Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort Historic Park

The Old Mormon Fort shows how the town of Las Vegas came into existence through faith, hope, determination and the ability to overcome adversity.

It's hard to imagine now, but Las Vegas, Spanish for The Meadows, once was an oasis in the desert, with free-flowing water and an abundance of lush grass as far as the eye could see. It became a popular resting point for the native Paiute, traders, miners and others passing through the region.

In 1855, William Bringhurst led a group of 29 Mormon missionaries from Utah to the Las Vegas Valley. The missionaries built a 150-square-foot adobe fort near a creek and used flood irrigation to water their crops, a process still used at the park.

However, because of tensions rising between leaders of the small Mormon community, the summer heat and difficulty growing crops, the missionaries returned to Utah in 1857, abandoning the fort.

Over the next 50 years, ownership of the fort would pass from local miner Octavius D. Gass in 1865 to ranchers Archibald and Helen Stewart in 1881 and eventually to San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad in 1902. In 1929, the Bureau of Reclamation used the fort's ranch house as an office for the construction of the Hoover Dam.

The ranch house, the oldest building in Nevada, contains informative exhibits tracing the area's history, including a collection of photographs of the fort spanning from 1934 to 1992. The ranch house also contains a pump organ, spinning wheel and butter churner, all used by former inhabitants. Other artifacts found at the fort include an apple corer, cake griddle, rug beater and bullet mold. A replica of the first flag flown over Vegas is displayed along one wall, complete with 19 stars and 13 stripes.

Another exhibit depicts the period when the U.S. Army occupied the Southern Nevada fort (1867 to 1869). Although their accomodations were far from luxurious, they did have a roof over their heads, fresh vegetables, meat and clean water. A reconstruction of the soldiers' living quarters houses a bed consisting of a straw mattress and blanket, lanterns, ammunition, a table and chairs.

At the center of the fort lies an 1850s freight wagon, similar to those once used to carry supplies and materials to and from the fort. The creek has long since dried up, but a re-creation of it now travels the edge of the property near the ranch house, giving visitors a unique glimpse into the past. Several picnic tables scattered throughout the fort provide the perfect place for an afternoon snack.

The "Garden in the Desert" features the same crops as those grown by both the settlers and the natives of the region. They include Asian pears, Hopi blue corn, Babcock peaches, beets, spaghetti squash, onions, carrots and turnips.

A small gift shop located in the Visitors Center offers a variety of souvenirs, from T-shirts to seed packets for plants found at the historic state park. There also are a number of helpful brochures on the Old Mormon Fort and related history.

-- Review by Noelani Jones