John Daggett

John Daggett (May 9, 1833 – August 30, 1919) was a mine owner and politician who served as the 16th Lieutenant Governor of California from 1883 to 1887. Biography Daggett was born in Newark, New York on May 9, 1833. At age 19 he moved to Nevada with his brother David, after mining for gold there, in 1853 they moved to California, where they became involved in several gold mining ventures. He bought into the Black Bear Mine in 1862, sold out in 1863, re-opened it in 1866, and sold out again in 1872. He bought it again in 1884. Daggett also held an interest in the Calico Silver Mine in San Bernardino County. The area around this site was later renamed Daggett in his honor. A Democrat, Daggett was elected to the California State Assembly in 1858, and re-elected in 1859 and 1880. Daggett was elected lieutenant governor in 1882, and served from 1883 to 1887. As lieutenant governor, Daggett drew the ire of Democratic legislators seeking to pass legislation restricting the state's powerful railroad interests in an 1884 special session of the Legislature. After votes on a bill regulating the railroads tied in the State Senate, Daggett sided with a bloc of conservative Democratic senators and cast tie-breaking votes to block the legislation. Daggett's decision to side with conservative Democrats and the railroads led to his formal expulsion from the Democratic Party at a June 1884 state convention in Stockton dominated by anti-railroad Democrats. Daggett would later be restored to a formal role with the party at a subsequent convention in 1886, where he was elected first vice president of the state central committee.