RonnieAdventure #0425 - Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort, Las Vegas, Nevada

Early Spanish explorers, traders, emigrants, and gold seekers traveling along the Old Spanish Trail to California often stopped to rest and feed their horses at a spring-fed creek and lush meadows called "las vegas." In Spanish "las vegas" means "the meadows."

Then in 1855 Mormon missionaries from Utah arrived at the springs and constructed a fort, which was the first permanent structure in "las vegas." Over the years the fort was expanded to include a post office, shops, and blacksmith services. Various minerals were also discovered in the surrounding mountains, which attracted miners and support services.

In 1865 Octavius Gass bought substantial lands around the fort and developed a large-scale ranch. However, in 1881 he defaulted on his bank loan and the lands passed to Archibald and Helen Stewart. The Stewart's continued to expand the ranch and then in 1884 Archibald was killed in a gunfight. With the help of her father, Helen continued to run the ranch until 1902 when she sold the ranch to the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad. In 1905 the railroad subdivided the lands and sold lots to settlers moving into that area. The new town was called "Las Vegas." 

A replica of the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort has now been constructed on the original site and is operated as a Nevada State Park. School classes often make field trips to the facility where craft-people demonstrate how early settlers lived at the Fort and how they performed their various trades. The Fort is open to the public Tuesday-Saturday, year-round.

Picture by Kolohe

Located at the fort were extensive gardens that were irrigated from the springs, but over-allocation of the spring water has now reduced the amount of water flowing down the creek to a mere trickle. For informational purposes there are still gardens planted at the fort, but the gardens are now irrigated with City water. There are also several examples of desert cacti that were found around the springs. 

Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia phaeacantha)

Beavertail Cactus (Opuntia basilaris)

Jumping Cholla Cactus (Opuntia bigelovii)

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

The only remains of the original fort are some small sections of the fort walls and the original adobe building that has had various uses over the years, including office space during construction of Hoover Dam. The building has now been restored to appear as it would have looked when the fort was occupied.  

Picture by Kolohe

There is also a visitor center on the property that contains exhibits, a movie, and instructional areas.  

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

Picture by Kolohe

BONUS PICTURES BY KOLOHE 

RonnieAdventure #0424 - Park Peak Trail, Sloan Canyon NCA, Clark County, Nevada

Picture by Kolohe - View north toward Henderson

Black Mountain and Park Peak hikes are both located in the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area (NCA) and both start from the same trailhead. We decided to make the Park Peak Loop in a clockwise direction, so we first had to follow the Black Mountain Trail until the Park Peak trail broke off and headed to the West. Once on top of Park Peak, it was possible to continue in a clockwise direction on a lesser used trail and arrive back at the Black Mountain Trailhead where we started. The Black Mountain Peak trail is longer and a harder hike, so we decided to save that hike for sometime in the winter when the weather would be cooler.

Trail Switchbacks Leading to Peak

View Toward Henderson

View Toward Las Vegas

BONUS HISTORICAL PICTURES 

Two of my Mother's good friends were Patty Arch and Kathryn Kaiser -- both were country school teachers. Miss Arch was my teacher at Pleasant View School and Miss Kaiser was the teacher at Sunnyvale School. (I think that was the name of the school.) My Mother was always trying to find husbands for both of them and considered her youngest brother Kenneth ("Jack") a likely candidate. She even took Miss Kaiser to New York to meet her brother. However, Jack was a career Navy person and often stationed overseas, or at sea on a ship, so that didn't work.

Then one summer Wileta's nephew Francis Earl (My oldest cousin - he was 17 years older than me.) came up to South Dakota and while he was staying with us my Mother invited Miss Kaiser over for dinner. The rest is history. About the same time, Miss Arch found her own husband, so my Mother did not have to keep playing Cupid.

Miss Arch lived in town and she had a big black Buick that she drove to school - I think is was probably a 1947 of 1948. One day I was ridding to town with her during the winter and it was snowing, so the roads were slick and she was probably driving too fast. When she came around the corner at the top of the hill by the Catholic Church, the car started to slide; so she locked the brakes, which only made things worse. As we were sliding down the hill toward Capitol Avenue, the Buick started to spin in circles and miraculously she did not hit anything. When we got to the Court House, the car just slid backwards into the Court House parking lot using the parking lot drive and missing the curb. I thought it was fun, but she sat in the car gripping the steering wheel and could not move for about five minutes.