20 Miles from a Match: Homesteading in Western Nevada

by Sarah E. Olds

Overview

Twenty Miles From a Match, originally published in 1978, is the autobiography of an indomitable woman and her family's twenty years of adventures and misadventures in a desert wilderness. In 1908, a venturesome woman named Sarah Olds packed up her brood and went homesteading west of Sutcliffe on Pyramid Lake. Her ailing husband said, welcoming her to their new home, "There, old lady. There's your home, and it's damn near in the heart of Egypt."

Olds tells of the hardships, frustrations, poverty, and other tribulations her family suffered from shortly after the turn of the century until well into the Great Depression. Through it all, however, runs a thread of humor, cheerfulness, and the ability to laugh at adversity.

Twenty Miles From a Match is a story for everyone who has thought or dreamed about homesteading in a setting far removed from the bustling lifestyle in an urban area. It is a true story, told simply and honestly and with delightful humor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874170528
Publisher:	University of Nevada Press
Publication date:	01/01/1978
Series:	Bristlecone Paperback Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	200
Sales rank:	447,249
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.90(d)

Editorial Reviews

This is the story of the only woman living in the wilderness of northwest Nevada in 1910. It is a down-to-earth story that tells about the kindness of neighboring ranch-hands, the use of old home remedies for illness, and how a family survived during terrible winters when food was in short supply.

Old West

Twenty Miles From a Match is almost required reading for anyone interested in reviewing the homesteading days in Nevada because of either nostalgia, or to learn how our pioneers coped.

Sparks Tribune