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| Nevada History: Russell "Buster" Wilson
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The story behind the Wilson Photo album and my friend, Buster.
I met Buster (Russell) Wilson around 1970 while checking-out areas in the Pahrump Valley (about 40 miles southwest of Vegas). He was walking along a dirt road when I stopped to talk to him. I found he was quite far from home so I gave him a ride. He spoke of the area's history as an eye-witness - he and his family have been an integral part of Southern Nevada history. Buster is the son of Tweed Wilson. The following excerpt from a State Park's Web page explains a bit of the unusual Wilson pedigree.
In 1876, former Fort Mohave-based Sergeant James B. Wilson and his partner George Anderson, filed on the property, which they named the Sand Stone Ranch. Wilson remained until his death in 1906 while Anderson left in the early 1880's and never returned. Anderson's two half-Paiute boys remained on the ranch, whom Wilson raised. The two boys, Jim Wilson, Jr. and Tweed, his half brother, inherited the ranch in 1906 after Jim Wilson, Sr. died. They operated the cattle ranch together for many years, but after mortgaging it in 1919 they were unable to pay off the debt. (Nevada Division of State Parks - Spring Mountain Ranch State Park)
After several visits Buster and I became good friends. He told me how to look for arrowheads by their reflection in the afternoon sun. He took me to a large cave where lain a mummified Pahute child; the air in the cave was stagnant and made it hard to breathe. We traveled all over the Pahrump Valley with Buster explaining all the happenings over the many years that he experienced as a child.
He was a very educated person who had been taught by both his Pahute mother and his educated father. I have in my files some of his school papers and letters [See photos]. Several weekends I listened to his stories. He taught me other ways to look for arrowheads, read animal tracks, find food from berries and shrubs, and start a fire like I had been taught in the boy scouts many years before.
We visited his boyhood winter home in the mountains and also in the valley. (See this related article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.) I was very impressed with his knowledge of the area, the land, and the history. Buster spoke of his war-time service in the Army as an Indian and of working at the nearby Krup Ranch. He had several brothers and sisters whom he visited quite often.
Buster died in an automobile accident in 1972 and is buried on his family plot at the Spring Mountain Ranch west of Vegas.
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