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The first Las Vegans

How the Southern Paiutes survived the harsh environment

by David G. Schwartz

The first Las Vegans

The first settlers of the Las Vegas Valley didn’t come in search of full-pay video poker or shrimp cocktail.  Instead, they were seeking the essentials of life—food, clothing and shelter.  

Archeological remnants of petroglyphs (carved stone images), baskets, and camp sites prove that some Native Americans lived in Southern Nevada as many as 10,000 years ago.  Back then, the valley was warm, wet and fertile, with abundant flora and slow-moving animals making this a hunter’s paradise.

Ancestors of the the Southern Paiutes (pictured), moved into the area by 700 A.D.  This group of Indians ranged from the Mojave Desert to the west to the Colorado River Basin in the east, living in parts of what are now California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah.

Though the Las Vegas Valley was no longer as lush as it had been in the far past, the natural springs made it an obvious stopping place for the nomadic Southern Paiute. During winters, they roamed throughout the valley, hunting small animals and gathering wild-growing nuts, berries and plants. In the summers, they decamped to the mountains to avoid the scorching desert heat.

When Brigham Young dispatched a band of Mormon missionaries to the future site of Las Vegas in 1855, their chief goal was to proselytize among the Paiutes, spreading word of both modern agriculture and the Mormon Church.  The Paiutes proved uncooperative, and in 1858 the bulk of the Mormons returned north.

The Paiutes maintained a presence in the valley, including a settlement on ten acres of land donated by Helen Stewart, the woman who was been described as the “First Lady of Las Vegas.”  

The Southern Paiutes were known for their basket-making; Stewart collected dozens of their baskets and remained a passionate advocate for the valley’s indigenous residents during until her death in 1926.

Today, Southern Paiute communities in Pahrump, Moapa, and Las Vegas continue the long history of Native Americans in Southern Nevada.   The Las Vegas Paiute Indian Colony, on North Main Street, is an outgrowth of the original ten aces donated by Stewart.

SOURCE: Single Item Accessions Collection, UNLV Special Collections

David G. Schwartz an Atlantic City native and the director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He is the author of Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling. His web site can be viewed at www.dieiscast.com.