Unused Postcard
Walter Scott
Born in Cynthiana, Kentucky, on September 20, 1872, Walter E. Scott spent his early childhood traveling the harness racing circuit with his family. At the age 11, he left home to join his two brothers on a ranch near Wells in northeastern Nevada.
Because of his experience with horses, Walter signed on with a horse drive to California in 1884. When he joined a crew surveying the California-Nevada boundary later that year, he made his first visit to Death Valley, beginning his lifelong love with this hot, barren region. In 1885, he took a job with the Harmony Borax Works and quickly rose to the position of swamper on the 20-mule teams that hauled borax across the Mojave Desert. After a stint railroading for the Southern Pacific, he returned to ranch life.
In 1888, at the age of 16, Walter joined Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show as a stunt rider. Here he learned how to perform, touring the U.S. and Europe for the next 12 years. In 1900, while in New York City, he met Ella Josephine Milius, whom he later called "]ack." They married 6 months later and moved to Cripple Creek, Colorado where Walter unsuccessfully tried his hand at gold mining.
Unable to rejoin the Wild West Show in 1902, Walter utilized his performance skills to convince a wealthy New Yorker to grubstake his fictitious gold mine in Death Valley. For the next two years Walter faithfully wrote his patron describing his lucrative strikes in Death Valley, but never shipped any ore. By 1904, after more than $5,000 had been invested, Walter boarded an eastbound train carrying a bag supposedly holding $12,000 in gold dust. When the bag was mysteriously "stolen" before he reached Philadelphia, newspapers eagerly picked up the story, which launched Scott on another of his lifelong loves -- his sprees of self promotion.
Walter was soon boasting he could break the rail speed record from Los Angeles to Chicago. On July 9, 1905, with backing from a Los Angeles mining engineer, he chartered a three-car train, the Coyote Special, at a cost of $5,500. Arriving in Chicago in just 44 hours and 54 minutes, his train did indeed break the existing record for the 2,265-mile journey. "We got there so fast that nobody had time to sober up, " was the way Walter described the feat.
The press reacted by inventing dramatic tales of his secret gold mine. At one point along the route, it is said that Walter signed a hotel register as "Scott, Death Valley." It did not take long to before this entry became his lifelong moniker -- "Death Valley Scotty."
Scotty's Patron
In Chicago, grubstaker Albert Johnson, then treasurer of the National Life Insurance Company of Chicago, was among the crowds at Dearborn Street Station to greet Scotty. Having previously supplied him with a few small grubstakes, Johnson grew more interested in Death Valley mining investments.
Like Scotty, Albert Johnson was born in 1872, the son of a wealthy Ohio financier-industrialist. After receiving a mining degree from Cornell University, Johnson made his first fortune from a Missouri zinc mine. Johnson met Scotty in 1901 while he was in the East searching for additional grubstake run. Scotty soon spent the $2,500 he was advanced, and Johnson invited him back to Chicago in 1905 to opine on the Death Valley wilderness. In February 1906, he traveled with Scotty to California, but gunmen ambushed the party along the way, and Johnson never got to see the mysterious mine. (It was later revealed that Scotty had arranged the attack himself.)
In the winter of 1909, Johnson spent almost a month with Scotty in Death Valley. Though he saw no gold mine, he enjoyed the climate and its effects on his poor health...................
Publisher / Printer: Frashers................
Condition: Light corner wear, bumps. ........
I am pleased to combine lots for shipping and make no extra charge except for any additional postage over the basic level.
Please note that I prefer payment by cheque, postal oder, cash or Moneybooker.
If you wish to use Paypal please add 4% to the total.
See more
Discover the collectors' agenda!
Discover the agenda
