BOB MCCRACKEN Nye County History Advertisement

Think about all the people who have lived in the Pahrump Valley since Joseph and Margaret Yount founded the Manse Ranch in 1877.

Among them, who would you select as the founding father or mother of modern Pahrump? In other words, what individual contributed the most to the development of the modern community?

The Younts and their son-in-law, Harsha White, are logical choices. Lois Kellogg is also a contender -- the Younts, White, and Kellogg all belonging to an older era in Pahrump history.

More recently there was Walt Williams, who was the valley's cotton king from 1958 to 1970, and Leonard Rosen, whose Preferred Equities kicked off the present boom beginning in the early 1970s. And there is Tim Hafen, who moved to the valley at age 19 in 1951 and has been a leader in the community ever since.

All are key figures in modern Pahrump history, no doubt about it.

But my candidate for modern Pahrump's founding father is Elmer Bowman.

I once asked Tim Hafen what he thought of the idea, and he said he strongly agreed. Recently, I asked Harry Ford if he agreed with Tim Hafen, and he replied, "Yes, 200 percent." Both knew Bowman well.

Elmer Squire Bowman was born in Minersville, Utah, in 1893 and was raised in the Bunkerville and Logandale area of northeastern Clark County, Nevada. His family was of the Mormon faith and he served his mission in New Zealand.

He married Elizabeth Rebecca Leavitt, born in 1892, who was from the Virgin Valley. The couple had eight children who survived to adulthood: five girls and three boys.

The Bowmans lived in the Moapa Valley-Logandale area, where Elmer was a rancher and operated a store and trucking business. He was also heavily involved in community affairs there, including education, helping to bring electric power to Logandale, and was active in the local irrigation company.

Once the construction of Hoover Dam began, the increased population in the Las Vegas area led to a growth in the dairy business in northeastern Clark County. Bowman started a dairy in Logandale, milking about 30 cows.

In 1942, he began hauling hay from the Pahrump Valley -- mostly grown on the Pahrump Ranch -- to the stockyard in Las Vegas. At that time, livestock transported on the train was unloaded in Las Vegas and fed and watered there before being shipped on to other destinations.

During those years there was pressure on the agricultural land in northeastern Clark County. As agricultural properties were passed down through several generations, parcels grew smaller and smaller.

There was also a problem with different types of soil on the same parcel. It became increasingly difficult to make a living in agriculture there. Ever the entrepreneur, Bowman was on the lookout for a new opportunity, and he saw his chance in the Pahrump Valley.

In about 1944, he purchased a large parcel of land at the north end of the valley from one of the Van Horn brothers. His plan was to build a large dairy. He was drilling a well on the property when fate intervened.

The 6,700-acre Manse Ranch was owned by a physician in California named H.D. Cornell. The story goes that there was a banker in Las Vegas by the name of Minetti whom Bowman knew. One day in 1946, Cornell was in the bank talking to Minetti about selling the ranch. Minetti said, "I know a man who could run that. He'd make a deal for it." Bowman liked what he saw, large flowing springs and plenty of land. He could see that the Pahrump Valley was the new frontier.

Bowman bought the Manse Ranch from Cornell in 1946, and he and Elizabeth, along with several of their grown children and their spouses, moved to Pahrump. Among the children who made the move were son Perry and his wife Norma and daughter Imogene with her husband, Lenford "Digger" Anderson.

From the beginning, the huge ranch was run as a family operation, with Perry splitting off his own effort early on. Bowman's move to Pahrump influenced Max Hafen and his son Tim to purchase 840 acres from Bowman and young Tim and his wife moved onto their property in 1951.

From the beginning, Bowman's intention was to build a community in Pahrump. Essentially, he transferred his entrepreneurial and community-building skills honed in the Moapa Valley to the frontier in Pahrump. At 50 years of age, he was not doing it for himself; it was for future generations of both his family and the community. He was deeply concerned with the welfare and future of all of the residents of the valley.

According to his son Perry, when Bowman got to Pahrump, making a living there was a tough proposition. "There was nothing here that was solid, or that was paying for itself. The money was coming out of California to run it."

Perry Bowman described Pahrump's isolation to me. People had to go to Las Vegas for doctors and to Shoshone for fuel. There was no power, no telephone, no oiled roads. If you wanted electricity, you had to generate it yourself.

Bowman involved himself in a myriad of activities to elevate the quality of life for all Pahrump. He became deeply involved with education in the valley and was a strong advocate for improving the area's roads. In 1954, the paved road over Mountain Springs to Las Vegas was opened; eventually (in 1966), the road connecting with Highway 95 via Johnnie was completed. Bowman, along with Tim Hafen and Hank Records, played a vital role in bringing power to the Pahrump and Amargosa valleys. He was also heavily involved in bringing telephone service to the valley. And he was a leader in helping to provide religious services to members of his faith living in Pahrump.

In effect, Elmer Bowman used his Manse Ranch farming operation as a demonstration of the valley's agricultural potential.

In 1952 he began what Harry Ford described as an "assembly line dairy farm," where four cows could be milked at the same time using milking machines. Ford estimates there were perhaps 150 cows in his operation.

Always open to trying something new, in 1948 he made a deal with Leon Hughes to put acreage on the big ranch in cotton, proving once and for all that cotton could be successfully grown in the valley, setting the stage for the "King Cotton" era of Pahrump history.

In the mid-1960s, Bowman divided the Manse Ranch among family members and moved to St. George, Utah. He died in 1970.

Bill Turner, who moved to Pahrump in 1947, summed up Elmer Bowman's role in Pahrump's development: "Elmer Bowman was a far-thinking man. He was really pushing education all the time. And he lived and breathed getting power in the valley. He said, 'We won't have a valley here until we have power.' And, 'We need roads in here' ... Anywhere there was a meeting, Elmer was there day or night. I don't know how the man ever kept up, but he really went."

One person I interviewed for this column suggested that the next school built in Pahrump be named after Elmer Bowman. I second the motion.

I also respectfully suggest that town leaders set aside an acre or so. Build a beautiful fountain in the middle of the site and, around the fountain, place larger-than-life bronze statues paying tribute to honored figures in the valley's past.

I suggest the first statue be a likeness of Elmer Bowman. It would be an inspiration to all.