Goodbye to Old Mesquite, Nevada - It Was Good To Know You - 2014

 

Goodbye to Old Mesquite, Nevada - It Was Good To Know You

In 2009, I stopped in Mesquite, Nevada. While heading north out of town, I took photos of several old buildings and signs. A town’s architecture and graphics help reveal its history. A common theme involves a once flourishing business now closed. For example, when Interstate I-40 bypassed Seligman, Arizona, the attractions of Old-66 were barely enough to keep Old Seligman alive. With so little business activity generated after its bypass, Seligman froze in time. Therefore, many old buildings and signs in that town remained in situ.

In 1974, after the completion of Interstate I-15 through Mesquite, most new development came in the form of condominiums. The targeted customers were retired people or second-home owners. Today in North Mesquite, large new retirement complexes tend to focus the eye on human made water features, including a series of water-wasting golf courses. With such environmentally wasteful practices in effect, little if any summer-season water flowing in the Virgin River reaches its outlet at Lake Mead.

Prior to the construction of Mesquite's sprawling retirement communities, the same area represented only a small portion of a vast network of arroyos. Partially filled with wind-driven sand, the area was an "alluvial plain in the making". Most people do not think about “upstream” in the desert. Such terms matter only when a major flood hits such a dry area. When thunderstorms linger on nearby Mount Mormon, resulting floods carry enormous flows down those arroyos filled with sand. During, or shortly after an deluge upstream, watercourses shift, overwhelming their banks and inundating previously dry areas.

In the case of the recent condominium development in North Mesquite, everything will probably be OK. However, if we live to see the thousand-year flood, let alone the ten thousand-year flood, all of that could change. If either of those events happens, the ancient erosion field and slide zone that is North Mesquite shall not stand. In terms of proximate risk to property owners, safety and security may depend on one’s sense of time.

Mesquite, Nevada built its reputation on a firm foundation of gambling. Today, viewing it on Google Maps shows us that North Mesquite lies near the foot of a massive paleo flood zone. It does not take a trained geologist to see that ancient debris flows swept “downstream”, temporarily interrupting the Virgin River as it swept across the river and far up on the opposite bank. These desert sands appear to be the terminal deposition of ancient North Mesquite debris flows. It is there, on the east bank that buff colored desert sand intermingles with the dark, volcanic alluvium descending from Virgin Peak and Mount Bangs.

Today, such a flood would have to cross Interstate I-15 and West Mesquite Blvd., inundating most of Old Mesquite. In that scenario, all of Mesquite would remain in peril. The good news is that the ten thousand-year flood only comes every 10,000 years, or so they say. So what are the real odds? If enough people ask, the Casa Blanca Resort and Casino in Mesquite might make book on that question. I now remember my father’s sage advice, which was, “Never build anything in a flood plain”.

Although it lies only ninety miles from Las Vegas, Mesquite has closer ties to St. George, Utah, forty miles north on I-15. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, both Las Vegas and Mesquite were Mormon settlements. They were among a string of towns that grew up along the Old Spanish Trail, leading to Los Angeles. A common denominator among Mormon settlers and their current day counterparts is industriousness. If there is a potential for land development, the business community in Mesquite will soon take advantage of it.

The years 2008 and 2009 represented the depths of the recent recession in Mesquite. Since then, there has been a steady, if slow economic recovery. New condominiums and businesses now present themselves, but current economic activity does not approach the breakneck pace of the early 2000’s. Now enthralled again by new development potential, protection of Mesquite’s historical buildings, signage and its highway heritage languish.

To be fair, most destruction or neglect of historical buildings and signage in Mesquite happens on private property. Even so, it appears that neither the city nor its business community sees value in saving the town’s historical qualities. For posterity, I shall document three examples of Old Mesquite at its finest.

In 2013, the long defunct Oasis Hotel Casino and Resort disappeared from West Mesquite Boulevard. Around that time, the historical Oasis pole sign disappeared from its prior location near Interstate I-15. New visitors to Mesquite will never know that there once stood the biggest, fanciest and most successful casino resort in town. Other than an aging RV Park now operated by the Casa Blanca Resort Casino and an annex of hotel rooms now converted to timeshares, the Oasis is no more.

Farther east on West Mesquite Blvd. is what remains of Harley’s Garage. In 2009, a sign on the locked front door thanked customers for Harley’s sixty-two years in business. From Harley's graphical pole sign, which almost overhangs the highway; we know that Harley’s Garage once sold radiators and specialized in Ford automobiles. The aging Ford sign, which resides just above an image of a Ford Model-T style radiator, now turns to rust and eventually to dust. The classic “Ford” script, once painted brilliant red on blue, now appears as rust-red on pale blue. At its present rate of decay, full deterioration is only a few years away.

I picture travelers on old U.S. Highway 91 in 1945, experiencing a breakdown near Mesquite, Nevada. No matter how the motorist arrived in Mesquite, Harley’s Garage was ready to replace or repair over-stressed radiators, batteries or brakes. Now-outdated internet business listings indicate that Harley's once had a AAA towing franchise. With Las Vegas and St. George scores of miles away across a desert wasteland, we can imagine what a godsend Harley’s Garage and radiator repair shop must have been.

Historically, Mesquite was a ranching and farming community. Despite two historic floods that destroyed the economic vitality of Old Mesquite, several generations of Mesquiters continued to grow crops in the floodplain of the Virgin River. For their part, ranchers in nearby Bunkerville grazed their cattle on a once verdant, open range. Since Old Mesquite’s settlers banded together for sustenance and protection, they required a place to buy, sell and trade their produce and cattle.

On West Mesquite Blvd. stands a contemporary Ranch Market building. Despite looking relatively new and prosperous, by 2009 the Ranch Market stood closed for good. Looking inside, I could see display cases and shopping carts gathering dust behind the glass. Out back, on the same over-sized lot was an old pole barn, weathering and deteriorating in the sun. Later, I learned that the pole barn had once been the original Mesquite Ranch Market.

With a few rough sawn boards still clinging to the its roof, I tried to determine the age of the barn. “The better part of a century”, I thought. A long abandoned electrical service clung to one  of its corners. There were broken remnants of an overhead trolley, which once moved hay bales in and out of a now missing hayloft. With no remaining siding, doors, roof shingles or hayloft, only the cross-bracing of its beams keeps the pole barn from its inevitable destruction. In the past five years, an adjacent and a once mighty cottonwood tree has crumbled closer to the ground. With such rapid deterioration, how much longer the original Mesquite Ranch Market will stand is anyone's guess.

The desert environment, with its heat, sun and wind can destroy almost any human made object. Repainting and replacement are constant activities for thriving businesses in a desert economy. Keep it neat, keep it clean and tourists will stop. Let it go and the desert will soon remove the gloss of civilization. There stands North Mesquite, gleaming in the reflected light of its mini-lakes and golf courses. On the other side of town, more often than not, the desert is winning its inevitable, entropic race.

It is here that I say, so long to Old Mesquite. It was good to know you.

Email James McGillis

 

 

By James McGillis at 04:29 PM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link

Mesquite, Nevada - Doomed to Live Without its History - 2012

 

Mesquite, Nevada - Doomed to Live Without its History

For the past five years, my tradition has been to take both a spring and a fall trip to Moab, Utah and the Four Corner States. In 2007 and 2008, I would depart Los Angeles, travel to Phoenix, Arizona and then north to Moab. Having lived in Arizona earlier on, I liked to visit the detached suburb of Los Angeles that Phoenix had become.

In 2009, anti-immigrant rhetoric in Arizona reached a fever pitch. In April 2010, Governor Jan Brewer signed the statute known as Arizona AB 1070 into law. Although she saw an anti-immigrant bill as her ticket to higher office, I saw it as a poke in the eye of egalitarianism. Henceforth, I avoided Phoenix and all of Arizona whenever possible. With both the Grand Canyon and Old Route 66 running through the state, avoiding Arizona completely can be challenging.

After feeling repelled by Arizona politics, I needed a new way to get from Los Angeles to Moab. My new route was to be the Old Spanish Trail, now designated Interstate I-15 North and I-70 East. Although I-15 transits the northwest corner of Arizona, it does so through the Virgin River Gorge. In the gorge, there is no place to stop or spend money. Southwest of the Virgin River Gorge, and half way from Los Angeles to Moab lies Mesquite, Nevada. Each year since 2009, I have stopped overnight in Mesquite, allowing time to absorb some local culture.

On my first stop at Mesquite, I found a quaint collection of old motels and trailer courts. On West Mesquite Blvd., antique and hand-painted signs dominated the old commercial district. Although new development sprang up prior to the economic collapse of 2008, quaint reminders of Mesquite as a farming community and a later as a highway rest stop were evident.

Although permanently closed, Harley’s Garage featured a hand-painted “Ford Parts” logo sign atop its tower. Words scrawled on a front window celebrated Harley’s Garage for its fifty years as a mainstay of business in Mesquite. Likewise, the contemporary Ranch Market stood closed and empty. The market’s predecessor, a humble pole barn, stood tattered by a century of weather at the back of the same lot.

On my most recent visit, I caught sight of an old building on North Sandhill Blvd. Looking as if it had begun life as a house; it now stood stripped bare of its later business facade. With a new stucco exterior, it could have been a quaint restaurant or coffee stop. Instead, it featured “Keep Out” signs and other indications of its upcoming demolition. By the time of this writing, I assume that Mesquite has removed yet another clue to the town’s history.

The foolishness of systematically destroying all of the historical architecture and signage in Mesquite is obvious. To see a graphic example of why, look no further than Las Vegas, ninety miles south on I-15. Gambling-induced development skyrocketed there in the 1950’s. The result was an eclectic collection of iconic and nostalgic architecture. Because of its long-term popularity, old Las Vegas earned a place in the hearts of many visitors. What else explains the popularity of the old “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign that has stood at the south end of The Strip since 1959?

In recent years, a new class of casino and hotel development has prevailed In Las Vegas. With no room for expansion, developers imploded and replaced Desert Inn, The Dunes, El Rancho, The Sands and other hotel/casinos too numerous to mention. Everything in Las Vegas is bigger now, but it is a lot less fun. This recent “bigger is better” format wiped nostalgic old Las Vegas off the strip and into the dustbin of history.

I remember staying in a suite at the Desert Inn in the late 1980s. Just a few yards from the Strip, my suite overlooked a tranquil, green golf course. Maybe if I were a high roller I would care that Steve Wynn personally specified the design and materials of every mattress at his Wynn and Encore hotels. Just give me a bed on the Strip with a Magic Fingers massager under the mattress, and enough quarters to make me want to unplug it and I will be happy.

Out with the new and in with the old. Good luck to Mesquite, Nevada on its historical eradication campaign. For the sake of all who care, I hope the town runs out of redevelopment funds before it runs out of history.

Email James McGillis

 

By James McGillis at 11:39 AM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link

Mesquite, Nevada Squanders its Economic and Highway Heritage - 2012

 

Mesquite, Nevada Squanders its Economic and Highway Heritage

In May 2009, I visited Mesquite, Nevada and wrote about my experiences there. At the time, the U.S. appeared to be at the depths of its Great Recession. In the previous decade, the population of Mesquite had ballooned, from 9,000 to a reported 19,000. By 2009, it was on its way back down to a 2010 U.S. Census figure of 15,000. Although a Wal-Mart and other new shopping venues arose in North Mesquite, business activity south of Interstate I-15 on West Mesquite Blvd. looked anemic, at best. By 2009, at least one major golf course had closed and two major hotel/casinos stood empty.

Mormon settlers founded the old town of Mesquite, Nevada in 1880. By the 1960’s, Mesquite had become the largest town between Las Vegas and St. George, Utah, to the north. Although that stretch of Interstate Highway was complete by 1967, business-friendly politicians thwarted the I-15 bypass of Mesquite until scandalously late, in 1973. Until then, travelers endured a forced exit from the freeway at Mesquite. Whether they were ready for a break or not, an old-fashioned drive along West Mesquite Blvd. was part of the early I-15 travel experience.

After I-15 opened at Mesquite, the town no longer had a captive motoring audience. On the new freeway, it was a quick 122-mile trip between Las Vegas and St. George, Utah. Ever inventive, residents of the largely Mormon town did what they could to survive. First with legal gambling and later with master planned retirement communities, Mesquite attracted new residents and businesses. Almost any desert town will see cycles of boom and bust. After the boom peaked in 2007, there was an accelerating pace of economic decline in what once was known as “Mesquite Flats”.

Now, in 2012, it was time to make another assessment of the Mesquite, Nevada economy. Quickly I found that the economic message in Mesquite is mixed. Several planned communities in North Mesquite continue to grow, albeit much slower than before the 2007 peak. According to statistics, the recent unemployment rate in Mesquite was a whopping 13.3%, compared to the U.S. average of 9.1%. Some will prosper and some will fail, but the failure rate of South Mesquite businesses appears higher than in North Mesquite. On the old highway, I remembered a mattress store from before, but it was gone without a trace. Harley’s Garage and other iconic signs of Old U.S. Highway 91 stood empty, painted-over or crumbling. Even the Harley's Garage old hand painted "Ford Parts" sign had succumbed to rust.

In 2009, The Ranch Market, with its attractive mission revival style building thrived. During my visit to the market, I had found remains of an old pole barn at the rear of the property. Perhaps the pole barn was Mesquite's original ranch market. Although the barn appeared built nearly a century ago, its well trussed structure and a loose collection of roof boards remained intact. On my 2012 visit, The Ranch Market was closed. If such a nice market could not prosper in old Mesquite, I reasoned that the local economy still suffered.

In the 2006 Disney Pixar movie Cars, the loveable tow truck known as “Tow Mater” slept in a dilapidated barn or shed. Having recently watched the movie, I wanted to see how much the old Ranch Market Pole Barn might resemble Mater’s lair. After all, the Wigwam Village motel in Holbrook, Arizona rode to fame as the Cozy Cone Motel in the movie Cars. In the 1960’s, Interstate I-40 bypassed Seligman, Arizona. That old U.S. Route-66 town later became the model for Radiator Springs in the movie Cars. Today, the bypass of Seligman makes it a nostalgic detour from the sterile I-40. If highway nostalgia worked in Arizona, why not consider it in Mesquite, Nevada? When I took a closer look at the Ranch Market Pole Barn, I saw that it was at least a spiritual match with Tow Mater’s abode.

Today, Mesquite, Nevada cries out for economic development. Not unlike the economy of Mesquite Flats, the old pole barn appears ready to collapse of its own weight. A good first step would be to buy a rusted-out old tow truck, paint eyes on the windshield and park it in the old pole barn. Maybe it will never be another Seligman, but if Mesquite does not preserve its precious relics, its storied past will fade away.

Email James McGillis

By James McGillis at 11:38 AM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link

Mesquite, Nevada - Better Economic Luck Next Time - 2009

 

Mesquite, Nevada - Better Economic Luck Next Time

On April 19, 2009 I departed Los Angeles, California, heading north on Interstate I-15.  After almost 300 miles, I stopped for the night at Mesquite, Nevada, which lies eighty miles north of Las Vegas.  There, I spent a quiet night at an RV Park behind the Casablanca Hotel and Casino.  On my previous trips through Mesquite, I had ignored the town, assuming that it was not worth so much as a fuel stop in the desert.  After a quiet night at the RV Park, I drove through town, looking for remnants of its pioneer history.

 

While driving along West Mesquite Blvd., I saw contemporary buildings and businesses.  Even on a clear spring day, both traffic and business activities were light.  Like many Western towns, Mesquite’s proximity to open land and abundant water drove a recent economic boom.  Like Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada, Mesquite rode a swell of economic exuberance which ended abruptly with the mortgage crisis of 2008.  As it had several times in its history, Mesquite again became a land of busted dreams.  Of the three casinos that recently called Mesquite home, only the Casablanca currently operates with full services. 

 

Midway on its journey from origins in Southwestern Utah and its submersion in Lake Mead, the Virgin River skirts Mesquite on its south side.  The early Spaniards named it El Rio de Sulfureo, after nearby hot sulfur springs.  In honor of John Adams, the second U.S. president, Jedediah Smith may have named it the Adams River.  Ironically, John Quincy Adams, the sixth president and son of John Adams held that high office at the time of Smith’s 1826-27 transit.  Some records claim that Smith named the river after Thomas Virgin, a member of his party.  Wounded by Indians near Mesquite Flat, Virgin later died in the fight at Umpqua River, along the California-Oregon border.

 

The Pleistocene Epoch dominated much of the Northern Hemisphere for 1.8 million years, apparently ending only 10,000 years ago.  During that period, repeated glaciation forced plants and animals from the north to share a migration route through the Virgin River Gorge, toward the more temperate south.  As the glaciers retreated, flora and fauna made their way back up the gorge and into new lands exposed by the melting ice shield.  Since the freeze-thaw cycle took between ten thousand and more than one hundred thousand years, some species may have traveled north and south many times, adapting to new conditions as they regained what had been their old territory.

 

In the 1830’s, the Old Spanish Trail, between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California utilized the Virgin River Gorge as part of its route.  At the time of early Anglo exploration and commerce, the Southern Paiute (Nuwuvi)lived in the area.  In a unique adaptation to their environment, the Nuwuvi combined a hunting-gathering subsistence system with some flood-plain gardening along the river.  Although Thomas Virgin sustained injury during an altercation in that locale, I do not know which Indians he fought.  Was it the relatively peaceful Nuwuvi or the more aggressive Utes, who may have migrated south as encroaching Anglo hunters stressed their game supply?

 

In the 1880’s, the first two Mormon pioneer settlements failed at Mesquite Flat.  After flash floods along the Virgin River ruined the water diversion trenches of first two settlements, a third group rebuilt the system and succeeded.  With an abundant, if erratic water supply from the Virgin River, Mesquite became a subsistence farming community.  There was slow growth in the area until 1973, when Interstate I-15 replaced Old Highway 91.  Because of early twentieth century engineering challenges, Old Highway 91 avoided the gorge, instead taking a longer route to the west.  Once the I-15 route through the gorge became a reality, Mesquite began shipping farm products eighty miles south to Las Vegas and forty miles north to St. George, Utah.

 

The now defunct Peppermill Casino, opened in the 1970s, beginning the diversification of Mesquite’s economy.  By the mid-1990s, with other casino resorts open, Mesquite marketed itself as a getaway from Las Vegas and a more laid-back gambling option for residents of Cedar City, Kanab and St. George, Utah.  As its population grew, residents adopted the shorter “Mesquite” as the official town name.  The City of Mesquite incorporated in 1984.  The 2000 Census placed the population at 9,000.  At its 2008 peak, the population had ballooned to over 19,000.

 

As I made my way along West Mesquite Blvd. on that spring morning, historical remnants of Mesquite Flats showed through in vacant lots and abandoned businesses.  Although most of the historical architecture was gone, enough remained to give a feeling of what the town was like in earlier days.  The remaining buildings and signs were a poignant reminder of what happens to a Western town when its commercial base disappears.  Some landmarks, like Harley's Garage, look like they closed yesterday.  Others, like the Desert Palms Motel still operate normally, despite the missing paint and neon lights evident on their highway sign.

 

In one’s mind, it is easy enough to see how plant and animal life around Mesquite may have changed, yet we know that the underlying rocky landscape has remained unyielding for eons.  That morning, I pictured ice dams breaking to the north, sending a deluge down-canyon and across Mesquite Flat. 

 

Then, I saw conifers and other evergreens from temperate southern climates, moving north to colonize the mountainsides of Southeastern Utah.  As game, large and small moved up the gorge, so too did the Ancient Anasazi Indians, and later the Nuwuvi. 

 

The spirits of mountain men like Jedediah Smith and Thomas Virgin passed by my location, moving south, in search of big game.  Although they did not find the abundant game that earlier mountain men found in the Rocky Mountains, they did find the vast and abundant land called California, lying just beyond the deserts of the Great Basin. 

 

Soon, Mormon pioneers traipsed by my historical viewing port, followed by others seeking the excitement of gaming at flashy casinos.  Finally, the land speculators, golf pros and second-home buyers found their way to this “virgin territory”.  Many of them arrived just in time for the greatest economic downturn since the destruction of the original Mesquite Flats flood.  For many, their only choice was to migrate again, in search of greener economic pastures. 

 

Will Mesquite Flat grow again?  Will new residents at least occupy all the vacant homes and condominiums still waiting for buyers?  Can anything surpass Mesquite’s recent peak of growth and excitement?  As long as the waters of the Virgin River continue to bring live-giving sustenance to the bone-dry desert at Mesquite Flat, my answer is, “Yes”.  I wonder if there is a “betting line” at the Casablanca Casino as to when that resurgence might occur.

 

For a May 2012 update on Mesquite, Nevada, click HERE.

Email James McGillis

By James McGillis at 11:02 AM | Travel | Comments (0) | Link