A Montana Cowboy’s Behind-the-Scenes Memoir
of Life on an Exclusive Nevada Divorce Ranch

 

“Bill McGee’s stories are like an old Hollywood movie coming to life.”
—Judd Pillot, Writer/Producer

 

Today no one needs to get away to get a divorce. They just divorce.

But in mid-century America, divorce was difficult. Nevada made it simple. Reside anywhere in the state for six weeks. Claim one of nine grounds for wanting a divorce—mental cruelty being the most popular. Appear before a judge in court for a minimum of six minutes.

Divorce seekers by the thousands were flocking to Reno for a “quickie” divorce, earning Reno the title of Divorce Capital of the World.

Enter Montana cowboy Bill McGee.

If a divorce seeker had the money and the need for privacy, they stayed on a divorce ranch—Reno divorce lingo for a dude ranch catering to divorce seekers.

From 1947 to 1949, Bill McGee was head dude wrangler on the Flying M E, Nevada’s most exclusive divorce ranch for wealthy Easterners and the occasional Hollywood movie star. By day, Bill entertained guests on trail rides across the Nevada landscape. By night, he escorted them to their favorite watering holes in Carson City and Virginia City.

Bill had a simple dream: to own his own ranch someday. What he did not count on was falling for one of the ranch guests.

Part memoir. Part history. THE DIVORCE SEEKERS is the only account written by a former Nevada divorce ranch wrangler. It is a story of glamour and grit, of love and loss, of a vanished American era and one cowboy who lived at the center of it all. The story is brought to life with vintage photographs, many from the private collections of ranch guests and others who experienced this remarkable era in the American West.

Step back into 1947 Nevada for a true story of what really happened
behind the gates of a divorce ranch.

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