John Runquist was born in Finland on February 24, 1876.
Runquist was married to Hilda May Runquist and had three children, including Anard Runquist.
He came to Treadwell Mine around 1900 and worked as a miner at the Ready Bullion Mine. Runquist aslo worked at the Alaska Juneau Mine as a drilling contractor and later as machinist. He was popularly known as "the machine doc."
He died on December 9, 1937 and was buried in the Douglas Eagles Cemetery.