Bus trip to show newcomers history of valley

From gun-slinging cowboys to dam builders, miners, mobsters and Mormon settlers, the tales will be told as history lessons for newcomers.

Almost 40 teachers and a handful of other locals will explore the diverse elements of Nevada's unique history Saturday as they hop on a bus for a daylong tour of the valley's heritage hot spots.

The group is the first to participate in the Nevada Humanities Committee's new Magical Cultural Tour. The tour is part of the committee's Nevada for Newcomers initiative to introduce newcomers to the culture and society of Las Vegas.

Led by historian Frank Wright, the bus will make its way to the Boulder City Museum to learn about that area's early growth, which came from the construction of Hoover Dam -- a National Historic Landmark, then head to the Clark County Heritage Museum in Henderson with its historic homes and train depot. The bus will travel to the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society, the Mormon Fort and wind up at Big Springs.

"It will be a general history of the area and all its variety," Doug Mishler, program coordinator for the committee, said. "There are so many people in Southern Nevada who know nothing about the state. We're trying to familiarize newcomers and old-timers."

With the constant influx of new residents, the term "old-timers" can include residents whose stay in the valley barely exceeds a couple of years.

"Over five years (here) you're considered an old-timer," Mishler joked.

Because Clark County School District is growing so rapidly, many of its teachers are newcomers.

Forty of the 48 seats on the tour bus are occupied by teachers and faculty from the Clark County School District, the Community College of Southern Nevada and UNLV.

"We wanted to address teachers first because of their responsibility of teaching social studies and imparting that information on the next generation," Mishler said.

Nevada history is taught in fourth grade, seventh grade and in high school. The Magical Cultural Tour was advertised through the "Clark County School District Hotline," an intra-school publication.

"We have so many new teachers," Ellen Kottler, secondary social studies specialist, said. "This is a way to acquaint them with the community."

The tour targets the needs of new teachers who request information on Nevada history, she said, adding that the experience from the tour can encourage more meaningful, personal and less abstract instruction.

The tour isn't limited to teachers: Anyone interested in learning about the valley's pioneer days is welcome.

This is just a beginning of a series, Mishler said. The organization is hoping to give a monthly tour.

"In Boulder City or Elko, people run into people who have lived there for 50 years," he said. "Here you just run into people just like you, who are newcomers."

The Nevada Humanities Committee, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, aims to develop and fund public activities such as discussions, lectures, exhibits, historic performances and documentary films.

Newcomers know little about the community and how its society and culture developed, Mishler said.

"They (newcomers are) also going to vote on water and Test Site issues," he said, which is why issues such as pollution, road building and resources are also discussed.

The tour includes profiles of early pioneers who shaped the valley.

"You can't talk about the Mormon Fort without talking about Helen Stewart," Mishler said. Stewart and her husband owned the fort in the early 1880s after it had been turned into a ranch. Stewart ran the ranch until 1902.

Wright, who also leads walking tours through the Las Vegas High School Historic District, knows a lot of stories of the earlier days.

"I love talking about Las Vegas and Southern Nevada history," he said. "I have a lot of fun doing that. Every time I get requests, I learn more."

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