Again while researching something else, I came across this, and I had to share it. I was looking into the Haines Ranch and found this article about Mountain George.
Old Mountain George Died Where He Wanted to Die
On the 15th day of July 1887, Jonathan Murphy was riding over the ridge close to (or on) the Haines Ranch (now the Oakland Zoo) or Mills Seminary (now Mills College) when he decided to check on ‘Old George” at his cabin. He found George dead in his bed. His old gun and hound dog lay by his side. There was a letter addressed to his sister, in papers scattered on a table.
Everybody in East Oakland knew the tall, gaunt man with long grey bread as “Mountain George.” But few knew him as George Clinton Tisdale, a former resident of New York. He was about 63 years old and had lived in the hills for years, killing whatever game he could find.
He used to occupy a cabin on the E.A. Haines ranch but recently had lived in a hut on Colonel Simpson’s farm, about four miles back of Mills Seminary on the old Redwood Road.
First Dentist in Oakland?
I will have to research this.
Note on cabin door “Man shot in the Gulch.”
Autopsy on “Mountain George”
A “suitable burial” in Potter’s Field.
More on Mountain George
- Bits of the History of Mountain Recluse – Oakland Tribune July 16, 1887
Mountain George Arrested before for stealing a Cow
El Sobrante Ranch – Mountain George – Oakland Daily Evening Tribune Aug 30, 1880
I will probably be updating this sometime soon.
The End