Mormon Well Spring was added to the National Historic Register (#74001143) on December 24, 1974. The text on this page is from the nomination form from when it was added.

The Mormon Well Spring site had been used by the Paiute Indians, a nomadic tribe of southern Nevada, for centuries before white explorers came into the region. The use of this site was seasonal. In the fall the Paiutes. came to the area to collect pine nuts and hunt bighorn sheep. They probably used the spring site as a base camp. Little is known about the use of the site by pre-Columbian cultures.

The spring is the only reliable water source for the surrounding vicinity. of the Desert National Wildlife Range. Therefore the area was used by the early travelers and prospectors during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s A Mr. John Thomas was the first white man to claim the spring’s water for a sawmill, but this project was abandoned before any development was done on the spring.

Beginning in the early 1900’s Mr. Joe Perkins, who then owned the Pickett Ranch in what is now part of the Moapa Indian Reservation, bought the water rights for the spring from Mr. Thomas and began grazing cattle and horses in the Mormon Well area. The cattle had to be moved often as the forage was scarce, but the horses did well and many horses were raised there. Over the years the spring was developed to provide more water for the livestock and the corral was constructed, but little was gained by the efforts.

In 1936 the area became part of the Desert Game Range and grazing was allowed but controlled by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management. In 1966 the area was changed to a Wildlife Range under the sole jurisdiction of the Fish and Wildlife Service. At that time grazing was eliminated and the water became the sole right of the native wildlife again.