Potato Creek Johnny. Courtesy Adams Museum, Deadwood, SD

This past weekend my brother and his family came out to the Black Hills for a visit. After taking a break from the 4-wheeling and grilling, we decided to do some sightseeing. Since my mother was the only one of us who’d visited the grave sites of Wild Bill and Calamity Jane, we decided to take a trip to Deadwood and stop at Mount Moriah Cemetery.

When we reached their tombstones, we noticed the adjacent grave of John Perrett, or who you might know as “Potato Creek Johnny.” My mother asked me why he’d been famous, and all I could recall was that he’d found a huge gold nugget during the Gold Rush. My curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to a little reading this morning.

Potato Creek Johnny came to the United States from Whales in 1883 when he was 17 years old. Dreams of striking it rich eventually lead him and his gold pan to the Black Hills and a claim on Potato Creek (Hence, John Perrett became Potato Creek Johnny).

In 1929, Perrett discovered one of the largest gold nuggets in Black Hills history, weighing 7 ¾ troy ounces. Some claimed the nugget was merely a melted mass of gold ore that Perrett had stolen from a neighboring miner, but this was never proven. He sold the nugget for $250 to W.E. Adams, and it was displayed at Deadwood’s Adam’s Museum.

After his discovery, Potato Creek Johnny himself became somewhat of a tourist attraction for Deadwood. People would come to his cabin to listen to him tell stories of Deadwood and prospecting while he continued to pan for gold. The barely four-foot tall man had grown his hair and beard to quite the length. He was pretty much a living example of a real prospector.

John Perrett passed away at age 77 in 1943. The day of his funeral, the bell of the Adams Museum chimed 77 times as his procession ventured to Mount Moriah.  A replica of his nugget is still on display in the museum, while the original is stored in a safe deposit box.

To learn more about Potato Creek Johnny and other legendary Wild West characters, I recommend you pay a visit the Adams Museum.