Metropolis Ghost Town

Southern Pacific Station By the time I reached Metropolis the railroad was shut down except for a weekly freight by which we shipped jackrabbits. Sagebrush Sage brush helped out for fuel at the little old schoolhouse. The youngsters loved to play around on it, and it was a favorite lunch room on nice days. At left, Elsie Gipson; Center, Alice Rasband and right, Ellen Hyde.

The Metropolis Hotel We held our dances in the dining room. The front corner was used as the office of the Land Company, recalled Eleanor who in her last two years in Metropolis acted as a stenographer during her spare time for the Land Company and the County Agent. First and Second Grades 1917-1918 Quite a goodly number of pupils for such an outof-the-way place. By 1919-1920, The numbers had begun to dwindle, said Eleanor, who saw family after family move on. Eleanors ice box Eleanor In Front of Hotel

Dreams that Evaporated into the High Desert Air

by the Wells Society for the Preservation of Western Heritage

Store & Post Office Helen Stimson pictured.

The Dream
Soon after cattle king Colonel E.P. Hardesty sold his U7 ranch northwest of Wells the socalled Pacific Reclamation Company bought land and in 1911 advertised what they promised would be a planned community of 7,500. A fourblock business district with concrete sidewalks and street lights sprang up and the railroad laid track to the booming town. The grandest threestory hotel between Reno and Salt Lake opened, followed by the brick high school. Pacific Reclamation profited by selling land but water rights were not secured so Metropolis withered. Today sagebrush stands higher than most of the ruins, exceptions being remains of the high school, the hotel, and a monument to mark the passing of hard-working pioneers doomed to see their dreams evaporate into the high desert air.

The Teacherage The original two rooms were moved in from an abandoned farm and the two shedrooms added. That box nailed to the wall was our refrigerator where we put our meat to freeze in winter. Every night all the coyotes in Elko County gathered right there snarling and yapping and trying to get the meat and we didnt have sense enough to stop putting it out. We had furniture from the hotel so inside it was really quite nice.

Temporary Schoolhouse In her first year the original brick schoolhouse was condemned because of a faulty roof and we fell back on this little building for the first four grades while the upper four grades and high school divided up the Meeting House. Strangely enough, Eleanor recalled, we did good work. The wind and snow blew through the cracks, but we never seemed to mind.

Metropolis Hotel as seen from Teacherage. The huge scale of the hotel was intended to impress investors, and for a while, it worked.

Eleanor H. Hollands Memoir

Lincoln School in Metropolis

Eleanor Hasenkamp Holland was a teacher in Metropolis, Nevada from 1917to 1922 in years when the over-promoted agricultural town was beginning to decline. Surrounding Metropolis were ranches where illumination was still by kerosene lamps and horses were holding their own in powering agricultural equipment. Eleanor was a keen observer of Metropolis life who left us a photographic record of her adventurous life on Nevadas Northeastern Frontier.

Metropolis residents Eleanor Holland (left) and Gertrude Hunt don masks in 1918 A killer epidemic swept the United States just as the First World War was ending. They called it influenza. When Eleanor Holland and friend Gertrude Hunt went to Elko for a weekend everyone was made to wear face masks in the hope the epidemic could be controlled. At first Holland thought the face masks were silly, but that soon changed. It didnt seem so funny when I came down with flu and nearly died. Fortunately, none of the other teachers got it though they all helped take care of me, recalled Holland, grateful to have survived the experience and glad to have friends to see that she did.

One of the School Wagons Each had a stove for warmth in winter. The forerunner of the school bus. Very few children lived in town. Most had to be brought in from the farms.

Front of Rooming and Boarding Houses The first year, we all roomed and boarded here for a few months until they fixed the Teacherage for us. The last year I had too much outside stenographic work. I just didnt have time to do a share of housework at the Teacherage so I moved back to room here.

The Pioneer Returns and Finds Ghosts & Memories Years ago, I drove back through all of the places I had known and loved in Nevada and -of course - Metropolis. Practically everything was gone. I know of no other Ghost Town so worthy of the name as Metropolis. Fortunately this photo record compiled by Eleanor Hasenkamp Holland is a window to lost dreams.

The Meeting House Helen Stimson and Merle Astle pictured. It had an adequate stage and we put on some real good plays and entertainments far superior to anything Wells ever tried. In fact, our school ranked higher than Wells.

While Eleanor Hasenkamp was in college studying to be a teacher, Herman W. Supp was selling hardware to ranchers around Wells and Metropolis in the days when water flowed into fertile fields. When he made a sale, he snapped a photo to later show sales prospects his tractors and equipment were out on the land. Eleanor Hasenkamp Holland out for a walk.

This was the caravan which hauled the Hiawatha cast to Elko, recalled Eleanor who who said the school play was so successful they put it on in Elko. Mechanization Milan Miller was brought in to maintain and help operate three or four big catepillars the last two years I was there.

H. W. Supp sold this thresher but the buyer still depended on horses to pull it.

The Diversion The land company that promoted Metropolis constructed Bishop Creek Dam to store water. This diversion routed Bishop Creek into the canal system intended to supply the fields surrounding Metropolis. Both the dam and the diversion are still there and reconstruction is planned for the dam.

Top of the Diversion. left to right Irma Haskell, Mr. Keyes, Helen Stimson, unidentified, unidentified, Bertha Byrne. Your tax deductible contribution to the Wells Society for Preservation of Western Heritage will help pay for printing this and other local history booklets. Donations can either be deposited in the drop box in the lobby of the Visitors Center at the corner of Lake Avenue & Sixth Street or mailed to: Society for Preservation of Western Heritage, P. O. Box 615, Wells, Nevada 89835. For a receipt, please include your mailing address.

Harvest Time in Metropolis Potato harvest was so vital that school was dismissed for a week so the youngsters could help. The first year, I planned to spend the week in Deeth with my college roommate who was teaching there. [Land Manager] Hatch said the teachers ought to donate some help with the harvest and if wed work two days, hed take me to Deeth and come after me. So we nearly killed ourselves actually picked more potatoes than the men did though we were allowed to only pick the big ones, which the men said was an unfair advantage. Actually, every one was waiting to die laughing when we wouldnt be able to move the second day. We could hardly get out of bed we were so stiff but we wouldnt let anyone know it and we started over to the boarding house. Going for breakfast, we saw Hatch and County Agent Lambert coming, we gritted our teeth and skipped up the steps as if nothing was wrong and the two men couldnt think of a word to say. On the way out to work, I whispered to Irma and Helen that I didnt see how we could win because I knew Id never be able to bend over to pick up a potato but they threatened murder if I gave up so I went through with it and after a while we limbered up and finished the day. When Hatch took me to Deeth the next day, it was all I could do to get in and out of the car but when Em came to let me into the house she and her roommate rented, I really collapsed and told her to bring on the liniment.

Directions to Metropolis: From Lake Avenue & Sixth Street, proceed north on Lake Avenue crossing the railroad tracks. Immediately after crossing the tracks, turn left on Eighth Street and drive west two blocks where Eighth bends around a tin building before continuing west about two miles where it takes a hard right crossing the Humboldt River. Continue north and turn left onto the first good gravel road. Follow the winding gravel road north-west. As you approach the meadow and the ranch, youll be able to see the school arch in the distance. Please respect these ruins. Take only pictures, leave only footprints.