William Caruthers Loafing Along Death Valley Trails: A personal narrative of People and Places. Death Valley Publishing Co.: Shoshone, Calif., 1951, 191 pp., 1870s, 1870, 1875, 1877
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(Chapter 2) What Caused Death Valley?
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[p. 23] When, in the middle seventies Nevada silver kings, John P. Jones and Wm. R. Stewart, who were Fortune's children on the Comstock, decided $2,000,000 was enough to lose at Panamint City, many of the outlaws wandered over the mountains and down the canyon to cross Death Valley and settle wherever they thought they could survive on the eastern approaches.
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(Chapter 23) Panamint City. Genial Crooks.
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[p. 165] Following the Surprise Canyon strike, Panamint City was quickly built and quickly filled with thugs who lived by their guns; gamblers and painted girls who lived by their wits.
An engaging sidewalk promoter known as E.P. Raines, who possessed a good front and gall in abundance, but no money, assured the owners of Panamint claims that he could raise the capital necessary fo development. He set out for the city, registered at the leading hotel, attached the title of Colonel to his name; exchanged a worthless [p. 166] check for $25 and made for the barroom. It was no mere coincidence that Mr. Raines before ordering his drink, parked himself alongside a group of the town's richest citizens and began to toy with an incredibly rich sample of ore. It was natural that members of the group should notice it. Particularly the multimillionaire, Senator John P. Jones, Nevada silver king.
Soon the charming crook was the life of the party. His $25 spent, he actually borrowed $1000 from Jones. Having drunk his guests under the table, Mr. Raines went forth for further celebration and landed broke in the hoosegow. Hearing of his misadventure his new friends promptly went to his rescue. "Outrage . . . biggest night this town ever had . . ."
To make amends for the city's inhospitable blunder, Raines was taken to his hostelry, give a champagne bracer and made the honor guest at breakfast. "Where's the Senator?" he asked. Informed that Senator Jones had taken a train for Washington, Raines quickened. "Why, he was expecting me to go with him . . ." He jumped up, fumbled through his pockets in a pretended search for money. "Heaven's --my purse is gone." Instantly a half dozen hands reached for the hip and Mr. Raines was on his way.
It required but a few moments to get $15,000 from the Senator and his partner, Senator William R. Stewart, for the Panamint claims. He also sold Jones the idea of a railroad from a seaport at Los Angeles to his mines and this was partially built. The project ended in Cajon Pass. The scars of the tunnel started may still be seen.
Jones and Stewart organized the Panamint Mining Company with a capital of $2,000,000. Other claims were bought but immediate development was delayed by difficulties in obtaining title because of many of the owners were outlaws, difficult to find. A few were located in the penitentiary and there received payment. For some of the claims, promoters paid $350,000.
On June 29, 1875, the first mill began to crush ore from the Jacobs Wonder mine . . .
[p. 167] . . . Senator Jones and Stewart arranged for the importation of a hundred Chinese laborers.
This aroused the ire of the white miners and a meeting was called to protest. "This is a white man's town," was the cry of labor.
[Two Robin Hood type thugs] stationed themselves at the mouth of the canyon and when the coolies arrived, a sudden volley form the bandit's handguns brought the caravan to a halt. The frightened Chinese leaped from the hacks and fled in panic, across the desert and Panamint remained a white man's town.
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[p. 168] . . .
Remi Nadeau, a French-Canadian, was the first to haul freight into Panamint City. Nadeau was a genius of transportation. There was no country too rough, too remote, too wild for him. He came to Los Angeles in 1861 from Utah and teamed as far east as Montana.
The Cerro Gordo mine on the eastern side of Owens Lake in Inyo County began to ship ore in 1869 and Nadou obtained a contract to haul the ore to Wilmington where it was shipped to San Francisco. [After expanding his teams to meet the capacity] [p. 169] he lost the contract . . . friends persuaded him to carry on. . . . Borax discovered in Nevada saved his business and eventually he received his old contract back as well.
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Nadeau was now hauling ore from the Minnietta and the Modoc mines in the Argus Range on the west side of Panamint Valley. The Modoc was the property of George Hearst, the father of the publisher, William Randolph Hearst. These mines were directly across the valley from Panamint City and because of Nadeau's record for building roads in places no other dared to go, Jones and Stewart engaged him to haul out of Surprise Canyon, which was barely wide enough in places for a burro with a pack.
On a hill, locally known as "Seventeen"--that being the per cent of grade, located on the old highway between Ballarat and Trona, one may see the dim outline of a road pitching down precipitously to the valley floor. This road was build by Nadeau and one marvels that anything short of steam power could move a load from bottom to top.
Acquiring a fortune, Nadeau built the first three-story building in Los Angeles and the Nadeau Hotel, long the city's finest, retained favor [p. 170] among many wealthy pioneer patrons long after the more glamorous Angelus and Alexandra were built in the early 1900s.
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Finis was written to the story of the Panamint after two hectic years and in 1877 Jones and Stewart had lost $2,000,000 and quit. It would be more factual to state that since they had received from the public $2,000,000 to put into it, who lost what is a guess.
Chapter XXIV