Historic Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Probably the most overlooked tourist site in Las Vegas is also its lowliest in terms of glamor, glitz, size and neon. However, the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park is worth a visit for a priceless lesson in pioneer history and as a contrast to the modern Las Vegas.

Located on the extreme north end of Las Vegas Boulevard, at Washington Avenue — in downtown Las Vegas — this is where the settlement of Vegas began. If you blink, you might miss this corner of rural flavor amidst the heavy traffic and all the new buildings in the area.

Seasonal camps of native people probably existed here for thousands of years prior to the coming of the Mormons. Las Vegas Springs and Creek — a year-round source of water — made life possible here. Water rose from underground aquifers about four miles west of the fort.

Las Vegas, Spanish for "the meadow," was an oasis in the desert, and native Paiutes, miners, traders and others all passed through here and relied on the water, shade and native grass fields.

In 1855, William Bringhurst led 29 Mormon men from Utah, sent by Brigham Young to establish an outpost of Mormon territory. It took them 35 days to travel from Salt Lake City with 40 wagons and oxen, 15 cows and a few horses — arriving on June 14. They constructed a 150-foot-long adobe fort near the creek. They used flood irrigation from the creek to water their crops.

The development included a post office. It was also a rest stop for travelers, with the only running water for miles around. About 2,000 Indians also lived in the area at the time.

In 1856, women and children arrived to create a peak population of 103 people.

Why did the Mormons abandon the fort in 1857? Turns out Bringhurst and Nathaniel Jones, another LDS Church leader there, had a power struggle that eventually led to the entire pioneer group returning to Utah after only two years.

Ownership of the fort changed a lot over the next 50 years, from homesteader to homesteader. By 1902, the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad had acquired it as an important way station for trains. By 1905, when the train line was operational, the official town of Las Vegas was founded.

(In 1902, there was a movement to use the name "Los" Vegas, so as to not conflict with Las Vegas, N.M. However, that variation of the name did not stick.)

In 1929, the Bureau of Reclamation used the fort's ranch house as an office/laboratory for the preliminary construction of Hoover Dam.

Today, the fort is mostly a reconstruction, but it is on the same site and boasts some valuable artifacts.