Pierce Ranch in Morongo Valley California has been in the Pierce family since the beginning of the 20th Century. A brief history of the property as told by the founders Grandson - Charles Pierce:
My grandfather Thomas O. Pierce hauled freight from North Palm Springs (Garnet siding) to the 29Palms mining district in the late 1890's. He grubstaked a prospector, who was going to prospect the upper reaches of Little Morongo Canyon.
The prospector made three mining claims and a mill site claim. The mines did not produce enough minerals for any economic gain, and the prospector lost all his work and investment. He gave the claims to my Grandfather as repayment of the grubstake.
My family did the required assessment work to maintain the mining and mill site claims until 1964 when my father attempted to patent the claims. He had the mines surveyed and discovered that the mine shafts were on railroad property. This of course changed everything.
Dad tried to homestead the mill site claim, which was not on railroad property and was told that we could not do that. He asked to purchase the property and was told that we could not do that either. He tried one last time to purchase the property and was told that there was a "grandfather" clause in the regulations that would allow purchase if we could prove 65 years of continuous occupation.
Dad was able to do that and the U.S. Government sold the land to my father. Dad then built a more suitable house for my Mother and himself and they moved out to what we called the "ranch" in 1972.
During the 1990's a conservation group wanted our family to grant them a permanent right of way across our property for access to the upper reaches of the Little Morongo Canyon. We were not going to do this; rather to grant access on a case by case basis. This group had purchased the six railroad sections up the canyon. There was no access, water, or power to these sections.
Sometime after this the Government passed the Desert Protection Act and all of the surrounding area (except for the 10 acres for sale) became a Designated Wilderness Area. No vehicles or power tools are allowed in this designated area. The "ranch" is an island in the middle of the designated wilderness area and controls access to over 10 miles of the upper Little Morongo canyon.
Other interesting facts about the property:
The designated area is known as the San Gorgonio wilderness area. It extends to the 11,499 foot peak of Mt. San Gorgonio. All forms of wild life visit the Ranch at one time or another. A creek runs year round and big 200 year old Cottonwood trees provide summer shade. The creek starts about 1/2 mile above the house at a permanent spring area. Water is forced out of the ground by the big rock formations near the house.
The ranch is located 2.5 miles off the highway up a dirt road. The last 1/2 mile is a gated private road.
The 1800 square foot main house has two (2) bedrooms, 2 baths, and a large living room. The large kitchen and pantry lead to an enclosed porch and a car port for two cars. The house has a wood heat stove in the living room, and a wood pellet stove on the porch.
The house is cooled by two evaporative coolers. Power lines and telephone cables were brought to the property in 1978. This enabled the construction of the main house and the other outbuildings. Over 1.2 miles of new service lines were required.
Located near the main house, is the "Little House", a 1,000 square foot, one (1) bedroom house with a large family room, a single bathroom, and a wood stove for heat. This house also has a an evaporative cooler to cut the summer time heat.
Near the Little House are examples of Native American Indian "mortars", used to grind nuts and corn.
A separate 3 car garage is located Northeast of and above the main house on what we call the upper level. This garage has phone and 240 V electric service.
There is also a large Workshop which has two electrically operated work bay doors as well as a bedroom and bathroom with full water service, telephone, and 240V power.
Next to the workshop is an equipment shed which is large enough to hold 2 Ford tractors, a Jeep, and a John Deere Cat. This shed provides room for support equipment and backup dry wood storage.
Located next to the workshop we have a separate 3,000 gallon tank of water dedicated to fire fighting. It feeds two pumps, one electric and one gas, so that two separate hose connections can simultaneous be used.
We have about 600 feet of hose for this purpose. Also this tank feeds a 4" line down to the entry gate so that it can be tapped into and used by a fire department pumper truck.
The pictured equipment - the backhoe, the skiploader, and the D8 catapiller are all part of the ranch experience.
Pierce Ranch is located in San Bernardino County. It is only 25 miles from Palm Springs Airport and major Medical facilities located in Palm Springs and Desert Palms.
It is less than 10 miles to shopping and other services in the Town of Yucca Valley.
ACCESS BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
Property address is 7575 Little Morongo Road, Morongo Valley CA 92256 - in SanBernardino County. (the nearest cross street is Alta Dena)
