It does not seem quite right to attend a Memorial Service for Walt
Scott. Someone I knew quite well, more from observation during the
early years after WWII, until having an opportunity to do business
with and visit with in the last years. He came home a war hero, with
many medals, having performed many missions over southern Europe.
His plane was shot down and his family was informed that he was
missing in action. Probably using the skills learned being raised in
the woods and mountains of Mariposa County, he avoided capture and
returned to the American lines. Air medals, a bronze and silver
star, purple heart are not metals that are given casually. He seldom
spoke of his war years, even to members of his family. Treated these
experiences casually some would say.
He was made up of the history of our county. Great-grandfather
Andrew Cathey came from Arkansas first in 1850, and then brought the
family in 1852. While they mined a bit along the Merced River, they
were really farmers and cattlemen. Walt’s mother was Mary Cathey
Scott, who’s father William Cathey acquired the Jerseydale property
that Mary and husband Ray raised their family, ran the sawmill and
logged. Five generations of Cathey/Scotts have lived around the
beautiful forests and meadows of Jerseydale.
Ray Scott was a son of Hornitos. Somewhere I have a picture of
young Ray and his brother Elmer taken by a traveling photographer
that would stop at the Schlageter Hotel from time to time. After Ray
and Mary were married, Ray acquired the steam sawmill from the Comet
Mine in Jerseydale. He moved the mill to the ranch and began the
tradition of lumber production that has sustained the Scott family
until this day.
The original mill burned and was replaced to be run by Frank Scott,
Walt’s brother. Walt’s task was logging from the mountains of
Mariposa, Madera, Tuolumne Counties and further as time went on.
During the years following WWII, many small saw mills sprang up
around Mariposa and the Sierra National Forest. Some were as large
as the big mill on Owl Creek started by the Lewis and Merrill family,
Scotts Mill in Jerseydale, Standart, Young, Brookings, Marvin, and
Hensen mills all kept many young men, returnees from the war, busy
for about 20 years. Eventually the local timber ran out, the Owl
Creek burned down, the others closed but Scotts continued to operate
mostly from timber from the ranch and the Sierra. Many young men in
Mariposa County worked at these mills in their early days before
going on to other pursuits. The Scott family stuck to logging until
five or six years ago. While the saw mill closed many years ago,
about the time of Frank Scott’s death. Walt, son Mark and son-in-law
Dean Fouch, continued in the logging business, sometime contracting
every aspect of the operation and sometimes only providing the
transportation of the timber to various mills. At one time, Scott
Lumber Company had a yard on Jones St., next to the new Masonic Hall,
where Spid James could be found working on the equipment when he was
not running a Caterpillar in the woods.
Walt married Virginia Johnson, originally from El Portal. They were
a very handsome couple, Virginia being the prettiest girl around
Mariposa and Walt, as well as Frank, both very fun loving attractive
young men. When Walt and Virginia began having children after the
war, it was obvious the quality of their genes. Three beautiful
daughters and a handsome son became the basis for a number of very
good looking grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
There was a native intelligence in those Scott boys. Walt could
tackle any logging project with intelligence while Frank could design
a sawmill that would be the epitome of efficiency and function. By
the same token, both boys loved a good time, turning up almost every
Saturday night at Timber Lodge or some other watering hole at a time
before television when people enjoyed each others company on the
dance floor or visiting over the bar. During the late 40’s and early
50’s I played in a band at Timber Lodge almost every Saturday night.
The dances were sponsored by either the American Legion or VFW as
fund raisers, but I suspected it was just as much for providing the
opportunity to let off steam.
During the war these young men found the company of other strong
young men to provide pleasant experiences. Please understand me,
these occasions would not occur without occasional confrontations,
but it was usually over a disagreement about who could do what ever.
And, sometimes the disagreement would be taken outside, but not
always. During most months at Timber Lodge, we removed some of the
windows if we heard that the boys from Scott’s or other mills were
coming. In those days there seemed to be various venues for
gentlemen of relationship to gather for refreshment. For example,
Bootjack would be a headquarters for the Thatcher’s or the Wass boys;
then the 80 Club run by the Silva family would be supported by
another group; Acorn Inn might sport the Carter boys and the Parker’s
with a Brochinni or two thrown in for good measure. The Gold Coin
seemed to be neutral ground as any of these folks might drop the kids
off for the show; the wife to Lodge and they to either the 49’er,
Gold Coin, Capitol Café on Saturday night after a hard 6 day work
week. We kept the Drug Store open until 9:00 PM because it was
customary for the parents to brings the kids by for an ice cream cone
after the movie let out, and for the trip back to Bootjack, or
Midpines, or Darrah, or Jerseydale or to the grandparents so the
parents could go to one dance or another. I always get a kick out of
people that want the downtown merchants to say open late. We stayed
open because our community could only get ice cream at our Soda
Fountain and a nickel cone was a necessary fact of life.
For many years Walt and Virginia lived in town in a house that was
on Bullion St. where the Administration building is now. Everett
Bagby had built the house for his mother after they left Bagby. At
some point in the forties, a dentist Dr. George Salzer and his wife
and children lived there, and then, when Walt and Virginia began
having children, living in town for the schools and various reasons
became important. I was not privy to any discussion relating to the
move into town, but having done that with encouragement of my wife, I
can imagine the logic involved.
Walt was a big part of the VFW. Played some softball up at the old
park after the war. Could hit the ball a mile. But then there were
a lot of loggers, cat skinners and tough birds that had lots of
muscle and could send a young outfielder deep many times.
I am sure that he was involved in the moving of the mess hall to
Mariposa that became the VFW Hall and the Visitor’s Center. Walt had
a clear vision as to what was important in his community. I don’t
know why for sure, but when I ran for the Board of Supervisors, the
Scott home in Jerseydale was the site of one of the community
meetings. Perhaps he and Virginia understood that the longevity of a
pioneer family had to be connected to participation in their
community and being responsible for the outcome.
A lot of folks will tell stories about Walt’s work habits and his
insistence on things being done right. As Mark pointed out at the
Memorial, his father taught him to throw a wrench. But I suspect
that Walt came by these high standards honestly. I knew his father
Ray quite well. In historical research I ran across Ray Scott many
times as one who helped build the logging incline at El Portal as
well as making decisions about the development of the ranch in the
later years. While I was still at the Drug Store I got to know Ray
and Mary Scott quite well and suffered with them when their ancestral
home burned in Jerseydale. Regrettably, along with the flames went
100 years of history. Fortunately I had copied some of Mary’s
historic photographs for the museum so all was not lost.
Walt Scott could always be counted on to keep his word, act with
integrity. Many, who worked with him, did business with him,
benefited by his association, attested to the fact. I really only
had one occasion to conduct business with Walt and Virginia outside
the Drug Store and it was a fair and pleasant experience. I probably
never expressed myself to him about how I felt but I am sure he
understood because it was his only way to do things. My great friend
Ken Mari has visited with me about doing business with Walt and he
confirms my feelings. Ken was a timber faller who helped Walt become
established in Tuolumne County, and then went to work for him falling
the trees while Walt and his crew did the logging. Nothing more
fundamental than harvesting natural resources and that can only be
done one way, and that way is right. No messing around or you are
out of business or dead because it is dangerous, dirty and
contentious.
I have always enjoyed brief visits with Walt and Virginia. He was a
quiet man in many ways but it has been attested to that when aroused,
he clearly knew what to say and how to say it. I think it was a good
thing that he and Virginia had the three girls first, because girls
have a tendency to make one a little gentler. So, Mark, no matter
how tough he thinks Dad was, the girls probably took a little of the
rough edges off. Beautiful girls all, Susie, Karen and Julie could
melt any tough logger’s heart.
I hope you can understand how much I feel the loss of Walt Scott to
the character of our community. Mariposa County when we arrived more
than sixty four years ago was pretty much made up of pioneer
families. There was a simple set of standards that they had all
adopted over the generations of surviving by the use of what nature
provided them. Whether it was grass, gold, timber or water, each was
important to their family’s future. I also get a kick out of
environmentalists who think that the old families destroyed the
country. Think about it, if they had not made intelligent use of the
county that surrounded them, sustained them, then they and the
country would not have survived in the pristine shape it is in. In a
way, these pioneers went through the same process that the Native
Americans did in that they lived as much as possible in balance with
the environment they lived in. The Americans brought more technology
such as sawmills and tractors to the task, but they also increased
the carrying capacity of the land by judicious use of the resources
and management, even in crude ways, of nature’s resources. Fire, for
example, was destructive. Thus in order to protect their
environment, men had to find ways to control fire to preserve the
resource and to enhance the future. I do not intend to insult folks
that take great interest in the environment, and in fact support most
of what they profess because I know that in their lack of experience
and understanding of what is available, that people who do not take
the long term view of our environment would be like the early miners,
who made a mess because they were not going to be around after the
gold or timber was gone. They would not have acted the same way back
east on their own farm land. This was free land to be used and left
behind with no responsibility.
I look at the land that Walt and Virginia live on and understand
that they too understood what was important. I will miss Walt Scott
as I miss many who have gone before him. I see in the young men that
Walt had contact with that each one learned a great deal from him
about life and the land that we all live in. Not just the wrench
being thrown, but sometimes a lightly disguised love of home and
family.
Leroy Radanovich
Leroy Radanovich Email:
Leroy Radanovich
To learn much more about Mariposa County along with
historical photos:
A signed copy of "Images of America" - Mariposa County,
By Leroy Radanovich can be purchased at his web site:
Radanovich Galleria & Books
This is a early day photo of the Mariposa Mine in
Mariposa County
that is mentioned in the article to
the left by Mr. Radanovich.
This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a
warm tone ready for framing
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Mariposa in 1920
This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a
warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books
Mariposa County Courthouse written by Leroy Radanovich and
Scott Pinkerton is a book about the oldest courthouse in California that is still in use today.
The book is signed by Leroy Radanovich.
To purchase the book:
Radanovich Galleria & Books
Mariposa in 1860
This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a
warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books