Beebe was one of a kind. Some of my favorite stories have to do with spats between him and logging historian Stewart Holbrook. Basically they both competed as to which city was the most decadent - San Francisco or Portland.
One of the things that really struck me was when I read his screed on the abandonment of the Virginia and Truckee. It was probably one of the whiniest, irrational letters I have ever read. Obviously he took it pretty seriously as Virginia City was where he kept his private railroad car.
He was more or less a gossip/cultural columnist for the San Francisco Examiner (I think?) and had quite a reputation both in and out of print. He was often seen walking his two large dogs dressed in white with a bowler hat (He even wrote and entire monograph on bowler hats). To say he was a "personality" is putting it lightly.
I never met him personally but if I had - well, I really don't know...............
"When a fabrication is more interesting than the truth print the fabrication"
Lon Wall
Learn to run a real railroad at the Sumpter Valley