My Father's Adventure at Boulder Dam

The Nevadan, Sunday February 18, 1973
" A New Chapter in the history of the old Mormon Fort"

In November, William Wright, general manager of the Review-Journal, stopped for lunch n a Winnemucca restaurant. A few off-hand remarks with another customer led to introductions and a discussion of early Las Vegas history.
The stranger was Henry C. Wieking of Oakland, Calif. He had come to Las Vegas in 1929 to work for the Bureau of Reclamation rebuilding the old Mormon Fort for use as a testing laboratory. He remembered things about this period that were half-forgotten, recollections he shares in this letter and map, and through newspaper clippings and these photographs which are welcome additions to our files.

“Dear Mr. Wright:
Due to sickness and a death in the family I regret that I couldn’t get the material to you sooner.
You may be interested in a little of the background that prompted my going to Las Vegas. I was employed in Oakland at the time, but through the friendship of a Mr. G.G. Walters I was asked if I would like to go and work for the Bureau of Reclamation.

Mr. G. G. Walters was a brother of Mr. Ray Walters who was chief engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation in Denver, Colorado. So being 23 years old and anticipating adventure I found myself in Las Vegas in September 1929. Mr. G.G. Walters became the foreman of the concrete testing laboratory located in the ‘Old Fort.’ The ‘Old Fort’ was quite run down as you can see from the newspaper articles and pictures.

Our first job at the ‘fort’ was to repair it for use. In so doing we removed much loose material from the crumbling walls and then proceeded to rebuild on those portions of the walls that were firm.

The two small pictures dated Oct. 8, 1929 in back show one end of the ‘Fort’ as we found it. The enclosed pictures should help you in comparing the divisions of the old and new brick.

The adobe bricks wee acquired from someone locally. I remember going out one day to see them made but can no longer remember the location. The adobe mortar was mixed by ourselves.

The ranch land surrounding the ’Fort’ was quite rustic. Artesian water flowed freely over the desert toward the mountains on the east (the name ‘Sunrise Mts.’ Comes to mind but I’m not sure). As this water flowed over the desert numerous ponds were formed which attracted the ducks in flight and we had some marginal hunting on week-ends.

Mr. G.G. Walters and I shared a tent below the ‘Fort.’ The location was full of spiders and scorpions. Some of the spiders were over an inch in diameter and as we lay on our cots on a hot evening we would watch them jump for flies on the roof of our tent. But they seemed harmless.

The enclosed clippings will show you the part that motion picture producer Edwin Carewe played in the area around 1932. I meet his son-in-law LeRoy Mason. A Mr. Ernest Engler from Oakland had a part in starting the Las Vegas disposal company. They had the garbage contract for the city and their men, equipment, and mess hall were located as shown on the map. Mrt. Engler was a good friend of a Jerome Coleman who was circulation manager for your paper at that time.

Well, Mr. Wright, it would be very easy for me to go on writing but I don’t want to bore you. If there are any other questions, please write.

Will you please return material when you are finished? Let me know if this has been of any help to you. If you ever see Murl Emery or DeWitt Tracht at Central Market in Boulder City give them my regards.
Sincerely,
Henry C. Wieking
P.S. Look on back of pictures for further descriptions.

Among the clippings referred to above was a story from the Las Vegas Evening Review-Journal, Sept. 17, 1930, about the “Oldest Standing Building in State Remodeled For Gravel Testing Plant.” It was written by Elton Garrett, staff reporter. Today, Garrett is a realtor in Boulder City.

Garrett compared current conditions with the life led by the Mormon pioneers, and said there were “….bullet holes in her venerable walls, plugged there when those courageous white settlers defended themselves against attacking Indians.” The old Fort, he wrote, is located at the Old Ranch a mile from the heart of Las Vegas to the north. It is surrounded with cottonwood trees and bushes, and the overflow from the city’s artesian well and several springs flow past.” (For the benefit of newcomers to Las Vegas, the fort is on Las Vegas Boulevard North between the Elks Club and Washington Avenue).

According to Garrett, the Bureau of Reclamation chose the fort for its concrete testing laboratory for Boulder Dam, as it was then called, because its thick adobe walls would make it “…comfortable for work in summer as well as winter….” And it “….would not be in too public a place where they could pursue their work in comparative peace and quit.”

So the old fort was rebuilt and expanded. However, its use as a testing lab was short lived. Another clipping sent by Henry Wieking reported: “Hope that Edwin Carewe, noted motion picture producer who is developing Rancho Grande, the old Foremaster ranch, will see fit to preserve the old Mormon fort, the oldest standing building in the state of Nevada, for its historic significance, rather than putting it to use as a bunkhouses or other ranch use, is entertained by those interested in such matters in this city.”

There was no story telling when Carewe bought the ranch, but the March 11, issue of the Evening Review-Journal, also sent by Wieking, reported the purchase of the Las Vegas Creamery at 406 South Second by Rancho Grande interests headed by Edwin Carewe.

Carewe was quoted as saying: “Within the next two weeks we will ship in about a hundred young Jersey and Holstein heifers…. our ranch will be primarily a dairy, hog, and poultry establishment, although we will grow our own feed for the animals, to a great extent.

We will bring in poultry, including chickens and turkeys and also quail and Hungarian pheasants. Also, we plan to make a business of commercializing on frogs. We have an estimated frog population of 50,000, a great many having been planted on the ranch several years ago. We caught some recently of huge size, and we plan to commercialize the frog legs, which are a recognized delicacy.”

Somewhere along the lines these grand plans evaporated. “The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men—Gang aft a-gley.”

Perhaps it was a casualty of the depression. Or maybe it was just a promotion, a wild speculation, we don’t know. But we have learned a bit more about the old fort from Henry Wieking, and we thank him. He has brought history into a little better focus at the very time there is a renewed interest in preserving what is left of this Mormon landmark.
THE END