On my last trip to Bullfrog and Rhyolite, my goal was to visit the grave of Panamint Annie. She was a woman before her time and a legend in Death Valley.
I found the headstone at the northwest corner of the cemetery. A large Joshua tree shadows the grave. A simple square granite headstone marks her final resting place. “Mary Elizabeth Madison known as Panniment Anne, 1910-1979.” I noted both Annie and Panamint are misspelled; Death Valley National Park and her Great-granddaughter confirmed her nickname was Annie, not Anne.
Visitors have left a variety of mementos: flowers, coins, candy and toy cars. And lots and lots of booze bottles. Panamint Annie would have approved of the latter.
Who was this woman who won a place among the roughest and the toughest of Death Valley miners? Annie was born on June 22, 1910. Her father was an army surgeon and her mother a member of the Iroquois tribe. Annie was known as a spitfire. When she was 12, she was grounded for riding a motorcycle on the air base where the family lived. As punishment, she was not able to take a much-anticipated flight. Tragically the plane crashed, and her mother and sister perished.
Annie wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a surgeon. Learning that becoming a physician wasn’t an option for a female, Annie married at the young age of fifteen. As was sadly common at the time, she lost her first child in infancy. Following the birth of her second child, she left the baby with her husband.
Annie went to do what every doctor’s daughter dreams of, run bootleg booze between Canada and Chicago. After dodging federal agents running hooch over the border, Annie worked her way west, cooking for ranches in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. To help her tuberculosis, she moved to the dry climate of Death Valley.
Living out of the back of her 1929 Model A, Annie traversed the Pannamint range, working a variety of claims. Annie lived on snake meat and jackrabbit stew. She became well respected as a prospector, mechanic and poker player. She could spit farther than any man, hold her own in a barroom brawl and had “language that would blister the ears of a drill sergeant.”
(Photo credit: Nye County History)
Anne had eight children by various husbands and lovers; sadly, only four survived. Pictures of Annie show a thin woman with dark, bobbed hair. She looks lovingly at a baby in one arm while wrapping her other arm protectively around another child. When her children were young, Annie would strap them to her back while working in the mines. When old enough, they would live with family to attend school. With the birth of her last child and no family to send him to, Annie moved into Beatty. She sold jellies and jewelry and continued to prospect.
Pictures from later in her life Annie in a dress, with a lopsided cowboy hat, mischievous grin, foot on a truck ready to disappear into the desert. Annie developed severe arthritis, which eventually made prospecting impossible. She still talked about heading into her beloved desert until her death at age sixty-nine.
I wish I had met Pannamint Annie, bought her a round or two, and heard about her extraordinary life.
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References
- Cobbwebb Media: Panamint Annie
- Explore Historic California: Panamint Annie–One of the Last Immortals of the West
- Death Valley Journal: Panamint Annie
- Desert USA: Rememberin’ Panamint Annie
- Find a grave: Mary Elizabeth “Panniment Anne” White Madison
- National Park Service
Anonymous says
What a spirit!!! Thank you for posting, hopefully more people will know about Annie thanks to your post. Which cemetery is her grave in? Dellilah
Tami says
She was an amazing woman! Her grave is in the Bullfrog/Rhyolite Cemetery. They are combined, and blow both ghost towns.
Jenny Kerr says
Fascinating story. Thank you for sharing.
Also, I wonder if somebody has put her into http://www.findagrave.com. I could not find a memorial for her. Just a thought. Such an interesting woman.
Tami says
Glad you found it! I think she can be difficult to search due to going by a nickname. I have a grave at Hot Creek I need to add to find a grave.
Jennifer Kerr says
Hi, I found her in the cemetery on Findagrave. Thankyou so much for this story.
Tami says
That was one of my resources, but there is some conflict over dates in addition to the spellings. I also have a link on the older picture to her grand daughters webstie where she is collecting stories.
Bill says
Another great story, Tami!
Tami says
Thank you Bill, she was a fascinating woman!
Roger Peterson says
That machine Annie has her foot on is a printing machine. I used one just like that in 1962 for printing the tickets for the school dances and events in St Paul Minnesota.
What a character for sure. Love all your stories and research. Keep up the good work!
Tami says
Thank you, the first picutre I found was cropped and it looked like a truck. I found a larger picture and replaced it, not really looking at the picture.
Thank you for the catch, I updated the story. Now, I’m wondering if there was some history about the press.
Scott says
That is an interesting article and bit of history. Thank you for sharing.
Tami says
Glad you enjoyed it;)
Irv Stark says
Love your post about Pannamint Annie. Bit of a discrepancy in year of birth…1910 on the headstone, 1912 in your narrative?
Tami says
Good catch, and thank you. I didn’t notice the difference in date.
Looking back, the sources have a different date of birth, 1910 or 1912. The same as they have different spellings. I heard there are many varying stories about Panamint Annie, but didn’t realize how different the details are.
I changed it to 1910, as they is what Death Valley National Park lists. Other sites have it as 1912. I am going to send it to her great-grandaughter and see if she has a death certificate.
Keith Davis says
My buddy & I were there a few weeks ago.
Interesting life store. Not easy being her !
We were able to camp out above Rhyolite for
the night, and drive our Jeeps over to her grave
the next morning.
Tami says
You probably didn’t miss us by much. I hope it was warmer when you were camping, it was pretty chilly when we visited.
Debbie Cobb says
Absolutely amazing article about my great-grandmother, Tami. Thank you so much for your thorough look at her very complex life and legacy, and also for including the link to my website where I am collecting stories about her. I hope one day, I will have enough to publish a book about her life. Some of the stories she told my grandfather are contradictory and fantastical, but that was kind of her charm.
Tami says
I am so glad you found the story and approve. I try as best I can to research information but I often feel there is more to know.
I would love to heard more about your project and hope to see a book on your grandmother. Have you asked on the Beatty page and ghost town groups to see what stories people have? I can help with some of the groups.
Fantastical stories are part of the old west, they were even their own writing movement.
If you want me to check with the groups, you can email me or message on Facebook.
Tami@NVTami.com