The story of "Indian George" is one of intrigue and mystery, casting a unique light on a man who would become one of Death Valley's most famous figures, even as the truth of his life seemed ever-elusive.

The story of "Indian George" is one of intrigue and mystery, casting a unique light on a man who would become one of Death Valley's most famous figures, even as the truth of his life seemed ever-elusive.

It began in 1926 when a Chevrolet expedition ventured into Death Valley. Their mission was straightforward: to traverse the challenging desert terrain and showcase the durability and allure of Chevrolet vehicles to adventure-seeking car buyers. The trip was meant to be a triumph of modern engineering over the harshness of the wild. On that journey, the expedition stumbled upon a ranch situated between Ballarat and the Panamint Mountains, where an old man was living—a man who claimed to be 104 years old. This man was Bah-vanda-sava-nu-kee, but he was known locally as "Indian George."

George was no stranger to strangers; he’d spent much of his life along the edges of Western settlements, living at the crossroads of traditional Shoshone ways and the relentless encroachment of Western society. In the 1870s, he worked as a wood-packer in Panamint City, where he adopted the name “George” and was given the surname “Hansen” by a government official. By 1926, George was living alone, tending a modest ranch in Death Valley, where he greeted the Chevrolet party with hospitality. He invited them to photograph the ruins of a broken-down stagecoach that lay on his property. To Chevrolet’s advertising agency, the old stagecoach was perfect. It would serve as a powerful symbol of the march of progress, contrasting the antiquated relic with Chevrolet’s modern vehicles.

However, when news reports of the expedition made their way to the papers, it wasn’t the Chevrolet cars or the stagecoach that captured readers’ imaginations—it was the “ancient” man in the desert. The legend of Indian George quickly took on a life of its own, and people from all over began traveling to Death Valley to meet him. To them, he became an icon of an earlier era, a living link to a past that had mostly faded from memory.

George leaned into this newfound fame. He shared stories of the old days, recounting tales of the Death Valley 49ers and the legendary expeditions of the Jayhawker and Bennett-Manly parties. These ill-fated groups had wandered through Death Valley in 1849, suffering greatly in their search for a shortcut to California’s goldfields. George claimed to have witnessed their struggles firsthand, offering visitors a sense of his proximity to these legendary events. Whether these tales were the product of genuine memory, inherited stories, or some creative embellishment remains uncertain. But George was savvy enough to know that his tales kept people coming back, and if he occasionally adapted his stories to suit his audience or spice up the details, it only added to his appeal.

In 1940, George was interviewed by *Desert Magazine* in what became one of his few in-depth profiles. In that interview, George gave his birth name as Bah-vanda-sava-nu-kee and reiterated his adoption of the name “George” from his days working in Panamint City. The journalist noted that George’s age and background were challenging to verify. By his own account, he was born sometime around the early 1820s, which would indeed place him at over a century old by the time he met the Chevrolet party. Yet even then, some believed his tales had been stretched, possibly by the journalists themselves or perhaps by George, who knew that a good story often outlasts a fact.

Over time, George became something of a local celebrity. He was visited by tourists, interviewed by journalists, and even featured in postcards and promotional materials for Death Valley. His fame helped to shape the mythos of Death Valley itself, a land already steeped in mystery and legend. And while George’s actual age or the full truth of his life may never be entirely clear, his legacy endures as a symbol of a time and place where myth and reality met in the harsh beauty of the American desert. Whether he was truly a century old or not, George remains a figure emblematic of the West—a man whose stories were as vast as the land he inhabited.