Civilization At Last - Sort Of

 Finally, in my journey down the Ghost Town Trail, I hit pavement.  It was a little dark and cloudy, but at least I knew there would be cars and people!!

And what to my wandering eyes should I see?  The Soto Bros. & Renaud General Store .... FOR SALE!  I slammed on the brakes and pulled in.  It's huge, so I could live in the back and make the front a QUILT STORE!!  Maybe even have a small sandwich bar.  I haven't checked the price yet ... I'll let you know.

Built in 1896 by Soto and Renaud, Mr. Renaud became sole owner in 1901.  It is the largest building in Cochise County.  It's built of adobe, with cedar and redwood beams.  This image is much older and from the internet.

Across the street is the Post Office, built in 1896 also.  Pearce was named for Cornishman James Pearce, a miner and cattleman.  He discovered gold in 1894 and began working the Commonwealth Mine, Arizona's major silver producer.  The railroad came here in 1903 and the population grew to 1500.

So just for kicks, I checked out the price of the store.  $1,100,000, a little over my budget.  Click here Museum to see the magnificence.  Boy what I wouldn't give to own this beauty!!

As I was wandering around, I saw an OPEN sign.  This little building off to the right of the post office was full of stuff for sale, mostly ceramics.  All the way in the back was a very sweet lady who makes it all.  I didn't get her name, as within minutes, the shop was full of people.  

She mentioned she spent most of her life in the post office (above picture).  The building now closed, she is having all the windows replaced and trying to save the adobe.  Apparently it's very difficult to find contractors willing to work on these old buildings.  She did mention the general store had some "problems" they were working on, so you better have TWO million to account for repairs.

It's a fascinating place, although you can only enter this one building.   Everything else is closed up.

As you can see, this is the beginning of the ghost Town Trail.  I of course had just driven it backwards.  Here's a cool piece of mining machinery.  I imagine a guy stands on the back and runs it, loading rock, or maybe just clearing it from the track.  I did wonder what powered it.  Anyone have any ideas?

All this while, I'm really wanting inside the General Store, but all the signs said not to bother the owner.  I asked if I could look in the windows, but they were completely blocked off.  So across the next street I went to have a look see at the Jail.  Every town had it overnight facilities for those who imbibed too much.   This one, though much smaller, is in great shape.

It was built in 1915 of poured concrete and steel.  It has two cells with a few very small windows at the top.  It cost all of $615 and was used until the 1930's.  I rather image it was pretty hot inside in the summer.

As I was heading on down the road, I spotted some adobe ruins.  With no real entry to be seen, I went off roading a little into an empty lot, hoping I didn't hear any gunshots.  I walked with my camera in full view to find this magnificent building in disrepair.  I sure would like to bring it back to life.

There were actually TWO buildings here, the first almost completely fallen down.  I imagine they were homes since they were both very small.  

And so I left the trail of old towns and headed back to my little home.  I'm so sad that there will be no quilt store in Pearson.  On the way I ran into one of the weather oddities in Arizona.  Here's one little rain cloud in perfectly sunny weather, dumping gallons of water on the desert floor.  There's not another cloud in site except for very far away.

I guess it's time to find another ghost town to wander through.  In the meantime, Patty came up with a GREAT idea.  How about a quilt store in Tombstone????