PAHRUMP VALLEY TIMES FILE PHOTO Monument plate for Jim Dayton and Shorty Harris erected on site where Jim Dayton died in 1898. PAHRUMP VALLEY TIMES FILE PHOTO The Death Valley grave of Jim Dayton is marked by the bones of the six horses who died with him when Dayton misjudged the Valley's man-killing temperatures. PAHRUMP VALLEY TIMES FILE PHOTO Handmade marker for Ballarat, a ghost town known for gold production. Advertisement

REPORTER'S NOTE -- This article states Jim Dayton traveled to Los Angeles and married a woman he met there in 1899. It is reported and stated on his headstone that he perished in 1898, his monument sits on the spot in which he died. The same type of information is reflected in my search of Shorty Harris, many previous articles state he was born July 21, 1857; the monument states 1856 to 1934. Stanley W. Paher's book "Nevada Ghost Towns & Mining Camps," is available for purchase at the Pahrump Valley Times, 2160 E. Calvada Blvd.

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On the west side of Death Valley, about 10 miles south of Furnace Creek Ranch, is the well-known grave of Jim Dayton. He originally arrived in the Death Valley country in the early 1880's and drove a 20-mule team. Later in the decade Dayton found employment at the Furnace Creek Ranch in tending livestock and caring for the grounds. In the 1890's he became the ranch foreman.

After about 1890 there was very little travel through the Valley of Death.

The borax boom of 1883-1888 had ceased, and the owner of the ranch, F.M. "Borax" Smith, maintained the ranch only to hold the ground and protect his nearby mineral properties.

Dayton supplied occasional passers-by with horse feed and limited provisions. Because it was practically impossible to keep workers at the ranch, Jimmie Dayton spent much time alone.

Men sent out by the borax company soon became dissatisfied with the Valley's harshness and frequently left without notice. Some reached civilization but others perished along the way, often with their canteens nearly full. Excessive heat drove most of the workers away. Recording the temperature was one of Dayton's hobbies. In the summer of 1890 he noted an unofficial reading of 135 degrees.

To obtain supplies and catch up on the news, Dayton made occasional 140- mile round trips from the ranch to Daggett, located just east of Barstow.

He would hitch up four horses to an empty wagon and return with enough supplies to last him at least a couple of months. Trips were usually taken in fall or spring.

In the summer of 1899, Dayton took a vacation trip to Los Angeles. He stayed at the United States Hotel where he impressed the girls with his importance as a desert rancher. In the winter of 1899 he married one of them.

His bride returned with him to Death Valley. She enjoyed the mild winter climate and the flowery spring. But the early summer heat proved to be unbearable, and she returned to the metropolis on the coast. Shortly afterward, Jim resigned his job and prepared to follow her.

After inducing a ranch visitor to take over the negligible summer ranch duties, Dayton wrote a letter to the borax company office in Daggett announcing his intention of leaving Furnace Creek Ranch immediately. His notice was sent by an Indian runner to the nearest post office, Ballarat, and from there delivered to Daggett by the U.S. mail. (Ballarat was an unofficial station).

Dayton was 62 when he started out in the August heat on that final trip to Daggett. His four-horse wagon was loaded with his possessions. Two other horses were tied to the rear of the wagon. A box held a cat, which was to be delivered to a friend at his destination, and a dog also followed.

By the time the letter arrived at the company offices in Daggett, the old rancher was already a week overdue.

Immediately, two friends of Dayton hitched up a team and headed for Furnace Creek to see if something had happened to their friend. They wondered if Dayton had left the ranch at all -- perhaps he was comfortably resting in the shaded alfalfa bales at the ranch.

About a mile from the old Eagle Borax Works, the two men spotted Jimmie Dayton's abandoned wagon in the shimmering heat.

In front of it appeared a dark blot which proved to be Dayton's horses tangled and heaped across the wagon tongue. They had died in their tracks.

His other two horses also perished, unable to free themselves from the end-gate of the wagon.

Under a mesquite bush beside the road, the men found Dayton's rapidly decaying body. His dog sat beside as the only silent mourner. By drinking slimy water from a nearby pool, the dog managed to stay alive and keep vultures and coyotes from eating his master's body.

The men believed that their friend had become deranged from the heat. He had left his wagon and sought shelter under a mesquite bush and there he died.

Dayton was buried on the spot in a simple grave. For many years the bleached bones of his horses lay on the grave which was further marked by the broad end of an ironing board.

On it, his name was etched with a hot poker. A stone monument nearly obscured by recent heavy growth of bushes now marks the site of Jim Dayton's grave. Beside him is buried veteran prospector Shorty Harris.

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Originally published in the April 1971 edition of the Pahrump Valley Times.