Nevada History: On The GO! – JRefining the Story Josie Reed Ames Pearl Rasmussen Moreasti: A Tale of Bonanza Argentiferous Ore or Barren Tails (Off-site, SVL)

November 7, 2026, 1 – 2:30 pm Speaker: Richard Dorman, historian and geologist Title of Talk: Refining the Story Josie Reed Ames Pearl Rasmussen Moreasti: A Tale of Bonanza Argentiferous Ore or Barren Tails Josie Pearl, 1951 This presentation explores the fascinating story of Josie Reed Ames Pearl Rasmussen Moreasti, an early woman storyteller prospector and one of Nevada’s most colorful figures, remembered as the “Queen of the Black Rock Desert.” Josephine’s family would move to Sanford in the San Luis Valley in Colorado, where she claims she developed an interest in mining at a young age. In1895, Josie is visiting friends in Lamar and living in Alamosa, Colorado. On February 27, 1896, Josie married Eugene F. Ames in Alamosa, where they set up house. And Josie joins the Central Christian Church of Alamosa. Josie and Eugene move from Alamosa to Bachelor Town in 1900, where Eugene is a miner and Josie is a housewife. To defray costs, they take in two new arrivals in town as boarders, Monti and Lane Pearl. By May 22, 1903, Lane and Josie are married, and Eugene is not around. Barry Lane and Josie move to Jasper, south of Creede, where Lane gets a contract from a friend, Walter Boyle, to drive a tunnel. He is not a mining engineer and never attended Stanford. Barry makes friends with the right people, and by 1907, he is elected county commissioner. The couple remained in the Creede area until 1909, when Walter Boyle asked him to go to Ward, White Pine County, Nevada, where he would drive a new Adit into a silver property for Boyle and then have several other jobs in Ely. In 1918, one of his employees goes to a victory celebration for the end of WWI. The employee returns and infects five people at the mine with Spanish Flu. Lane Pearl gets sick and dies in 1918 in Ely. Josie stays in Ely, runs a hotel, mingles in society, and plays cards with Vail Pittman’s wife. She got married to Henry Rasmussen in Salt Lake on December 5, 1919, and spent some time in Colorado with family but returned to SLC and then Nevada by May of 1920, without, husband #3. Josie returns to Ely where she is the hostess for numerous dinners and social events. 1924 Josie marries Leo Moreasti. In 1928, Josie grubstaked Guy Bishop to stake claims for her in the Columbia Mining District in Humboldt County. She built a cabin in Cove Canyon near the Black Rock Desert. In 1930 she moves to Bodie, California where she lived for 2 years until a fire destroyed the boarding house she was running, Josie then returns to her cabin in Cove Canyon where she remains for the next 38 years. She divorced her 4th husband in 1936. Josie returns to live on the Black Rock Desert, where she begins her reign as the Tugboat Annie of the desert. Our speaker will share new, previously unknown facts about Josie Pearl. Speaker Bio: Richard H. Dorman is a man of many passions, including history, music, theater, and geology—interests he enthusiastically shares with others. His deep fascination with the history of Jarbidge, Nevada, and the last stagecoach mail robbery in 1916 led him to uncover and revive the stories of several women whose contributions had long been overlooked or forgotten. An active performer, Mr. Dorman appears in productions at the White Stage Theater in Winnemucca and participates annually in San Francisco’s Dickens Fair, where he performs with multiple choral ensembles and lectures on paleontology. He is also a skilled historical costumer, creating reproduction garments for a variety of performing groups. Richard Dorman, speaker Mr. Dorman earned a Bachelor of Science in Geology from the Mackay School of Mines at the University of Nevada, Reno in 1976. His career in mining and mineral exploration spans more than 46 years and includes extensive work with sediment-hosted mineralized deposits across Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Indonesia, and Nevada. He has held senior positions in the industry, including Vice President of Exploration at Universal Uranium Ltd., and has worked with companies such as Getchell Gold Corporation, Hunt Oil, Coastal Chemical Corporation, Dyno Nobel, Atlas Minerals, and Plateau Resources Add to calendar Google Calendar iCalendar Outlook 365 Outlook Live