POTATO CREEK JOHNNY AND THE GIANT GOLD NUGGET

HISTORY'S TIDBIT - Potato Creek Johnny Perrett was one of the Old West's more colorful characters. Potato Creek Johnny immigrated from Wales to Deadwood, South Dakota in 1883 at the age of 17. The four foot prospector is best known for having found one of the world's largest gold nuggets. The question remains though as to whether Johnny's gold nugget was real or whether he fashioned it by melting smaller nuggets into one piece, then passed the fake off as a giant nugget of gold. in any event, this eccentric prospector was a fixture in the Deadwood, S. D. area right up until his death in February 1943.