Metropolis, Nevada is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Elko County Elko County is a county in the northeastern corner of Nevada, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,702. Its county seat is Elko. The county was established on March 5, 1869, from Lander County. Elko County is the fourth ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, northwest of Wells. During the early twentieth century, many homesteaders attempted to farm in the

Great Basin The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...

, especially in western Utah but also in northeastern Nevada. Creating the town of Metropolis was the project of an eastern businessman, Harry L. Pierce of

Leominster, Massachusetts Leominster ( ) is a city in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the second-largest city in Worcester County, with a population of 43,222 at the 2023 census. Leominster is located north of Worcester and northwest of Boston. Bo ...

, and of investors from both Massachusetts and

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

. During the second decade of the twentieth century, Pierce's Pacific Reclamation Company attempted to make the optimistically named Metropolis the center of a huge farming district. Metropolis Rail stop

The Company purchased of desert land in 1910 and hired a respected

contractor, P. J. “Pat” Moran, to build a dam on Bishop Creek, 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 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded during ...

encouraged members to move there. The town became predominantly Mormon, and no church was ever built in Metropolis because the Mormons used the town amusement hall as a meetinghouse. 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 encountered serious problems. Pierce had failed to obtain

water right Water right in water law is the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentious. In ot ...

s to Bishop Creek, and the downstream town of Lovelock sued to prevent the impoundment of water behind Bishop Creek Dam. Because residents could not irrigate, many tried dry-farming wheat, successfully at first. After settlers killed marauding

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...

s, the

jackrabbit Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The genu ...

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 San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. Dry-farming was possible only for a few years because of unusually high precipitation. Lower rainfall and Mormon crickets ended the experiment. Pacific Reclamation declared bankruptcy in 1920. In 1922 the railroad discontinued service. By 1924, only 200 people remained. The amusement hall and hotel burned, and the last store closed in 1925, the post office in 1942. The population was 127 in 1940. 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.In 1989, former residents erected a monument “in memory of those valiant pioneers who settled and built a city here.” Carl L. Quist, Memories of Metropolis, Nevada," ''Northeastern Nevada Historical Society Quarterly'', (1999), 118-19. The Quist article includes lists of Metropolis residents, in many cases including when they moved to Metropolis, when they left, and where they went.

References

External links

Metropolis
historic and contemporary photos. (elkorose.com via archive.org)

description and photos. (elkorose.com via archive.org) {{Elko County, Nevada Ghost towns in Elko County, Nevada Populated places established in 1910 Ghost towns in Nevada

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Further reading

External links