The First Lady of Las Vegas – Helen Stewart   From "The First 100"  a Las Vegas Review Journal paraphrased for brevity

 She hated the isolation of southern Nevada ranch life, yet in 1882 Helen Jane (Wiser) Stewart, with two children in tow and one on the way, dutifully followed her husband to their newly acquired 960 acre Las Vegas Ranch.

The five day trip from Pioche to Las Vegas over the rough Old Spanish Trail was hot, slow and nearly  unendurable. Alkaline dust tormented these well to do travelers as mercilessly as the hundreds of pioneers before them.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Archibald Stewart was a rancher and freight line operator who had done well for himself in Pioche, and San Francisco before. He had foreclosed on a loan to O. D. Gass secured by the Las Vegas Ranch and was now moving his base of operations to Las Vegas.

Las Vegas was a stopping point for travelers along the Old Spanish Trail ( headed for points west, mostly southern California) because of the cool spring water, shade trees and a rustic fort, first built by the Mormons in the mid 1850s. Helen enjoyed the continual company of travelers, particularly the women, with whom she could chat freely about the affairs of the west.

The Stewart's raised cattle but also continued the peach orchards and vineyards planted by O. D. Gass in the early 1870s. The wine produced at the ranch satiated the thirst of many a miner up from El Dorado Canyon as well as travelers. According to one source, 600 gallons were produced in 1883.

Helen's world was shattered in July, 1884 by the murder of her husband. Although the case was never officially solved, history places the blame upon a neighboring rancher and two of his cronies of questionable character. Conrad Kiel, owner of the Kiel ranch and Schyler Henry appeared before a grand jury in Pioche, but were never indicted for Archibald's murder. Hank Parrish immediately disappeared, only to resurface years later in Ely swinging at the end of a hangman's rope for the last of numerous murders.

Now with four young children and one on the way, the 30 year old Helen began the odyssey of her life.  Archibald did not leave a will. After nearly a year in probate, Helen inherited half of the ranch with the other half divided equally among her five children ( three boys and two girls). She tried to sell the ranch between 1885 and 1889 to no avail. In 1889 land speculation swept the Las Vegas Valley area as plans to buiold the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Sal Lake Railroad became public. In 1902, Helen sold the ranch for $55,000 to Montana Senator William A. Clark. She kept the four acre family cemetery ( already containing three bodies) and a small allotment of water from the Las Vegas Creek. Prior to the sale, she had controlled all of the water from the creek, which translated to almost  all of the water here in the valley. The water rights purchased by Clark gave him the pwer and clout to develop Las Vegas as a city site.

Helen purchased another 924 Acres in advance of the railroad and a 40 acre plot next to the four acre cemetery. She remained here for the rest of her life. In 1903, she built a new house across the street from the old ranch.

In May, 1905, the railroad and Clark auctioned off 1200 lots from the old Las Vegas Ranch, creating the city of Las Vegas. Of course, one of the original streets was named Stewart.

The birth of the city and its almost instanteous growth brought the society Helen so longed for to the desert. Teachers came. Ministers arrived. And with the arrival of the railroad, more of everything came to Las Vegas.

Helen was an authority on the history of Southern Nevada, and was named president of the Southern Nevada Historical Society in 1908. Despite the trials of raising children in the unforgiving desert, and the tribulations of losing two of her children before their ??? birthdays, Helen took her societal obligations very seriously. In 1911, she provided the land for the Las Vegas Paiute Colony. She felt very strongly about education, and was the first woman elected to the Clark County School Board (1915).  In 1916 she became the first woman to sit on a Clark County jury.

Her children: Will, Hiram, Eliza (Tiza), Evaline and the baby, Archibald

"Helen Stewart and Frank Stewart had a close relationship, based originally on his value as an employee. It evolved into something deeper, and by 1903, into marriage."

In July 1899, Archie was chasing wild horses at the ranch. He fell from his own horse and died

Hiram died in 1902 following a bout of pneumonia contracted in Los Angeles. Helen lived until 1926.