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2 BIRTH OF A RAILROAD TOWN, 1902–1910 I N T H E F I R S T D E C A D E O F T H E T W E N T I E T H C E N T U R Y, Nevada emerged from a twenty-year economic depression after the decline of the Comstock Lode, thanks to the discovery of gold and silver in south-central Nevada and copper in eastern Nevada—and some hopeful activities in such southern Nevada mining camps as Searchlight. Political and economic power continued to reside with the mining industry in Nevada’s northern tier, but to the south a new railroad builder from outside the state promised change. Those changes eventually shook Nevada, and many other places, to its foundation. The first change involved ownership of southern Nevada. For most of her two decades in Las Vegas, Helen Stewart had hoped to sell at least some of her holdings for construction of a railroad. A couple of deals fell through before her hopes turned into reality, courtesy of Montana copper baron William Andrews Clark. In 1902, he bought most of her land for fifty-five thousand dollars. Clark’s advisers chose Las Vegas for several reasons: first, it was on a more direct route to Salt Lake than the Pahrump Valley or the rugged Colorado River Valley, and, second, it had plenty of underground water—snowmelt from the Charleston range (Spring Mountains ) to the west. The railroad also required a division point—a town— with enough water for steam engines, repair shops, and residences for workers. Helen Stewart’s ranch met all these needs. Clark knew how Stewart felt about overcoming di≈culties and trying to improve her life. Born in Pennsylvania, Clark later homesteaded in Iowa with his parents. He worked in Colorado’s mines before heading to Montana, where he found the kind of prosperity that made him a classic example of both Horatio Alger and the new rich of the late nineteenth century who flaunted their wealth for all to see. His Anaconda claim pro- L A S V E G A S 10 duced the largest copper vein ever—fifty feet wide. It made him a multimillionaire and led to the creation of the Anaconda Copper Company, which dominated both that industry and the state of Montana for decades . His original partner had been George Hearst, whose millions made from Virginia City and the Comstock Lode helped finance his son William Randolph Hearst’s foray into journalism. And Clark imitated other western mining magnates by bribing enough legislators to win one of Montana’s U.S. Senate seats in 1901. He also exemplified the scandalous acts associated with the Senate at the time: he built a mansion of more than one hundred rooms on Fifth Avenue in New York City and fathered two children with his mistress. With all of that going on, the financial possibilities excited Clark’s interest in railroad building in the West. As the twentieth century began, southern California was booming, but it had few railroad connections to the rest of the Southwest. Meanwhile, gold discoveries at Tonopah in 1900 and Goldfield in 1902 started a new mining boom in Nevada and opened the southern and central parts of the state to development. The combination was too much for Clark to pass up. In 1901, with his younger brother J. Ross, Clark began building the San Pedro, Los Angeles, & Salt Lake Railroad (spla&sl). But the Clarks faced competition. After going bankrupt, the Union Pacific (up) rebuilt its reputation and profits under the guidance of financier Edward Henry Harriman, whose friends considered him shrewd and whose opponents deemed him ruthless. The Clarks won title to land the up had acquired for a proposed railroad, then abandoned . But Harriman refused to concede defeat and sent in men, mules, and equipment. Both the Union Pacific and the Clark interests tried to lay track to the north in northeast Lincoln County through the Meadow Valley Wash, which was too narrow to accommodate more than one line. Finally, in 1903, the two sides compromised. Senator Clark agreed to buy the Union Pacific’s track. In turn, Harriman obtained half ownership of the San Pedro, Los Angeles, & Salt Lake line. Construction resumed , to be completed on the afternoon of January 30, 1905, when an engineer used his thumb to push a small gold spike into the last tie near Jean, about twenty miles south...

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