He had built a considerable fortune developing low grade, large scale porphyry copper deposits at the same time he got lucky with his high-grade Magma mine, which proved a phenomenal bonanza.

Today, Newmont is the largest gold producer in the United States but continues the legacy of Thompson to explore and bring into production new ore deposits.

He promoted the great Nipissing silver deposit at Cobalt, Ontario, Canada for the Guggenheims and reaped a quick million dollars return.

He refinanced American Woolen Co. and Tobacco Products Co., launched Cuba Cane Sugar Co., got control of Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Co., organized Submarine Boat Corp. and the Wright-Martin Aeroplane Co.

Rotund, good-natured, bald, a tireless worker, a devoted family man, Thompson chewed tobacco, underpaid his employees (though equivalent to pay given by his contemporaries) and, as one of the greatest gamblers of his time, discharged them for gambling.

[6] During the 1920s, near Superior, Arizona, he built his winter mansion, Picket Post House, overlooking the beautiful desertscape and gardens he created at what is now the magnificent Boyce Thompson Arboretum.

Thompson was a member of an American Red Cross relief mission that also hoped to encourage the formation of a democratic government in Russia.

But on the ground in Russia, he saw firsthand the suffering of the people and the inability of the social democratic Provisional Government headed by Alexander Kerensky to handle the crisis and feed the hungry.

Along with assisting the Provisional government in dealing with the famine, Thompson also endeavored to shape post-Revolutionary Russia's political landscape in a manner favorable to Wall Street.

Thompson provided $1 million of his own money to fund a propaganda campaign to counteract Kerensky's mounting unpopularity, and growing popular sentiment against the ongoing war with the Central Powers.

With the help of Thompson, the Provisional Government created the Committee of Civic Education in Free Russia to oversee the propaganda drive, with pro-Kerensky Russian revolutionary Catherine Breshkovsky at the organization's head.

"[9] Despite Thompson's generous funding, the Committee was largely unsuccessful and could not compete with the anti-war propaganda of the Russian radicals, specifically that of the Bolsheviks.

He hoped that this "seed" money would enable the institute to acquire the very best scientists, equipment, and supplies and then to develop relationships with industry and the government to help finance research.

His donations created the Boyce Thompson science building, a new gymnasium in 1923, squash courts, a baseball field, sports cage, The Exeter Inn, and other facilities.

Gunn, an Ohian who attended Oberlin and Ohio State University, had worked his way up to mine superintendent when he met Thompson in Helena.

The two later became a powerful team (not as Hagedorn writes) after they met again while Gunn was with Guggenheim Exploration, mine finders, and Thompson with Hayden, Stone & Company brokerage.

Gunn had the talent in Salt Lake City on his staff or as consultants next door to find the mines—Mason Valley, Inspiration, Magma, for example—while Thompson had the connections to finance the developments.