Daughter of Charles Roland Stebbins and Helen A. Hodge. Wife of James Thomas Darrough, Sr.
Mrs. Laura Stebbins Darrough, known for years throughout all central Nevada as ‘Grandma’ Darrough, died in the Nye County Hospital in Tonopah Tuesday of last week, at the age of 90.
Graveside services and burial were conducted in the family burial plot at Hot Springs ranch Friday.
Mrs. Darrough who, throughout her life, maintained an active interest in all matters pertaining to the welfare of central Nevada, was an ardent supporter of Route 8-A, and lived long enough to see her dream of a paved north-south highway completed.
She is survived by six sons: James of Garnerville; Raymond of Tonopah; Travis of Round Mountain, and Lawrence, Luther and Douglas, of Hot Springs ranch; a brother John F. Stebbins, of Ellis, Kansas; eight grandchildren; 14 great grand-children, three nieces and a nephew.
Mrs. Darrough was a direct link between Nevada’s present and its historic past, an active participant in many of the events which contributed to the state’s growth, and an intimate associate of numerous personages whose names became known to fame. Her story, as given here, is as she related it last June in a interview with Nell Murbarger, magazine and newspaper reporter.
Mrs. Darrough was born January 18, 1862, in [Ruby Valley, Elko County, Nevada. She was one of the first white children born in Ruby Valley. She was the first of four children born to Charles Roland Stebbins and Helen A. Hodge. Her father was actually born in New York, moved to Florence, Alabama in 1848, and left there in 1849 for California. Her mother was a Mormon pioneer from New York who crossed the plains at the age of 14, in 1852, with her family. Laura’s parents met in Fairfield, Utah County, Utah and married there in 1861. After their marriage, they moved to Ruby Valley, where Laura was born. Later in 1862, the family moved to Austin, Lander County, Nevada, where Laura’s three younger siblings were born.] They located on the Humboldt River, near the present site of Battle Mountain, where they opened a trading post to serve westbound emigrants.
When the Austin strike was made the family moved immediately to the new camp. For a time her father succumbed to the mining excitement, but. . . he soon reverted to the call of the land and acquired the present Grass Valley ranch, between Austin and Cortez. While working that ranch he imported the first mowing machine ever brought to Nevada.
At the same time he retained his interest in mining and invested heavily in Virginia City mines. His investments were entirely wiped out, Mrs. Darrough believed to the amount of about $100,000, and it became necessary for him to find employment. After trying his hand at various things, he took a job in the county recorder's office in Austin. He was a well-educated man and an excellent penman, and was considered a great acquisition to the recorder's office.
Mrs. Darrough was not sure of the year when her father died, but believed she was 11 or 12 years old at the time. [Actually, her parents divorced around this time due to his repeated gambling losses.] His [leave] left the family in very straitened circumstances, owning nothing except their house "near Emma Wixom's."
Her mother turned the home into a boarding house to support the family, which then included Laura, her younger sister Mary Catherine, and still a younger brother, John.
Mrs. Darrough was a schoolmate and intimate friend of her neighbor, Emma Wixom, later to become Emma Nevada, and said that from her home she could hear Emma practicing singing by the hour.
All Mrs. Darrough's schooling she received in Austin, going through the "intermediate" department. When she had finished that she obtained a job in the composing room of the Reese River Reveille. She learned to set and distribute type, her pay as a beginner having been about $2.50 a week. She said the proudest day of her life was that on which she took home her first week's pay. She continued with the Reveille until she advanced to a good job which paid her $15 a week, but couldn't remember exactly how long her employment continued.
Later she and her mother, and her brother John, moved to a cattle ranch near the present site of Round Mountain. They panned $900 in free gold in five days, and having no means of cyaniding probably lost as much as they took. They did nothing much about their discovery, a fact over which Mrs. Darrough was still disgusted at the time of her interview. The young men should, she said, have had the sense enough to know that where that much gold was found there was certain to be a lot more. The young men, however, were convinced they had found only a pocket and had worked it out. Later John moved to Kansas to engage in the dairy business.
Mrs. Darrough married James (Jimmy) Darrough who made one of the first important discoveries in what was to become the mining camp of Manhattan. He sold out to a San Franciscan for $25,000, with which money he built the present house at Darrough’s Hot Springs.
The ranch which he acquired, and was later known as Darrough's, was the third ranch in Smoky Valley. She was unsure of the name of its original founder, but said that the present rock house on the north end of the big house, and the root cellar, which still stands, were built in 1863, and that date is cut into one large rock in the door frame.
On that ranch, Mrs. Darrough gave birth to seven sons, and was tremendously disappointed that one of them was a girl. Each time a baby was born, she said, she would ask: ‘Is it a little girl this time?’ But it never was. Six of the seven sons are still living, three of them at Hot Springs Ranch.
When the boys were still quite young her husband died, and she operated the ranch by herself, raised the cattle, developed the springs and reared her family.
She was particularly proud of the hot springs and their history. For generations- and probably for centuries- the Indians knew of their medicinal properties, and brought their sick for great distances to bathe and soak in the mineralized water. Later, Mrs. Darrough said, John C. Fremont spent a winter there, arriving in November 1844 and remaining there until spring when passage across the mountains was possible.
At the time she came to live at the springs, a very old Shoshone, known as Johnny Wholey, told her that he was a boy when Fremont and his men came through the valley. The Indians, never having seen men with white faces before, were uneasy, and sent three men to investigate and learn what sort of treatment the others could expect. Fremont gave them presents, so the rest of the local Indians gathered around. Johnny Wholey recalled that Fremont gave him a stick of barber-pole striped candy, the first candy he had ever seen.
The Indians helped Fremont build a rock cabin, which Mrs. Darrough remembers as being about 12 feet square. With the passage of years the cabin deteriorated and fell to pieces to such an extent it was useless, and ultimately Mrs. Darrough had it torn down and the rocks used in construction of the swimming pool.
Mrs. Darrough was always interested in civic affairs, and was a personal friend of Gov. James G. Scrugham, Sen. Key Pittman, and the latter's brother, Gov. Vail Pittman.
At the time of the interview she summed up her history with the brief statement that she had lived a rather hard life, but that if she had it to do over, would do exactly the same things again. (See Murbarger, Nell, “The Lady Who Wouldn’t Be Photographed”, Sovereigns of the Sage, True Stories of People and Placed in the Great Sagebrush Kingdom of the Western United States, pp. 84-87.)
(Three months after giving her interview to the newspaper reporter, that interview was used to write Laura’s obituary. Laura passed away October 21, 1952, in Tonopah, Nye County, Nevada at the age of 90. A front page story, entitled "Laura Stebbins Darrough Pioneer of Austin, Dies" was published in the Reese Reveille on Saturday, November 1, 1952.)
Her obituary in the Reno paper read, “Mrs. Laura M. Darrough, 90, Nye County resident, died Tuesday in Tonopah. Born 18 January 1862 [Ruby Valley, Nevada.] Widow of James Darrough who died 1911. They had settled at a hot springs near Austin. Mother of James of Gardnerville, Nevada; Raymond of Tonopah; Lawrence, Luther and Douglas of Hot Springs, [and William of Round Mountain]; sister of John F. Stebbins of Ellis, Kansas. 8 grandchildren, 14 great- grandchildren, 3 nieces and 1 nephew. Buried at Hot Springs family plot. Brother died 1 week after she did.” (The Reno Evening Gazette, Wed., Oct. 22, 1952.)
Mrs. Laura Stebbins Darrough, known for years throughout all central Nevada as ‘Grandma’ Darrough, died in the Nye County Hospital in Tonopah Tuesday of last week, at the age of 90.
Graveside services and burial were conducted in the family burial plot at Hot Springs ranch Friday.
Mrs. Darrough who, throughout her life, maintained an active interest in all matters pertaining to the welfare of central Nevada, was an ardent supporter of Route 8-A, and lived long enough to see her dream of a paved north-south highway completed.
She is survived by six sons: James of Garnerville; Raymond of Tonopah; Travis of Round Mountain, and Lawrence, Luther and Douglas, of Hot Springs ranch; a brother John F. Stebbins, of Ellis, Kansas; eight grandchildren; 14 great grand-children, three nieces and a nephew.
Mrs. Darrough was a direct link between Nevada’s present and its historic past, an active participant in many of the events which contributed to the state’s growth, and an intimate associate of numerous personages whose names became known to fame. Her story, as given here, is as she related it last June in a interview with Nell Murbarger, magazine and newspaper reporter.
Mrs. Darrough was born January 18, 1862, in [Ruby Valley, Elko County, Nevada. She was one of the first white children born in Ruby Valley. She was the first of four children born to Charles Roland Stebbins and Helen A. Hodge. Her father was actually born in New York, moved to Florence, Alabama in 1848, and left there in 1849 for California. Her mother was a Mormon pioneer from New York who crossed the plains at the age of 14, in 1852, with her family. Laura’s parents met in Fairfield, Utah County, Utah and married there in 1861. After their marriage, they moved to Ruby Valley, where Laura was born. Later in 1862, the family moved to Austin, Lander County, Nevada, where Laura’s three younger siblings were born.] They located on the Humboldt River, near the present site of Battle Mountain, where they opened a trading post to serve westbound emigrants.
When the Austin strike was made the family moved immediately to the new camp. For a time her father succumbed to the mining excitement, but. . . he soon reverted to the call of the land and acquired the present Grass Valley ranch, between Austin and Cortez. While working that ranch he imported the first mowing machine ever brought to Nevada.
At the same time he retained his interest in mining and invested heavily in Virginia City mines. His investments were entirely wiped out, Mrs. Darrough believed to the amount of about $100,000, and it became necessary for him to find employment. After trying his hand at various things, he took a job in the county recorder's office in Austin. He was a well-educated man and an excellent penman, and was considered a great acquisition to the recorder's office.
Mrs. Darrough was not sure of the year when her father died, but believed she was 11 or 12 years old at the time. [Actually, her parents divorced around this time due to his repeated gambling losses.] His [leave] left the family in very straitened circumstances, owning nothing except their house "near Emma Wixom's."
Her mother turned the home into a boarding house to support the family, which then included Laura, her younger sister Mary Catherine, and still a younger brother, John.
Mrs. Darrough was a schoolmate and intimate friend of her neighbor, Emma Wixom, later to become Emma Nevada, and said that from her home she could hear Emma practicing singing by the hour.
All Mrs. Darrough's schooling she received in Austin, going through the "intermediate" department. When she had finished that she obtained a job in the composing room of the Reese River Reveille. She learned to set and distribute type, her pay as a beginner having been about $2.50 a week. She said the proudest day of her life was that on which she took home her first week's pay. She continued with the Reveille until she advanced to a good job which paid her $15 a week, but couldn't remember exactly how long her employment continued.
Later she and her mother, and her brother John, moved to a cattle ranch near the present site of Round Mountain. They panned $900 in free gold in five days, and having no means of cyaniding probably lost as much as they took. They did nothing much about their discovery, a fact over which Mrs. Darrough was still disgusted at the time of her interview. The young men should, she said, have had the sense enough to know that where that much gold was found there was certain to be a lot more. The young men, however, were convinced they had found only a pocket and had worked it out. Later John moved to Kansas to engage in the dairy business.
Mrs. Darrough married James (Jimmy) Darrough who made one of the first important discoveries in what was to become the mining camp of Manhattan. He sold out to a San Franciscan for $25,000, with which money he built the present house at Darrough’s Hot Springs.
The ranch which he acquired, and was later known as Darrough's, was the third ranch in Smoky Valley. She was unsure of the name of its original founder, but said that the present rock house on the north end of the big house, and the root cellar, which still stands, were built in 1863, and that date is cut into one large rock in the door frame.
On that ranch, Mrs. Darrough gave birth to seven sons, and was tremendously disappointed that one of them was a girl. Each time a baby was born, she said, she would ask: ‘Is it a little girl this time?’ But it never was. Six of the seven sons are still living, three of them at Hot Springs Ranch.
When the boys were still quite young her husband died, and she operated the ranch by herself, raised the cattle, developed the springs and reared her family.
She was particularly proud of the hot springs and their history. For generations- and probably for centuries- the Indians knew of their medicinal properties, and brought their sick for great distances to bathe and soak in the mineralized water. Later, Mrs. Darrough said, John C. Fremont spent a winter there, arriving in November 1844 and remaining there until spring when passage across the mountains was possible.
At the time she came to live at the springs, a very old Shoshone, known as Johnny Wholey, told her that he was a boy when Fremont and his men came through the valley. The Indians, never having seen men with white faces before, were uneasy, and sent three men to investigate and learn what sort of treatment the others could expect. Fremont gave them presents, so the rest of the local Indians gathered around. Johnny Wholey recalled that Fremont gave him a stick of barber-pole striped candy, the first candy he had ever seen.
The Indians helped Fremont build a rock cabin, which Mrs. Darrough remembers as being about 12 feet square. With the passage of years the cabin deteriorated and fell to pieces to such an extent it was useless, and ultimately Mrs. Darrough had it torn down and the rocks used in construction of the swimming pool.
Mrs. Darrough was always interested in civic affairs, and was a personal friend of Gov. James G. Scrugham, Sen. Key Pittman, and the latter's brother, Gov. Vail Pittman.
At the time of the interview she summed up her history with the brief statement that she had lived a rather hard life, but that if she had it to do over, would do exactly the same things again. (See Murbarger, Nell, “The Lady Who Wouldn’t Be Photographed”, Sovereigns of the Sage, True Stories of People and Placed in the Great Sagebrush Kingdom of the Western United States, pp. 84-87.)
(Three months after giving her interview to the newspaper reporter, that interview was used to write Laura’s obituary. Laura passed away October 21, 1952, in Tonopah, Nye County, Nevada at the age of 90. A front page story, entitled "Laura Stebbins Darrough Pioneer of Austin, Dies" was published in the Reese Reveille on Saturday, November 1, 1952.)
Her obituary in the Reno paper read, “Mrs. Laura M. Darrough, 90, Nye County resident, died Tuesday in Tonopah. Born 18 January 1862 [Ruby Valley, Nevada.] Widow of James Darrough who died 1911. They had settled at a hot springs near Austin. Mother of James of Gardnerville, Nevada; Raymond of Tonopah; Lawrence, Luther and Douglas of Hot Springs, [and William of Round Mountain]; sister of John F. Stebbins of Ellis, Kansas. 8 grandchildren, 14 great- grandchildren, 3 nieces and 1 nephew. Buried at Hot Springs family plot. Brother died 1 week after she did.” (The Reno Evening Gazette, Wed., Oct. 22, 1952.)
Daughter of Charles Roland Stebbins and Helen A. Hodge. Wife of James Thomas Darrough, Sr.
Mrs. Laura Stebbins Darrough, known for years throughout all central Nevada as ‘Grandma’ Darrough, died in the Nye County Hospital in Tonopah Tuesday of last week, at the age of 90.
Graveside services and burial were conducted in the family burial plot at Hot Springs ranch Friday.
Mrs. Darrough who, throughout her life, maintained an active interest in all matters pertaining to the welfare of central Nevada, was an ardent supporter of Route 8-A, and lived long enough to see her dream of a paved north-south highway completed.
She is survived by six sons: James of Garnerville; Raymond of Tonopah; Travis of Round Mountain, and Lawrence, Luther and Douglas, of Hot Springs ranch; a brother John F. Stebbins, of Ellis, Kansas; eight grandchildren; 14 great grand-children, three nieces and a nephew.
Mrs. Darrough was a direct link between Nevada’s present and its historic past, an active participant in many of the events which contributed to the state’s growth, and an intimate associate of numerous personages whose names became known to fame. Her story, as given here, is as she related it last June in a interview with Nell Murbarger, magazine and newspaper reporter.
Mrs. Darrough was born January 18, 1862, in [Ruby Valley, Elko County, Nevada. She was one of the first white children born in Ruby Valley. She was the first of four children born to Charles Roland Stebbins and Helen A. Hodge. Her father was actually born in New York, moved to Florence, Alabama in 1848, and left there in 1849 for California. Her mother was a Mormon pioneer from New York who crossed the plains at the age of 14, in 1852, with her family. Laura’s parents met in Fairfield, Utah County, Utah and married there in 1861. After their marriage, they moved to Ruby Valley, where Laura was born. Later in 1862, the family moved to Austin, Lander County, Nevada, where Laura’s three younger siblings were born.] They located on the Humboldt River, near the present site of Battle Mountain, where they opened a trading post to serve westbound emigrants.
When the Austin strike was made the family moved immediately to the new camp. For a time her father succumbed to the mining excitement, but. . . he soon reverted to the call of the land and acquired the present Grass Valley ranch, between Austin and Cortez. While working that ranch he imported the first mowing machine ever brought to Nevada.
At the same time he retained his interest in mining and invested heavily in Virginia City mines. His investments were entirely wiped out, Mrs. Darrough believed to the amount of about $100,000, and it became necessary for him to find employment. After trying his hand at various things, he took a job in the county recorder's office in Austin. He was a well-educated man and an excellent penman, and was considered a great acquisition to the recorder's office.
Mrs. Darrough was not sure of the year when her father died, but believed she was 11 or 12 years old at the time. [Actually, her parents divorced around this time due to his repeated gambling losses.] His [leave] left the family in very straitened circumstances, owning nothing except their house "near Emma Wixom's."
Her mother turned the home into a boarding house to support the family, which then included Laura, her younger sister Mary Catherine, and still a younger brother, John.
Mrs. Darrough was a schoolmate and intimate friend of her neighbor, Emma Wixom, later to become Emma Nevada, and said that from her home she could hear Emma practicing singing by the hour.
All Mrs. Darrough's schooling she received in Austin, going through the "intermediate" department. When she had finished that she obtained a job in the composing room of the Reese River Reveille. She learned to set and distribute type, her pay as a beginner having been about $2.50 a week. She said the proudest day of her life was that on which she took home her first week's pay. She continued with the Reveille until she advanced to a good job which paid her $15 a week, but couldn't remember exactly how long her employment continued.
Later she and her mother, and her brother John, moved to a cattle ranch near the present site of Round Mountain. They panned $900 in free gold in five days, and having no means of cyaniding probably lost as much as they took. They did nothing much about their discovery, a fact over which Mrs. Darrough was still disgusted at the time of her interview. The young men should, she said, have had the sense enough to know that where that much gold was found there was certain to be a lot more. The young men, however, were convinced they had found only a pocket and had worked it out. Later John moved to Kansas to engage in the dairy business.
Mrs. Darrough married James (Jimmy) Darrough who made one of the first important discoveries in what was to become the mining camp of Manhattan. He sold out to a San Franciscan for $25,000, with which money he built the present house at Darrough’s Hot Springs.
The ranch which he acquired, and was later known as Darrough's, was the third ranch in Smoky Valley. She was unsure of the name of its original founder, but said that the present rock house on the north end of the big house, and the root cellar, which still stands, were built in 1863, and that date is cut into one large rock in the door frame.
On that ranch, Mrs. Darrough gave birth to seven sons, and was tremendously disappointed that one of them was a girl. Each time a baby was born, she said, she would ask: ‘Is it a little girl this time?’ But it never was. Six of the seven sons are still living, three of them at Hot Springs Ranch.
When the boys were still quite young her husband died, and she operated the ranch by herself, raised the cattle, developed the springs and reared her family.
She was particularly proud of the hot springs and their history. For generations- and probably for centuries- the Indians knew of their medicinal properties, and brought their sick for great distances to bathe and soak in the mineralized water. Later, Mrs. Darrough said, John C. Fremont spent a winter there, arriving in November 1844 and remaining there until spring when passage across the mountains was possible.
At the time she came to live at the springs, a very old Shoshone, known as Johnny Wholey, told her that he was a boy when Fremont and his men came through the valley. The Indians, never having seen men with white faces before, were uneasy, and sent three men to investigate and learn what sort of treatment the others could expect. Fremont gave them presents, so the rest of the local Indians gathered around. Johnny Wholey recalled that Fremont gave him a stick of barber-pole striped candy, the first candy he had ever seen.
The Indians helped Fremont build a rock cabin, which Mrs. Darrough remembers as being about 12 feet square. With the passage of years the cabin deteriorated and fell to pieces to such an extent it was useless, and ultimately Mrs. Darrough had it torn down and the rocks used in construction of the swimming pool.
Mrs. Darrough was always interested in civic affairs, and was a personal friend of Gov. James G. Scrugham, Sen. Key Pittman, and the latter's brother, Gov. Vail Pittman.
At the time of the interview she summed up her history with the brief statement that she had lived a rather hard life, but that if she had it to do over, would do exactly the same things again. (See Murbarger, Nell, “The Lady Who Wouldn’t Be Photographed”, Sovereigns of the Sage, True Stories of People and Placed in the Great Sagebrush Kingdom of the Western United States, pp. 84-87.)
(Three months after giving her interview to the newspaper reporter, that interview was used to write Laura’s obituary. Laura passed away October 21, 1952, in Tonopah, Nye County, Nevada at the age of 90. A front page story, entitled "Laura Stebbins Darrough Pioneer of Austin, Dies" was published in the Reese Reveille on Saturday, November 1, 1952.)
Her obituary in the Reno paper read, “Mrs. Laura M. Darrough, 90, Nye County resident, died Tuesday in Tonopah. Born 18 January 1862 [Ruby Valley, Nevada.] Widow of James Darrough who died 1911. They had settled at a hot springs near Austin. Mother of James of Gardnerville, Nevada; Raymond of Tonopah; Lawrence, Luther and Douglas of Hot Springs, [and William of Round Mountain]; sister of John F. Stebbins of Ellis, Kansas. 8 grandchildren, 14 great- grandchildren, 3 nieces and 1 nephew. Buried at Hot Springs family plot. Brother died 1 week after she did.” (The Reno Evening Gazette, Wed., Oct. 22, 1952.)
Mrs. Laura Stebbins Darrough, known for years throughout all central Nevada as ‘Grandma’ Darrough, died in the Nye County Hospital in Tonopah Tuesday of last week, at the age of 90.
Graveside services and burial were conducted in the family burial plot at Hot Springs ranch Friday.
Mrs. Darrough who, throughout her life, maintained an active interest in all matters pertaining to the welfare of central Nevada, was an ardent supporter of Route 8-A, and lived long enough to see her dream of a paved north-south highway completed.
She is survived by six sons: James of Garnerville; Raymond of Tonopah; Travis of Round Mountain, and Lawrence, Luther and Douglas, of Hot Springs ranch; a brother John F. Stebbins, of Ellis, Kansas; eight grandchildren; 14 great grand-children, three nieces and a nephew.
Mrs. Darrough was a direct link between Nevada’s present and its historic past, an active participant in many of the events which contributed to the state’s growth, and an intimate associate of numerous personages whose names became known to fame. Her story, as given here, is as she related it last June in a interview with Nell Murbarger, magazine and newspaper reporter.
Mrs. Darrough was born January 18, 1862, in [Ruby Valley, Elko County, Nevada. She was one of the first white children born in Ruby Valley. She was the first of four children born to Charles Roland Stebbins and Helen A. Hodge. Her father was actually born in New York, moved to Florence, Alabama in 1848, and left there in 1849 for California. Her mother was a Mormon pioneer from New York who crossed the plains at the age of 14, in 1852, with her family. Laura’s parents met in Fairfield, Utah County, Utah and married there in 1861. After their marriage, they moved to Ruby Valley, where Laura was born. Later in 1862, the family moved to Austin, Lander County, Nevada, where Laura’s three younger siblings were born.] They located on the Humboldt River, near the present site of Battle Mountain, where they opened a trading post to serve westbound emigrants.
When the Austin strike was made the family moved immediately to the new camp. For a time her father succumbed to the mining excitement, but. . . he soon reverted to the call of the land and acquired the present Grass Valley ranch, between Austin and Cortez. While working that ranch he imported the first mowing machine ever brought to Nevada.
At the same time he retained his interest in mining and invested heavily in Virginia City mines. His investments were entirely wiped out, Mrs. Darrough believed to the amount of about $100,000, and it became necessary for him to find employment. After trying his hand at various things, he took a job in the county recorder's office in Austin. He was a well-educated man and an excellent penman, and was considered a great acquisition to the recorder's office.
Mrs. Darrough was not sure of the year when her father died, but believed she was 11 or 12 years old at the time. [Actually, her parents divorced around this time due to his repeated gambling losses.] His [leave] left the family in very straitened circumstances, owning nothing except their house "near Emma Wixom's."
Her mother turned the home into a boarding house to support the family, which then included Laura, her younger sister Mary Catherine, and still a younger brother, John.
Mrs. Darrough was a schoolmate and intimate friend of her neighbor, Emma Wixom, later to become Emma Nevada, and said that from her home she could hear Emma practicing singing by the hour.
All Mrs. Darrough's schooling she received in Austin, going through the "intermediate" department. When she had finished that she obtained a job in the composing room of the Reese River Reveille. She learned to set and distribute type, her pay as a beginner having been about $2.50 a week. She said the proudest day of her life was that on which she took home her first week's pay. She continued with the Reveille until she advanced to a good job which paid her $15 a week, but couldn't remember exactly how long her employment continued.
Later she and her mother, and her brother John, moved to a cattle ranch near the present site of Round Mountain. They panned $900 in free gold in five days, and having no means of cyaniding probably lost as much as they took. They did nothing much about their discovery, a fact over which Mrs. Darrough was still disgusted at the time of her interview. The young men should, she said, have had the sense enough to know that where that much gold was found there was certain to be a lot more. The young men, however, were convinced they had found only a pocket and had worked it out. Later John moved to Kansas to engage in the dairy business.
Mrs. Darrough married James (Jimmy) Darrough who made one of the first important discoveries in what was to become the mining camp of Manhattan. He sold out to a San Franciscan for $25,000, with which money he built the present house at Darrough’s Hot Springs.
The ranch which he acquired, and was later known as Darrough's, was the third ranch in Smoky Valley. She was unsure of the name of its original founder, but said that the present rock house on the north end of the big house, and the root cellar, which still stands, were built in 1863, and that date is cut into one large rock in the door frame.
On that ranch, Mrs. Darrough gave birth to seven sons, and was tremendously disappointed that one of them was a girl. Each time a baby was born, she said, she would ask: ‘Is it a little girl this time?’ But it never was. Six of the seven sons are still living, three of them at Hot Springs Ranch.
When the boys were still quite young her husband died, and she operated the ranch by herself, raised the cattle, developed the springs and reared her family.
She was particularly proud of the hot springs and their history. For generations- and probably for centuries- the Indians knew of their medicinal properties, and brought their sick for great distances to bathe and soak in the mineralized water. Later, Mrs. Darrough said, John C. Fremont spent a winter there, arriving in November 1844 and remaining there until spring when passage across the mountains was possible.
At the time she came to live at the springs, a very old Shoshone, known as Johnny Wholey, told her that he was a boy when Fremont and his men came through the valley. The Indians, never having seen men with white faces before, were uneasy, and sent three men to investigate and learn what sort of treatment the others could expect. Fremont gave them presents, so the rest of the local Indians gathered around. Johnny Wholey recalled that Fremont gave him a stick of barber-pole striped candy, the first candy he had ever seen.
The Indians helped Fremont build a rock cabin, which Mrs. Darrough remembers as being about 12 feet square. With the passage of years the cabin deteriorated and fell to pieces to such an extent it was useless, and ultimately Mrs. Darrough had it torn down and the rocks used in construction of the swimming pool.
Mrs. Darrough was always interested in civic affairs, and was a personal friend of Gov. James G. Scrugham, Sen. Key Pittman, and the latter's brother, Gov. Vail Pittman.
At the time of the interview she summed up her history with the brief statement that she had lived a rather hard life, but that if she had it to do over, would do exactly the same things again. (See Murbarger, Nell, “The Lady Who Wouldn’t Be Photographed”, Sovereigns of the Sage, True Stories of People and Placed in the Great Sagebrush Kingdom of the Western United States, pp. 84-87.)
(Three months after giving her interview to the newspaper reporter, that interview was used to write Laura’s obituary. Laura passed away October 21, 1952, in Tonopah, Nye County, Nevada at the age of 90. A front page story, entitled "Laura Stebbins Darrough Pioneer of Austin, Dies" was published in the Reese Reveille on Saturday, November 1, 1952.)
Her obituary in the Reno paper read, “Mrs. Laura M. Darrough, 90, Nye County resident, died Tuesday in Tonopah. Born 18 January 1862 [Ruby Valley, Nevada.] Widow of James Darrough who died 1911. They had settled at a hot springs near Austin. Mother of James of Gardnerville, Nevada; Raymond of Tonopah; Lawrence, Luther and Douglas of Hot Springs, [and William of Round Mountain]; sister of John F. Stebbins of Ellis, Kansas. 8 grandchildren, 14 great- grandchildren, 3 nieces and 1 nephew. Buried at Hot Springs family plot. Brother died 1 week after she did.” (The Reno Evening Gazette, Wed., Oct. 22, 1952.)
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