Several generations of school children were educated in this little building, which covered grades one through eight from 1922 through 1967. The one-room schoolhouse at Elgin in eastern Nevada was built by Reuben Bradshaw, whose father, James Bradshaw, homesteaded a ranch in 1880 at the lower end of Rainbow Canyon, which is now noted by signs for Highway 317.

During the 1870s, a number of ranches were settled along Meadow Valley Wash, which flowed all the way to Moapa, where it joined with the water from Warm Springs and formed the Muddy River.

There were never any large numbers of children in the area until the Salt Lake, San Pedro and Los Angeles Railroad was built through Rainbow Canyon in 1903. At that time, small communities arose every five miles, where there was a siding a stop for trains and passengers. At some of the larger sidings, a small depot was built where passengers could board or leave the train, or get a hot meal.