Albert Mussey Johnson - Johnson and Death Valley Scotty

Johnson and Death Valley Scotty

Albert Johnson and Edward Shedd were approached in 1904 by a man named Obadiah Sands, who was acting as an intermediary for Walter E. Scott, also known as Death Valley Scotty, a man notorious for his story of having discovered a mysterious gold mine in Death Valley. Scotty was often soliciting wealthy investors to grubstake his supposed mining operation, and Johnson and Shedd were no exceptions. For an initial investment of $2,500, Scotty offered the pair a two-thirds interest in any mines he discovered in Death Valley. Scotty then offered Obadiah Sands a 20% interest in the mine as a reward for having acted as an intermediary. Johnson and Shedd split their two-thirds interest evently between them.

by 1906, Johnson and Shedd had begun to notice the distinct lack of a return on their investment. Johnson banded together with a few more of Scotty's investors and purchased train tickets out to Death Valley so they could inspect Scotty's findings themselves. Scotty and his brother Warner collected his visitors and brought them out to a wash in Death Valley where some of Scotty's friends had hidden themselves, disguised as bandits to scare off the investors before they discovered that Scotty's mine was fictitious. In the ensuing mock gunfight, popularly known as "The Battle of Wingate Pass", Warner was shot and badly injured, prompting Scotty to call the whole thing off in order to go to Warner's assistance. By the time the shooting stopped, most of Scotty's investors realized they'd been fooled and pulled out of Scotty's scheme. Johnson, however, felt that there might still be a chance that Scotty had found gold and decided to pursue the matter further.

After returning home to Chicago, Johnson hired a man named either Arthur MacArthur or Alfred MacArthur, depending on the source consulted. Johnson sent MacArthur out to Death Valley to follow Scotty day and night until he discovered whether or not Scotty had a mine. Scotty tried to fool his pursuer by planting gold ore in an exhausted mine shaft, but MacArthur was not convinced. MacArthur sent a telegram to Albert Johnson to inform him of Scotty's dishonesty.

In spite of having several independent confirmations that Scotty's mining scheme had no substance to it, Johnson persisted in his belief that Scotty really had found gold in Death Valley. Beginning in 1909, Johnson made many trips out to Death Valley to visit Scotty in the hopes of finally being shown the gold mine he had been promised. Although it is almost certain that Johnson realized after a few years that the gold mine did not exist after all, he continued his trips to visit Scotty, as he had learned to enjoy Death Valley as well as Scotty's company.