Rock Art Plus Longstreet's Mine and Cabin

Rock Art Plus Longstreet’s Mine and Cabin

By Marian & Neal Johns

Earlier this year, Sunny and Jean Hansen gave us the GPS coordinates for a remote petroglyph site In Nevada, so a few weeks ago we decided to combine finding this rock art with revisiting Jack Longstreet's ranch & mine.

     After finding the petro site (see photos), we headed for Longstreet's places in a couple of canyons west of Stone Cabin Valley - on the east side of the Monitor Range. His mine is in one canyon and the ranch is in the adjacent one to the north. The mine isn't too impressive as the spoils piles are rather small. There probably wasn't much ore (gold?) taken out of these shafts. We also found an old soddy with a rock front dug into the hillside that furnished shelter and the long-abandoned remains of a nice old flivver. About two miles north is his ranch. We had to spend a lot of time sawing back the encroaching trees and bushes alongside the road to get the camper by. Finally we gave up, parked and walked the last quarter of a mile up the canyon.

     It was worth the walk; the old log cabin is ready to move into. Sure, the roof needs a little work, but nothing Marian couldn't fix in a year or two. The garage is a little short of sidewalls, but heck, I bet the price is right. The first time we visited several years ago, we found an old apple tree loaded with fruit and helped ourselves. This year, however, there was nary an apple in sight - not even dried up, shriveled ones on the ground.

     Jack had another ranch in Nevada farther south, not too far from the boundary of Area 51. We visited that place too several years ago. It's a beautiful spot with a lovely lush meadow, but this year, we didn't have time to revisit it. 

     On our way home, we spent an hour or so digging in the old Tonopah dump. What fun! Found a couple of old bottles and lots of broken pottery and other stuff for Mignon.