Category: People

 Albert Mussey Johnson – Death Valley Ranch Owner

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Albert Mussey Johnson
Albert Mussey Johnson

Albert Mussey Johnson (1872 – 1948) was a businessman and investor who received notoriety as the millionaire, who built “Scotty’s Castle” in Death Valley, California. He was born into a Quaker family n Oberlin Ohio and attended Cornell University to study engineering.

Johnson borrowed a sum of $40,000 from his father and invested in some mining operations in Joplin, Missouri. This initial investment returned five hundred percent dur to a zinc boom. Albert travelled across Utah and Colorado, in December if 1899, with his father looking for investment opportunities in power production or mining ventures. While on this trip, the father and son team are involved in a rail accident which kills his fater and leaves Albert bedridden with a broken back.

Johnson eventually recovered from his broken back but he suffered with chronic medical issues and walked with a noticeable limp. This injury caused Johnson to focus his professional efforts in economic investment pursuits. He pursue relationships with his fathers partners and soon built up a career as a vice president of the Arkansas Midland Railroad and later the president of the North American Cold Storage Company.

In 1904, Walter Scott AKA Death Valley Scotty ran into Johnson while Scotty is looking for new investors for his gold mines in Death Valley, California. Scott was a conman who would defraud investors of this infamous gold mines. Despite no return on is investment, Johnson continued to send Scott’s ventures.

Death Valley Scotty and the Johnsons
Death Valley Scotty and the Johnsons

Johnson first visited Death Valley in 1906 to tour Scott’s Gold Mines. The two became embroiled in the Battle of Wingate Pass, where Scott’s brother is shot in the groin. This injury forced a retreat from Death Valley. Johnson did not return to Death Valley for another three years. In 1909, he returned to the valley seeking to visit the mines in which he invested. It is said the dry air was a benefit to Johnson’s health. For whatever the reason, Johnson began purchasing land. Johnson purchased about 1500 acres of land. The Steininger Ranch was the most important parcel. Nestled in a spring-fed verdant valley, this was soon to be the site of the Death Valley Ranch.

Scotty's Castle located in Grapevine Canyon in Death Valley.
Scotty’s Castle located in Grapevine Canyon in Death Valley.

In 1922, Johnson started building Scotty’s castle as a vacation home.  When the size and scope of the property was realized, people assumed Scotty used the proceeds for his gold mine to pay for the Ranch.  Scotty, ever the promoter did nothing to correct the record and soon The Johnson’ vacation home.

Due to its remote location, the Death Valley Ranch needed to maintain its own power station and water supply and evaporation cooling system. Despite the conditions, Scotty’s Castle boasts a 1,121 pipe theater organ, fountains, clock tower and a massive unfinished swimming pool.

The stock market crash impacted Johnson’s fortune. He was not able to complete the Death Valley Ranch.

References

Walter Edward Perry Scott – “Death Valley Scotty”

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Walter Edward Perry Scott  (September 20, 1872 – January 5, 1954), also known as “Death Valley Scotty”, was a miner, prospector and conman who operated around Death Valley, California. Later in life, he was befriended by Albert Johnson, who built the Death Valley Ranch in Grapevine Canyon in Death Valley, which is commonly known as “Scotty’s Castle“.

Walter Scott (1872 - 1954)
Walter Scott (1872 – 1954)

Walter was born in Cynthiana, Kentucky to a family of six children. He moved west to Nevada to join his brothers at the age of eleven. He worked as a water boy for a survey party, and later found employment at the Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley. Later, Scotty worked for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show as one of the rough riders. It was seasonal work, and while he was employed by the show for twelve years, he would return to Death Valley for odd jobs.

After a disagreement with Buffalo Bill, Scott left the show for good and again returned to Death Valley. Upon his return, he took up prospecting for gold. Scotty as a prospector was more of a con man who used to con investors in to backing his “mining” adventures.  It was reported that when the investor’s delegation wanted the view their new mine, Scotty would march them around the hot valley until they forgave or forgot about their investment.

On March 11, 1906 Scotty stared as himself in a play which opened in Seattle to a full house.   We was arrested after his only performance and the charged for his crimes, the publicity exposed him to new investors.  In spite of this Albert Johnson maintain interested in his “mine”. Another investigator was sent, who reported back that the mine did not exist. Johnson refused to believe this, and the following year he visited the mine himself, but left without seeing the mine.  He was later sued by his investors in 1915 and ended up in jail.

Death Valley Scotty and the Johnsons
Death Valley Scotty and the Johnsons

For various reasons, Johnson felt beneficent towards Scott, and in a verbal agreements made specific provisions allowing Scott the right to live out the rest of his life at the castle. Johnson is known to have provided several thousand dollars for years. Walter Edward Perry Scott, AKA “Death Valley Scotty” died in January of 1954 and is buried on a hill about the Death Valley Ranch, which is known as Scott’s Castle.

References

Samuel Langhorne Clemens – “Mark Twain”

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Before he wrote American classic novels as Mark Twain, Samuel Langhorne Clemens was a miner and newpaper reporter in Mineral County, Nevada. Prior to picking up his pen, Clemens moved from his birthplace in Hannibal, Missouri and found himself in the silver state. After his time in Nevada, he left to become the most loved American author, Mark Twain.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens September 1-2, 1867, Pera, Constantinople
Samuel Langhorne Clemens September 1-2, 1867, Pera, Constantinople

It is a well known fact that Samuel Clemmons first work was as a river boat pilot on the Mississippi river. This occupation was lost to him with the start of the Civil War. In 1861, Samuel followed his brother Orion to Nevada when his brother is appointed as Secretary of the Nevada Territory. Not long after his arrival in Carson City, Clemens is “Smitten with the silver feaver.” He and his brother started purchasing shares of mining operations in the Esmeralda Mining District. The principal town in this district was Aurora.

Filled with optimism, Samuel moved to Aurora in 1862. Upon his arrival he setup a camp and began working some of the claims he and his brother purchased. Despite his optimism, his work as a miner and investor did not produce and Clemens lives off an stipend set to him by his brother to cover the $10 per week living expenses. This failure was all too common among the hopeful people who travelled west.

Higbie and I were living in a cotton-domestic lean-to at the base of a mountain [Lover’s Leap]. It was very cramped quarters, with barely room for us and the stove – wretched quarters, indeed, for every now and then, between eight in the morning and eight in the evening, the thermometer would make an excursion of fifty degrees. We had a silver-mining claim under the edge of a hill [Last Change Hill] half a mile away in partnership with Bob Howland and Horatio Phillips, and we used to go there every morning, carrying with us our luncheon, and remain all day picking and blasting in a our shaft, hoping, despairing, hoping again, and gradually but surely running out of funds

Mark Twain, Roughing It

A picture postcard showing the exterior of Mark Twain's cabin in the mining town of Aurora, Nevada. The cabin and ground are covered with snow. - University of Nevada, Las Vegas University Libraries
A picture postcard showing the exterior of Mark Twain’s cabin in the mining town of Aurora, Nevada. The cabin and ground are covered with snow. – University of Nevada, Las Vegas University Libraries

Ironically, his failure in mining started his career which produced some of the most important books in American history. While in Aurora, he started sending stories about a miner’s life to the Virginia City newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise, using the penname “Josh”. These stories opened a door to greatness, and he was appointed to a job as a local reporter by Joseph Goodman.

After leaving Aurora for Virginia City, Clemens starts down his road to success and becomes a popular newspaper reported. He submits his humorous and satirical stories using the name Mark Twain. Five years later, the man from Missouri wrote the story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavarous County” and Mark Twain became the American Story Teller.

I learned then, once and for all, that gold in its native state is but dull, the ornamental stuff, and that only low-born metals excited the admiration of the ignorant with an ostentatious glitter. However, like the rest of the world, I still go on underrating men of gold and glorifying men of mica. Commonplace human nature cannot rise above that.

Mark Twain, Roughing It

Nevada State Historic Marker #28

100 years ago, in 1864, Samuel Clemens left the territorial enterprise, moving on to California and worldwide fame.  He was a reporter here in 1863 when he first used the name, Mark Twain.  He later described his colorful adventures in Nevada in “Roughing It.”

NEVADA CENTENNIAL MARKER NO. 28

PLACED BY

JAMES LENHOFF, 1960

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

TERRITORIAL ENTERPRISE

Hevada State Historic Marker Summary

Nevada State Historic Marker28
NameMark Twain
LocationVirginia City, Storey County, Nevada
Latitude, Longititude39.3102, -119.6497

References

Charles Ferge “Seldom Seen Slim” – A Ballarat Prospector

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Charles Ferge "Seldom Seen Slim"
Charles Ferge “Seldom Seen Slim”

Charles Ferge “Seldom Seen Slim” is the last of the known prospectors who lived in the town of Ballarat located in Death Valley National Park, California.

Seldom Seen Slim, named Charles Ferge, was born in Illinois on October 21st 1881. Slim came to Ballarat sometime between 1913 and 1917 not long after the town was abandoned by the miners seeking their fortunes elsewhere.

Ferge became the last resident of Ballarat and had a reputation as a recluse with a cantankerous side. He survived in one of the harshest landscapes living on his own in his town of Ballarat. It is said that he lived in every remaining building of the ghost town. His focus was mining and he just needed enough money to survive as a desert prospector. Slim only needed enough money to buy necessities of food, tobacco for his pipe, water, gas for his car and clothes.

When the water source in Ballarat dried up due to a dropping water table, Slim would haul water into the town using jugs from other sources miles away. The scarcity of water would only allow the man to bathe a few times per year.

While is is the sole citizen of Ballarat, the town had no running water, no electricity or any other services He became an unofficial curator for the ghost town. Slim would often tell stories to visitors and sell them souvenirs of gold ore.

Seldom Seen Slim died of cancer in 1968 in Trona, California. He is buried on “Boot Hill” in Ballarat and his greave is a popular place to stop.

Me lonely? Hell no! I’m half coyote and half wild burro.

Charles Ferge “Seldom Seen Slim”

References

Francis Marion Smith – “Borax Smith”

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Francis Marion "Borax" Smith
Francis Marion “Borax” Smith

Francis Marion Smith, also known as “Borax” Smith was a miner and business man who made a fortune in the hostile deserts of Nevada and California. He was born in Richmond, Wisconsin in 1846. He went to the public schools and graduated from Milton College. He left Wisconsin seeking his fortune in the American West. and set off for Nevada.

In 1872, while working as a woodcutter, he discovered a rich supply of ulexite at Teel’s Marsh, near the future townsite of Marietta, Nevada. Seeing his opportunity, Smith staked a claim started a company with his brother Julius Smith. The brothers established a borax works at the edge of the marsh to concentrate the borax crystals and separate them from dirt and other impurities.

In 1877, Scientific American reported that the Smith Brothers shipped their product in a 30-ton load using two large wagons with a third wagon for food and water drawn by a 24-mule team for 160 miles (260 km) across the Great Basin Desert from Marietta to the nearest Central Pacific Railroad siding in Wadsworth, Nevada.

Building upon his success, Smith grew his operations and purchased claims at Fish Lake and Columbus March. He bought his brothers shares in the venture in 1884. As he closed down his operations in Teel’s Marsh, Smith purchased the Harmony Borax works from William Tell Coleman who was financially over extended.

Smith then consolidated all of his mining operations with his own holdings to form the Pacific Coast Borax Company in 1890. The Pacific Coast Borax Company then established and promoted the 20-Mule-Team Borax brand and trademark.

In his later years, Francis Marion “Borax” Smith expanded his interest in railroads and charitable work in his hometown of Oakland, California.

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