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By Robert L. Candiotti
Archaeologists generally agree that, for several centuries, indigenous
people - now known as the Southern Paiute Indians - lived in the area that ultimately became Southern Nevada.
This includes the area where Southern Nevada's new Ivanpah International Airport is scheduled to become
operational around 2018, with the purpose of relieving congestion and air traffic delays at McCarran International Airport
(LAS) in Las Vegas.
Gazing over Ivanpah Valley today, which is mostly arid desert, one may wonder
how the Southern Paiutes and their generations of ancestors endured. (Of interest is the book, published in 1967, by
Margaret M. Wheat, Survival Arts of the Primitive Paiutes.)
Primarily,
the Paiutes were successful because they clearly and intimately understood where their water came from. Their water rose up
out of the ground as natural springs that were sometimes evident, and sometimes hidden.
Knowledge of water
locations was transferred between Paiute groups. It is documented that the location of hidden water was even indicated by
petroglyphs carved in stone so that Paiutes, who were often on the move to follow their food, could survive by knowing how
to access the underground water.
Because the weather differed somewhat every year, the Paiutes often traveled
dozens of miles to the most promising food sources. They were experts at finding the best sources of food in the ever-changing
arid desert. Still, water was always the central ingredient for their survival.
Unfortunately for
the Indians, water also was the central survival ingredient for the Europeans who began passing through the
Southern Paiute's territory.
In 1776, the Escalante-Dominguez
Spanish exploration crossed Southern Paiute land seeking a route from Santa Fe to the Pacific ocean. By 1830, significantly
blazed by William Wolfskill, the route known as the Old Spanish Trail was established. To get through the vast desert, Spanish
caravans traveled from Paiute water spring to Paiute water spring.
Consequently, the Paiutes moved their
locations and food gathering patterns to avoid confrontations with the caravans.
In 1849, the Mormons
(members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) began to settle on Paiute land, and the gold rush migration to
California also followed the Old Spanish Trail, which went through Las Vegas.
Historical documents
indicate that the Paiutes suffered slave raids by caravans from Santa Fe that took Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) children to be
sold as slaves in California. It is written that in 1850, Mormons also began to buy children from the Indians.
Hostility toward the Nuwuvi increased, and the Indians tended to increasingly avoid coming in contact with newcomers to their
land. They became outnumbered. They retreated into the desert, or attached themselves to relatively safe villages,
such as Las Vegas.
A band of Southern Paiutes resides in the Las Vegas area today. Some
representatives of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe - as well as other Paiute bands, and various Indian tribes - did
attend the Tribal Public Scoping Meetings regarding Ivanpah Valley Airport that were held by the BLM, FAA and Clark County
Department of Aviation in the fall of 2006. Authorities at BLM and FAA have indicated that input from Native Americans
will be welcomed throughout the process of the Environmental Impact Statement.
To learn more about the Old Spanish Trail, click here.
To read more about the history of the Moapa Paiutes, click here.
To see a short video about Paiute shaman Wovoka, and the Ghost Dance, click here.
To read more about in-depth journalistic coverage of all American Indians today, click here.
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