Robert Steen

ROBERT STEEN, BORN ABOUT 1840 in New York, moved west and ultimately became a prominent figure in Nevada’s Nye County. Known to most as “Bob,” he traveled from San Antonio to Belmont, Nevada, in 1866 and began serving as deputy sheriff under Sheriff A. Ranney. In 1868, Steen successfully ran for the top position, and The Mountain Champion observed approvingly, “A more efficient officer cannot be found in any county.”

After serving one term as sheriff, Steen relocated to Mineral Park in Mojave County, Arizona Territory, where his brother Moses and family were living. In 1874, he acquired a lease on the Keystone Mine, which The Pioche Record described in its August 5, 1874 “Letter from Arizona” as “a first-class prospect.”

Tragedy struck the Steen family in early April 1884, when the home occupied by Moses and his family collapsed after a cellar wall gave way. Moses, his wife, and one young daughter were crushed to death, while two other children survived but were seriously injured. The Elko Independent incorrectly reported that the shock of the tragedy caused Bob Steen to fall dead—an error that would not be the last confusion surrounding his later years.

Later that same year, Steen was the successful Republican nominee for sheriff of Mohave County, a position he held for one term. He was subsequently appointed United States Deputy Marshal for Mohave County, Arizona Territory. Still drawn to mining ventures, Steen remained active in prospecting while continuing his law enforcement career.

In May 1889, he left Mojave County carrying $2,250 in cash to visit friends in San Francisco, leaving his mining interests in the care of his brother Thomas and his partner, Deputy Sheriff Collins. By June, Steen had vanished, apparently without a trace. During this period of uncertainty, former Arizona Senator Timothy McCarthy, a longtime friend of Steen’s, offered a description of the missing lawman that spoke volumes about his character. “He is a big, strong fellow and afraid of nothing,” McCarthy said. “When he went out after stage robbers and horse thieves he always went alone, and usually got his man, too. He is not a hard drinker, and what little he did take had no effect on him, as he was as strong as an ox.”

Months later he notified acquaintances that he had left San Francisco and traveled to Guatemala, where he had once lived and long wished to return. By July 1890, he was reported to be in Old Mexico, serving as superintendent of a mining property owned by an English company.

When Steen returned to the United States remains unclear. A brief notice in the Tonopah Bonanza dated July 7, 1906, reported that he was seriously ill and had been taken by the Nye County Commissioners to the county hospital in Tonopah. He had been living in a dugout in Bullfrog, where he suffered a stroke. Another account, published in the June 22, 1906 edition of the Elko Weekly Independent, noted that “four months ago Steen came from Goldfield to Bullfrog as a stowaway on one of C. D. Hunter’s lumber wagons.”

The pattern was unmistakable: Steen had moved from one boom town to the next, the pull of mining never quite loosening its grip. In his final months, the International Order of Odd Fellows, of which he was a member, cared for him and ensured that his last days were spent in comfort.

Robert Steen died on November 30, 1906 at the age of sixty, according to his death certificate, but he was actually about 66. A native of New York, he was buried under the auspices of the I.O.O.F. in the Old Tonopah Cemetery.

Once a respected lawman and Nevada’s first sheriff of Nye County, Steen ended his days quietly, far removed from the authority he once wielded. His life—marked by public service, restless movement, and the enduring hope of mineral fortune—mirrored the boom-and-bust rhythm of the mining West itself, where even the most prominent figures could fade into obscurity, leaving only scattered records and a weathered grave behind.