The Life of Milfred R. Yant

Milfred R. Yant is well-known in Santa Clarita as the man who, in 1935 and 1936, sold land to small investors in Placerita Canyon claiming that it had oil and that a big oil company would buy it from them. But in 1938, he was convicted of the crimes of conspiracy to violate the Corporate Securities Act and to commit grand theft. On June 25, 1938 he was incarcerated in San Quentin Prison. He would be discharged on September 25, 1942.

In 1949, after hearing of a big oil strike in Placerita Canyon, he convinced Jose Ramon Somavia, a rich rancher friend in Hollister, California, where Yant was living at that time, that there may be oil on property that Yant still owned there. With Somovia's money, they drilled well Juanita 1 on Yant's land. It struck oil and both became rich (or richer for Somavia). That triggered a big drilling rush on the hill where that well was drilled. The hill was soon called Confusion Hill. It was also called Mad Mountain, and other similar names.

That part of the Yant story has been told on the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society website. But what hasn't been told is that earlier in his life, Yant was in prison once before and was involved with the Ku Klux Klan.

Starting at the beginning:

Milfred Reno Yant was born on July 23, 1899, in Alger, Hardin County, Ohio, to Ward and Henrietta Yant. The 1900 U.S. Census shows the family living in Lima, Allen County, Ohio. Yant's World War 1 records and gravestone list his birth date as 1898, but the 1900 census record clearly says 1899 with an age of 10/12 (the census was taken in June). Milfred is listed as Reno M. The 1910 U.S. Census shows that the family had moved to Smith, Whitley County, Indiana. This time he is listed as Reno Wilfred with an age of 10.

According to Yant's 1939 San Quentin Prison application for executive clemency, he spent his youth on his parent's farm and attended school in Columbia City, Indiana. When he was 17, during his second year of high school, his mother died (in August of 1916). He then left high school and went to live with relatives back in Ohio. Why did he leave his father, who would not die until 1942? Did they have a falling out?

The United States entered World War 1 on April 6, 1917. Yant enlisted in the U.S. Navy for four years on April 26, 1917. Since he was still 17 (his birthday was in July), he would have needed the approval of his parents. His mother was dead and he apparently has some issues with his father, so Yant changed his birth year to 1898 to make himself 18. His naval enlistment papers listed brother Clyde as his beneficiary, not his father. All of his non-military records show a correct birth year of 1899.

Yant was discharged from the navy on November 14, 1917, due to a physical disability (listed as "exophthalmic goiter" in his navy medical records). Yant then enlisted in the Fourth Seaforth Highlanders of the British army. After two months of training, he was off to the front. After only a month of service, he was severely gassed and sent to the Castle hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he remained 13 weeks. While recovering there, he was given a goiter operation.

In July of 1918, he had met a girl named Flora Robertson in Edinburgh at a function for American soldiers before going to the front. After leaving the hospital, he started to court Flora. They were married in Edinburgh on November 25, 1918, at the home of the bride's parents. The married couple returned to North America by ship in May of 1919.

In 1920, the U.S. Census shows carpenter Milfred, wife Flora, and their new-born son Robert living in Indiana. In 1922, they were in Ohio because their second son, Theodore, was born there in 1922. By 1924, they were living in Elko, Nevada.

In Nevada, Yant became involved with the Ku Klux Klan. This has been well documented in the book Blazing Crosses in Zion - The Ku Klux Klan in Utah, by Larry R. Gerlach (1982, Utah State Universiy Press, Logan, Utah, 248pp.). Here are some quotes:

"In November [1924] Milfred R. Yant, veteran Klan organizer who established several Klaverns in Nevada from his base in Elko, appeared in Provo [Utah] to arrange for moving his family to Provo." (p. 88)

"The establishment of the Ku Klux Klan in the unlikely territory [Utah County] was a tribute to the superb salesmanship of Milfred R. Yant, veteran Nevada organizer who, in January 1925 had moved his family to Provo... Operating out of a small office on West Center Street, Yant first organized a Klavern in Provo and then moved out into the adjoining communitees. By March, Klans had been established in American Fork, Lehi, and Spanish Fork in addition to Provo." (p. 112)

"Then, on Monday, March 30 [1925], there mysteriously appeared throughout the town handbills inviting residents to a rally the next night at the Realart Theatre. A capacity crowd showed up to a Yant lecture on the Klan's solutions to the evils of the '18th amendment, Jews and Greeks, national newspapers, the oil companies, the white slavery, and crime.' Yant was apparently persuasive, for 'the big majority' of the audience rose in support of the Klan and signed up during the membership drive that followed the lecture." (p. 112-113)

"...Klan fortunes in Utah County fell as rapidly as they has risen. The social and cultural homogeneity of the county, along with the opposition of the LDS church, would have made it difficult, if not impossible, to sustain the initial enthusiasm for the Klan. But the fate or the order was sealed the moment Yant hurriedly left his Provo apartment about 3:00 A.M. on May 1 [1925] with his wife, two children, an illegally acquired automobile, fraudulent funds, and the Klan treasury." (p. 113-114)

"Complaints filed with the Fourth District Court in Provo reveal that Yant had good reason to abscond. The initial charge was that he had defrauded the Provo Commercial and Savings Bank of $365 by cashing a forged draft on an Elko bank. Subsequent investigations revealed that he had also cashed about $700 in bogus notes endorsed by various Provo businessmen who now found themselves financially and socially embarrassed. Moreover, Yant fled in a new Nash sedan obtained from the Jackson Motor Company for a small down payment and a secondhand car, which actually carried a $150 lien. Law enforcement officials not only issued a nationwide warrant for Yant's arrest but also dispatched Deputy Sheriff Charles Coates across country in pursuit of the fleeing Klansman. Coates finally caught up with Yant and arrested him in Deland, Florida, on October 13. Following extradition proceddings, Yant was returned to Provo on October 22 and placed in the county jail." (p. 114)

"Yant appeared in court under the custody of Sheriff J. D. Boyd for arraignment on Monday, October 26. Without legal counsel, the defendant entered a plea of 'guilty' to the charges of forgery and was remanded to the county jail. City Judge George S. Ballif set the bail at $1,000. On October 28 Yant appeared before Fourth District Judge Elias Hansen for sentencing. Still without a lawyer, Yant pleaded for leniency from the court, telling a 'vivid' tale of the debauched life of drunkenness and lewdness to which he had been introduced by young Provo males. The forgery, he argued, was the result of having spent 'enormous sums' hosting parties, buying moonshine for 'the fellows,' and loaning money to compatriots that went unrepaid. Judge Hansen listened patiently and then, after hearing the state's case presented by District Attorney M. B. Hope, sentenced Yant to the Utah State Prison for an indeterminate term of not less than one or more than twenty years." (p. 114)

"The zeal with which Provo law officers pursued Yant was no doubt motivated by more than a desire to serve justict by apprehending a petty felon. They also wanted to arrest the spread of Klankraft in the county. More than anywhere else in the state, the Ku Klux Klan in Utah County was the creation of a single person. When Yant fled in May, the Klan literally lost its head; consequently recruiting activities and public appearances ceased as embarrassed Klansmen either left the scandal-plagued order or went underground. With Yant's conviction in October, the Klan was discredited in Utah County and, no doubt, throughout the state." (p. 114-115)

Gerlach's Note 39 (p. 218) says that

"The case of the State of Utah vs. M. R. Yant may be followed in the records of the Fourth District Court in Provo: Criminal Register, Book C, File 983, and Court Minutes, vol. 14, p. 435. State prison records show that Yant was incarcerated on October 29, 1925, and released on April 5, 1926."

After being released from prison in 1926, Yant went to Florida where his wife had a baby girl in 1927. The family then migrated California. The 1930 US Census puts Yant in Brighton, Sacramento County, California, with his wife Flora, son Robert (10), son Theodore (8), and new Florida-born daughter Betty Lou. Yant was working as a signalman on a steam railroad. California voter records show that by 1932, he was living in Los Angeles County.

In late 1933, Yant was arrested in Los Angeles for petty theft, but the case was dismissed.

Sometime before 1935, Yant divorced his wife Flora. On July 5, 1935, he married 24 year old Dorothy D. Ziegelasch in Las Vegas, Neveda. Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters for 1936 showed Milfred and Mrs. Dorothy D. at the same residence.

On May 1, 1935, the Yant Petroleum Company was incorporated in California by Milfred Yant, Earl Libby, and Aubrey Pereira. They received a permit to sell stock to its officers, Yant, Libby, and Pereira, but no authority was given to sell to the public. They obtained a sublease from the Nile Oil Company for lands in Placerita Canyon near Newhall and then purchased the original lease. In June of 1935, Yant purchased about 300 acres of land in the Placerita Canyon area from Thomas Frew. In 1936, he would obtain the oil and gas rights to that land.

Yant's appeal shows some of the activities that were being done that got him and his associates in trouble in 1935 and 1936. He sold land that was claimed to have oil and gas and that the Yant Petroleum Company would develop it if the buyer would also execute a community oil and gas lease to the company. Monthly rentals would be paid to the landowners. They would also receive a pro rata share of any oil production. The company would do all the work. However, in September of 1936, the rentals stopped coming. The Yant Petroleum Company did drill wells, but found no commercial quantities of oil. In his clemency statement, Yant says that "I definitely severed all ideas of any operations of this kind from myself long before I was ever arrested or tried on these charges. I quit them in November, 1936, and up to the time of my arrest, I was employed by the Scripps Howard Newspapers in Washington D.C. as an advertising salesman."

However, Yant neglects to mention his problems with the law in Pennsylvania. His arrest record shows that in November of 1936, he was arrested and charged with forgery and conspiracy to cheat and defraud and obtain money by false pretense in Philadelphia. In December, he was released because there was not enough evidence. Then he went to Washington D.C. and obtained a job at the Washington Daily News.

In April of 1937, the Los Angeles County grand jury decided that Yant and his associates were in the business of selling securities in the form of certificates of interest in an oil title and lease. They needed a permit from the Commissioner of Corporations of California to sell securites, which they had not obtained. Yant was indicted and charged with one count of the crime of conspiracy to violate the Corporate Securites Act and to commit grand theft, 11 counts of grand theft, and 9 counts with violating the Corporate Securites Act. All the offences were felonies. Not being in California, Yant was considered a fugitive. He was finally apprehended in Washington, D.C., in September of 1937 and returned to Los Angeles to stand trial.

On June 3, 1938, Milfred Yant was convicted by a jury trial on one count of conspiracy to commit grand theft and to to violate the Corporate Securities Act and nine counts of violation of the Corporate Securities Act. He was found not guilty of the 11 counts of grand theft. The prison board was responsible for determining the sentence. Because he had a prior felony conviction, he was sentenced to 1-10 years for the one count and 0-5 years for the nine counts, all to run concurrently. Earl Libby, a co-defendent, was also convicted of the same charges but, because he had no prior, he was only given probation.

Yant was sent to San Quentin prison on June 25, 1938. His appeal was rejected. During his time there, he applied for Executive Clemency on March 7, 1939, which was denied, and for a Commutation of Sentence on September 14, 1939, which was also denied.

The 1940 U.S. Census for Los Angeles, California, lists Flora as a divorced landlady with sons Robert (20 - an assistant cook), Theodore (18 - messenger in print shop), and daughter Betty Lou (13) still living with her. Yant was listed on the 1940 census as being in San Quentin, California State Prison, Marin County, California. He was still married (to Dorothy, who I couldn't find on the 1940 census).

Yant was paroled from July 25, 1940, but returned on January 30, 1941. He evidently got in trouble again by being involved with a very similar case to his own (see People v. Marvin case). Yant was finally discharged from San Quentin on September 25, 1942. Probably before September of 1942, Milfred and Dorothy divorced because his September 1942 World War 2 registration card shows Nora as the contact person. He was evidently still supporting her monetarily.

However, he was again married on January 14, 1944, to 40 year old Grace E. Blanton (nee Will). Their marriage was not long because on September 11, 1945, he married Geneva Francis Duckworth (nee Caldwell) in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was 20 years younger than him. In February of 1950 she sued for Annulment (LA Times, February 15, 1950) claiming that Yant never told her that he was a convicted felon. They reconciled within two days. Then in June of 1950, she sued for divorce (LA Times, June 6, 1950) on charges of cruelty. They reconciled again, but in October of 1951 she again sued for divorce (LA Times, December 1, 1951). They were divorced later in 1951 or early in 1952.

Yant lived in Mexico between about 1952 and 1963 (according to his granddaughter - personal communication). There, he married a young Mexico City fashion model named Christina. It was reported (Muskogee, Oklahoma, Daily Phoenix, 9/26, 9/27, 9/28/1957) that they had an auto accident while driving in Oklahoma in January of 1956. Yant suffered severe bruises but Christina's back was broken along with other injuries. Plus she was pregnant. Yant had recently purchased a new car and claimed that the tire had leaked causing him to lose control of their car and crash. They filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against the the B.F. Goodrich and the Ford Motor Company, but the case was dismissed. However, the child, a girl, was born with no problems. They would also have a son.

By 1963 he had divorced Christina, probably in Mexico, because on December 19, 1963, Yant married in California for a sixth time to Maria E. Charles. He was 64. She was 35.

An interesting sidelight to Yant's later life is that he was granted a U.S. patent on March 28, 1969, for a "Process for Extracting Oil from Oil Shale".

Milfred R. Yant died on September 16, 1972, in Houston, Texas, from cardio-pulmonary arrest due to heart disease. As a U.S. Navy veteran, he was buried in the Houston National Cemetery.


Mr. Yant certainly lived a very interesting life.

Some Sources

1900 and 1910 census (ancestry.com). They had problems with his name, which was Milfred Reno, the son of Ward and Henrietta Yant.

1917 U.S. Navy enlistment papers (from the National Archives). He was actually born in 1899 not 1898.

1917 U.S. Navy medical records (from the National Archives).

Ohio soldiers in World War 1 (ancestry.com).

1919 journey from Liverpool, England, to Quebec, Canada, on steamship Melita (ancestry.com) after the marriage of Milfred and Flora.

1920 census (ancestry.com)

The Ogden, Utah, Standard Examiner of May 5, 1925. His two small children were Robert (about 5) and Theodore (about 3).

The Springville, Utah, Herald of May 8, 1925

The American Fork, Utah, Citizen of May 9, 1925

The Salt Lake Telegram of October 14, 1925

The Springville Herald of October 16, 1925. By his own admission, Yant was in the service of the British army not the Canadian army. Ottowa must have had access to the records from both armies. There is no reason to doubt that Yant was gassed in WW 1 and became an imperial pensioner, although there are no records today to prove it.

The Salt Lake Telegram of October 28, 1925

The Salt Lake Telegram of October 29, 1925

The Springville Herald of October 30, 1925

The American Fork Citizen of October 31, 1925

1925 commitment of Yant to Utah State Prison (this document was in the Yant documents from the California State Archives). Yant was incarcerated on October 29, 1925, and released on April 5, 1926, after serving a little more than 5 months of a 1 to 20 year sentence.

1930 census (ancestry.com)

1932 California voter registration for Los Angeles County (ancestry.com)

Yant goes missing in 1937. The Newhall Signal of April 29, 1937.

Finally caught in Washington D.C. Los Angeles Times of September 17, 1937.

Yant worked for the Washington Daily News From about December of 1936 to September of 1937, when he was sent back to Los Angeles to stand trial, so he didn't quite leave "of his own accord."

Yant convicted. Los Angeles Times of February 19, 1938.

Yant appeals. Yant and Libby were convicted of the same charges. Libby was freed on probation but, because he had a prior felony conviction, Yant had to serve time. Los Angeles Times of February 28, 1938.

Yant's "rap sheet" from his San Quentin records.

San Quentin State Prison records (ancestry.com). Yant was parolled from 7/25/1940 until January 30, 1941.

San Quentin State Prison - ID card. Note the Criminal Record section. Utah State Prison was also know as Sugar House Prison because it was located in the Sugar House district of Salt Lake City. The 1924 date is wrong. He was in prison in 1925-26 for a little over 5 months. (ancestry.com)

San Quentin State Prison records (ancestry.com)

1940 census for San Quentin with Milfred Yant (ancestry.com)

1940 census for Flora (ancestry.com)

In 1942, Yant had to register for World War 2. Note that his birth year is the correct 1899. At this time he wasn't married but was still supporting Flora and his children still living with her (from the National Archives).

The newly rich Milfred Yant finally has a reason to smile. From Time Magazine of December 19, 1949

Muskogee, Oklahoma, Daily Phoenix, September 26, 1957. The lawsuit would be dismissed.

Death Certificate (ancestry.com)

Yant is buried in the Houston National Cemetery in Section F, Site 1487. The year of birth was probably retrieved from his WW1 service record. He was actually born in 1899. (billiongraves.com)