Historic springs threatened

Monday, Nov. 17, 1997 | 12:47 p.m.

The Archaeo-Nevada Society has joined concerned Las Vegas residents and organizations to save Big Springs, the remnants of ancient waters that brought people to Southern Nevada.

The Nevada Department of Transportation is studying ways to widen U.S. 95 from the Spaghetti Bowl to Rainbow Boulevard. One of the proposed ways to broaden the highway would place Big Springs, also known as the Meadows, under blacktop.

NDOT Director Tom Stephens assures that no decision has been made on how to widen the highway. And it will take another 18 months to complete the Environmental Impact Statement.

Big Springs once fed Las Vegas Creek, which ran from Valley View Boulevard and Alta Drive to the Old Mormon Fort near Cashman Field, located at Las Vegas Boulevard North and Washington Avenue.

"The public needs to know that it was Big Springs that brought humans here," Archaeo-Nevada President Howard Hahn said.

But about 18,000 wells drilled in the Las Vegas Valley from the late 1800s until 1992 have drained the springs dry. All that remains are the cottonwoods and long grasses which can be seen meandering south along U.S. 95 near Valley View Boulevard.

If the highway expands across the springs area, up to 200 feet of land containing the rare California bearpaw poppy and items linked to prehistoric peoples would be destroyed, according to Hahn.

The Las Vegas Valley Water District has developed a plan for the Mojave Desert Preserve to protect its North Well field where Big Springs ran. The district's General Manager Pat Mulroy also supports the idea of saving the Big Springs site as a piece of the valley's history.

Big Springs was listed on the national list of historical places in the 1970s.

If it's not paved over, Big Springs could become home to an ongoing archaeological excavation site, Hahn said.