JAMES DOTY

"Bea Lines" is in Simi Valley, California, this time, talking with James Doty. (For those of you not familiar with western names, Simi is pronounced "See-me" .) James is a familiar face at many shows; a friendly person who really knows his insulators. We always enjoy talking with him and his mom Rose Doty, who is also a good friend of ours. James collects many other things besides insulators, and has a variety of interests, as we will soon see. 

James' interest in insulators began in 1966. His parents were tungsten miners during WWII, and they got their kids interested in collecting rocks. That led to more trips and more rocks, then to digging around ghost towns and old mines. James says, "This turned up old bottles and all kinds of miscellaneous junk (oh, I should have said 'collectibles'), as well as some broken insulators. We joined a local rock club, and one night we won a CD 154 SCA Whitall Tatum No.1 as a door prize. Some of us thought this thing was very pretty and it would go with the old bottles. I still have that same Whitall Tatum. 

"We started looking for and picking up more insulators after that. I went to my first Bakersfield show some time in the early 70s, which was held outside the buildings. By this time I had found three-quarters of an aqua fluted Cal. Elec. Works. I saw a nice cobalt one there for $700. That's the only insulator that stuck out in my mind." 

James' specialties are early telegraph and CD 101 and 102. As for go-withs, he collects telegraph and paper items to go with all of his different collections. (More on this hobby later.) Among the early telegraph items he collects are glass blocks, and he has one of only four ceramic blocks with its pin, from California, dating back to 1858. He also has a Wade's, a Pond's, Chester's, a nail on a wood crossarm for two rubber ramshorns, a crossarm for the 1867 Brooke's insulator, a Mt. Washington ramshorn in its wood block, a Leffert's hook, a CD 126 Brookfield in dark SCA, a CD 728.7 slotted pinhole, a CD 701.6 cobalt, an 1851 Batchelder patent, and a Yandell patent. As for CD 102s, he has a clear and an ink blue Diamond, a jade, teal blue, amber, and cornflower Brookfield, a jade Hawley, a royal purple no-name Hamilton, a peacock blue Westinghouse, and many others. 

One week, 3 people, and a CJ5 Jeep
Total: 19 Cal Elect one-wire telegraph poles, 2 green and 1 aqua Cal Electrics, 5 sets of 1900s high voltage pole pins, top center pin, and 2 crossarm pins, 3 signs, 5 multi-section and 2 single-section suspension insulators, 6 multi parts, 4 older bottles, and many other items.

James has "247 pieces of paper, some for each of the items I collect, and four catalogs from manufacturers. There's paper for insulators, insulator supply houses, telegraph companies, telegraph supplies, battery companies, barbed wire manufacturers, and all types of mining items. These include orders for ore cars without brakes, ore bags, picks, lunch buckets, powder, fuse, candles, a Whitall Tatum Company catalog from before they made insulators, one for the Ohio Brass Company with insulators, general item receipts from ghost town stores, and ink manufacturers. 

"I also have original telegrams from the 1850 Morse line, to the 1920s for the Rawhide Telegraph Co., Rawhide, Nevada. I also have some telegrams from the Civil War (one is marked 'C. S.' for 'Confederate States'), and an undated envelope and telegram from the House's Printing Telegraph Company from Lockport, New York." He also has two telegrams from the Nevada and California Telegraph Co., which served Aurora, Nevada, and Bodie, California. (Aurora is where the Aurora blue E. C. & M.s come from. The Bodie line is where James found his two green Cal. Elec. Works.) One telegram has the town of Aurora printed on it, and then has the town of Bodie written over it, and is dated 1881. He also has original receipts from the E. C.& M. Co. , Cal. Elec. Works, Greeley, Tillotson, E. S. B. CO., and Seilers. All of these receipts are for insulators. Also included is a piece of Hemingray Company paper, but it isn't for insulators. James says he has some Cal. Elec. papers and others that he will trade for different companies, and he'd like to find a battery jar with a telegraph company name on it. 

James continues, "I started like many people did, as a general collector, and after having put about 1000 insulators in my collection and having been to some shows and seeing other collections, I decided to start specializing in some type. There were many to choose from and many that were already being collected. Having looked through the Milholland's book and price guide, I decided on the CD 101-102s, as there were many colors, and only two rare embossings; the Westinghouse and the base-embossed Pat'd. I have nearly 400 CD 102s and 18 CD 101 s in different colors. I'm trying to complete a color run from clear to black in ponies. I still need the black one.

"I'm also working on a color display of CD 130s and 130.1 s. In the CD 130s so far there are two good strong blue aquas with a total of six aquas in both tall and short styles and the three shades, three greens in both styles, and two other shades of green. Two of the three greens I found still with their wires, buried in the ground one span apart. In CD 130.1 I have both light aquas and a dark aqua, and cobalts.

"As for other hobbies, I have toooooo many hobbies and not enough time or money. There's rock hunting, sawing, polishing, to make jewelry and for displaying. Also there's bottle digging and collecting of many different types; medicines, poisons, food, whiskies (pumpkin seed style), and a few sodas. There are two very nice sodas, an 'S.B.Doty' ,bottler from Vermont, and a rare Bodie soda from the ghost town of Bodie. I have 32 different colors, sizes, or manufacturers of master inks. These are the refills for the smaller ink wells; also about 70 of the ink wells (cones, umbrellas, tea pots, and many other types.) My mother and I both collect the inks. We also have about 30 different types of barbed wire, and many railroad items; locks, lanterns, a full-size railroad track switch. Also we have a Gamewell fire alarm box and a coin-operated parking meter. All three of these I have cleaned up, and have done some repainting on them. They are mounted on a wood base at the front door."

Didn't I tell you that this was a man with varied interests? There's more! James has about 25 trade tokens, some of which he found with a metal detector, and some of which are good for mining items such as fuse, powder, dynamite, exploiters, while others are good for cents off on general items. He has two neat tokens; one from the ghost town of Randsburg, California, out in the Mojave Desert, good for one loaf of bread from the Steam Bakery. The other is from the Doty Lumber Company, Doty, Washington. James is trying to acquire a porcelain sign he saw on a trip to the Florida national which read "L.C. Doty Fine Groceries", but it was not for sale yet. He's trying to trade for it. His newest collection is older items with the family name on them.

A few of my Cals 
CD 130 blue, medium and ice aqua; CD 130.1 dark aqua, cobalt, green (mlod), and 
3-piece green, one of two I found

James says, "I'm collecting porcelain signs only from power companies that have the company name on them, or that say something about danger, high voltage, or 'do not climb towers', 'do not shoot at insulator wires or poles', or anything to do with high voltage. I have three signs that are not porcelain but are unusual in some way. I have approximately 50 different signs, and am always looking for more, and I have signs to trade. Along with the miscellaneous ghost town items, I have measured out about 25 different sizes of square nails from 8" to only 1/2" long.

"I also have a collection of mining items, from my two ore cars, 3 train buckets, and one shaft bucket, to my old style blasting cap detonator plunger box from the Hercules Powder Company. I also have empty blasting cap tins from the 1870s-1940s. The most unusual thing I have found underground is an 1860s-1870s wood-with-steel strapping two-man hand-carry ore container. It looks like a baby cradle with a curved bottom, head, and footboard, and two long side boards. These are in fact known as 'cradles'. The men would stand in between the side boards and carry it like a stretcher. Its age can be guessed by the fact that it has been nailed together and repaired with square nails only. In all of the museums I have been in, and among all the mining collectors I know, there is no other like it, other than in pictures. I have toooooo many other items, such as TNT, 1860s candle boxes, blasting powder cans, candles, lamps, cleanout spoons, picks, a pre-1870s 3-piece shovel from Aurora, and a gold bar mold from the place where I found my aqua CD 130.1. There's more, but to end the mining items, there is a Jeffrey mining handbook to go with my Jeffrey mine insulator and Jeffrey pin.

"The collecting never stops! I like to collect old Log Cabin Syrup items also, and so far I have four different glass containers. One from the 1940s looks like a cabin; the other is a cork top that looks like an olive oil bottle. These are embossed 'Log Cabin', 'Log Cabin Syrup' , or 'Towles Log Cabin Syrup'. I also have two of the 1897-1909 paper-labeled Log Cabin cans. One of these still has the advertisement for the sterling silver Log Cabin spoon on it. I have 2 of the 5 types known; a 1950s full can, and a rare but poor-condition super size, approximately 8lbs., or one gallon, 1897-1909 only. I collect marbles but only if I find them. There's a box of around 500 somewhere. I have two unglazed ceramics; one found years ago at Rawhide and the other near Bodie.

"Besides using my metal detectors for tokens and insulator hunting, I do a little weekend gold prospecting. The detector works great for locating the black sand, and then the water flow path can be plotted and the area can be worked. I haven't found any big nuggets yet, but who knows? I also have been collecting music records for 25 years, mostly 45s and some 33s. There are 573 45s and 130 33s. These are songs I have wanted to keep and record onto cassette tape, and some promotional records, many Beatles records, and one promo. The music is from the mid-50s to the early 70s.

"Then there's my amateur radio (ham radio) hobby. I have a license for the VHF range. I only run two meters with my hand-heIds for now; I'm still working on my general license. I also like to build electronic projects for myself, my car, and friends... mostly alarms and small items. And my last hobby; the place where I work does work for the military. I'm involved in many of the different projects there, so I meet some of the government inspectors who come in to buy of our equipment. Some of the projects have some inexpensive giveaways that come from the prime contractor. These items all have a logo on them which shows something about the project, and will usually have the item's military designation on them. These items can be coffee cups if you rank high enough, cloth sew on patches, to the most inexpensive; a paper or plastic sticker with the same logo on it. I have 148 different stickers so far, most from my contracts at work, and some from the military air shows I attend, where there are other military equipment manufacturers who are giving the stickers away." 

Wow ! Well, I think it is time to learn a little about James. He was born in Los Angeles, California, on December 4, 1954, and he has a twin brother. His parents moved from their ranch house that sat on 33 acres in the hills above Sunland down to the town itself, and in 1969 they moved to Simi Valley. As for his occupations, James tells us, "Well, now, this list will not be so long. I have done a lot of work for my dad's construction company; arc welding, land surveying on the job sites, running heavy equipment (D-8 track loaders and backhoes.) I taught myself basic electronics and then started working at Thomas Organ Company. I was laid off there after 6 months, found another job at JMR Instruments. I stayed there for 8 months and was laid off again. I went back to Thomas Organ for 1-1/2 years, and was then called back to JMR. I dropped Thomas like a hot potato, going back to JMR with a good raise. I was there for 3-1/2 years and had maxed out in pay for my job title. By that time the company fell on hard times and I was laid off for the last time. There was some part-time work I did at night after working the day job. I was out of work for some 7 months and then saw a job offer posted at the unemployment office for work involving some very state-of-the-art technology work in electronics. I almost had to force my interviewer to call the company to see if they wanted to see me. My night job involved some high technology useful for this job. After a quick phone interview, I had an appointment two days later. I had two more interviews with different people, and three days later I was offered the job. I'm still there after 11 years. As for my education level, I spent three years at a local junior college taking courses in business and small business management, business and criminal law . 

"As for any personal hopes... I would like to find someone who could put up with some of these hobbies and get married. My goal for the insulator hobby is to complete my west coast collection, and for that, I need any C. E. W. but aqua, and a CD 1010 California sleeve. And I will keep looking for the really odd-colored CD102s and keep working on my collection of early telegraph insulators. My favorite insulators are my CD 102 Brookfield SDP in jade, my two green Cal. Elec. Works I found, the aqua and cobalt CD 130.1s, and my 1858 ceramic block with its original side pin from central California. My main 'want' is a CD 780, 782, or 784 bureau knob. As for how many insulators I presently have in my collection...about 2,000. 

"My only opinion about our hobby is that I'm afraid it too, may go the way the rockhounding hobby has; that the price some of the glass is selling for is toooooo high. (However I' m also guilty of paying toooo much for something I really want.) These prices may keep some people form getting very far into the hobby." 

Well, this was a long interview; one of the longest I've done, but I surely do appreciate James' taking the time to participate in "Bea Lines". It's obvious that he's a busy person, and he's definitely an interesting and nice man to meet. We always look forward to seeing him at the shows.

Me and my "wild horse" and three of my favorite insulators 
A CD 130.1 aqua, CD 130 green that I found, and a CD 130.1 dark cobalt.

POST January 17, 1994 Earthquake Report: Damage to Simi Valley was extensive. Thirty-five commercial buildings and twelve homes have been red-tagged as unsafe to occupy. We lost two display cases that broke their anchor and fell over. Loss was forty insulators smashed, and over a hundred damaged from banging against each other. Rose lost twenty of the thirty-eight Civil War master ink refill bottles. It was the first vertical shock of 8.2 and the first horizontal shock of 8.0 that caused the real damage.