• Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Rentals
  • Artists in Residence
  • Videos
  • Resident Reviews
  • Contact
DESERT DAIRY
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Rentals
  • Artists in Residence
  • Videos
  • Resident Reviews
  • Contact

A History of Gold and Ruin

11/15/2019

0 Comments

 
I spent several afternoons with my neighbor, Abe, chatting about the history of our Desert Dairy. I've yet to be here on a Wednesday when the 29 Palms historical archives are open, so don't have formal research yet. But I now understand that only one family owned this property for almost 90 years. Teri, the woman we bought it from, said she came here as a little girl, and that's why I thought there were two families involved. But she came to live at her grandpa's house.
The major characters:
Grandpa, the dairy farmer who built the house and barn in 1930.
Miner Mike, his son, who turned to mining when the dairy dried up.
Teri and her brother Mike, who inherited the property from their father.
A single family explains why we found items related to the dairy in the sand, and books from the 30s. Miner Mike brought rocks to the property from mines across Southern California and Arizona. According to my neighbor, father and son snuck into the abandoned Bisbee mine,  bringing back loads to the Dairy. Somewhere on the dune there is a contraption that tumbles the rock apart. 
During a dispute between one of the Mikes and a neighbor, they burned down a structure. Brother Mike spent time in prison, and both he and Teri's son died of heroin overdoses.

Abe is convinced there's gold under the sand. He also said there was a large pile of valuable rock near the house, and a few months after we bought the property someone drove through our fence, knocking it down, probably looking for this rock pile. It's long gone.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    October 2022
    August 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018

    Categories

    All
    Artmaking
    Barn
    Construction
    Critters
    Desert Art Spots
    Farmhouse
    Food
    Gardening
    Guests
    History
    Residencies
    Sensitivity
    The Emotional Desert
    Trash
    Water
    Weather

    RSS Feed

    Authors

    Anna does most of the writing. Ted does most of the photos. But sometimes we switch. We are repairing a distressed property in 29 Palms, California, and eventually hope to run an artist residency there.


@Meyer Stump Properties 2019

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Rentals
  • Artists in Residence
  • Videos
  • Resident Reviews
  • Contact