There was a time, not so long ago, that an expedition exploring the desert, one could examine old homesteads. Many of these structures were of modest means. But, while people attempted to reclaim the sagebrush plains, they eventually failed. Nature in the meantime, reclaimed the abandoned properties.

Today, there is hardly a trace of these by gone homesteads. Sometimes remnant remains in the form of a smoke tree, a hardy plant that requires no care. In fact, the Bonham ranch house site in Smoke Creek Desert is now covered with smoke trees.

Tim