Old Spanish Trail – Mormon Road Historic District

19 Saturday Oct 2024

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Clark County, Historic Districts, Mormon Road, Nevada, NRHP, Old Spanish Trail, Spanish Trail, The Old Spanish Trail

Old Spanish Trail – Mormon Road Historic District

Old Spanish Trail

The Old Spanish Trail – Mormon Road Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#01000863) on August 22, 2001. The text below is from the national register’s nomination form:

The Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road property is regionally significant under National Register Criterion A, in the areas of Transportation and Exploration/Settlement. In terms of significance for the State of Nevada, the trail is significant under the Transportation Research Theme, and the Exploration and Settlement Sub-theme; see the Nevada Comprehensive Preservation Plan (White et. al 1991). The Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road was the first transportation corridor used by Euroamericans across the state of Nevada. Segments of the road which maintain historical integrity and show physical remains of the trail are significant under National Register Criterion D, for historical archaeology. Much of the history of settlement and early travel in southern Nevada can be directly tied to the Spanish Trail and the widespread publication of John C. Fremont’s 1844 route (he was responsible for the term “Spanish Trail”) across the region. The Mormon Battalion traveled over the route from Salt Lake City to San Bernardino and back in 1847-1848. Subsequently thousands of Mormons used the route to travel to the Mormon mission in San Bernardino (established in 1851) and missionary stations in the Pacific. Then in 1855, the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City decided to capitalize on the well-known rest stop of Las Vegas along Fremont’s route, and establish a mission there. Thus, the “Mormon Road” as the trail came to be known, was established in 1847 through the initial expedition over the trail by the Mormon Battalion, and saw continual usage through the abandonment of the Mormon mission at Las Vegas in 1857, and afterward. The Mormon mission at Las Vegas was the first Euroamerican settlement in southern Nevada, thus making it a significant site in the early history of the southern Nevada region. The settlement at Las Vegas would not have materialized without the Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road corridor adjacent to the natural springs there (listed in the National Register in 1978 as the Las Vegas Springs).

John C. Fremont’s 1844 expedition over the Old Spanish Trail, which resulted in a widely distributed map of the route and much of the Great Basin, is significant. This expedition established Fremont’s reputation as a nationally-known explorer. Because the map was available in 1845, that year was the beginning of steady wagon traffic. Although the route that is being nominated has its roots in a pack trail that traversed the Greater American Southwest nearly 20 years prior to Fremont’s expedition and the establishment of the Mormon Road, wagon traces and associated artifacts from the post-1845 era are what remain of the trail today. Some segments of the property are significant under National Register Criterion D, in the area of historical archaeology, for the potential to yield further information important to the history of the region. Archaeological material such as wagon hardware, animal accoutrements including iron horseshoes, etc., and trash dumps exist along certain segments. The wagon traces themselves exist as linear features cut into the earth by the continual use by wagons, carrying mostly freight.

BACKGROUND

The Spanish Trail was one of the earliest routes between the interior of North American and the California coast to be used by Europeans and Americans (Hague 1978:139). Prior to the arrival of the Spanish colonists and missionaries, the trail was used by the Hopi, Mojave, and Chumash Indians of Santa Barbara, trading items between the Pacific coast and the Four Corners. In particular, the aboriginal knowledge of water sources along these ancient trade routes enabled trapper Jedediah Smith (Warren 1974:48) in 1826 and others to make the journey across the desert Southwest. Without the assistance of Native American guides, many of these first expeditions would not have been successful. Therefore the discovered routes naturally incorporated portions of ancient trade routes.

During the Spanish colonial period (1542-1821) in the American Southwest, the Spanish Empire was competing for control over resources with the British, French, and Russian monarchies. One strategy Spain attempted was to link its northernmost colonies, New Mexico and California, to assert the Spanish presence in the American West. In 1776, missionaries attempted to establish a route between Santa Fe and the mission at Monterey. Fathers Dominguez and Escalante left Santa Fe for the California coast, only to loop back to Santa Fe after meandering over the Colorado Plateau in Colorado and Utah for months. The same year, Father Francisco Garces left the colony at Sonora (now in northern Mexico), to establish a route between Sonora and Los Angeles. He was successful in reaching the pueblo of Los Angeles. However, it was not until Antonio Armijo’s trading expedition in 1829-1830 that the missionaries’ routes were linked to form a passageway across the entire southwestern desert region.

After Mexico won its independence from Spain (1821), Gobernador Chavez of New Mexico envisioned a profitable trade between Santa Fe and California (Lawrence 1931:27). The aim was to bring horses and mules overland from California to sell in the American market (often they were traded to Santa Fe Trail traders to sell back east). Chavez’ idea of a lucrative trade can be seen as a catalyst for the initial use of the Old Spanish Trail.

New Mexican Antonio Armijo is an important personage in the story of the Old Spanish Trail. He and his men constituted the first commercial caravan and the first Europeans to make the entire journey from Santa Fe to Los Angeles (Warren 1974:5). Antonio Armijo was also responsible for tying the Dominguez-Escalante route and Father Garces’ route of 1776 together, forming links of a 1,200-mile route between the two Mexican territories of New Mexico and California. The official report filed by Armijo, printed in the Registro Oficial del Gobierno de Los Estado-Unidos Mexicanos on June 19, 1830, states that the group of about sixty men left Abiquiu, New Mexico on November 8, 1829, arriving at the mission at San Gabriel, California on February 3, 1831.

Armijo’s journey was the first commercial group excursion across the Southwest to the coast, but legitimate commerce in tradeable items was not the sole function of the trail (Warren 1974:86). Slave trading (by Utes and New Mexicans), emigration, horse thieving, and later, mail transport were also served by the route. The trading activities that were the major force behind travel during the early era of transportation on the Old Spanish Trail essentially ended in 1848 (Warren 1974:84) after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and cessation of Mexican lands.

In the Mojave desert region, American mountain men established their presence early on, between 1826 and 1831 (Casebier 1981:285). Mountain man Jedediah Smith was the first documented American to enter California overland from the east in 1826. He traveled along portions of the later-established Old Spanish Trail, and was also the first to chart a map of the geography of the Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin (Hafen and Hafen 1954:109). Kit Carson also traveled the Old Spanish Trail several times, and may have assisted in leading Fremont’s 1844 expedition along the route.

The mountain men moving through the region along the trail often traveled along the southern route, following the Virgin, Colorado, and Mojave river corridors to capitalize from the nearby water sources as they moved large caravans of pack animals back to the market in Santa Fe. However, several of these men also moved stolen horse herds from the California ranches through the interior Nevada desert in efforts to thwart pursuing authorities. One of these routes, used by “some of the west’s most famous horse thieves, some of whom were also the west’s most famous mountain men,” (Warren 1974:173) was later traced by Fremont and thereafter named the Spanish Trail.

OLD SPANISH TRAIL/MORMON ROAD: 1844-1857

Fremont’s Expedition

Captain John C. Fremont first explored the Great Basin in 1843-1844 for the U.S. Topographic Engineers. This expedition established his reputation as an important American explorer (Elliot 1987:45). Not only was he the first to scientifically map and describe the Great Basin, but a greatly excited Congress printed 20,000 copies of his route map, many more than were usually printed of topographic survey maps (Warren, personal communication 2000). The period of significance for this nomination is 1844-1857, beginning with Fremont’s journey over the route, and ending with the abandonment of the Mormon mission at Las Vegas in 1857.

Fremont chose his guides well for his expedition. He hand-picked such experienced mountain men, scouts, and travelers as Thomas “Broken Hand” Fitzpatrick, Kit Carson, and Alex Goday, a Creole Frenchman from St. Louis who had trapped with many a mountain man, including Carson, Old Bill Williams, Isaac Slover, and others (see Hafen 1965:369; Warren 1974:footnote 78). Kit Carson’s prior experience on the Old Spanish Trail had perhaps enabled Fremont to predict “between us and the Colorado River we were aware that the country was extremely poor in grass, and scarce for water, there being manyjornadas, or long stretches of forty to sixty miles, without water, where the road was marked by bones of animals” (Fremont 1966:259 [1845]). Fremont also alluded to interrogating people on the trail about the route they followed; he notes that he heard several conflicting accounts, naming landmarks that his party never did encounter, indicating that these travelers were using different routes from each other, and ultimately, different routes than the one Fremont used to travel to Salt Lake (Warren 1974:159). This suggests that travelers in the area used various routes to and from California; this nomination considers Fremont’s route.

On April 30, 1844, Fremont and his men entered southern Nevada along the Amargosa route of the Spanish Trail (close to Armijo’s route) and camped at Stump Spring. The expedition continued on to Mountain Springs and Cottonwood Springs in the Spring Mountains. Three days after leaving Stump Spring (May 3rd), Fremont’s groups arrived at the “camping ground” at Las Vegas (Fremont 1966:266 [1845]). Fremont noted the excellent quality of the springs there (“good, clean, deep”) and grazing opportunities. The following day, May 4th, the group began the longjornada de muerte walking for 16 hours across the 55-mile waterless stretch of desert to the Muddy River. Either Fuentes, a hapless traveler encountered near the Nevada border who had lost everything and everyone in his freight party to raiding Native Americans, or Kit Carson, had to inform Fremont of this in advance, for they were the only two who had previously traveled in this region. During the group’s stay at the Muddy, Fremont had several interchanges with Southern Paiutes, some confrontational (Fremont 1966:266 [1845]). They left the Muddy River May 6th, marched 20 miles across the Mormon Mesa to the Virgin River, and followed it to the present Arizona border, camping along its banks over the next three days. In his report to Congress, Fremont notes that the group lost the “caravan road” in the sandy alluvial floodplain of the Virgin River, having to instead follow a Native American foot trail along the river banks; the following day (May 9th) his scouts found “a convenient ford in the river, and discovered the Spanish trail on the other side” (Fremont 1966:268 [1845]). Again, this suggests that Fremont was following a pre-existing trace across the interior of Nevada. Fremont’s expedition left southern Nevada on May 10th, 1844.

Fremont’s 1844 journey along the Old Spanish Trail was the first one during which truly scientific observations where made of the environment and topography; in fact, it was during this expedition that Fremont had the revelation that the interior deserts between the Rockies and the Sierra were part of a large, self-enclosed drainage unit thereafter named the Great Basin (d’Azevedo 1986:1; Warren 1974:156-157). Fremont was also responsible for dubbing his trace across the southern region of the Far West the “Spanish Trail.” Before the distribution of his map, this route had been referred to as “El Camino de California” or “El Camino de Nuevo Mexico” depending on where an individual was based (NPS 2000:5). Because Fremont’s report was widely distributed, his route was the one that became the most popularly used and recognized as the “Spanish Trail.” Today the route is popularly known as the Old Spanish Trail. Further, Fremont’s report greatly enhanced the American public’s understanding of the West, and established the route of the upcoming Mormon Road for wagon freight traffic and emigration between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles (Warren 1974:157).

Distances between camps in southern Nevada, according to Fremont (1966 [1845]).

Beginning Location	Destination	Mileage
Resting Spring, CA	Stump Spring, NV	24 miles
Stump Spring	Mountain Springs	15 miles
Mountain Springs	Cottonwood Springs	12 miles
Cottonwood Springs	Las Vegas	18 miles
Las Vegas	Muddy River “California Crossing”	57 miles (jornada de muerte)
Muddy River	Virgin River	18 miles
1st Virgin River camp	2nd Virgin River camp	28 miles
2nd Virgin River camp	Santa Clara River, Utah	25 miles

During the years 1848-1850, the majority of the traffic on the Old Spanish Trail was directly or indirectly related to the Gold Rush to California (Warren 1974:176). The Spanish Trail was used as a winter route to California, as well as a freight road to get provisions from the coast to Salt Lake City, where forty-niners were stocking up on provisions before their journey across the Great American Desert. Again, Fremont’s map was integral to the continued use of this trail his maps were readily available before maps of the more northerly routes across Utah, Nevada, and northern California were available to eastern gold-seekers (Warren 1974:177).

The Mormon Road

No wagons were reported as ever getting through that way, but a trail had been traveled through that barren desert country for perhaps a hundred years and the same could be easily broadened into a wagon road.
– Death Valley forty-niner W. L. Manly, on the rumors of a little-known southern route to California (Koenig 1984:23)

The first Mormon excursion over the Old Spanish Trail included Porter Rockwell and Jefferson Hunt, who marched with the Mormon Battalion to San Diego in the fall of 1847. It took less than three months for the group and 135 horses and mules, along with a single wagon, to return to Salt Lake City from San Bernardino.

The Old Spanish Trail was desirable as an alternate route to the northern Emigrant Trail, made infamous by the Donner Party. The Old Spanish Trail was used by emigrants traveling in the winter months, when the Sierra Nevada was virtually impassable. In the fall of 1848, just months after the Battalion successfully brought a wagon along the route, forty-eight wagons traveled on the road, and one year later, over two hundred made it over the trail to California. Mormon leadership viewed the route as a freight corridor, within which people and supplies could move between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. The Lower Colorado region in extreme southern Nevada also held potential for permanent settlement.

For the Mormons and others, this region generally held interest for several reasons: the potential navigation of the Colorado, the mild climate and irrigable lands, the minerals ranging in value from silver to salt, and its proximity to a year-round route between California and Utah. Mormons looked to this region for a seaport, as a freight and emigrant route, and for missions and settlements as part of their quest for political self-determination, isolation and protection, and economic independence and survival. –Smith 1978:29

As early as 1850, Mormon leaders were eyeing San Bernardino as a possible mission, at a time when Angelenos were ready for anyone to establish an “outpost” on the fringes of their large center, in hopes of curtailing the frequent raids by thieves (Gough 1999:24). The main route to this burgeoning Mormon center became known as the “Mormon Corridor,” or the “Mormon Road.”

The springs at Las Vegas were a well-known resource to anyone who traveled the route, as the oasis provided some of the best water along the long, dry route. In 1851, a Mormon named Mr. Chorpening received a contract with the U.S. government to transport U.S. mail between northern Utah and San Bernardino. Mail carriers stopped at the springs on their route. At the Las Vegas Springs, archaeological investigations show a small adobe structure that may have been built by Chorpening, although that fact has not been determined definitively.

Noting the significance of this transportation corridor, the U.S. Congress approved $25,000 in 1854 to be spent on developing a military road from Salt Lake City to eastern California. This road utilized the Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road route, with minor modifications. This marked the beginning of major freight traffic between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

In 1855, Deseret’s (the name of the U.S. provisional state organized by Mormons in 1849) President Brigham Young announced that the Southern Indian Mission would be expanded, and William Bringhurst and others were sent to establish a post at “Vegas Springs.” They chose this location because Mormon leadership felt they could capitalize from travelers stopping at the springs as a resting area and water hole, in addition to the relatively large Native American population in place for religious conversion. On June 14, the brethren arrived at Las Vegas (Jensen 1926:131). Within four days of their arrival (after walking some 440-plus miles across desert terrain), the brothers were surveying for the location of their fort, laying out agricultural plots (2.5 acres each) and garden plots (0.25 acres each) designated for each member of the mission, planting seeds, and creating a “water sect” of men overseeing water control and usage, while five missionaries departed for the Colorado River to explore possibilities for navigation and to meet the Native American groups in the area (Jensen 1926:134).

The organized settlement at Las Vegas must have been a welcome sight for weary Euroamerican travelers on the Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road. Not only did the mission provide some protection from hostile Native Americans, but the brethren would offer fields for grazing and provisions, in addition to horse-shoeing services (Jensen 1926:218). Many of these necessities cost money, and if the emigres’ animals got into the gardens at night, the travelers would be charged accordingly.

Many missionaries on their way to missions or returning homeward passed through Las Vegas during the occupation of the mission there. A group of missionaries from Pacific Islands, a single missionary from the Siam mission, many from the California missions (including the President of the San Bernardino mission, Amasa Lyman), a group of missionaries from Australia, and two groups of missionaries returning from mission in the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands were all documented as visiting the Las Vegas mission. Other noteworthy travelers documented as staying over at the mission included a herd of 500 cattle on its way to California, two scientists, one Englishman and a Frenchman (during their journey through the desert region, collecting plant and mineral specimens), and three “circus or showmen” (Jensen 1926). There were many other travelers through the area. An estimation of total visitors documented at the mission during the 21-month Mormon occupation shows 260- 350 Native American visitors and 350-800 (conservatively) Euroamerican visitors. Out of the Euroamerican visitors, roughly a third (33-38%) of those were traveling east from California (most of these were Mormons returning to Utah). Thus, roughly 2/3 of the travelers that rested at the Las Vegas mission were making their way to California.

Timidness and fear in the local Paiute bands caused by years of slave-capture and animosity by travelers emigrating through the area on the Old Spanish Trail are noted by brother John Steele in a letter to Elder George A. Smith. Steele writes, “There is a first-rate spirit among the Lamanites [Native Americans]… some of them have come into camp rather suspiciously, as they have been shot at and drove away from camps of the passing emigrants who have been on the road for years; they will show us the bullet holes and marks they have received from white men and tell us they will try and forget it, although their brothers have been killed, etc.” This passage is telling in a few respects. First, it shows a willingness on the part of the Paiutes in the area to forge friendly relations with the resident Mormons, possibly driven by a perception on the Paiutes’ behalf that the Mormons may protect them from further violence at the hands of other Euroamericans (see Kelly and Fowler 1986:386- 387; Van Hoak 1998:18). This also shows compassion in the brethren at Las Vegas toward the Paiutes, a sentiment that was not shared by many contemporary Americans. Indeed, as late as 1855, the missionaries noted some uneasiness in the Paiutes due to accounts of slave capture of some Moapa Paiutes on the Muddy River “to sell to Mexican traders” (Jensen 1926:183). There was some interest expressed by the Moapa band to have missionaries come to their territory to settle because of the threat of raids on their women by Ute slavers; in September, 1856, some missionaries traveled to the Muddy River area to explore possible locations for settlements. The Las Vegas band told the Mormon brothers that they already lost many of their women to slavers, perhaps too many, “or they would have provided some of us with wives…” (Jensen 1926:188).

A steady stream of emigrants, mail carriers, wagon freight trains, and miners continued to use the springs and travel on the wagon road after the complete abandonment of the Mormon mission in 1857. In 1865, O. D. Gass and two partners re-settled the mission. They rebuilt the dilapidated mission buildings to use for a ranch, and plowed fields (Paher 1971:37).

The Mormon occupation of the region surrounding the Colorado River indirectly affected the U.S. involvement in exploring and settling the area. Reports of ambitious Mormons settling along the Colorado River and their interest in navigating the large river to the Gulf of California, led to increased federal activity toward the same goal. Thus the Army assigned a survey of the river to be completed in 1856 under the command of Lt. Joseph C. Ives (Smith 1978:33). But the impendent arrival of Johnston’s Army and the Mountain Meadows Massacre in 1857 forced Mormon leadership to direct their priorities in the region differently. Thus, the Southern Indian missionaries were reassigned this time to protect Mormon wagon trains along the Mormon Road from Indian “harassments,” and eventually were recalled to Salt Lake City.

Other national events that affected the traffic along the Mormon Road in the mid-1860s were the Civil War and Indian attacks on travelers on the eastern freight and emigration routes leading into Utah (Smith 1978:34), instilling fear and hesitation in prospective travelers. Therefore, most emigrants used the heavily traveled northern routes as a measure of security when traveling west from Salt Lake City.

Due to such forces as the Civil War, an increase in agitation on the part of the region’s Native American groups, and a recall of missionaries stationed at Las Vegas less than two years after initiating the mission project, the development of a Mormon-controlled freight moving operation never got off the ground (Smith 1978:40). However, the inland corridor left its lasting mark on the region, especially as a driving force behind the eventual settlement of Las Vegas.

Settlement of Las Vegas

By the time Mexican traders entered the Las Vegas Valley during the first part of the nineteenth century, the region had for over 600 years been the home of the Southern Paiute Indians, and various archaeological studies detail an extended trail traveling southwest through the region to the Pacific coast. -Gough 1999:21

There is a connection between the Old Spanish Trail and urban developments in its vicinity. Early settlements in the East were almost invariably along water courses, to facilitate the gathering of necessary resources as well as communication and transportation. In a similar fashion, the Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road served the same purpose: “it facilitated town growth.” As Gough (1999:22) writes:
The development of the neon metropolis of Las Vegas during the twentieth century unquestionably finds its origin as an early stopping area along the Spanish Trail. Rails and highways eventually traced the Trail, and the first survey of Las Vegas was laid out precisely along the route. Though the Spanish Trail was originally but one of several paths through the region, its eventual recognition as the primary course directly influenced both the location and growth of Nevada’s largest city. Modern-day visitors to and from Las Vegas still follow much the same route as Charles [sic] Fremont’s eventual course through this once inhospitable desert region.

As traffic needs in and out of southern California grew with the advent of automobiles, the second decade of the twentieth century saw the development of the Arrowhead Trails Highway. The automobile route was generally aligned along the Spanish Trail/Mormon Road. This, and the construction of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake railroad line across southern Nevada in 1905 contributed to the demise of the Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road as a regional transportation route (Myhrer et al. 1990:13). Local use of the route continued through the 1940s. Today, modern travelers arriving in Las Vegas from the west and east on Interstate 15 follow Fremont’s basic route to the former location of one of the best springs in the region.

ARCHAEOLOGY

This section discusses the archaeological and trail remains as they pertain to significance under Criterion D. At least two previous archaeological surveys have documented portions of the Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road in Nevada. In 1987-1989, Keith Myhrer and Stanton Rolf, BLM archaeologists, surveyed the portion of the road between the outer limits of urban development in Las Vegas to the Nevada-California border. This segment is 48.3 miles long. Portions of this section of the trail were reevaluated during this project to ascertain whether sections that were determined eligible (see Myhrer et al. 1990) for inclusion to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) still maintained historical integrity. The relatively-undisturbed portions included a 4.1-mile segment and a 5.7-mile segment, both determined eligible to the NRHP. The results of the reevaluation are provided below. In 1993, archaeologists from the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies, University of Nevada Las Vegas, documented a 1.5-mile section of the Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road on the western edge of Mormon Mesa; they recommended that the eastern 1-mile portion of this segment, in Sections 22 and 27, T 14S, R 67E (Overton NW, NV 7.5 Minute USGS quadrangle) was relatively undisturbed and eligible for inclusion to the NRHP. Other surveys were completed for the Apex Industrial Park and the Chemical Lime Apex Mine Land Sale that documented Fremont’s route of the Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road on the northwestern boundary of Las Vegas’ urban development; however those segments lacked historical integrity and were not recommended as eligible to the NRHP.

Description of Wagon Traces

Wagon traces, the most common feature along the road route, are typically in the form of parallel wagon tracks aligned side by side. These parallel traces, or in places, ruts, are generally in a narrower alignment than if created by automobile traffic.

Historic Artifact Concentrations: roadside camps, trash dumps, “pitch zone”

Roadside camps, trash dumps and the “pitch zone” are artifactual manifestations of historic travelers on the Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road. These are features of the overall site; without the historic travel corridor these accompanying features would not exist. Small roadside camps and trash dumps are types of artifact concentrations that are self-explanatory; the “pitch zone” refers to the linear areas alongside either edge of the travel corridor (as denoted by wagon traces) where travelers tossed extraneous items from the wagon in efforts to lighten the wagon load, or discard broken or spent items.

Research Methods

In December, 2000, a field survey was conducted in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, Las Vegas District Office, and the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office. The study was undertaken in order to research, evaluate and survey for sites along and relatively undisturbed portions of the transportation route identified by John C. Fremont in 1844, referred to in this document as the Old Spanish Trail/Mormon Road. The resource is regarded by historians as the most important transportation route in southern Nevada to move travelers and supplies between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles between 1844 and 1905 (the date of arrival of the railroad to southern Nevada).

The pedestrian survey involved Nevada State Historic Preservation Office archaeologist Terri McBride and 1-5 volunteers, walking zig-zag or parallel transects along the historic road bed, covering a 50-foot corridor centered on the center of the road. The records search included a site file search at the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies at the University of Nevada Las Vegas Campus, archival research at the Nevada Historical Society and the Nevada State Archives and Library, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Nevada State Office in Reno. Copies of Fremont’s map that accompanied his 1845 report to Congress and Lt. George M. Wheeler’s 1869 map produced for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were located at the Nevada Historical Society (copies attached). A review of the 1881 Government Land Office Survey plats at the BLM State Office that pertained to the Mormon Mesa area of the survey revealed that the surveyors plotted a road labeled “Old Mormon Wagon Road” nearly 2.5 miles south of the actual location of the wagon road trace; in addition, the topographic features on the map do not correspond with the natural topography of the plat (T 14S, R 68E, Mount Diablo Meridian). BLM staff (Dave Morland, personal communication 2000) provided information regarding “fictitious surveys,” an unfortunate result of surveyors in remote areas being paid for every mile of drafted survey maps.

Las Vegas Grammar School

18 Friday Oct 2024

Posted by Jacob Barlow in Uncategorized

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Clark County, Nevada, NRHP, Schools

Las Vegas Grammar School / Westside School

The Las Vegas Grammar School is located at Washington and “D” Streets in Las Vegas, Nevada and was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#79001460) on April 2, 1979.

From the national register’s nomination form:
History of Westside School has great historical significance in that it is Las Vegas’ oldest remaining schoolhouse. It was the original “Branch No. 1, Las Vegas Grammar School”. The original building, the one proposed for renovation through this funding was built in 1922, at Washington and “D” Streets. The original building consisted of just two classrooms–the front two rooms of the existing structure. The back two rooms which make up the building were added in 1928.

The school was built on land donated to the Clark County School District by Helen J. Stewart in 1921. The first two rooms contained 1st and 2nd grades only and the two remaining rooms added in 1928 housed 3rd and 4th grades. The first principal of the school was Ms. Ruth Fyfe who served from 1924-1935. She currently resides in Las Vegas and may be reached at 384-1472.

The second principal of the school was Mr. Howard A. Wasden, who ser- ved from 1935-1942. He also resides in Las Vegas and may be reached at 734-6977. It is interesting to note that there were no black students at the school in its early days. The first black students were in attendance in 1926-27. Some early students of note who attended the Westside School included Dr. Sam Davis and Mrs. Mendoza, mother of District Judge John Mendoza.

It should also be noted that the original building was painted grey, not the pink color that it is now. The Westside School location is also historically significant as the original Las Vegas town site. In 1948, eight block classrooms were added to the school complex, under the construction supervision of Mr. Ben 0. Davey. The facility as it now stands is partially wood frame and partially concrete block and is situated on a 2.6 acre parcel. The school was phased out for use on June 8, 1967–the last principal being Mr. D. French–and on November 24, 1974, the School Board of Trustees declared it to be surplus property and adopted a resolution to sell at its appraised market value of $25,000.

In the spring of 1975, the Economic Opportunity Board received $37,500 from 1st Year Community Development Block Grant funds from the City of Las Vegas. $25,000 was spent to purchase the facility and the remaining $12,500 was used for preliminary restoration of the block structure.

The Westside School is significant to the Black Community of Las Vegas from a social and education stand point. It was the school for the Black citizens; enabling many to obtain a basic education and /or go on to secondary educational facilities. The community leaders of the Westside still regard the old school with affection and esteem.

The Westside School played a key role in the historical development of Las Vegas.

Westside School, opening in 1921, was the first grammar school in West Las Vegas. It was the first public school attended by Native American students from the Piaute Indian Colony, which is located approximately one mile from the school.

Westside School was also the first school of attendance for two major waves of migrants to the Las Vegas area. The first wave occurred in the early 1930’s and was caused by the construction of Hoover Dam. The latter took place in early 1940, with war-related industry being the prime attractor. Many of the latter group were Blacks coming from the rural south and their arrival marked the physical beginning of today’s West Las Vegas-North Las Vegas Black community.

Although socially significant to many groups, the Westside School is more significant to the Black community. Many Blacks had their first experience with racially integrated education at Westside. It was also the school they attended while making the transition from a rural to an urban life style and Westside is located in the current Black community.

Although regarded with affection and esteem by many citizens of Las Vegas, the Black community has a stronger emotional attachment to the school. Westside School played a significant role in the individual and collective beginning of the heritage of Black citizens and their community.

Finally, upon restoration of Westside School, community members have expressed the desire to be a part of the use of the school. Plans have been made to accommodate a senior-citizen project and historical artifacts room.

Alumni have agreed to maintain the school.

Hoover Dam

17 Thursday Oct 2024

Posted by Jacob Barlow in Uncategorized

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Arizona, Clark County, Dams, National Historic Landmarks, Nevada, NRHP

Hoover Dam

The Hoover Dam was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#81000382) on April 8, 1981. The text below is from the nomination form for the historic register.

Hoover Dam is among the largest and earliest of the Bureau of Reclamation’s massive multiple-purpose dams. By providing electric power, flood control, and irrigation waters, the dam made increased levels of population and agricultural production in large areas of the Southwest feasible, affecting not only lands near the river, but also urban centers such as Los Angeles. Hoover Dam was not the first major arch-gravity dam to be constructed. The Cheesman Dam in Denver, for example, predates it. Nor is the dam the first of the Bureau of Reclamation’s multi-purpose dams in the United States; that distinction belongs to the Theodore Roosevelt Dam, already a National Historic Landmark. Hoover Dam is, however, distinguished by its size, the size of its hydroelectric plant, and the far-reaching consequences of its construction in the agricultural, industrial, and urban development of the Southwestern United States.

In the field of hydraulic engineering, the dam is an accomplishment comparable to the Panama Canal. Hoover Dam was the highest dam in the world – 726.4 feet from bedrock to the crest – when it was constructed. Today it is still the western hemisphere’s highest concrete dam. Because of this height, it created a reservoir that could store the normal flow of the river, including all average floods, for 2 years. When filled to the maximum, it will impound more than 31 million acre-feet of water. The dam is also large enough to trap and hold the millions of tons of sediment carried by the river every year, without seriously impairing its efficiency as a reservoir or interfering with the generation of electrical power.

One of the major engineering techniques developed in was the cooling of the concrete. If the dam had been it would have taken more than a century to do so, and cracked as it cooled. Engineers solved this problem pier-like blocks and cooling the concrete by running more than 582 miles of pipe embedded in the blocks. of the chemical heat generated by the “setting up” of cooling was completed in March, 1935.

Hoover Dam’s role in the history of hydroelectric power is indicated by the fact that from 1939 until 1949, the dam’s powerplant was the largest hydroelectric powerplant in the world. It provides electrical energy for transmission to southern California, southern Nevada, and parts of Arizona, contributing to industrial and population growth in those areas. Directly or through interconnections, the Hoover powerplant has facilitated mining and minerals exploitation projects in California, Nevada, and Arizona.

Four intake towers provide for release of stored water under normal conditions and control the flow to the canyon-wall and tunnel-plug outlet works and to the power-plant turbines. Each of the intake towers is constructed on a rock bench or shelf excavated in the canyon wall and consists of an inner barrel 29 feet 8 inches in diameter surrounded by 12 radial buttresses, which accommodate the trashrack sections (gratings for retaining objects from water entering a penstock) and support the barrel. The outer diameter of each tower tapers from 82 feet at the base to 63 feet 8-7/8 inches at the top, a parapet 342 feet above the base. The towers have upper and lower gate openings, with 12 openings each. These cylinder gates, 32 feet in diameter and 11 feet high, are raised and lowered over the openings by electrically-operated stem hoists.

TUNNELS AND OUTLET WORKS

The two downstream intake towers are each connected by a header tunnel to the canyon-wall outlet works. Each of the tunnels is 41 feet in diameter and lined with 24 inches of concrete. Each is connected by four 21-foot-diameter tunnels to the powerplant turbines. Downstream from the 21-foot tunnels, the header tunnels are each connected to the canyon-wall outlet works by six 11-foot horseshoe tunnels filled with concrete.

The two upstream intake towers are connected with the inner diversion tunnels by 41-foot-diameter inclined tunnels lined with 24 inches of concrete. These inclined tunnels are each connected to the powerplant turbines by four 21-foot penstock tunnels.

The tunnels carry a system of steel plate pipes constructed by the Babcock and Wilcox Company of Barberton, Ohio. These are composed of four 30-foot-diameter headers, four branch penstocks 13 feet in diameter leading from each header to the turbines, and a 25-foot header leading beyond the penstock pipes to six smaller branch pipes connecting to the outlet valves on each side. These pipes rest on reinforced concrete piers and are anchored at both ends, at bends and manifolds, and in several intermediate areas.

The outlet works downstream from the dam regulated the reservoir and supply water for flood control and downstream use before the generator capacity was sufficient. They have a designed capacity of about 100,000 second-feet of water. At the present time the flow is 45,000 second-feet. The outlet works consist of the canyon wall outlet system and the tunnel-plug system. The canyon wall system incorporates 84-inch needle valves on each side of the canyon approximately 175 feet above the river and pointed 60° downstream. The valves are housed in reinforced concrete structures of similar design. The Arizona house is 206 feet long, 36 feet wide, and 64.5 feet in height. The Nevada house is 190 feet long, 37 feet wide, and 64.5 feet in height. The valves are protected by 96-inch Paradox emergency gates connected to the steel outlet conduits entering through the back wall of the houses.

The tunnel plug outlet works are in the inner diversion tunnels, several hundred feet from their outlet portals. They are fed by 25-foot steel outlet pipes each leading to three 13-foot branch pipes, each of which in turn leads to two 86-inch pipes which feed a total of six 72-inch needle valves protected by 86-inch emergency gates in each diversion tunnel.

POWER PLANT

The dam’s first generator began operating fully in 1936 and its last in 1961. The powerplant consists of 17 turbines with a rated capacity of 1,850,000 horsepower with an additional 7,000 horsepower provided by the two service station units. The main turbines are each equipped with a butterfly type hydraulic-rotor-operated shut-off valve at the inlet, and a 10- to 14-footdiameter turbine casing. They are of the vertical-shaft, single-runner Francis type with cast-steel spiral casings and single-piece cast-steel runners. The initial installation was composed of four 115,000-horsepower units and one 55,000-horsepower unit. These generators became operational in 1936 and 1937. The generators are of two sizes: 82,500 KV-ampere, 180 r.p.m., 60-cycle, 16,500-volt generators; 40,000 KV-ampere, 257 r.p.m., 60-cycle, 13,800-volt generators of the conventional two-guide-bearing type with thrust bearings on the top of the frame and a 50,000 KV-ampere and 90,000 KV. Inert-gas-filled outdoor-type transformers with shielded windings provide either 55,000 kilovolt-amperes at 287,500 volts or 13,333 kilovolt amperes at 138,000 volts as well as 230,000 KV and 69,000 KV. The larger transformers are water-cooled. The powerplant is immediately downstream from the dam and is a U-shaped structure 1,650 feet long, with 2 wings, each 650 feet long. The two wings are on opposite sides of the river, with offices, shops, and operating and storage rooms built across the downstream face of the dam.

CONTRACTION JOINTS AND COOLING PIPES

Radial and circumferential contraction joints divide the face of the dam into blocks ranging in size from 25 feet by 30 feet to 50 feet by 60 feet.

These extend through the slot from its upstream face to loops of 1-inch steel cooling pipes buried in the concrete of the dam at intervals of 5 feet vertically and 5 feet and 9 inches horizontally. These 1-inch pipes are arranged in coils running from the slot circumferentially to the canyon walls and returning to the slot. More than 582 miles of these cooling pipes are embedded in the concrete of the dam.

GALLERIES, VISITOR FACILITIES, AND ARCHITECTURAL ORNAMENT

The dam is pierced with galleries at 50-foot horizontal intervals from the 575-foot altitude to the 957-foot altitude, to provide for drainage and inspection. There are approximately 2 miles of galleries in the dam. Two elevator shafts drop from the dam crest to tile-lined galleries 528 feet below, which lead downstream through the dam to the central portion of the powerhouse. In addition to the elevator shaft houses at the summit of the dam, there are two similar houses containing public restrooms. All four of these structures are decorated in Art Deco style, which is also used in the parapets of the intake towers. Sculped bas-reliefs on the upstream faces of the elevator and restroom houses depict symbolic representations of power, water storage, and other themes.

A small 1,630-square-foot exhibit building was constructed in 1940 on the Nevada side of Hoover Dam. This building provided a small lobby and an 85-seat auditorium in which visitors could view a model of the Colorado River and listen to a 10-minute taped lecture. From January, 1942, to September, 1945, the exhibit building and the dam were closed to the public and were used by the U. S. Army as a military command post.

To commemorate the engineering achievement of building Hoover Dam, a memorial was placed by the dam, with its principal part on the Nevada side of the dam, close to the abutment. Rising from a black polished base is a flagstaff, 142 feet high, flanked by two winged figures that are believed to be the largest monumental bronzes ever cast in the United States, resting on a black diorite base.

In terms of acreage, agricultural use is the most significant of the kinds of development fostered by Hoover Dam. The area irrigated with water stored in or controlled by Hoover Dam is 2,279,818 acres out of a total of 16,214,239 acres supplied with water provided by the Water and Power Resources Service projects in seventeen western states. The Boulder Canyon Project, which includes Hoover Dam, represents 14 percent of those irrigated lands, yet produces 22 percent of the vegetables and 37 percent of the fruits produced on all the lands developed as a result of the Water and Power Resources Service. This production is even more significant than these average figures suggest, because it includes winter vegetables that could not be cultivated in other areas. Also, much of the finest long- staple Pima variety cotton produced in this country is grown here. The value of the crops produced in the area served by the Boulder Canyon Project was $517,127,461 in 1977-1979.

The construction of Hoover Dam also provided storage for water for the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The development of that area and of the entire coastal southern California area was accelerated by the water supply that Hoover Dam made available.

Recreational and retirement developments have grown up in the areas protected by the dam. In 1936, the impoundment behind Hoover Dam became the first National Recreation Area established by Congress. This recreation area, known as Lake Mead National Recreation Area, has been one of the most visited areas of the National Park Service for a decade or more.

Regulation of the Colorado’s waters has protected some 8,000 acres of land from annual flooding, in the low-lying valleys of Arizona and Southern California. The building of the dam has also controlled the sediment deposits carried by the river. Prior to construction of the dam, the river had an annual discharge of more than 100,000 acre-feet of silt at Yuma. The build-up of silt deposits contributed to the destructive forces of floods, such as the one in 1905. If no other dams had been built on the river, Hoover Dam would retain all of the silt released by the river into the reservoir for a period of 300 years, and for more than 100 years before its storage capacity and usefulness would be seriously impaired. As other dams were constructed on the river, they also began to catch and retain silt, thereby extending the usefulness of the dam.

Prior to the building of the dam, low-lying areas in Arizona and southern California were particularly vulnerable to the high water flows of the Colorado River. The lower Colorado, like other western desert rivers, usually has high water flows in late spring and early summer. During those seasons, floods resulting from rapidly melting snows occurred frequently and caused great damage in the lower Colorado River basin each year. The river in times of flood carried immense quantities of sediment which, deposited in irrigation canals and headworks, created serious problems of water delivery and maintenance and constituted a major irrigation problem along the lower Colorado River. Following these high-water periods, the flows often dropped to only 3,000 to 4,000 cubic feet per second. These periods of low flow, infrequently interrupted by large flash floods from such tributaries as the San Juan, Little Colorado, Bill Williams, and Gila Rivers, limited the area that could be irrigated.

Levees had to be built and continuously repaired to protect the lowlands from flooding. In 1905, the river broke through a temporary cut into the Imperial Canal, found a new course, and poured into the Salton Sink. The Salton Sea was formed as a result, and the river caused flooding in the Imperial Valley for about 16 months. Railroad tracks and highways were washed away, and agricultural lands destroyed. Damage amounted to millions of dollars. In 1909, the Colorado River again took a new course, causing Congress to authorize a milliondollar levee project. From 1906 to 1924 a total of $10 1/4 million was spent on levee work along the lower Colorado River.

Soon after the Reclamation Act became law in 1902, reclamation engineers began a series of studies of the Colorado River. A 1922 report to Congress on the condition and potential for irrigation of California’s Imperial Valley and a 1924 study both recommended construction of a dam at or near Boulder Canyon on the Colorado. In 1928, the Boulder Canyon Project Act became law, authorizing construction of a dam at Black or Boulder Canyon for purposes of flood control, improved navigation, storage and delivery of the Colorado’s waters, and electrical energy generation. The bill also authorized construction of an Ail-American Canal System connecting the Imperial and Coachella Valleys with the Colorado.

The proposed dam was of such magnitude that there was serious opposition and concern about the economic feasibility of the project and the engineering expertise needed. Some raised the possibility of the dam’s collapse. Contributing to construction problems were the remoteness of the dam site, the ruggedness of the surrounding terrain, and the extreme climatic conditions (summer temperatures of 125° in the canyon, cloudbursts, high winds, and sudden floods).

Planning for the dam went forward, however. In 1931, the labor contract for building the dam was awarded to Six Companies, Inc., of San Francisco. The crest height of the dam was reached in March, 1935, and placement of concrete was complete by May of that year.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity storage dam. The water load in this type of dam is carried both by gravity action and by horizontal action. The dam is in the Black Canyon on the Colorado River. The west wall of this canyon is in Clark County, Nevada, and the east wall is in Mohave County, Arizona. The dam is about 28 miles southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and approximately 7 miles east of Boulder City, Nevada.

The drainage area above Hoover Dam comprises 167,800 square miles including parts of the states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. The Colorado River above Hoover Dam rises in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming and Colorado and flows southwestward to Lake Mead for a distance of about 900 miles. Along this stretch of the river, principal tributaries are the Green, Yampa, White, Uinta, Duchesne, Price, San Rafael, Muddy, Fremont, Escalante, Gunnison, Dolores, San Juan, Little Colorado, and Virgin Rivers.

The first concrete in Hoover Dam was placed on June 6, 1933, and the last on May 29, 1935. The dam was dedicated September 30, 1935, and was completed two years ahead of schedule.

Hoover Dam is 1,244 feet long at the crest, where U. S. Highway 93 surmounts it. Its maximum height is 726.4 feet, measured from the lowest point of the foundation rock to the crest. The dam is 660 feet thick at the base and tapers to 45 feet thick at the top. 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete were used in the dam itself.

Four diversion tunnels were built on each side of the river to drain the dam site for construction. Each is a circular tunnel 50 feet in diameter and lined with three feet of concrete. The combined length of the tunnels is 15,946 feet. Since completion of the dam, these tunnels have been plugged, sealing off the upper portions while leaving the lower portions open. These serve as spillways in the case of the two outer tunnels and as penstocks in the case of the two inner tunnels. The spillways were designed to carry 400,000 second-feet of water and include a concrete-lined 600-foot inclined tunnel leading to the diversion tunnels on each side. Gravity dams of overflow profile were constructed to serve as spillway weirs; these are 85 feet high on the Arizona side and 75 feet high on the Nevada side. Piers at quarter points on the crests of these overflow sections divide them into 100-foot sections for structural steel drum gates to control spillover. The spillway channels are 125 feet wide at the weir crest and 165 feet wide at the tunnel end. They include more than 127,000 cubic yards of concrete.

Gypsum Cave

16 Wednesday Oct 2024

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Caves, Clark County, Nevada, NRHP

Gypsum Cave

Gypsum Cave is Nevada Historic Marker #103 – It was located at N 36.21318 W 114.90131 but according to wikipedia was removed by the owners of the land that Gypsum Cave is located on to avoid pointing out the location and bringing tourists.

Nevada Historic Markers

The marker said:

Gypsum Cave was once thought to be one of the oldest aboriginal sites in North America. The cave is 300 feet long and 120 feet wide and is filled with dry, dusty deposits in all six rooms.

When excavated in 1930-31, the cave yielded the skull, backbone, nine to twelve-inch claws, reddish-brown hair and fibrous dung of the giant ground sloth, a vegetarian species common in the more moist environment known here about 7,500 to 9,500 years ago. Bones from extinct forms of the horse and camel were also found.

Pieces of painted dart shafts, torches, stone points, yucca fiber string and other artifacts were found mixed in with the sloth dung. When the dung was dated at 8,500 B.C. by the radiocarbon method, it was believed the man-made tools were the same age. Two radiocarbon dates on the artifacts themselves, however, indicate that the ground sloth and man were not contemporaneous inhabitants of the cave. Man probably made use of the cave beginning about 3,000 B.C., long after the ground sloths had abandoned it.

Sandstone Ranch

29 Sunday Sep 2024

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Clark County, Nevada, NRHP, Ranches, State Parks

Sandstone Ranch / Sand Stone Ranch / Spring Mountain Ranch State Park

Sandstone Ranch was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#76001141) on April 2, 1976.

From the national register’s nomination form:
This property is of state historical significance because of its location athwart several important trails and because of the part it played in the economy of southern Nevada over an extended period of time. By the mid-1830’s a campsite on an Old Spanish Trail alternate route through Cottonweed Valley had been established at the creek on the ranch site. In 1844 the area was visited by an exploring expedition under the command of Captain John C. Fremont of the U.S. Army Topographical Corps. The Mormon Trail, in use from the 1840’s until the early 1900’s, also passed through the ranch site and in the 1850’s the area was a stopover on the route between the lead mines at Potosi and the Mormon Mi^ssion at Las Vegas.

A survey party under the leadership of Lieutenant George M. Wheeler visited the area in 1869, by which time several ranches had been established, most importantly that of Bill Williams. Two structures graced the property at that time, a small stone cabin and a blacksmith shop. Williams ran a few cattle on the property to supply meat to the mining camps in the vicinity and raised hay, fruit and vegetables which were sold to camp commissaries.

By the mid-1870’s Williams had abandoned the property and it had been taken over by James B. Wilson who constructed a bunkhouse and added on to the cabin. Wilson continued the small-improvements on the property, most notably the ranch’s irrigation system and a small earthen dam. These latter improvements date from the 1890’s.

With the coming of the railroad in 1905, extensive cattle markets were developed in California and for the first time the ranch became an important cattle operation. Following Wilson’s death in 1906, his two half-Paiute sons ran the ranch, but made some bad investments during World War 1 and nearly lost it to creditors.

Wilard George, a family friend, paid off the mortgage in 1929 and gave the two Wilson brothers a home on the ranch as long as they lived. In addition to continuing the cattle operation, George attempted to raise chinchillas for his fur business. In 1944 George leased the ranch to Chester Lauck of radio’s “Lum and Abner” fame and four years later he purchased it. Newly named the Bar Nothing, Lauck used the ranch largely as a vacation retreat, although he continued to raise cattle and, in addition, opened a boys’ camp. Lauck built the main house on the ranch and the large reservoir to the west.

In 1955 Vera Krupp, the wife of the German industrialist, purchased the ranch. She continued the cattle operation on the 400,000 acre grazing allotment and lived there until 1964. In 1967 the property was sold to the Hughes Tool Company. Two Las Vegas businessmen, Fletcher Jones and William Murphy, purchased the property as a real estate speculation in 1972, but opposition from Las Vegas residents precluded the planned home and country club development. The property was subsequently offered for sale to the State of Nevada and the transaction was finalized in the spring of 1974. Guided tours and environmental education programs are currently offered on the property and recreational programs are currently awaiting the development of a master plan.

Rafael Rivera

17 Wednesday Apr 2024

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Clark County, Historic Markers, Nevada, Nevada Historic Markers, Old Spanish Trail

This historical marker commemorates the valor and service of pioneer scout Rafael Rivera, the first European American of record to view and traverse Las Vegas Valley, who scouted for Antonio Armijo’s sixty-man trading party from Abiquiu, New Mexico. In January 1830, young Rivera ascended Vegas wash twenty miles east of this marker and blazed a route to the Mojave River in California by way of the Armargosa River.

Rivera’s pioneering route became a vital link in the Old Spanish Trail, with Las Vegas Springs an essential stop on this popular route to Southern California. John C. Frémont mapped the trail in 1844. Three years later, following an extension of the course to Salt Lake Valley, the route became known in this area as the Mormon Trail. Today the Old Spanish Trail closely parallels Interstate route #15.

This is Nevada State Historical Marker #214, located on Mountain Vista Street just south of Russell Road in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Nevada Historic Markers

Las Vegas High School

23 Saturday Dec 2023

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Clark County, Las Vegas, Nevada, NRHP, Schools

Las Vegas High School

The Las Vegas High School Administration Building and Gymnasium are two, architecturally significant buildings associated with development of public, secondary education in the City of Las Vegas. The buildings are the most sophisticated examples of the Art Deco style in the City and were designed by the Reno architectural firm of George A. Ferris and Son. The Academic and Gymnasium Buildings were erected in 1930-31 as part of a three building educational complex and reflects the growth and development of Las Vegas during the period of the Hoover Dam construction.

Located at 315 South 7th Street in Las Vegas, Nevada. Added to the National Historic Register (#86002293) on September 24, 1986 and the boundary was extended July 22, 2021 (#100006408) to include Frazier Hall. It is also inside the Las Vegas High School Neighborhood Historic District (#90002204) and the Las Vegas High School Historic District (#100007431). The text on this page is from the nomination form from when it was added to the register.

The development of Las Vegas can be traced to the 1905 construction of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. By 1911 the SPLA and SL had established a characteristic western railroad town on the site to serve as a division point between Utah and California. Town development was confined to railroad related services until the late 1920 T s. The Congressional approval of the Boulder Canyon Act in 1928 spurred a period of intensive development for the community. This legislation provided funds for preliminary work on a dam for the Colorado River. The project, which resulted in the construction of nearby Hoover Dam, was responsible for a 125% population increase in Las Vegas between 1920 and 1930. From an isolated railroad service center, Las Vegas expanded to a modest city providing services to the dam project as well as the tourists attracted by its construction.

In recognition of Las Vegas’ increased population and the role of education facilities in attracting a stable, permanent population, the local school district lead by superintendent Maude Frazier proposed the construction of a high school complex. The proposed project met with limited community resistance based on project costs, the size of the proposed complex and its site, then two blocks from the center of town.

Despite this opposition, a $350,000 City bond issue was passed in 1930 for the construction of a three building high school complex encompassing a Shop Building (d.c.1950) and the existing Academic and Gymnasium Buildings. The complex was designed by architects George A. Ferris and Son and constructed by the Ryberg and Sorenson Construction Company of Salt Lake City. Work on the high school complex was begun in 1930 and completed by September of the following year.

The high School complex served as the focus for Las Vegas residential development for the next decade.

Since its construction in 1930-31, the high school complex has been expanded to incorporate seven educational buildings, tennis courts, basketball courts, a football stadium and track. The original Academic Building continues to serve as the campus’ primary structure.

The Las Vegas High School Academic Building and Gymnasium are architecturally significant as the only intact examples of monumental Art Deco design in Las Vegas. The structures are two of four major public buildings surviving from the period. The other intact public buildings from the period are the Federal Building/Post Office, a Neoclassical style structure and the Las Vegas Hospital, an adobe, Spanish-Colonial Revival style building.

The complex was designed by architect, George A. Ferris and Son, a prominent Reno architectural firm practicing in Nevada during the first half of the twentieth century. G. A. Ferris is listed in the Reno City Directory for 1912. By 1930-31 Ferris had entered into a partnership with his son, Lehman. The Las Vegas High School complex was a major commission for the Ferris firm whose work focused on commercial buildings in the Reno area. The buildings 1 ornamentation represent a unique integration of Art Deco and southwestern motifs. This integration was categorized as Aztec Moderne by the Las Vegas Evening Review-Journal at the time of the buildings’ construction.

In addition to being stylistically unique for the Las Vegas area, the Academic Building and the Gymnasium were the first monumental, reinforced concrete buildings to be constructed in the community.

Senior Squares

Las Vegas High School Neighborhood

The Wengert Mansion

22 Friday Dec 2023

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Clark County, Historic Homes, Las Vegas, museums, Nevada

The Wengert Mansion

The Wengert Residence was originally owned by Cyril S. and Lottie Wengert. Built in 1938, this Tudor Revival home was designed by Architect, H. Clifford Nordstrom, and was amongst the largest in Las Vegas. Prominent in Las Vegas social and business circles, the Wengerts were pioneers in Las Vegas’ early development. Cyril S. Wengert was an incorporator of NV Energy, the state’s largest utility. He is also the namesake for NV Energy’s first building in downtown Las Vegas and for a Las Vegas elemental school. He and Lottie were integral to the development of many of Las Vegas’ civic organizations and the growth of the local Catholic community. Cyril and Lottie raised four children in this home: Shirley, Marilyn, Robert and Ward. Their son, James, died early-on at age 8. They remained in this home until they both passed some 30 years later. Cyril’s importance to both the business and civil life of Las Vegas was echoed by the Las Vegas Sun upon his death, “Cyril Wengert is considered one of the leading citizens of Las Vegas”.

Currently the building is used for: Zak Bagans’ The Haunted Museum
600 East Charleston Boulevard in Las Vegas, Nevada

Helen Jane Wiser Stewart

16 Saturday Dec 2023

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Art, Clark County, Historic Markers, Las Vegas, Nevada, Sculptures, Women in History

Helen Jane Wiser Stewart
April 16, 1854 – March 16, 1926
“The First Lady of Las Vegas”

“It will only be for two years,” Archibald promised his wife Helen in 1882, coaxing her away from civilized Pioche, Nevada to a ranch in the middle of the desert. Two years later, Helen buried Archibald after he lost his life in a gun fight at the nearby Kiel Ranch. Helen stepped out of her traditional role as wife, mother, and homemaker, to take over the “Los Vegas Rancho.” Helen never looked back. She expanded the ranch to nearly 2000 acres, and became one of the largest property owners in the Las Vegas valley. Helen sold 1835 acres of her property to the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad in 1902 for $55,000. She kept some land for herself and donated 10 acres to the local Paiute Tribe. Helen was indeed a woman of “Firsts” – first postmaster in the valley – first woman in Las Vegas to serve on a jury – first woman to serve on the Clark County school board. As a founding member of the local Christ Episcopal Church and the Mesquite Club, and a Red Cross activist, Helen shaped early Las Vegas into a vibrant community. Local leaders shut down the city of Las Vegas during Helen’s funeral in honor of her pioneering spirit.

Generous support for the statue in thanks to
Las Vegas Centennial Commission
Friends of the fort
Southern Nevada Women’s History Project
Nevada State Parks