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 Montillus
Murray "Old Man" Beatty (??-1908) - The namesake of the town
of
Beatty, Nevada, "Old Man" Beatty was a native of Iowa. He enlisted
in the Union Army at Lyons, Iowa, in May, 1861, and served in Company
I, Second Iowa Infantry Regiment. After being discharged due to a
disability, he went west and married a full blooded
Paiute
Indian woman, with
whom he would have three children. He establishing a ranch in the
Oasis Valley in 1896 and when the town of
Beatty was established, he
became its first postmaster in January, 1905. Unable to read or write,
he kept the position for just a year. He then dabbled in mining. He
died in December, 1908, a victim of a fall from a wagon.
Ernest L. Cross -
One of the discoverers of the famous
Bullfrog Mining District, Cross
was a quiet sober newlywed who partnered up with
Frank "Shorty" Harris
in the summer of 1904. The pair couldn't have been more mismatched,
as
Shorty was a well known colorful character known more for talking
and drinking than he did for working mines. However, Cross had arrived
too late in the area to find another partner. However, the discovered
the first ore of the
Bullfrog District on August 9, 1904.
Unfortunately,
Shorty would come out on the "short-end" of this great
find as he soon went to the saloon to celebrate and in the end,
gambled away his share for $1,000 and a mule, to a man named J.W.
McGaliard. Cross, on the other hand, joined with McGaliard and formed
the Original Bullfrog Mine. Later, Ed sold his share for $25,000 and
he and his wife bought a big ranch in Escondido,
California. He lived
there until his death in 1958.
 James R. Davis - Mining man and
one of the perpetrators of the Gold
Bar Swindle, Davis was born in
Columbus, Indiana, on December 16, 1872. Educated in the public
schools of Indiana and Kansas, he headed west at the age of 17 and
began working in the mines. The greater part of his time from 1890 to
1904 was spent in prospecting in Arizona,
California, Oregon and
Alaska. He then made his way to
Goldfield,
Nevada, in 1904 where he
discovered the Sandstorm Mine, which gave him the nickname of
"Sandstorm Davis." He soon connected up with J.P. Loftus and the two
built an empire in the mining industry. In addition to the Sandstorm
Mine, he was also involved in the Round Mountain Mining Company in
Goldfield, as well as the Great Bend Mining Company near Diamondfield,
the Gold Bar Mine in the
Bullfrog District, and the Nevada Hills
Mining Company in Fairview. He also had an eighth interest in the
Goldfield Hotel. Beyond his significant involvement in mining
operations in Nevada, we were unable to find any other information.
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 Frank "Shorty" Harris (1856-1934) -
One of the best-known and colorful prospectors of Death Valley,
Frank Harris discovered the ore of the
Bullfrog District in
Nevada and at Harrisburg,
California, which was named for him. Known throughout the
region for having found several good claims, he never worked or developed
them. Instead, he spent a lot of time talking and drinking in saloons
rather than doing the hard labor of mining. Known for his wild
exaggerations and tall tales, most of his stories made him out to be a
hero, but, in spite of this, he was well-liked. Harris
prospected for the rest of his life, though he never had a mine he
could call his own. At the age of 78, having been ill for a time, he
died in 1934. See full article
HERE.
 J.P. Loftus
(1856-??) - Mining man and one of the perpetrators of the
Gold Bar
Swindle, Loftus was born in Clinton, New York in 1856 and attended
Amherst College. Somewhere along the line made his way to the
Nevada
mining camps. With his partner, James R. Davis, he was involved in
several mining operations including the Sandstorm and Round Mountain
Mining Companies in
Goldfield, the Great Bend Mining Company near Diamondfield, and the Gold Bar Mine in the
Bullfrog District. He also
controlled the News Publishing Company and was instrumental in
founding the Montezuma Club in
Goldfield. Beyond his significant
involvement in mining operations in
Nevadaa, we were unable to find any
other information.
Andrew Jackson "Jack"
Longstreet (1834-1928) - Known as the "Last of the Desert
Frontiersmen," Longstreet hailed from Tennessee. He made his way to
Arizona and Nevada in about 1880. Nothing is known of his earlier life
other than his claims, which included being a relative of General
James Longstreet of the Confederate Army, having ridden with Moseby's
Raiders during the Civil War, and having worked as a Pony Express
rider. In his 40's, he married an
Paiute
Indian woman named Fannie,
spoke their language, and spent much time with them.
Longstreet had
only one ear, which he allegedly lost after having been caught
rustling cattle in Texas. According to the tale, when the gang of
rustlers were captured, the other men were hanged, but, Longstreet was
spared because of his youth, instead, having one ear chopped off and
sent packing. Until the end of his life, he wore his hair long to hide
the injury.
In 1882, he was running a saloon and drug
store in Sylvania. The next year, he was homesteading a tract of land
a few miles south of the Moapa Indian Reservation. Longstreet's white
neighbor in the upper Moapa Valley was a man named Alexander Dry, with
whom Longstreet had a dispute -- some say over water rights, others
say it was over a gambling debt while horse racing. Whatever it was,
the quarrel resulted in gunfire and Dry was killed. Longstreet
claimed self-defense, and because Dry's weapon was found unholstered,
he was acquitted of any crime.
By 1895, Longstreet was living in Ash
Meadows, where he built a cabin and tried his hand at mining and
ranching. The cabin has been rebuilt today and is in the Ash Meadows
National Wildlife Refuge in Amargosa Valley,
Nevada. He sold the cabin
in 1906 then moved to the Monitor Range, where he built the Red Rock
Ranch. There, he became real good friends with a rancher named Breen.
According to the tale, the Clifford family who lived in the valley
below, wanted to buy the ranch but Breen wouldn't sell. When the Cliffords reported to have found Breen dead, Longstreet didn't believe
them, thinking that they had killed him. He soon made his way down
into the valley, and shot them. He continued to ranch and mine until
his death at the age of 94, having outlived most of his friends and
enemies. After having accidentally shot himself, the wound festered
for several days before he was taken to the Tonoapah hospital, where
he died later from a stroke.
Epitomized as the mythical Western
frontiersman, Longstreet was said to have been a charismatic man
reputed to settle arguments with a gun and champion those who could
not protect themselves. Self-reliant, strong-willed, and fair-minded,
he spoke with a southern drawl, and in his last years was revered as a
gruff but kind old man with many stories of his gunslinger days. His
grave is in Belmont, Nevada along side his wife Fannie, who died four
years later.
Ernest Alexander “Bob”
Montgomery
1863-1955) - Capitalist and
mine operator,
Montgomery
was a self-made man who after, years of prospecting, made discoveries at
Johnnie
and
Bullfrog,
Nevada
that made him wealthy. Also involved in
Goldfield,
Nevada
and
Skidoo,
California,
he continued his mining investments and development his entire life. See
full article HERE.
©
Kathy Weiser/Legends
of America, October, 2010. |
