Continuing the Saga of Helen Stewart, "The First Lady of Las Vegas" - Part Two

"Dare to do right,
Dare to be true,
Dare to do good
Everything will come right for you."

In 1880 Archibald Stewart purchased a 960 acres ranch which had belonged to Octvius Decatur Gass. He planned to move Helen and the children to the ranch which was located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Helen was pregnant with another child and she did not want to move to the desolate area of Las Vegas. But Stewart persuaded her by telling her there would only be there for a short time and then would move on.

The Stewart’s trek in 1882 took nearly a week. Shortly after arriving at the ranch Helen gave birth to her second daughter, Evaline La Vega, named after the place of her birth.

The ranch became a resting place for heat-weary miners from Eldorado Canyon. It had a cool creek and huge, shady cottonwood trees. The ranch had many grape vines which could, in a good year, produce as much as 600 gallons of acceptable wine, wine that the Stewarts were able to sell at a good price.

Just a few short years later, Archilbald Stewart was killed in a gunfight at the Kiel Ranch, and Helen was left a widow with four minor children and another one on the way. Travelers kept arriving each day in the need of food, water and rest. There was no time for rest or heavy grieving. Life had to go on. Helen had only agreed to move to the Las Vegas Ranch because her husband had promised it would be only a temporary stop. She would spend the next 20 years running the ranch, improving it, and constructing what would become the heart of a great Western City.

In 1889 word began to circulate that there were plans to build a railroad in the Las Vegas Valley. Helen began to buy land – with her father and sisters doing the same – along the muddy River. She made a deal with her father and brother-in-law to loan them 100 head of cattle.

The first teacher in the new Las Vegas School District in Lincoln County was a gentleman by the name of Ross Megarrible who had agreed to tutor Helen’s children. He had found a permanent home at the Stewart’s Ranch.

In 1886 another stranger found a home there. His name was Frank Stewart, no relation to Archibald Stewart, who had arrived from Sandy Valley. He became a very valuable ranch hand for Helen and was also good company and a welcoming host. He welcomed visitors and entertained with his wit.

A close relationship developed between Helen and Frank and eventually, in 1903, they were married.

Because of its location, Helen’s Las Vegas Ranch had become a message center for the region. In June of 1893 Helen was named Postmaster of the “Los Vegas” Post Office. Authorities had insisted on changing the name of the area so as not to confuse it with Las Vegas, New Mexico.

In 1902 Helen Stewart signed a contract that became the de factor birth certificate for the City of Las Vegas. The contract spelled out the terms of the sale of the Stewart Ranch to the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad. The price was $55,000 but did not include the :Four Acres” that had been set aside for the family cemetery. It also did not include an allotment of water from the Las Vegas Creek. Though no longer a rancher, Helen still saw the value of Las Vegas land and quickly bought up another 924 acres, including a 40 acre plot adjacent to the “Four Acres”, where she lived for the rest of her life.

In 1905 the railroad auctioned 1,200 lots which created the downtown core of Las Vegas – which included a Stewart Street.

In 1911 the federal government established an Indian Reservation. It was Helen Stewart, who always had a place for Native People on the Stewart Ranch, that provided the site for today’s Las Vegas Pauite Indian Colony on North Main Street.

In 1915 Helen became the first woman elected to the Clark County School Board.
In 1916 she became the first woman to sit on a jury.

In 1925 the then Governor, James Scrugham, asked if Helen if she would allow a display of her basket collection at the 1926 State Exposition in Reno, Nevada. She agreed and took her collection to the Exposition and then made arrangements to donate the collection to the State of Nevada. But before those plans could be finalized, Helen Stewart died of cancer on March 6, 1926. Unfortunately the executors of her estate sold the treasured basket collection at auction in 1927.

Helen Stewart’s funeral was one of the largest the City of Las Vegas had ever seen. People from all over the state came to pay their respects to this legendary lady who had survived so much and yet prevailed. She was interned in a special vault made out of caliche on her “Four Acres”.

The remains of Archibald and Helen Stewart, as well as their sons Hiram and Will, are now in the Bunker’s Eden Vale Mausoleum, just a short distance from the site of the old Las Vegas Ranch.

Southwest Woman - Part One

There are many women who were instrumental in helping to develop the Southwest. And there have been many women who have chosen to make the Southwest their home. The interesting part of this is that these women seem to have lived very productive and interesting lives, along with living to a ripe old age.

I was born in Wisconsin but fortunately, through my parents, I became a citizen of the Southwest as a very young child when my parents, my brother and I moved to Los Angeles. Growing up in this mystical area, I found myself loving everything about Los Angeles, everything about the beach, and everything about the mountains that surrounded us. I have written extensively about my love for mountains, and now I am going to spend time writing about my love for the Southwest.

Throughout my life I have spent time in, and/or lived in, many different areas of the United States, but I have always returned to the Southwest. Currently I live in Las Vegas, Nevada and this is probably where I will finish my days. Why? Because of the beauty and the mystical nature of the area.

Of course, the entire State of Nevada has its own mystic feeling. That could be because the Native American Indians were the original settlers of this area, but also because anyone moving to Nevada has to have a strong determination to become part of this land. The same thing is true of Arizona and New Mexico. That may be why so many notable women have made the Southwest their final home. As our current Las Vegas Mayor, Oscar Goodman, has said so often – “I love Las Vegas and I’m the happiest Mayor in the universe.”

Of course those of you reading this will probably think “What, Las Vegas? – Why that’s Sin City!: How can it be a mystical place?” Ah, but it is. And the women who have helped to build the State of Nevada can attest to that by the legacy they have left behind.

The First Lady of Las Vegas

Helen Jane Wiser, who became known as “The First Lady of Las Vegas”, was born on April 16, 1854 in Springfield, Illinois. When she was 9 years old her parents moved West, stopping for a short time in the Carson Valley,the Northwest part of Nevada, before moving on to Sacramento. On April 6, 1873, when she was 18, she married Archibald Stewart in Stockton, California. Although Archibald, who was 38 at the time of their marriage, was born in Dublin, Ireland, he was of Scottish descent. At first they lived in Lincoln County where Stewart had business interests. But in 1876 the family, now with 2 young sons, moved to a ranch Stewart owned in Pioche, Nevada where he raised cattle and vegetables. And in 1879 Stewart purchased another local ranch and made a loan which would change the course of Nevada history.