23 bits of Johnny Harris miscellanea

Portrait of Johnny Harris based on photo by an unknown artist, circa 1890s. Note the rabbit paw on his chain. (Royal B.C. Museum and Archives B-06824)

A collection of items deleted from The King of Sandon manuscript, mostly because they were too tangential, plus a few things discovered after the fact. They are presented in semi-chronological order and best consumed after reading the book, perhaps with a glass of ginger ale.

As explained in the book, Johnny Harris’ ancestral Virginia home of Vernon Mills was built with the proceeds of his grandmother Sarah Smith’s sale of enslaved people.

One dramatic incident related to Sarah’s slaveholding cries out for more details that are not readily available, so I didn’t include it: an enslaved woman on the estate, known only as Jinney, was tried for murder.

We aren’t told who she was accused of killing. Sarah hired a lawyer to defend Jinney, who was acquitted. However, neighbours were so convinced of Jinney’s guilt that, supposedly out of fears for her safety, she was sold to another slaveholder in Alexandria. [1]

In 1862, Confederate Gen. Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson passed through Salem, the Fauquier County town along the Manasas Gap Railroad nearest Johnny’s birthplace, which would be later known as Marshall. Jackson was followed days later by troops commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee. [2]

More significantly, Col. John Singleton Mosby made Salem the base for his raiders, who caused no end of trouble for Union soldiers trying to repair sections of the railroad. When the war was lost, he reluctantly disbanded his men. [3]

Mosby then tried his hand at politics, running for a congressional seat in 1874. An electioneering stop at Salem, however, turned violent when he encountered former Democratic senator Benjamin Franklin Rixey. The two argued briefly, then came to blows — Rixey with his cane and Mosby with a carriage whip. [4]

A newspaper dispatch about this bizarre incident carried the dateline of Vernon Mills, one of the earliest mentions of Johnny’s family home by name.

On the day that Johnny was born, Jan. 26, 1864, Confederate forces tried to take Athens, Alabama. Although they outnumbered the Union troops 600 to 100, after a two-hour fight, the Confederates retreated. [5]

Wallace Phillips grew up hearing fractured accounts from his father of the fatal shooting of Leonidas Triplett in 1881 by Johnny’s brother Arthur and how Arthur escaped from custody.

Phillips admitted to being “chicken-hearted” where the murder was concerned. When people started talking about it, he’d leave the room, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to get it out of his mind.

Phillips’ father and his father’s friends knew this and took advantage of it: “I believe that when they wanted to talk about something they didn’t want me to hear, he would open up on the [Triplett] affair, and I’d get up and go to bed,” he recalled. [6]

While construction was underway on his slaughterhouse in Wallace in 1891, Arthur Davis (aka William E. Harris) kept busy by staking water rights from a nearby ravine; recording the Star Lode mining claim; attending the Wardner Knights of Pythias ball with his brother; serving on the committee that unsuccessfully tried to move the county seat from Murray to Wallace; renting a building next to the Fuller House for a new meat market; and starting another market at Gem. [7]

In the late summer of 1891, Johnny entertained unnamed visitors from Montana, hiring a three-seated rig to show them around Wallace, and subsequently travelled to the state capital of Helena, where he discovered there was much interest in Wallace. [8]

In the Slocan in 1892, Johnny took a bond on the Climax and Lancaster claims on the mountainside above Four Mile Creek, near the future town of Silverton, for $20,000 with $1,000 down. He figured he had “as good a bonanza for his money as anybody.” [9] But the ink had barely dried on the agreement when Johnny transferred the bond to three other men. [10] Johnny had played his cards wisely, for there is no sign the claims amounted to anything.

Many parties, including Johnny, coveted what became the Three Forks townsite. It had an especially convoluted real estate history.

John A. Watson applied to buy 320 acres in 1891 but his notice failed to appear in the British Columbia Gazette as required. Later that year, Billy Lynch staked a townsite on the same land but also failed to get title. Eli Carpenter, the namesake of Carpenter Creek, filed a notice to acquire the same ground soon after. But by that time, to cool speculation the government placed a reserve on all land within ten miles of Slocan Lake. [11]

E.R. Hamilton located a mineral claim there but wasn’t permitted to acquire title given the dubious mining prospects of the land. [12]

In 1892, Charles Hugonin and Eric Conway Carpenter (no relation to Eli) applied to pre-empt 160 acres (65 hectares) for agricultural purposes at Three Forks, even though the land wasn’t fit for growing anything. They instead built a hotel. They also worked out a deal to sell their land to Frank S. Barnard and John A. Mara, prominent merchants and politicians. Efforts to secure a Crown grant, however, were stymied when E.R. Hamilton protested that his mining claim predated Hugonin and Carpenter’s pre-emption. [13]

Lands commissioner F.G. Vernon finally introduced a bill to authorize the grant, leading to accusations of cronyism, for Barnard and Mara were thought to be acting on behalf of the CPR’s Nakusp and Slocan Railway. [14]

(Greg Nesteroff collection)

Evan Jones was an early co-owner of the Reco mine. He also held a one-sixteenth interest in the Texas, Ephraim Fraction, New Denver, and Clifton claims that were part of the Reco group.

Jones sold an undefined part interest in the Reco to a man from Spokane named Udin and later transferred the rest to Johnny and Fred Kelly. Jones used the proceeds to join the Coolgardie mining rush in Australia in 1895, but the combination of bone-dry climate and exorbitant prices for prospecting supplies forced his retreat to Spokane within a few months.

His misadventures were reported at length in The Spokesman-Review. “There is no place in this world, I believe, where the prospector has more difficulties to contend with,” he said, and offered advice for anyone else thinking of joining the rush: “Don’t.” [15]

In 1896, Johnny was elected to the membership of the Spokane Amateur Athletic Club. [16] The Spokane Club still exists and runs a hotel and fitness centre.

Johnny’s father bestowed the family property in Virginia known as Runnymeade to eldest son Golder, who worked on the farm as a boy and assumed active management at age 20. The estate produced corn, wheat, cattle, hogs and poultry, and became a centre of the purebred stock industry. Hunting and draft horses were raised there and exhibited in shows and fairs, earning numerous awards. Golder became prominent with livestock and farmers organizations and served as president of the Warrenton horse show. [17]

Globetrotting journalist P.A. O’Farrell wrote of Johnny (as quoted in the Sandon Paystreak of Oct. 29, 1898): “He has a monopoly on the lakes, the light and water plants, the trade, and even the gossip of the city, and he wears his reward and honors well.”

Johnny’s brother George Davis came to visit Sandon in 1899. According to a newspaper report, he had “been in the city for some days seeing the sights and intends to remain until he sees them all, which he is free to confess, from present observations, will take him longer than he expected …” [18] George and Johnny went to Halcyon Hot Springs and also planned to spend a week at an exposition in Spokane, after which Johnny would head east for the winter. [19]

Litigation surrounding the disputed title to the Mountain View mine near Northport, Wash., that Johnny’s brother Arthur was involved with in the early 20th century was only slightly less complicated and time consuming than Johnny’s battle against Byron White over the Rabbit Paw. The local land office decided in favor of Arthur’s group, but a federal court at Spokane sided with the original locator. The appeals court restored the original decision, only for the US Supreme Court to overrule that verdict and refer the case back to the Stevens County Superior Court for trial. On and on it went. [20]

In 1903, Johnny was returning to Sandon from Victoria by train. He and most passengers were asleep when about nine miles west of Revelstoke, a small avalanche struck the train, derailing his car and two others, which landed close to a lake. It happened so suddenly he hardly knew what was going on. But beyond being shaken up, no one was hurt, and Johnny escaped with a tattered hat and smashed umbrella. [21]

Ed Vipond, who came to Sandon in 1917 to work in the CPR station, had lunch and dinner in the Reco Hotel every day for a year and a half, but was never rewarded with a discount for his loyalty. Instead, he paid 75 cents per meal like everyone else, “which was considered a pretty good price.” His only break came one night playing the slot machine in the bar, when his 25-cent investment returned over a month’s supply of meal tickets. [22]

Johnny visited Wallace, Idaho, in 1918, when “with a silvery tinge” in his hair, he reminisced about the days when he and brother “Billy” turned Cedar Street into a race course and furnished entertainment for the Fourth of July. [23]

Johnny also ran into Wallace acquaintances in the Slocan: around 1917, F. Cushing Moore went to Sandon to work as Clarence Cunningham’s engineer at the Queen Bess mine. [24] W.H. (Doc) Farrar did the same as a metallurgist and stayed about a year before returning to Idaho. [25]

I don’t think Johnny ever left the continent, but in the fall of 1921, while staying at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, he was reported to be planning a tour of Europe “and does not expect to be home before spring.” His intended destinations weren’t identified. [26]

Johnny once recruited Lindsay Carter and his father to move a stove into the Reco Hotel dining room from one of Johnny’s other buildings. They got a sleigh to haul it on but when they opened the door, they discovered just the outline of a stove in the dust on the floor. “It looks as if somebody wanted that stove worse than I did,” Johnny said. He closed the door and said no more. [27]

While he fought the Sandon Miners’ Union, Johnny also owned their hall. Each year the local school would stage its Christmas concert there and Johnny made a deal with the kids taking part to grant them rehearsal time: “If you don’t disturb any of my property on Halloween, I’ll let you use the hall for free that night, without charging anything for the lights. And you can have the lights free for the concert too.” [28]

Supposedly the kids lived up to their end of the bargain and he never charged for lights, an agreement that lasted for years. But it’s an odd anecdote. What kid would have concerned themselves with the cost of lights or hall rental?

In Johnny’s declining years, a retired doctor from Toronto who had worked at the Sandon hospital during the Japanese-Canadian internment dropped into the Reco Hotel nearly every evening for a game of bridge. [29] This was almost certainly Dr. Edward Kuwabara, yet Johnny’s wife, Alma, identified him as Tommy Yamamoto. No one by that name is known to have worked at the Sandon hospital.

After Johnny’s death, provincial archivist Willard Ireland came to Sandon to inspect Johnny’s papers and took some choice items back to Victoria with him.

Subsequently, Alma had Teddy Kleim bundle together some books and larger photos in a couple of crates and sent them as well. She realized, however, that Johnny had already promised two photos to other people, one of which “might be an asset to the Slocan, as it is in good hands interested mining-wise and the raising of capital for same,” while another of the Last Chance tram terminal was bound for a Jack Kenny of Chicago. Kenny was then in hospital, but confirmed he still wanted the original photo. The BC Archives got copies instead. [30]

Alma and Ireland continued corresponding for a few years. She later sent him some lantern slides depicting Sandon. [31]

Alma’s granddaughter Rhiannon visited her in Silverton each summer from Alberta, and learned to play a “mean game of Chinese rummy. It was the only card game she ever taught me. She thought it was suitable for a kid.” [32]

NOTES

[1] James G. Smith vs. Smith Chancery, Suit 204, 15 Apr 1858, held by Fauquier Heritage and Preservation Foundation

[2] “The village played only minor role in Civil War,” Marshall Memories, supplement to the Fauquier Citizen, Ty Bowers, 24 Nov 2005, p. 8

[3] Ibid.

[4] “Col. Mosby – war not over,” Baltimore Sun, 15 Jun 1874, viewed at genealogybank.com

[5] americancivilwar.com/statepic/al/al002.html

[6] “Leonidas Triplett’s Death,” Wallace W. Phillips, typescript, 12 Aug 1978, held by Fauquier Heritage and Preservation Foundation

[7] Wallace Free Press, 5/19 Dec 1891 and Coeur d’Alene Miner, 5 Dec 1891 and 6 Feb 1892

[8] Coeur d’Alene Miner, 22 Aug, 5/12 Sept 1891

[9] “Kaslo mines booming,” Helena (Montana) Daily Independent, 26 Dec 1892; “At Four Mile Creek,” The Miner (Nelson), 31 Dec 1892 and “Another claim bonded,” Spokane Review, 14 Jan 1893

[10] “Items from New Denver,” The Tribune (Nelson), 2 Feb 1893. The price was said to be $15,000, including $1,500 down, which would have represented a loss for Johnny, yet The Tribune described it as $5,000 more than he originally paid.

[11] https://www.nelsonstar.com/opinion/place-names-three-forks-and-ten-mile-city

[12] The Tribune (Nelson), 17 Feb 1894

[13] Ibid.

[14] Ibid.

[15] “Bonded the Rico,” The Miner (Nelson), 26 Nov 1892; The Ledge (New Denver), 10 Jan 1895; “Water comes high,” The Spokesman-Review, 21 May 1895, Bill Barlee mining research collection, John Morgan Harris sous fonds, University of B.C. Rare Books and Special Collections, Box 2, File 2. Jones also held a one-sixteenth interest in the Texas, Ephraim Fraction, New Denver, and Clifton. Sale agreement to Johnny Harris and Fred T. Kelly is dated 24 Dec 1894. The transaction was for $1.

[16] “In the new club rooms,” The Spokesman-Review, 7 May 1896

[17] History of Virginia, Vol. 6, 1924, p. 238

[18] Mining Review (Sandon), 30 Sept 1899

[19] Ibid.

[20] Northport News, 14 Jan 1897; “The Mountain View,” The Spokesman-Review, 13 Sept 1899; and “Five years’ more of litigation,” Northport News, 3 Apr 1901; and https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/180/533.html

[21] Mining Review (Sandon), 14 Feb 1903

[22] Sandon Types, Ed Vipond, n.d., p. 3

[23] “A pioneer returns to visit old scenes,” Wallace Miner, 9 May 1918

[24] “Coeur d’Alene man fortune in Sandon,” Wallace Miner, 20 Sept 1917

[25] “Back from BC,” Wallace Miner, 4 Dec 1919

[26] “Harris to make tour of Europe,” Spokane Chronicle, 21 Oct 1921

[27] Interview with Lindsay Carter, 30 Jan 1976, held by B.C. Archives AAAB1977, Call No. T1802:0001

[28] Ibid.

[29] Wilf Schmidt interview with Alma Harris, 30 Aug 1983, held by Silvery Slocan Historical Society.

[30] Alma Harris to Willard Ireland, 14 Dec 1954; Jack Kenny to Alma Harris, 23 Nov 1954, BC Archives RG-1738, Box 68, File 13

[31] Alma Harris to Willard Ireland, 8 Oct 1957, BC Archives RG-1738, Box 68, File 13

[32] Interview with Rhiannon Denbigh, 5 Sept 2005, held by Sandon Historical Society