by the railroad magnates
of the State upon which to build their new homes, it being their desire
to live together in their home life as well as in their business life.

On the north side of California street commencing at Powell was the
residence of Mr. David Porter. This was torn down to make way for the
Fairmont Hotel, ground for which was broken October 15, 1902. There were
other small homes on other parts of the block but they too were removed
and the entire block was used as a site for this famous hostelry.

In the early days a long shanty 40 feet by 10 to 12 feet in width stood
where the Porter residence formerly stood. A man by the name of McIntire
owned it. It was literally covered with California honeysuckle, and a
view point of the town. This entire block was acquired by the late James
G. Fair, one of the famous mining men of Nevada, and it still remains in
the family estate. The hotel was in the course of construction at the
time of the great fire of April 18-21, 1906, and the interior had to be
rebuilt entirely as well as the stonework about the exterior openings.

The next of the large homes was that of James C. Flood, a handsome and
imposing structure of Connecticut brownstone. This building stood upon
the eastern half of the block between Mason and Taylor streets and in
order to build, a huge hill of rock as high as the building now is, had
to be removed. This was in 1876. After the fire of 1906 this building
was remodeled and is now occupied by the Pacific-Union Club.

Mason street had just been cut through this same hill. On the west half
of the block stood the home of the late D. D. Colton, who made his
fortune out of construction contracts on the Central Pacific railroad.
It was afterwards purchased by C. P. Huntington, another of the famous
railroad magnates.

On the next corner stood the large frame mansion of Charles Crocker, one
of the builders of the C. P. R. R., built at an expense of $2,500,000.
His son William H. built himself a home on the far corner of the same
block. This takes us to Jones street. When the late Charles Crocker
selected this site for his home there was one piece of property facing
on Sacramento street that he could not buy, so in order to get even with
the owner, a Mr. Young, he had a tall spite fence built around the
house. The owner lived there for a while, but being shut off as he was
from the sunlight, had his house removed; still he would not sell and
the fence sto