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Wash History
Early 1900s
Modern settlers make Las Vegas home resulting in increased water flows into the Wash
At the turn of the century, the Wash was, for the most part, an ephemeral stream, carrying storm flows to the Colorado River. A few mesquite were present in the Wash, as well as a small wetland located at a spring just above what is now known as Three Kids Wash. Flows in the Wash measured prior to 1928 recorded perennial flows of one cubic foot per second (cfs).
Flows in the Wash increased proportionally with population expansion in the Las Vegas Valley. Modern settlement followed construction of the railroad linking Salt Lake City, Utah, with Los Angeles, California, in 1905. The valley grew at unprecedented rates during construction of Hoover Dam in the 1930s, World War II related activities in the 1940s, and accelerated growth of the gaming and entertainment industry in the 1950s. Since then, a steady and increasing immigration of residents to the valley has caused flows in the Wash to permeate and moisten the floodplain, transforming its vegetation from a sparse, desert-shrub community to a greenbelt that included ponds and wetlands. This progressively increasing floodplain saturation caused the Wash to begin flowing continuously in 1955, a drastic change in the hydrologic regimen from the previous 2,500 years.