Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)
Shorty Harris Grave
Photographed By Alvis Hendley, February 20, 2007
1. Shorty Harris Grave Marker
Erected 1936.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • Settlements & Settlers. A significant historical year for this entry is 1934.
Location. 36° 12.453′ N, 116° 52.2′ W. Marker is in Death Valley National Park, California, in Inyo County. Marker can be reached from West Side Road, 12.3 miles south of Badwater Road, on the left when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Death Valley CA 92328, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 5 other markers are within 15 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Eagle Borax Works (approx. half a mile away); Bennett-Arcan Long Camp (approx. 3.1 miles away); Badwater Pool (approx. 5.9 miles away); Devils Golf Course (approx. 8.4 miles away); Aguereberry Point (approx. 14.4 miles away).
More about this marker. West Side Road is a dirt road and might be closed after
this page online
Regarding Shorty Harris Grave. Frank "Shorty" Harris (1857-1934) was born in Rhode Island and headed west when he was twenty. Before arriving in Death Valley, Harris prospected in Leadville (Colorado), Tombstone (Arizona), Coeur d'Alene (Idaho). In Nevada and Death Valley he prospected in Ballarat, Tonopah, Goldfield, Bullfrog and Rhyolite.
Harris was five feet, four inches tall. People said that he could smell gold. After making a claim, Harris didn't work the claim. He preferred talking and drinking in saloons to mucking in goldfields.
Harris died in his cabin at Big Pine in 1934 at the age of seventy-seven.
On 16 November 1934, the Inyo Independent reported the funeral of Shorty Harris in Death Valley:
"While the sun sank slowly into the purple haze that filters over Death Valley at twilight and taps sounded in the clear air of this mysterious land he knew so well, "Shorty" Harris, miner, Good Samaritan and friend to all who knew him, was laid to rest in a dusty grave on the valley floor last Sunday afternoon.
"He was laid beside the grave of his old pal and friend, Jim Dayton, long a respected pioneer prospector of Death Valley region.
"Shorty Harris, dean of all desert prospectors, died at the age of 74 years in a cabin at Big Pine,
Photographed By Alvis Hendley, February 20, 2007
2. Shorty Harris Grave
"In deference to his request, he was buried at the "bottom of Death Valley", beside his partner. He had prospected with Jim Dayton many years ago in search for the yellow metal.
"The simple service, when the last rights were pronounced, was beautiful in the quiet solitude of the great valley. Chaplain Henry of the C.C.C. camp at Cow Creek, officiated at the open-air burial service. One hundred and fifty C.C.C. boys were present, bowing their heads out of respect to the grand old man of the desert, whose stories of early Death Valley, of burro-prospecting days, have been chronicled far and wide by writers of national repute.
"The body was lowered in the grave exactly at sunset and more than 300 people stood quietly at attention as taps sounded.
"Many old timers of the valley were present at the services, including Mr. Zabriskie of Pacific Coast Borax Co. and Bob Montgomery, who originally located Rhyolite and the Shoshone mine, and had not been in the valley for some 30 years.
"The burial of "Shorty" Harris went down in history as the first Christian burial in Death Valley, altho there had been many more who were buried there in shallow graves before, without Christian service."
Additional commentary.
Photographed By Craig Baker, October 28, 2020
3. Shorty Harris Grave Marker
1. Sculpture of Shorty Harris and Penguin Near Rhyolite, Nevada
Shorty Harris spent time in Rhyolite, Nevada, across Daylight Pass from Death Valley.
Just outside of Rhyolite, stands a rusted metal sculpture of Shorty Harris, twenty-four feet tall. The site-specific sculpture was created in 1994 by Fred Bervoets for the Goldwell Open Air Art Museum.
Because crazy is normal in the desert, the sculpture of Shorty is accompanied by a penguin, and the Goldwell Open Air Art Museum in the Mojave Desert was founded by Belgian artists. From Belgium.
Why the penguin?
According to the museum, the penguin is a self-portrait of the artist. The penguin symbolized Bervoets' feeling of displacement in the Nevada desert.
Another source, Rhyolite caretaker Clint Boehringer has a different version:
"Did you see the statue of the miner with the penguin behind him? That's a tribute to Shorty. When he'd be out on the desert and would take up drinking from his bottle of O, be Joyful, after a time he'd look behind him and see a penguin following him around. He didn't see pink elephants, he saw penguins." (Source of Clint Boehringer quote: DesertUSA)
— Submitted April 6, 2016, by Alvis Hendley of San Francisco, California.
Photographed By Alvis Hendley, February 20, 2007
4. Shorty Harris Grave, viewed from the road
Courtesy of East California Museum
5. Shorty Harris and Seldom Seen Slim
Seldom Seen Slim is buried in the Mojave Desert near Death Valley in the mining boom town of Ballarat where he lived for many years. Ballarat, almost a ghost town today, has several historical markers.
Courtesy of East California Museum, circa 1918
6. Shorty Harris and His Pack Burro in Death Valley
Photographed By Alvis Hendley, March 12, 2016
7. Sculpture of Shorty Harris and Penguin
Near Rhyolite, Nevada
Credits. This page was last revised on November 5, 2023. It was originally submitted on April 6, 2016. This page has been viewed 788 times since then and 64 times this year. Last updated on November 5, 2020, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on April 6, 2016, by Alvis Hendley of San Francisco, California. 3. submitted on October 30, 2020, by Craig Baker of Sylmar, California. 4, 5, 6, 7. submitted on April 6, 2016, by Alvis Hendley of San Francisco, California. • J. Makali Bruton was the editor who published this page.
