FEFerminia Sarrias

   March is Women’s History Month. It is an annual observance to highlight the contributions of women’s events in history. In this article we will focus the women who did something unusual in their time. Many women from the mid 1800’s till the turn of the century, came to the West in hoping to find work. Many just wanted to work in hotels as maids and ended up in prostitution. However, there were a lot that were brave to take on something that was not expected of them, such as propecting. There are so many to pick from it is sometimes hard to narrow down the choice. But for now, the focus will be on Ferminia Sarras, a prospector, the Copper Queen. 


    She was born in Nicaragua in July 1840 to an elite family. She came to the United States when she was 36 years old with four female children in tow. Without her husband Pablo Flores. She arrived in San Francisco and married a man name Julius Thomasson, a miner. From there she moved to Candelaria a very desolate dry mining town in Nevada( Esmerelda County, now Mineral County) without her husband. He seemed to play no further part in her life. Ferminia left her two youngest children in an orphanage, but only temporarily while she headed to the desert, she felt it would not be beneficial for her children to be in such a harsh environment.  When Feminia turned forty-one she gave birth to her fifth child a boy named Joseph A. Marshall.



    Ferminia prospecting was done mostly in the hills near Luning Nevada. Although she did try her luck in Virginia City, Silver Peak and a few other places. She usually went out alone, which was unheard of in that time. She not only survived, she thrived. However, she did have another side to her, she would go to San Francisco and buy herself fancy dresses, stay in a nice hotel and wine and dine herself until the money ran out then she would go back to work in the mines.  She gave birth to seven children and married multiple times. She had many lovers in her lifetime and it is unclear who she was legally married to. Even on her deathbed, she insisted that her heirs continue working the mines. Which lasted up to three generations.

The town of Mina Nevada was believed to be named after her, but some say no, it was named after a railroad head’s daughter named Mina. Ferminia Sarrias is buried in Luning Nevada and  you can visit her grave. 

Most of this article’s information came from the book” A Mine of Her Own”, by Sally Zanjani. Chapter two has a nice biography on her.

   

   

Mineral County High School

Milton Sharp

By Kellie Zuniga • July 2, 2025
Milton Sharp Stagecoach robberies were common in the old west. Well Fargo sent most of there valuables through stage and so did mining companies. Train or stagecoach was the usual transportation of funds. Mining was very hard work. So many decided to make money the easy way and rob stagecoaches and trains. Most highway men were mean and ruthless. However, there were a few men who though that being mean was unnecessary. Black Bart was known for his politeness. He dressed well and would say please and thank you to people particularly the ladies and he was known to leave poetry behind as well. Mineral County had its own Black Bart, Milton Sharp. It would be easy to get them confused, since they did similar things, such as being polite. Milton Sharp adopted Black Bart’s style. Now Black Bart was about 17 years older than Milton Sharp. Black Bart was born Charles E. Boles and was born in England and served in the Civil War. After the war he went to California and did most of his looting in Redwood Valley. He was eventually caught and served time in San Quentin. Milton Sharp was born in Missouri and lived in California but more in the Bodie area. He was known to rob stages in Candelaria, Aurora and any place where the stage route went, mostly a canyon called Dalzell. It was common for him and his partner to rob stages that had a Wells Fargo cash box or mining payroll on board. Sharp was smart, and he did his homework. He mostly looked for low risk high pay before he attempted to rob the stage Sharp teamed up with a man named Frank Dow( who was killed during one of their robberies). It was said that maybe he adopted the Black Bart image because of his partners demeanor, or he just saw it as unnecessary. He was well dressed, good looking and polite and did not want to hurt anyone. He was quite business like he just wanted the money sometimes even returning jewelry to some of the ladies on the coach. At one point he was arrested and jailed in Aurora. However, he escaped with a 15-pound ball and chain on his leg. He was loose for several months, then he turned himself in, in Candelaria because he was tired of hiding out and being cold and hungry. He was returned to Aurora and was charged with 5 counts of robbery and was sentence to 20 years in Carson City Penitentiary. He served as a model prisoner only to escape from prison for four years and once again apprehended in Red Bluff California and he was returned to prison. He was pardoned a year later and lived as a law biding citizen for the rest of his life. He is buried in Auburn California.  It was said he did not recover all his riches and there was still buried treasure out there somewhere. Later in time Gus and Will Hess went on a treasure hunt and did find some of his buried loot along the stagecoach route. However, he did live off of something after his prison release. And probably did not tell anyone where he hid any of it. Resources: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/milton-sharp-loot/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Bart_(outlaw) Book from Mineral County Library- Wells Fargo Detective: James B Hume Book from Mineral County Library-Outlaw Tales of Nevada-Charles L Convis

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