Diamondfield Jack Davis

Jackson Lee Davis got his nickname chasing a diamond strike that never panned out, but his fame came from a gun. In the 1890s the Sparks-Harrell cattle company—co-owned by John Sparks, a future Nevada governor—hired him to drive sheepherders off the cattle range along the Idaho-Nevada line, in one of the West's bitter range wars. After two herders were shot dead in 1896, Davis was convicted and twice came within hours of hanging, even after two other men confessed. Pardoned in 1902, he became a Goldfield mine operator. The marker near Jackpot recalls a gunman nearly hanged in error.

What the plaque says

This historical marker commemorates the lasting notoriety of flamboyant western gunman Jackson Lee Davis (1870-1949), who was better know by the colorful name, “Diamondfield Jack,” a nickname that he carried the rest of his life. In the late 1890s, Davis gained a measure of fame as a gunman for the cattle interests, including rancher John Sparks, who would later become a Nevada governor, that were attempting to restrict sheep ranchers from southern Idaho and northeastern Nevada rangelands. Following a sensational trial in 1896, Davis was convicted of murdering two sheepherders. He was sentenced to be hanged, even after others confessed to the murders. In 1902, Davis was finally pardoned for the crimes. He moved to the central Nevada mining towns of Tonopah and Goldfield, where he became a successful mine operator. He also helped found several mining camps, including one called Diamondfield. In later years, he drifted into obscurity and died in Las Vegas in 1949 after being struck by a car.

Where it stands