Twenty Miles from a Match: Homesteading in Western Nevada (Bristlecone Paperback)

By Sarah E. Olds

Book 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 in the deserts north of Reno, 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. The foreword is by her daughter, Leslie Olds Zurfluh, the fourth of Sarah and A. J. Olds's six children.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874170524
• ISBN13: 9780874170528
• Release Date: January 1978
• Publisher: University of Nevada Press
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Great Story, easy read, could not put it down.

This book was very good. A must read for all those who dream of freedom that we will never have again. Yes there were hardships, but no one to tell us that we could only build a certain way or someone to come and take your children if you had too many. The only one who will ever be able to own this much land again ....the Government! How sad. Read this awesome book!

Fantastic reading

This book is a real page turner. Once I started reading it I could not put it down. It was satisfying from beginning to end and I did not want it to end. I highly recommend it.

Interesting read...

The struggles and hardships survived by this family should make us think twice about whining when we've had a bad day at the office, the dog throws up on the carpet, there's a traffic jam on the way home, the cable guy is four hours late, or any of the other happenings we find annoying in our modern lives. (how about that three-day trip to town and back?) As an animal lover, I skimmed over the semi-graphic descriptions of trapping animals. Other than that, an enthralling read.

A wonderful book!

I was turned on to this book by the authors great nephew. This woman's tale of hardship, perseverance and determination is one to be admired by all. An easy read and a wonderful adventure.

Twenty Miles From a Match

Delightful rendition of the Pioneer spirit. Easy to read and hard to put down.