Desert Sands Pottery

There is a long and interesting history regarding Desert Sands Pottery that I'm going to sort of breeze through for now.

The Evans Family can trace its pottery-making roots in America back to the early 1800s. As the Depression of the 1930s made business difficult for the Evans Pottery, some of the family sought other employment. In 1936, Terrell Evans secured a job with the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Boulder City, Nevada. He was soon followed by his Uncle Arthur and Arthur's children, Ferrell and Dorothy. (These four people were the principle throwers of Desert Sands Pottery.)

In 1946, Arthur, Ferrell, and business partner Jack Petrie, formed the Pinto Pottery Company. Three years later the association with Petrie ended, the business was renamed, and Desert Sands Pottery officially began. On August 5, 1950 they opened the Desert Sands Gift Shop on Nevada Highway in Boulder City. For the next twelve years they cranked out thousands upon thousands of hand-thrown pottery pieces.

In 1962 (I'm thinking - Arthur died) Ferrell moved his part of the business to Barstow, California and successfully operated there until he died in 1975. Terrell moved to Las Vegas and continued making pottery there well into the 1980s. Dorothy, for a short while, made Mineral & Sands Pottery (there is some contention about that fact - I've seen documentation but don't have a copy - any help would be appreciated).