What is the Connection Between DEATH VALLEY, Ca & CYNTHIANA, Ky?

by Gary Kempf

Death Valley is the lowest land in the western hemisphere.  It is 282 feet below sea level, and in 1913 the highest temperature ever recorded in the United States was observed there, 134 degrees Fahrenheit.  It is also the driest place north of the equator.  Explorers to the area were treated to punishing heat, arid conditions and vast expanses of forbidding desert with scant vegetation.

This seemingly god forsaken place does contain one unexpected show place to attract tourists.  In the far northern section of the desert, in the blowing sand and rocky terrain of Grapevine Canyon, stands an elegant mansion as out of place as a rose in an onion patch.  It is known as Death Valley Ranch.  It is also known as Scotty’s Castle, in honor of the prospector for whom it was constructed.  The prospector was Walter Scott, a longtime resident of one of the most inhospitable places on earth who became a living legend in bygone time under the nickname of Death Valley Scotty.

Scotty was a Kentuckian, born in Cynthiana, Harrison County, Kentucky, about September 20, 1872.  The date of his birth is uncertain as no birth record has ever been found.  His parents were George and Anna (Cahoun) Scott, and he was the youngest of six children.

Scotty’s older brothers, Bill and Warner, traveled west and were joined by Scotty when he was about fourteen years old.  Scotty worked as a cowboy in Wells, Nevada, for John Sparks, who later became the state’s governor.  In 1888 he was employed by Buffalo Bill Cody’s traveling wild west show as a sharpshooter and stunt rider.  He would return west to prospect for gold during the show’s winter off-season.  He became familiar with the desert while working as a driver on one of the legendary twenty-mule teams that hauled borax out of the desert. 

In 1900 Scotty got a job working in a Colorado gold mine, and in the same year married a New York candy store clerk named Ella McCarthy.  His boss at the gold mine gave the newlyweds a gift of two large pieces of gold ore.  It is believed this gift was the impetus that planted a devious idea in Scotty’s scheming mind that would later be brought into play.

Scotty and his wife made Death Valley their place of residence and the location from which he would hatch his devious scheme.  He started claiming he had discovered a lost gold mine in Death Valley, and as evidence he displayed chunks of the ore.  He didn’t reveal they were actually pieces of the ore his wife received as a wedding gift.  The Kentuckians fast talking and ingratiating nature worked well for him.  In 1902 he received financial backing for his fictitious mine from a New York banker Julian Gerard.  About $20,000 dollars later, with no return on his investment, Gerard got wise and quit financing the mine.  The charming, persuasive Scotty managed to secure support for his fictitious mining endeavor from a most unlikely source.  Deeply religious Chicago multi-millionaire Albert M. Johnson, president of the National Life Insurance Company of America gave our Kentuckian $20,000 to continue the development of the gold mine.  This would begin a lifelong friendship that was touching and inexplicable.  It appeared that Johnson realized quite early that Scotty was a fraud.  He did not seem to care.  He seemed to simply enjoy basking in Scotty’s charming and ebullient personality.  For many years he was only too happy to pay for Scotty’s whims and fancies. 

Our Kentuckian traveled extensively while developing a reputation as a big spender.  Often tipping a waiter or bellboy $20.00.  His tall tales and excessive spending, not his own money, and wild tales involving his gold mine, earned him notoriety.

In 1905 he became a celebrity by legitimate means.  He rented the Santa Fe Railroad’s Coyote Special for $5,500 dollars with the intention of riding the train from Los Angeles to Chicago in 45 hour or less.  He made the trip in 44 hours and 54 minutes.  The record remained unbroken for 29 years.  He became a hero in Chicago.  Scotty and his wife traveled to New York where they were feted by the citizens.

Scotty’s tales and schemes became more bizarre through the years.  Even after several years of being bilked, the amiable Johnson continued to support his friend Scotty through his numerous schemes.  The grandest scheme of all was hatched in 1922.  Death Valley Scotty wanted to build a mansion in the middle of the desert.  With the indulgent Johnson footing the bills, construction began on the 33,000 square foot mansion with its 56 feet high clock tower.

After several years and 2 – 3 million dollars work came to a halt in 1931 when a survey team found the mansion was being built on government land.  This was the beginning of the end of the schemes of Death Valley Scotty, or at least the successful schemes.

In 1933 the government agreed to allow Johnson to purchase the land on which Scotty’s Castle sat.  Johnson did so but the Great Depression severely damaged his insurance business and no money was forthcoming to finish the castle.  It remains unfinished to this day.  Scotty had lived there only sporadically.  Scotty and Johnson opened the unfinished castle as a tourist attraction.  It remains a tourist attraction to this day.

Divorce, court battles, internal revenue investigation, tall tales and failed schemes were the major events in Scotty’s remaining years.  The true state of his dubious finances became a matter for the courts.  In the judicial process Albert Johnson was called to the stand and under oath he admitted “Scotty hasn’t got a dime, I’ve been paying his bills for years.  He repaid me in laughs, and I like him.” 

Scotty was called into a court of law and under oath confessed his gold mine never existed and he was broke.  He was found guilty in civil court but criminal court had nothing on him.  As he had no money civil court could get nothing from him.  His final legal predicament left Scotty mellow.  He had become a living legend in the west.  He would return to his unfinished castle and spin yarns for visitors who might catch him at home.  Albert Johnson, benefactor and willing dupe eventually moved to Hollywood, California where he died in 1948.  Death Valley Scotty, showman and self-promoter died on January 5, 1954.  He is buried overlooking Scotty’s Castle.

Biographer Hank Johnson dubbed Walter Scott, resident of one of the most inhospitable places on earth, also known as Death Valley Scotty, “The Fastest Con in the West.”

Scotty’s Castle is now part of Death Valley National Park.  A museum and visitor center is currently open year-round, and approximately 60,000 people tour the two story Spanish Villa each year.

A more detailed account of the life and schemes of Death Valley Scotty can be found in Offbeat Kentuckians by Keven McQueen (2001 – McClanahan Publishing House, Inc.).  This informative and entertaining book details the lives of numerous other Kentuckians ranging from legends to lunatics.

Our remarkable Kentuckian, Walter Scott, was born in Harrison County in the town of Cynthiana.  Harrison County is named in honor of Colonel Benjamin Harrison who came to the area in 1776 when Kentucky was a part of Virginia.  Harrison served as Governor of Virginia, 1781-83.  He was a member of the 1787 and 1788 Kentucky Conventions, 1792 Constitutional Convention at Danville and elected to the Kentucky Legislature in 1793.  Harrison County was established in 1793 from parts of Bourbon and Scott counties.  Cynthiana is the county seat.  As was the case for all of the original Kentucky counties existing at the time Kentucky became a state rather than a territory of Virginia, Harrison County would later come to contribute territory to the later formation of portions of other counties. Portions of Campbell, Boone, Pendleton, Owen, Grant, Kenton and Robertson counties were derived from Harrison County.

Robert Harrison donated the land where the county seat is now located.  The city of Cynthiana was named after his two daughters, Cynthia and Anna.  The following excerpt from the 1859-60 Kentucky Gazetteer and Business Directory will serve to depict Cynthiana near the time of the birth of Walter Scott.  Within this depiction you may find something related to your family history if your roots are in or near the area.