power and Light Company. He worked his way up through the Pioche Mines Company until he became president.

He continued on as president despite the Great Depression, a mill fire, and the consolidation of other companies into his to form Pioche Mines Consolidated Inc. However, the mines were not profitable and the Pioche Mines Consolidated Inc. was in debt. Their investors and backers sued the company as well as Janney, taking their case all the way to the Supreme Courts. In the late 1930s, he also became General Manager of the Ely Valley Mines Company. This new company began to be plagued with new lawsuits as well because of the treatment of the workers. They dragged on well into the 1960s, as did the cases from Pioche Mining Consolidated Inc.

Janney retired in the early 1960s, and spent more time expressing himself politically and speaking out in favor of right-wing politics and against communism. He died in 1967 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Source:

John Janney collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California. Accessed December 28, 2020. https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8hx1j65/admin/