Sandra V. McGee Releases New Book

The Divorce Seekers

What Was Really Going On In Those Nevada Divorce Ranches?
Sandra McGee tells the stories of the women – and the occasional man – who came out West in the 1940s to get a divorce. 

RENO, 1947. Imagine you’ve had enough of your cheating spouse. You’re ready to leave. But it’s 1947. And that means unless your spouse “gives” you a divorce, you’re stuck.

Or you could go to Reno!

Divorce seekers by the thousands were running to the “Biggest Little City in the World” for a six-week, no-fault divorce. If they had the money and the need for privacy, they stayed on one of the dude ranches around town. Someone called these dude ranches divorce ranches and the name stuck.

From 1947 to 1949, Montana cowboy Bill McGee was the dude wrangler on the famous Flying M E divorce ranch, an exclusive hideout for the wealthy twenty miles south of Reno in Washoe Valley. He entertained Eastern socialites with names like Astor and du Pont, and Hollywood movie stars Clark Gable and Ava Gardner. 

The “M E” (pronounced “Emm-Eee”) is for Emmy Wood, the legendary proprietor. In 1937, this Eastern blue blood, brought up in the best finishing schools, came to Nevada with her blue blood husband, Dore Wood, to visit for “just a few weeks.” They fell in love with Washoe Valley and decided to fix up the rundown Franktown Hotel and turn it into an exclusive divorce ranch with the kind of amenities they knew their Eastern friends would like. 

In 1943, Eleanor Roosevelt spent eight days on the ranch for some time out from her travels for the war effort. She wrote about the ranch and the beauty of Washoe Valley in her syndicated “My Day” column. The Woods and the ranch made national and international news, and business boomed.

The Divorce Seekers tells the stories of the mostly women and the occasional man who came to the Flying M E for six weeks… and stayed in Nevada. They went through a transformation called “the Cure.” They fell in love with the West, with someone they met, both, and probably Western wear. 

In 1949, after “doing time” on the Flying M E, New York socialite Penna Tew Hinton told the press:

I’m not ready to return to New York and that life. I’m going to find a small place in Virginia City and explore Nevada some more. I love it out here. I’ve had a long social life, but I want no more of it. The minute I saw this place, I knew I would never go back to New York to live. I think I’ll be more contented and happier than ever before in my life.

A few months later, Penna Tew Hinton married Pat Hart, the owner of the Brass Rail saloon in Virginia City, and worked alongside him dealing “21” and serving drinks.

Step back into this bygone era as Sandra McGee tells the stories about life on the storied Flying M E as seen through her late husband’s eyes.