Josie Pearl's place (Nevada)

[Tom Green]

Has anyone been to Josie Pearls place in recent times? I read about her in an old (1955) Desert Magazine article and she lived in a canyon off Leonard Creek Road north of Winnemucca and West of Orvada. She lived there well into her late 70's and was a hard rock miner. She lived alone out there in a cabin for years. I was interested in checking the site out, however I wanted to check and see if anyone had been there and what I could learn from them.

Thanks!

Tom

[Albin]

Never heard of Josie Pearl, but my son and I tried to get in to see the old Black Rock Desert ghost town of Varyville last summer. No go, all of it was posted no trespassing. We asked a local rancher for permission to visit it but he denied it.

Varyville is west of Leonard Creek Ranch and slightly south of it off the Bartlett Creek.

Further south in the BRD itself, there is a lot of National Conservation Areas that are closed to vehicles, so know where you going and don't cross the closed off road areas.


Answer Pt II: While were there last summer, there was a very old lady that mined some jewelry mineral (can't recall the name right now). She was camped out on the other side of the Black Rock Range from the Leonard Creek Ranch area about halfway between Gerlach and the Soldier Meadow's Ranch. She rents a camp site from the owner of Soldier Meadows Ranch. She was a hard rock miner 'cause she told us and had been doing it for years. She's up there in the spring and summer only though, lives in Reno (IRC) the rest of the time. We bought a nice bracelet for my wife from her.

Get the e-mail address from the Soldier Meadows Ranch site and e-mail the owner (or PM for it) and ask who the lady is and when she'll come back. He'll also know her name and perhaps her Reno contact info.

Good luck.

Al

[Tom Green]

Thanks for the info, Josie died years ago.....

[Albin]

Ok.

Forgot to ask: Where off Leonard Creek Road did she live or work? There's a bunch of mining in the BR Range, especially on the east side near LCR.

God, I miss the desert......

[chefjuke]

Tom,


I too read the Desert Magazine article as well as Ernie Pyle's account from the 1930's AND the biography of Josie by Anna Schulmerich. Fascinating woman.

As I have been to the Black Rock Desert and it's surroundings a few times, I was planning on taking a trip there this spring to see if anything was left of Josie's homestead, but was unable to make it.

I had looked at a number of local maps and the location of her house is noted as PEARL CAMP on, imagine that, Pearl Camp Road, near Josie Pearl Spring northwest of Winnemucca.

Approximate Location:
LAT 41 31 44.58 N
LON 118 49 45.73 W


Just this last week a friend mentioned that she was going to be driving past there on a family vacation which included visiting some ghost towns and I gave her my maps and she and family went to check it out....and it's still there.

Pictures:

Josie's homestead
http://www.chefjuke.com/josie/josie1.jpg

Front Door:
http://www.chefjuke.com/josie/josie2.jpg

Josie's Ore Samples
http://www.chefjuke.com/josie/josie3.jpg

Garage/shed:
http://www.chefjuke.com/josie/josie4.jpg


I am really excited to visit now and am working on figuring out the next time I can get out that way.

For those who are interested in Josie's story, see below:



The Desert Magazine article is posted here:

http://www.blackrockdesert.org/frien...ck-rock-desert

1963 Biography of Josie:

http://www.amazon.com/Josie-Pearl-al...3297106&sr=8-1

-Chef Juke
www.chefjuke.com
"EVERYbody eats when they come to MY House!"

[Albin]

My son and I went right by that place last summer. We first came in from the west trying to get to Varyville from Soldier's Meadows Ranch. We encountered the gate and no trespassing signs right around 41.499928 -118.837201, about a mile or so from Varyville and right at 2 miles directly south of Pearl's place.

We then went out to the north and east towards Leonard Creek Ranch to ask permission a rancher for permission to access Varyville. Our route out took us right past Pearl's old place.

I don't recall seeing it as we went out or maybe we saw it but didn't know it was abandoned - don't know.

Dang, now I really miss the desert.

Al

[chefjuke]

Just an FYI:

Someone was kind enough to point out that the pic that I described as "Josie's Ore Samples" (that was the caption my friend sent with the pic) are actually from an oil drilling rig, not hand dug samples. May have been drilled for her by someone else or for some other reason than mining samples.

Chef Juke

[Darp]

Chefjuke, Wow, thanks so much for sharing the pics. Do you have more? Please post.

I had figured out where it was via sat images, but so good to have pics of place. Looks much like I expected.

Those are core drills, used for hard rock prospecting to this day. That is fairly large machine, wonder if she had her own.

It is somewhat of a mystery why she spent so much time up there, she did better elsewhere it would seem.

I was planning to go up to Virgen Valley opal mines from Reno net week, and wanted to see the Pearl homestead and Varyville. If Varyville is off limits any other ghostowns or ruins nearby you can suggest?


-Darp

[chefjuke]

Darp,

While I've been planning a trip to this area of black rock for about a year, I haven't gone myself but told a friend about Josie and the area and she and her family visited (and took the pics) on a trip to Winnemucca this spring.

Most of my info on the area comes from internet searches...don't have much personal experience yet, but if you check with me by this time next year, I might.

;-)

[Darp]

Thanks. Will post what I find.

Darp