BOB MCCRACKEN Nye County History Advertisement

It's fun to compile top 10 lists. Lately, I've been thinking about who belongs on a list of the 10 most important people in Nye County history.

The word "important" is key here. I don't mean richest, most famous (or infamous) or most beloved -- each of these terms would have its own list.

I go by the Oxford English Dictionary meaning of "importance," namely, "significance ... weighty ... momentous ... consequential." I'll even allow a little "pomp" and "pretentious," as the dictionary does.

The following is my list of the top 10 most important people in Nye County history. See if you agree with me. If not, how do we differ?

10) John C. Humphrey is credited with the discovery of gold on the west slope of the Toquima Range about 45 miles north of Tonopah in the spring of 1905. Humphrey's find led to the founding of the frontier boomtown of Manhattan.

His family owned a ranch at Peavine and, according to one of several accounts of his discovery, he was out looking for cows when he got lucky.

9) Walter J. Williams was a cotton farmer from Texas when, in 1957, he answered a for-sale ad in a Fort Worth newspaper describing the 12,000-acre Pahrump Ranch in the Pahrump Valley.

Upon inspection, Williams immediately recognized the valley's enormous potential for growing cotton and the area's bright future because of its abundance of land and water.

He purchased the ranch for $400,000 and sold it in 1970 for $3,500,000. Under Williams' ownership, the ranch was the biggest producer of cotton during what has been called Pahrump's "golden agricultural period."

8) Hank (and Robert) Records grew up on a farm in northern New Mexico and appreciated good farmland. In 1950, while driving across the Amargosa Valley, they saw the future. "That beautiful flat valley!" Hank exclaimed. "Something should be done with that."

Hank investigated the situation and learned Amargosa Valley land had recently become available from the federal government under the Desert Land Act.

They were the first to file under the act in the valley; other modern pioneers followed them into the farm area. Hank and Robert were sparkplugs in founding the Valley Electric Association.

7) Sheriff William "Bill" Thomas exemplified many of the heroic characteristics we often associate with larger-than-life men of the American West. He served as Nye County sheriff from 1917 to 1958, with only a two-year hiatus early in his nearly 40-year career.

Sheriff Thomas was easygoing and thoughtful and took local circumstances into consideration when enforcing the law. He never carried a gun as he traveled constantly throughout his huge jurisdiction.

Arguably the last of the great Western frontier sheriffs, he embodied the heart and sprit of Nye County law enforcement as the frontier era came to an end.

6) Louis D. Gordon is the single most important figure in the history of Round Mountain. As one source put it, "From the very inception of the camp [he] ... stood as its sponsor and godfather."

From Round Mountain's beginnings in 1906, he owned claims in the heart of the camp's treasure trove and for decades was the supreme promoter of what became the great Round Mountain mine. Gordon is remembered for being as interested in the welfare of local people as he was in pure profit.

5) Elmer S. Bowman should be viewed as the father of modern Pahrump. Bowman was from the Moapa area east of Las Vegas and purchased the huge Manse Ranch in 1946. He saw the promise of the valley's abundant land and water resources.

Other family members followed him to Pahrump as hard work and vision led to development of the valley's agricultural potential. He was a community leader and worked to modernize the valley.

4) Frank "Shorty" Harris and Ernest "Ed" Cross were on a prospecting trip in August 1904 when one of them -- each later claimed the honor -- discovered gold in the speckled green rock in the Bullfrog Hills near present-day Beatty.

Their lucky find quickly led to the founding of the towns of Rhyolite and Beatty. By 1907, Rhyolite's population was said to have been 6,000, but it faded quickly. Shorty's reputation is now firmly established in desert lore; Ed is less well known.

3) Leonard Rosen's Preferred Equities Corp. purchased the 10,000 acres remaining of the Pahrump Ranch from Walt Williams in 1970.

Rosen, who had earlier used television successfully to market products when the medium was in its infancy and had previously developed land in Florida, saw great potential for community development in the Pahrump Valley.

The ranch was subdivided and lots sold as the company became a leading force in Pahrump's transformation from a farm community to a small city.

2) Joseph and Margaret Yount acquired what became the Manse Ranch in Pahrump Valley in 1877. At that time the valley was a barren and desolate place, perhaps as isolated from civilization as any place in the West.

The family occupied the ranch for decades and built it into a southern Nevada showplace. Really, the Younts stand for all Nye County pioneer families who carved homes and communities out of the wilderness.

1) Jim Butler's May 1900 discovery of the rich deposit of silver and gold at what became Tonopah assures him the title as the most important figure in Nye County history.

Not only did his discovery lead to the spectacular rise of Tonopah, a huge consequence in itself, but also it ushered in the last full expression of the Western frontier in America, paving the way for Goldfield, Rhyolite, Beatty, Manhattan, Round Mountain, and numerous smaller and less enduring communities.

Butler persisted in assessing the mineral potential at what became Tonopah despite discouraging actions of others, such as the assayer at Southern Klondike, who took one look at Butler's Tonopah samples and threw them on the dump.

That persistence, and the hardships Butler and his wife Belle endured to develop his claims, are an inspiration to all who would make their dreams become reality.

Contenders: Jack Longstreet (gunslinger), Tasker Oddie (mining man, lawyer, and politician), and President Harry S Truman (development of the Nevada Test Site)

Other top 10 candidates (in alphabetical order) are:

William H. (Will) Berg -- Round Mountain pioneer;

Gordon Bettles -- Amargosa Valley resident and enthusiast;

Bobbie Duncan -- Tonopah brothel operator;

Ralph Jacobus "Dad" Fairbanks -- community builder;

Col. John C. Fremont -- explorer;

Tim Hafen -- agriculturist and community builder;

Patrick McCarran -- lawyer and politician;

Key Pitman -- lawyer and politician;

Vail Pitman -- businessman and politician;

O.K. Reed -- Central Nevada rancher;

Albert Revert -- beatty businessman;

Borax Smith -- railroad man;

Jedediah Smith -- explorer;

Roland Wiley -- lawyer, politician, and humanitarian.

Now we come to what I consider the most important question: What characteristic do the 10 most important people in Nye County history share that enabled them to make the list?

Answer: Nine out of the 10, all but Sheriff Bill Thomas, discovered or recognized a new opportunity to develop a Nye County water, land, or mining resource.

Development of each of those resources significantly changed Nye County's history. Changes in how resources are viewed and utilized have been, and I predict will remain, at the heart of the county's unfolding history.

With this in mind, I think it will not be long before one or more individuals on my Top 10 list slip down to the "contender" status as the next history-shapers step into the limelight.

We are now in a period of tumultuous technological change worldwide that will alter how we see and use the earth's resources more than at any time since the beginning of the industrial revolution 200 years ago.

If we get focused, Nye County can ride this tide of change, much to our (and the earth's) enormous benefit.

Look out, Jim Butler, here we come.