Wells, Metropolis, Wilkins, Nevada

Wells, Nevada
Wagon Train Rest Stop 

Lush meadows and clear springs made the place a natural rest stop for the first American West tourists, emigrants on their way to a land of golden dreams in California. From the late 1840's to the early 1870's, it rivaled any resting place on the California Trail. It was the beginning of a tough and deadly journey over 400 miles of barren high desert.

In the days before high-tech navigation systems, pilots flying across the country had slightly simpler tools to point them in the right direction, a network of beacons and giant concrete arrows.  Giant concrete arrows were first installed by the Department of Commerce around 1927.  Though this one is not in the best shape it our first one to locate.

Mountain Shadows RV Park

Dinner at Bella's

Look how happy he is to get that burger he had been wanting

Metropolis Ghost Town

Dreams that evaporated into the high desert air

Creating the town of Metropolis was the project of an eastern businessman, Harry L. Pierce of Leominster, Massachusetts, and investors from both Massachusetts and Salt Lake City.  Pierce's Pacific Reclamation Company intended to make the optimistically named Metropolis the center of a huge farming district.  The Company purchased 40,000 acres of desert land in 1910 and hired a respected Salt Lake City contractor, to build a dam and diversion canal on Bishop Creek, 15 miles east of the planned city, hoping to use the reservoir for irrigation.  Once the dam was complete, the Company stepped up its promotional campaign, and the LDS Church encouraged members to move there. The town became predominately Mormon.

In an attempt to demonstrate permanence, the Company built the amusement hall, a post office, a school, a train depot, and a magnificent modern hotel, complete with an electric generator, central heating, and hot and cold running water in every room. A railroad spur was extended to the town site, and regular passenger service began in 1912. The population grew to nearly 700.  Superficially the town seemed a success, but it faced serious problems.  In 1913, farmers from the town of Lovelock filed a lawsuit against the Pacific Reclamation Company. In it, the farmers pointed out that the company had never sought approval from state or federal authorities to build its dam and diversion canal system nor did it seek to obtain sufficient water rights for the community.  In a dry state like Nevada where every drop of water is claimed it was a major oversight. The court ruled that Pacific Reclamation was only entitled to a portion of the water behind its dam enough to irrigate about 4,000 acres not 40,000.  Because residents could not irrigate, many tried dry-farming wheat and potatoes, successfully at first.

After settlers killed the coyotes, the jackrabbit population rose dramatically. Rabbits systematically ate the wheat, and farmers retaliated with guns, poison, and organized drives. They killed thousands of jackrabbits and sold them in San Francisco. Next was the typhoid epidemic.  Then came a devastating fire, which burned down the town’s hotel in 1936. Dry-farming had been possible for a few years only because of unusually high precipitation. Lower rainfall followed by a six-year infestation by giant Mormon crickets, which stripped the fields and even ate paint off houses.  Pacific Reclamation declared bankruptcy in 1920. In 1922 the railroad discontinued service. By 1924, only 200 people remained. The last store closed in 1925, the post office in 1942.  The few remaining residents turned to ranching. By 1950 Metropolis was a ghost town. Today ranches surround the town site. The ruins of the hotel and school and a cemetery are all that remain.
Sorry this is so long, but I found it very interesting.

This stone monument briefly tells the story of Metropolis and is dedicated to the hard-working people who were the victims of what might be described as Nevada’s first real estate scam

The impressive Lincoln School closed in 1947.

Valley View Cemetery

Three-story brick hotel, built at a cost of $75,000

Spotted this coyote running through the field

Bishop Creek, 15 miles east of Metropolis

The Dam and the Diversion Canal built in 1910

Diversion Canal

Wilkins, Nevada

Can a wide spot on U.S. 93, 25 miles north of Wells, Nevada, with only a few people living there be called a town? You bet it can. There was an official US Post Office there for almost seventeen years.  John Moschetti was Postmaster for the entire life of the post office – July, 1948 to April, 1963.

Wilkins looks like a war zone today. There is nothing there except burned ruins in the sagebrush. It is a far cry from the vital days of the Thousand Springs Trading Post and its café, motel, garage, bar, post office, store, living quarters and truck stop. John Moschetti was proud of the place. 

Moschetti had operated the profitable trading post from 1948 to 1963 when it sold. The new owner wanted John to work for wages instead of the years-long partnership. John packed up his family and moved.  Although Wilkins precariously hung on for a few more years, it was, essentially, the end.