SCOTTY'S CASTLE AND MORE

Scotty's Castle? But this says Death Valley Ranch! Actually it's both. This desert oasis was the 1920's winter home of millionaires Albert and Bessie Johnson of Chicago. It is build in one of the harshest deserts in the world just above an ancient natural spring. Johnson, who's hobby was engineering used the natural flow of more than 200 gallons of water per minute to provide electricity, indoor plumbing, and an evaporative cooling system. Bessie liked the old Spanish style of architecture that was popular at the time.

Our tour guide is a National Parks ranger dressed as a tour guide for the home in 1939. This particular room is the music room which was acoustically designed for surround sound--without the speakers! It features a player organ. The guide playes a short disk and man! you just have to shut up and listen!

Walter Scott, better known as Death Valley Scotty, was officially (or unofficially depending on who was talking) retired from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. He came to Death Valley seeking a gold mine, and when he couldn't find one, he made one. He traveled east looking for and finding wealthy backers. Then he lived a life of ease in the desert. When he needed more funding he traveled in style bragging about his gold mine. He met Albert Johnson on one such trip. Johnson became an eager backer, but spoiled Scotty's plans by actually showing up to see the mine! Through dissembling and subterfuge Scotty had managed to hold his 'partners' at bay, but he finally had to admit the truth to Johnson.

This view shows the music room to the left of the corner tower, the three arched gate that leads to the courtyard, and the shallow end of the (dry) swimming pool (fenced off in front). The bell tower is out of the pic at the left and the power plant is directly behind the castle.

The inside of the home is full of rich details. The beams are just for show. The ironwork is to die for, even for people that don't' know the first thing about blacksmithing. Duane was in a quandry. He was in a blacksmith's paradise, but only had a few minutes to observe and enjoy.

The house is built around a courtyard with the main part of the house on the front and guest rooms and the music room on the back wing. The main part of the house is built around the large living room which is open to the roof. Directly below the chandelier is the seating area. To the left is a water fountain, to the right is a fireplace. The room below is the lounge area of the Master bedroom suite. To the left of the chandelier is a staircase (over the fountain). The door to the master suite is directly left of the top of the stairs.

Below are pix of the dining room.

Place setting showing the initials of the partners--Johnson and Scott. So why, after Scotty admitted bilking Johnson out of thousands of dollars (over $117,000) were they still partners?

Albert Johnson was inherited the family millions when his father was killed in a train accident that severely injured the son. When Johnson went west looking for Shorty's gold mine, he found healing through the peace and beauty of the desert, and escape and adventure through Scotty. When Scott admitted the truth, Johnson laughed. He would often tell people: "We have been partners for a long time. Scott has a great appetite for money and I like to feed it. He has always repaid me--in laughs."

Wall sconce in the kitchen above the elaborately tiled sink. The Johnsons took great care with details to preserve the "old" look of the new house. All of the lighting is designed to look like candle holders. All of the ironwork is different in each room.

Tiles above the sink. To the left is a faux water well (dry sink). Underneath is a cupboard.

This view shows the well head in front of the gate to the courtyard. On the right is the music room and beyond are the guest bedrooms and bathrooms. On the right is the kitchen on the ground floor with the living room beyond in the middle, a small room for Scotty (just for show, he never slept there) and a solarium at the far end. Upstairs are the windows to the Master bedroom (we were in the room on the left). Directly across is the chandelier, then another guest room and bathroom. After the stock market crash, the Johnsons took in paying guests. The large guest room cost more than the smaller guest rooms which shared a bath. Up til then, though, these were used by their friends and some famous visitors like Will Rogers.

Shallow end of the swimming pool. The concrete bridge in the middle has an opening that allows water to flow over an dam into the deep end, which is just as big. Now THAT'S a POOL!

This view also shows the road out. Down this road a piece is the actual ranch owned and operated by the Johnsons. Their insurance business was ruined by the stock market crash, but they were well diversified and didn't suffer as much as most folks.

Bell tower. This tower was connected underground with the music room. From there the Johnsons would play music that could be heard from the tower. The basement of this tower houses the power plant. It was run primarily by water from the spring which is about a mile away.

View from the bell tower, opposite the one above, so the smaller guest rooms are on the right and the round room on the right is the solarium. To the left is the solar heater. (Did I mention that Johnson was very interested in his engineering hobby?)

After our picnic in the palm grove next to the parking lot and the wonderful tour of the castle, we were tired and content, but we had one more surprise in store. At the fork in the road we went left and drove up to Ubehebe Crater. More than 300 years there was a massive release of underground steam pressure. When the cinders and dust settled, there remained this 600 ft deep crater. (Click on pic to enlarge and read.)

The view was stupendous! The desert for miles around was bare rock. After soaking up the view we headed back the way we came. We drove down Scotty's Castle Road south to the 374 junction, but we weren't done yet, so we turned right and drove into Stovepipe Wells.

In this area sand dunes rise nearly 100 feet from Mesquite Flat. As with most of Death Valley, visitors can walk out on the dunes. This sand is not the clean beach sand we love. It is more like fine dirt and leaves dust when you touch it. It is formed here by the action of the wind on the mountains.

Stovepipe wells is a small settlement consisting of a general store run by the Shoshone and a hotel (and swimming pool)/restaurant resort run by the park consessioner.

The visit to Stovepipe Wells finished our Wednesday (the 11th) tour of the east central part of Death Valley. There was tons of things we didn't do and places we didn't visit, partly because of time and partly because of our vehicle. We weren't tired of the Valley yet, but it was time to move on.

Next stop--Pahrump,

Louise and Duane