Las Vegas Springs Preserve is impressive despite some historical inaccuracies
The Springs Preserve, opened recently by the Las Vegas Valley Water District to commemorate and perpetuate the memory of Las Vegas Springs at The Meadows, and the role water played in developing a desert oasis, is an impressive achievement.
Go see it. It’ll knock your socks off. And one visit won’t be sufficient to see all of it. Tune in online at springspreserve.org.
Yet several historical inaccuracies and questionable features need to be corrected to satisfy citizen observers with a Stuttgart eye for detail. To wit:
- The fake railroad car dubbed “Las Vegas & Tonopah RR.” First, why build a simulated car when a real one could have been purchased from, say, the railroad museum at Perris Calif.? Is Californiphobia at work here? There was no such thing as “Las Vegas & Tonopah RR.” Properly, it would be the Tonopah & Tidewater Railroad, which was not a major feeder of settlers and lot buyers into Las Vegas around 1905. The railroad that was instrumental in Las Vegas’ development was Montana Sen. William Clark’s San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad. Again, Californiphobia?
The point is, if there exist historical inaccuracies and questionable features in some of the displays of “recent” Las Vegas history, what are we to think of the accuracy of the science and ancient historical data provided at the Springs Preserve?
So, don’t believe everything you see and read at the Springs Preserve. The museography is some distance from being brought up to Smithsonian Institution standards.
Comments
I'm sure the SP folks will appreciate your glowing overall review of their facility.
However, I expect they will appreciate much less your own inaccurate comments concerning their facility. You need to do a little more research. There was indeed a LV & T. It was formed by Sen. Clark in Sept. 1905. And it had its own depot in Las Vegas by 1909.
I would also add that unless you have been a curator in a significant facility, you probably have no idea of some of the issues in play concerning builing a "new" railcar vs. obtaining an original one for exhibit purposes. And what does Californiphobia have to do with any of this?
If you want to share thoughts and opinions with the world, go ahead... knock yourself out... say anything you want. However, if you take your own introduction seriously ("Information about..."), you really need to get the facts right, or ask someone who knows.
Posted by: Anonymous | June 16, 2007 12:24 PM
Response to “Anonymous”
Closer reading of Stanley W. Paher’s Las Vegas: As it began--as it grew reveals there was, indeed, a Las Vegas & Tonopah RR, construction of which started in mid to late 1905, and was completed to Beatty in October, 1906. (The line to Beatty was discontinued in 1918 after several years of losses.) Correction accepted.
Yet was that line a major feeder of settlers and lot buyers to Las Vegas? Overwhelmingly the major railroad player in the early Las Vegas historical scenario was Sen. Clark’s San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake RR. A more accurate depiction of the era should have used the Salt Lake Route, even though it would have been more difficult to paint the letters on your stage prop. Someone made a “cutesy” decision to take the easy way out by using “Las Vegas & Tonopah RR.”
The fake railcar construction could and should have been avoided. Surely the Inland Empire Railway Museum could have supplied the shell of an original passenger coach without its truck. The members would have been grateful for the income from the sale. And possible Nevada sources could have been canvassed too, such as the Virginia & Truckee, the East Ely Railroad Museum and the Nevada State Railroad Museum, in Carson City.
The bogus museography, including the photo of streetcars on a curved track purportedly in Las Vegas, remains for all to see. Those who were not born yesterday are legion, and can easily discern the sham. Hiding behind anonymity to make petulant remarks such as one needing to be an expert curator for a major museum in order to understand the difficulty of putting together the Springs Preserve only exposes you to the accusation of playing PYP, aka Protect Your Paycheck.
As Hemingway said, “It all depends on whose ox was gored.” Yours was.
Posted by: Anthony Greno | June 19, 2007 02:57 PM