The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-01
He approaching early completion of
the Clark road from Salt Lake to

the twenty-five years isolation on the
Nevada desert Of a brilliant and
courageous California woman.
For quarter of a century Mrs.
Helen ]. Stewart has lived alone on l
oasis in the midst of the Nevada
desert. Nearly two score years out OF
the twenty-five she has been a widow
Her home. recently purchased by the
railroad for $4,000. nestled among big
cottonwood trees and listened to the
perpetual flow of charming stream of
water But for 200 miles east or west
north or south there was not another
habitatiOn worthy of the name: nothing
but sagebrush and sand. nobody TO talk
10 but the occasional stage passenger
and the occasional miner.
Yet, Notwithstanding all this Mrs.
stewart remains today a woman Of
culture. \ visit in her parlor is a
visit in home Of refinement. 4 con-
Nersation with her is a source of edif-
cation as well as pleasure. She her
SELF wonders il SO many years of con-
tact with virtually men only have
robbed her of her womanliness, and
the visitor wonders where he has ever
seen "A more wOmanly woman or a
more gracious hostess.
Mrs. Stewart was just out of her
schooling when her young husband
took her away from her associates IN
San Francisco and Oakland to the then
thrifty and promising mining city of
Phoebe in Nevada The trip over the
deserts was dreary and diSheartening
outlook for a bride, and she says that
more than once she hid her tears from
her husband lest she should discourage
Rim. too. Indeed long after reaching
destination at Phoebe the tears came
frequently TO the eyes. especially when
letters were received from home. They
were the tears Of loneliness and deaola-
ton, which must almost surely come TO
any woman who goes for the first time
into the bleak wastes of the silver
state 10 make -ner home. But Mrs
HgWu=
enduring stuff that marks so many
women of the west. and. being blessed
with a husband who did everything
possible for his wife's welfare and to
when she gave the most absolute af-
lection. she presently accepted the
situation and gave up her life to the
country into which she had been
brought.
Bought Historic Home.
The camp of Phoebe petered out. as
everyone knows, and, there being little
ieft there for man of thrift VINO de-
sired above all things a home for his
worthy wife. Mr.. Stewart moved away
and purchased the ranch known as
Los Vegas Cor The Meadows) in the
centre or the southern part of Nevada.
II was a historic old place even in
those early days. The mission padres
who were mining liz the region north OF
The Bis Bend in the Colorado river had
discovered IL in the first part of the
IaSt century, the fOrty-niners had used
i as a way station en- route to cali
tornia and in the fifties the MormOns
had made il a perma, 1ent settlement
Through the centre of the ranch flowed
a splendid stream of water. fed from
Two g eat springs which had never
heen known to go dry or to lessen their
now the year round; and tributary to
Inc stream were meadows rich in food
for stock. and bottom lands fit for the
growing of every kind OF vegetable and |
fruit and grain.
When the Mormons took il I'D i'm the |
fifties. they looked upon il as one of |
the principal stations in the working out |
of their plans for an independent
theocraCy III the west. 1t is said that
Brigham Young's original design was to /
reach the Mormon colonies i'm Utah !
and Nevada by way of the Gulf of Cali
fornia and the Colorado river. The lat
ter IS navigable to d point a bout thirty |
miles south of Los Vegas. From here
he could ship goods 10 Los Vegas, and |
thence into Utah and wherever else |
they might be needed Accordingly
Vegas was thoroughly fortified with
just such walls as still remain standing !
around the church headquarters in Salt |
Lake. and the place was prepared gen !
ef ally for any sort Of eXigency that |
might be put Upon the inha bitants.
Ultimately. when Johnson's army was !
sent by the federal government TO re- |
press the Mormon movement. the in /
habitants of Los Vegas brought lead
from the famous old Potosi mine in the |
mountains TO the west. erected the !
first smelter built west Of the Missouri |
river, and began the manufacture of |
bullets with which to defend their !
faith.
Thus botn physically and by associa- !
ton, the ranch was an ideal one for |
the woman who has but now sold it. !
Physically il gave every promise of be |
ing a self supporting home. affording /
all the best of things to eat. and sur
rounding the house with the charm of |
shade and water which are so rare in |
the western deserts. BY association, !
IT afforded Mrs. Stewart some other |
occupation than the mere obligation of |
householding. Educated as she was.
Mrs. Stewart at once took an interest |
an the history of the place and in its /
innumerable traditions. She began /
the keeping of "A notebook, where she /
iotted down all the TecolIections and !
legends she could gather from the in /
frequent visitors at the ranch, from i
tho Indians of the vicinity. and from /
the people she herself visited when she |
occasionally left the ranch and visited |
in San Francisco or Los Angeles or /
salt Lake city. This notebook now |
yellow with age, = still in Mrs StLw-
arts possession, and was shOwn to the |
writer when. recently, II was his lrIVi |
1ege to visit with her at the Vegas.
When the historians get TO work Ircn |
this section of the west, they viii |
hardly find anything more valuable |
than this treasure. It contains The |
stories of many who have long since |
passed away, and the narratives Of |
others who perhaps will never come |
within reach of the aistoTlans.
Alone in Wilderness.
Mr.. and Mrs. Stewart had only hvPd /
long enough in this oasis 10 bedCme |
surrounded with their own little fElks /
when one of the tragedies which Var /
pen now and then on The frontieA 80 /
apparently without cause, led 10 { the /
death of the father. Mrs. Stewart Twas |
left absolutely alone, with i've thil- |
dren. in the midst OF a wilde ness and |
more than 200 miles from railroad or /
city What most women would Fave |
done under the circumstances IS! of /
course, not fair to presume. For wO- /
men have a. habit Of being heroic in |
extraordinary exigencies- Suffice IT to /
say that Mrs. Stewart. instead Of put /
ing ner belongings toSsLher and re- |
turning to civilization, decided 20 /
remain and TO attempt TO carry our the |
building Of the home which had for so |
long been the joint ambition of her
self and her husband
But it was hard at first" she said |
a