Characters, cons, and castles

Death Valley NP, California December 2012

The West attracts characters. Walter "Scotty" Scott was both a character and a con man. After performing with Wild Bill Cody and getting fired, he sold shares in a fictitious gold mine. One of his investors was a wealthy insurance executive from Chicago named Albert Johnson.

Johnson and his wife, Bessie, came to Death Valley to check on the mine and quickly realized Scotty was a fraud. Much to Scotty's benefit, the Johnsons loved him and the desert and decided to build a vacation home in Death Valley. The home became known as "Scotty's Castle".

Albert Johnson was an engineer by education and made the home as self-sustaining as possible. Among the technological features was hydro-power from a nearby spring that powered the house and a solar hot water heater.

Scotty was an entertainer and a story teller and the Johnsons loved his company. Each evening they gathered in the living room where Scotty told his stories.

Frank Lloyd Wright was hired as the first architect. His design was not to the Johnsons' liking. Bessie was a member of the first freshman class at Stanford and liked the Spanish style of buildings. Another architect was hired.

Eventually, the vacation home became an ongoing project. A bell tower was added, a pipe organ installed, and a million gallon swimming pool was built. The pool was never finished and never held water.

Scotty did not live in the house, but rather in a small cabin not too far away. The Johnsons had many visitors and kept up the myth of the gold mine, telling people it was under the house. Each night, Scotty would retire to his bedroom, hang his trademark Stetsons, and then sneak out a back door to his cabin, thus maintaining his image.

Among the many guest were famous people of the day: Bette Davis, John Barrymore, unspecified Rockefellers, and Herbert Hoover. Hoover was a former classmate of Bessie Johnson's and came for a visit in 1933 following his loss to FDR.

The Park Service provided wonderful tours of both the house and the underground tunnels as part of their living history mission.

Death Valley is known for its borax mining and we finally made it to one owned by the Harmony Borax Company.

To keep transportation costs down, the borax was was mined and processed in the valley before being pulled out by mule and later by steam engine. The mule teams had to pulled both the carts of borax and drinking water. Although used for only six years, the mule team image was used extensively in advertising and became a symbol of Death Valley.

Last night we stopped to get gas at the one station within 25 miles. We needed to fill up the 4WD before returning it and fill up the regular rental for our excursions today. John and I were at two adjacent pumps and two more cars pulled up a few minutes later.

At the same time all four of the pumps quit. John tried his credit card again and nothing happened. Luck was on our side. The Jeep received a full tank and our rental got about 3/4 tank. That is enough for today's excursions and to easily get us to cheap Nevada gas tomorrow. The other customers were not so lucky. We think the gas station just ran out. However, the credit union called us at 6:10 a.m. PST with a fraud alert on the credit card. Our best guess is it was related to the gas station transactions.

The downside to remoteness and beauty is the lack of quality food, well intentioned but spotty service, and generally odd people. The waitstaff here makes those at Kerbey Lane Cafe seem downright staid and normal.

Memorable Restaurant Moments

• A busboy said to us, "It's a good job if you can stay clean and sober, but a lot of the young people don't."
• A diner next to us got his lunch and exclaimed loudly to no one in particular,"This is a hot open-faced sandwich!" He then got up and walked to the kitchen.
• We ordered one BBQ chicken sandwich and one turkey BLT sandwich. We got one BBQ chicken sandwich and one regular chicken sandwich. We were billed for two BBQ chicken sandwiches.
• One waiter took our order saying, "If you are ready I will write down what you want."
• The wait is always "20 - 30 minutes," even when it's not.
• John began tipping proportional to the normalcy of the waitstaff.
• Finally, not a restaurant moment, Ranger Jay gave us his work number, his cell, and his home number. We did not call him.

If one wanted to escape from anything or anyone, this is the place.

Heading home tomorrow.