The history of Las Vegas Springs: A disappeared resource (Nevada)

This dissertation tells the natural and cultural history of Las Vegas Springs, a major water source in the eastern Mojave Desert for 8,000 years, which were made to disappear in the middle of the 20th century. These large artesian springs supported a creek habitat that was important for plants, animals, birds, and people. Then, as the human population of the valley grew, so did the demand for water. Scientists regarded all of the springs in the valley as leaks that must be stopped. In 1957, the state engineer proposed to change the artesian aquifer to a water table by drawing down the water level of the entire artesian basin which fed the springs. This process would redirect the groundwater into wells and squeeze out every drop for human consumption. The plan succeeded; the springs dried up in 1962.; Previous histories of Las Vegas Valley water do not explain the intentional depletion of the aquifer and the disappearance of the springs. How and why were they made to dry up in only five years? What part did Lake Mead play in this story? Nevada receives 300,000 acre feet a year of water from Lake Mead, but the politics of water require that you “use it or lose it.” Did this affect the plan? The answers address some of the factors that created the urban landscape of Las Vegas Valley, and some of the issues affecting similar arid valleys in the West. The narrative of human use of these springs illustrates their importance through time, and the consequences of applying scientific management policy to the aquifer that supplied them.; New information about the prehistory and ethnohistory of Las Vegas Valley was gleaned from archaeological reports, from unpublished notes of Isabel T. Kelly's 1932–33 ethnographic research, and from Las Vegas Ranch Daybooks for the 1870s. The modern story is based on the Union Pacific Rail Road Collection at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on U.S. Geological Survey water-supply papers, and on records of the Nevada State Engineer's Office and of the Las Vegas Valley Water District.