Death Valley Scotty Photograph Collection

Walter E. Scott, popularly known as Death Valley Scotty, was born in Cynthiana, Kentucky in 1872. When he was eleven years old, he left home and travelled to Nevada to join two of his brothers, Warner and Bill. He took his first job as a water boy with a survey party working on the California-Nevada border. Scott passed through Death Valley during this trip and found work with Harmony Borax Works in the valley after the survey ended. In 1890, Scott became a rough-rider for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. The Show provided only seasonal employment and Scott returned to Death Valley and picked up odd jobs in the off season. It was during this time that his connection to Death Valley became so well known that he acquired the nickname Death Valley Scotty.

Scotty left the Wild West Show in 1902 due to a disagreement with Buffalo Bill and began prospecting gold in Death Valley. He convinced several wealthy businessmen to advance him the money he needed to work what he claimed was a fabulous gold mine in Death Valley, but had little success as a prospector. His investors were soon convinced that they had been conned and began to back out of their investments. Scotty, however, started indulging in what soon became legendary spending sprees in California and Nevada. His one remaining backer was Chicago insurance magnate Albert Mussey Johnson (1872-1948), who gave him thousands of dollars over several years. Scotty claimed that a number of calamities prevented him from extracting the promised gold and Johnson eventually demanded a tour of the mine. Scotty, believing that a few days in the desert would be too difficult for a businessman whose health had been permanently damaged by a train accident in his youth, took Johnson for a grueling trek through Death Valley. Johnson, however, enjoyed himself. He stayed for nearly a month, during which time his health improved substantially. He went on to buy property in Grapevine Canyon and to become close friends with Scotty. Johnson built Scotty's Castle on his Grapevine Canyon property between 1922 and 1931. Scotty, however, convinced many people that he had constructed the home using profits from his fabulous gold mine. Johnson made specific provisions allowing Scotty to live out his life at the Castle and Scotty died in January of 1954.