People and the Wash - Early Ranching

There are many stories about the various farming that took place in the Las Vegas Valley over the last 150+ years, but what most people do not know is that farming also occurred near the Las Vegas Wash. Although the history of farming in the Wash only goes back approximately 95 years, it played a valuable role in the overall history of the area.

One of the earliest farms in the vicinity of the Las Vegas Wash was the Bishop Ranch, later named the Glendale Farm. Allen D. Bishop came to Las Vegas around 1905, when he was appointed to the Southern Nevada Oil and Mining Company. Bishop, and other members of his family, also ran a livery stable.

Dry ranching (occurs on damp land where no irrigation is required), of wheat, alfalfa, fruits, vegetables, corn, and chickens, was started on the Bishop property in 1907. In 1908, Allen Bishop filed a homestead on two forty-acre parcels in the Wash. He attempted an ambitious development of the area, for which he obtained outside investors. An 800-acre ranch, for farming and raising stock, a large house, stables, and an electric plant were planned. Well drilling began in 1910, but did not go as smoothly as hoped. By 1912, the property was being referred to as Glendale Farm, and 135 acres (of a total 840 acres) were under cultivation. But Bishop's ambitious plans apparently never materialized. In 1917, Allen Bishop lost a lawsuit against the Winterwood Ranch and there is no documentation of any activity on the property after 1915.

Two historic former "structures" have been found on the Bishop property. The smaller structure was made of dry-laid masonry and is thought to have been built several years prior to Bishop arriving on the property. The second was made of mortared stone and was built by Bishop.

The remains of the Bishop Ranch were excavated and recorded in the late 1970s by the Nevada Archaeological Survey (see photo below). At that time, the ranch site consisted of a house foundation, rock alignments, a well, and trash piles. Excavations of the foundation and artifacts uncovered revealed that the house was well furnished, had a domestic water system, and electricity. The house was built about 1911, and probably burned down sometime after 1933. Although the Bishops never fully developed their ambitious plans for a huge farm development, the evidence suggests they had limited success as the first large ranch and farm on Las Vegas Wash.

Stairway and cellar of Bishop Ranch house,
after excavation in 1976 (Ferraro and Ellis, 1982).

Another early ranch was the Winterwood Ranch (the area now known as Desert Rose Golf Course). This ranch had limited farming and was established around the same time as the Glendale Farm (Bishop Ranch). John C. Winters (hence, the name Winterwood) of the Clark County Land Company, drilled the first well on the property in 1911.

In 1914, part of the ranch was sold to Japanese interests, who proposed raising cotton and cantaloupes. In 1915, Winters and his partner sold another portion of the property to a California group. By 1920, the Ranch had 13 acres of Pima cotton, but the farming started to decline around this time. It is unknown why farming in these areas ceased to exist.

Yonema Tomiyasu came to the Valley in 1908 and cultivated a 120-acre farm along Duck Creek, a tributary to the Las Vegas Wash. The farm was located at what is now known as Tomiyasu Lane and Maule just south of sunset Road. A well on the property pumped 550 gallons per minute for close to sixty years. They raised a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, chickens, and trees. The farm supplied food to the local markets and construction and mining camps in Las Vegas, Boulder City, Goodsprings and the surrounding area. The techniques that Yonema developed for farming in the desert were highly successful and portions of his work, "Vegetable Planting Guide for Las Vegas" are still in practice today.

Stowell Whitney, a dairyman in Las Vegas and Moapa Valley, started the Whitney Ranch. It is unknown whether or not this ranch was used as a dairy. The ranch was subdivided in 1931 (during the construction of Hoover Dam) and the community of Whitney was formed.

Ranches and farms no longer exist along the Las Vegas Wash; however, it is important to the history of the Wash to understand who inhabited the area and what effect they may have had on the environment around the Las Vegas Wash.