William "Uncle Billy O'Hara

February is African American History Month. Originally known as Negro History Week it was first celebrated in February 1926. The celebration was expanded to a month in 1976, the nation's bicentennial. 

 

William“Uncle Billy”O’Hara


In the late 1860’s the boomtown of Aurora, Nevada, was on the decline and the neighboring mining camp named after W. S. Bodey teeter tottered on the edge of extinction. Peter Eshington and Louis Lockberg combed the Bodie Hills for what gold and silver they could find, continuing to work the Bunker Hill Mine, while African American William “Uncle Billy” O’Hara, left Aurora and hung on to the dream as a staunch Bodie supporter. Without Uncle Billy, and his financing, Eshington and Lockberg may not have stuck around long enough to hit the mother lode that caused the sleepy camp of Bodie to awaken.

O’Hara started his career on the Mississippi steam boats working as a cabin boy. For 25 years he worked on the river. During this time, he met William C. Ralston, the future President of the Bank of California. Ralston ran a cotton boat on the Mississippi with O’Hara. When gold fever hit Ralston, Billy followed him. At the Isthmus of Panama, they caught up with each other, eventually winding up in San Francisco.

The rush for gold at Hildreth's Diggings (Columbia) in the foothills of the western Sierras called to Billy. With his wife, Charlotte, by his side, he decided to try his hand at placer mining. The restaurant business turned out to be a better deal, and he left the mines to run the Jenny Lind Hotel until 1859. Billy and his wife lived in a ranch near the hotel. His wife was noted for taking care of the miners and others who became sick. In August,1859, the O'Hara's threw a grand party at their ranch in honor of the twenty fifth anniversary of the British government’s abolition of slavery in the West Indies Islands. Local newspapers reported on the party, which was well attended by the citizens of Columbia. The O'Hara's were well liked by everyone.

When Charlotte O’Hara died in 1862, Billy left Columbia for the eastern side of the Sierras and the booming town of Aurora, Nevada Territory. The lavish basement restaurant at the Merchant’s Exchange Hotel was Billy’s next venture, where he was well regarded as manager. For O'Hara, race wasn't an issue, but other African Americans were discriminated against. When another Aurora citizen of color witnessed the burning of the Durand Mill on Bodie Creek he was not allowed to give testimony and the arsonists were never prosecuted. "Uncle Billy", as he had become affectionately known, was so well liked, however, that he was able to host a large farewell party for himself before his move to the mining camp of Bodie in 1865.

The Empire Mine Gold and Silver Mining Company hired O’Hara to run their boarding house, which was probably the first of its kind in the Bodie Mining District. Even after the properties were abandoned in 1867, O’Hara stayed on as watchman. At some point Billy received title to the Bunker Hill Mine. When he couldn’t find a buyer for the mine, he turned it over to Peter Eshington and Louis Lockberg, with the agreement that they would pay him $8,000 when the mine began to pull out ore. Eshington and Lockberg worked the Bunker Hill at a loss until an accidental cave-in revealed a rich vein.

Perhaps because of his success with money in Bodie, Uncle Billy O’Hara wound up back in Aurora where he earned a reputation as a fair and favorite lender to those in need. At his death in 1880, Billy had accumulated $40,000. Because of his assistance and encouragement to anyone who tried, the Bodie newspapers declared him the "Foster Father of Bodie & Aurora."

Bibliography

 

Bodie 1859-1900
by Frank Wedertz
Community Printing & Publishing, 1969
 
 Bodie Bonanza
by Warren Loose
Exposition Press Inc., 1971
 
 Bodie's Gold
by Marguerite Sprague
University of Nevada Press, 2003
 
 Bodie-The Mines Are Looking Well.
by Michael H. Piatt
North Bay Books, 2003
 

African American History Month

The Library of Congress

www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov/about.html

 

Daily Alta California

Volume 32, Number 10969, 26 April 1880

via Veridan Newspaper Archive

 

 

 

 

                   

 

 

 



 

                                               

Bodie Cemetery Where Uncle Billy is buried, Like Bodey, his grave is unmarked

Mineral County High School

Cecil the Sea Serpent

By Kellie Zuniga • September 3, 2025
Cecil the Sea Serpent The Walker Lake Sea Serpent is an old Native American Legend handed down for generations before the arrival of white men. The story goes, someone walked up on the beach near the west side of Walker Lake and saw a large monster laying on the bank and he shot arrows into the animal but was not easy to kill. He claimed he wounded it and later to find that there were bones on the beach which he believed to be the monster. At another time some white men claimed to see the monster too and that they shot at it and it was at least 56 feet long. But no one seem to actually have the skeleton. Apparently, they left it there. The white men said it was too large and smelled bad. Maybe it was an unnamed species of reptile. In 1883 the Walker Lake Bulletin Newspaper printed an article August 1st of 1883 about people camping at the lake and waking up to two sea monsters fighting. Everyone described it differently. There was a university professor from Standford University named David Star Jordan thought that it could be an Ichthyosaur and wanted to capture it and study it and send it the Smithsonian. Many people believed that there was something in that lake. The Native Americans would not actually go out in boats or in the water because of it. In 1915 there was a disturbance in the water which sent waves crashing everywhere, many people believed it was the serpent, others said it was an earthquake. There was a hermit at the lake asked the county commissioners how much they would pay for the head of the reptile. When the highway was being built in the 1920’s there were many sightings from people passing by. It was thought that the serpent had a cave under the cliffs and he was mostly in that area. It was said by many people at one time there was an underground spring in the area of the cliffs and a body that disappeared in Walker Lake turned up in Pyramid Lake. There has been many sightings of it over the years but none in recent years. Many stories have been told over the years. The owner of the Capital Saloon, Charlie Kimball claimed to have to bones of the Sea Monster on display above his bar. At that time the sea serpent was also called Sara by the white people. The Walker Lake Sea Serpent was originally called Tawaga named from the Native Americans. In 1949 there was a cartoon created called Beany and Cecil. The cartoon looked a lot like how Cecil the float looks today. The Serpent was nicknamed Cecil and it stuck. Today he is referred to as Cecil the Sea Serpent. In 1964, to celebrate Nevada’s 100th birthday Cecil was constructed at the Hawthorne Ammunition Depot and floated on Walker Lake as part of the Armed Force Day Celebration. The Walker River Native American Tribe danced in full regalia and the serpent sailed around to a point at the lake with smoke coming out of his nostrils and throat with lights and fireworks in the background. Originally, it was supposed to be a one-time deal, but everyone protested and insisted that we do it again. In 1966 he went on the lake again, he caught on fire from a near fireworks display. And it was then decided that he should not be on the lake again and wheels were put on him after that. He appears every year in the local Armed Forces Day Parade as a float and he has appeared at other Nevada celebrations in parades as well. In 1990 Cecil was renovated which included redesigning of the trailers, restoring the mechanical devices that produce smoke from his nostrils and was repainted and was given a general facelift. Although, there has not been any recent sightings, today he is still very much a part of our culture here in Hawthorne Nevada. He recently has been moved to a storage facility at the airport to help preserve him. And currently, some of the Mineral County Museum’s Collections of Cecil is at the Nevada Museum of Art as part of the Deep Time Sea Dragons of Nevada Display.  Resources: The book Walker River Paiutes- Tribal History Harold Fullers Stories from Goldfield Radio The Times newspaper November 1978 three-part article from Denaya Pucket Files at the Mineral County Museum

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By Kellie Zuniga • August 4, 2025
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Milton Sharp

By Kellie Zuniga • July 2, 2025
Milton Sharp Stagecoach robberies were common in the old west. Well Fargo sent most of there valuables through stage and so did mining companies. Train or stagecoach was the usual transportation of funds. Mining was very hard work. So many decided to make money the easy way and rob stagecoaches and trains. Most highway men were mean and ruthless. However, there were a few men who though that being mean was unnecessary. Black Bart was known for his politeness. He dressed well and would say please and thank you to people particularly the ladies and he was known to leave poetry behind as well. Mineral County had its own Black Bart, Milton Sharp. It would be easy to get them confused, since they did similar things, such as being polite. Milton Sharp adopted Black Bart’s style. Now Black Bart was about 17 years older than Milton Sharp. Black Bart was born Charles E. Boles and was born in England and served in the Civil War. After the war he went to California and did most of his looting in Redwood Valley. He was eventually caught and served time in San Quentin. Milton Sharp was born in Missouri and lived in California but more in the Bodie area. He was known to rob stages in Candelaria, Aurora and any place where the stage route went, mostly a canyon called Dalzell. It was common for him and his partner to rob stages that had a Wells Fargo cash box or mining payroll on board. Sharp was smart, and he did his homework. He mostly looked for low risk high pay before he attempted to rob the stage Sharp teamed up with a man named Frank Dow( who was killed during one of their robberies). It was said that maybe he adopted the Black Bart image because of his partners demeanor, or he just saw it as unnecessary. He was well dressed, good looking and polite and did not want to hurt anyone. He was quite business like he just wanted the money sometimes even returning jewelry to some of the ladies on the coach. At one point he was arrested and jailed in Aurora. However, he escaped with a 15-pound ball and chain on his leg. He was loose for several months, then he turned himself in, in Candelaria because he was tired of hiding out and being cold and hungry. He was returned to Aurora and was charged with 5 counts of robbery and was sentence to 20 years in Carson City Penitentiary. He served as a model prisoner only to escape from prison for four years and once again apprehended in Red Bluff California and he was returned to prison. He was pardoned a year later and lived as a law biding citizen for the rest of his life. He is buried in Auburn California.  It was said he did not recover all his riches and there was still buried treasure out there somewhere. Later in time Gus and Will Hess went on a treasure hunt and did find some of his buried loot along the stagecoach route. However, he did live off of something after his prison release. And probably did not tell anyone where he hid any of it. Resources: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/milton-sharp-loot/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Bart_(outlaw) Book from Mineral County Library- Wells Fargo Detective: James B Hume Book from Mineral County Library-Outlaw Tales of Nevada-Charles L Convis
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