From the jacket:
"Pioneers of the Ponderosa is the fascinating but heretofore unwritten chronicle of Washoe Valley, Nevada, and how it supported and aided the mines and miners of the fabulous Comstock. Written with sympathy and authority, the book presents exciting stories of long forgotten, often tragic happenings in the lives of the men and women - the less known and the famous - who came to Washoe Valley to displace the Washoe Indians, to plunder the natural resources or to build permanent homes.
......This well documented book describes the rise and fall of the former Mormon settlement of Franktown, the lumbering hamlets of Mills Station and Little Bangor, Ophir and its huge expensive stamp mill and hell-raising Washoe City.
Pioneers of the Ponderosa contains a wealth of stimulating material which has never before appeared in the numerous histories of the Comstock and Nevada. It brings to light information which would otherwise be unobtainable or lost..."
Hardback, 470 pages, illustrated, printed by Western Printing and Publishing Co. of Sparks, NV
A few copies of the original printing are still available from Carlee Bennett, daughter of the author. Please contact her at
for more information.
From Life in KenCaryl, local Denver area newspaper:
"Settlement resident Myra Ratay has just published her second book Boom Times in Old Washoe City, a nostalgic trip into early Pioneer days.
....Boom Times is a gold mine of information about how life was lived a hundred plus years ago in the short-lived, rip-roaring County Seat. Mrs. Ratay writes from personal knowledge of the area. She is the granddaughter of Andrew Sauer, who settled in Washoe Valley in 1859, and her father shared with her his vast fund of stories about the early days in the Valley."
Paperback, 108 pages, illustrated, printed by Western Printing and Publishing Co., of Sparks, NV
Copies of this book are available from Gary Ratay, son of the author, for $15.00 plus shipping. Use contact for web site.