The Wall Street Mill

After Frank Morgan died Bill Keys ended up owning the Wall Street Mill–and I’m pretty sure that sounds exciting; a tin shack wrapped around a stamp mill, pulverizing rock and squeezing mercury from gold amalgam.  What more would anyone want? He would mill ore from his Desert Queen Mine and other holdings as well as for other miners in the area.  He’d charge by the ton of ore, and the mill was one of many little industries that a desert rat like Bill needed to live in the desert. Worth Bagley claimed that Bill trespassed on his property to get to the mill.  Bagley didn’t like Bill a bit.  One day it came to a head and Keys ended up killing Bagley in self defense.  Bagley was connected to the Sheriff’s office as a former deputy, so things turned against Bill in court and he wound up going to prison. Bill fought and appealed but to no avail–he even turned down parole rather than falsely admit guilt. Keys was gifted, of a sturdy sort and he didn’t let the imprisonment tear him down.  His family had to move on though, and in many ways it was the ruination of the Keys dynasty in what is now Joshua Tree National Park.

Wall Street Mill