- Travel with me as I explore some of the history and scenic beauty in the parks and communities in southeastern Nevada.

It's all coming up right now on Wild Nevada.

- [Narrator] Support for PBS Reno and Wild Nevada comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Narrator] And by Thelma B.

& Thomas P. Hart Foundation; Kristine Perry, Margaret Burback, Mark & Susan Herron; in memory of Sue McDowell; Lloyd Rogers & Gaia Brown; Stanley & Neila Shumaker; and by individual members.

(upbeat bright music) (upbeat bright music) - This time I'm starting out in Las Vegas, not far from downtown, but up here that feels like a world apart.

I'm at Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park and it's the perfect place to begin a trip where I'm retracing some of the paths and the history of some of the earliest settlers of the silver state.

To learn about its significance, I meet with park interpreter Sherri Cassel.

- Welcome to the Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Historic Park, the place where Las Vegas began, - This is not where I would've expect to find a state park.

- Isn't that great?

Yeah, we are a very urban park.

We are literally two blocks away from Fremont Street and this was the first building in the entire valley.

We're on a giant hill here.

So it was not only a good place because of water, but they could see from here.

So this was the first building in the entire valley ever standing was this one.

Remnants of the original 1855 Fort are still where they were built here today.

- That's a great door.

- Isn't that beautiful?

- That's really cool.

- Well, you can see here, Chris, this is where Las Vegas began.

So this is where we start with our tours.

Let's go across by the water.

This is a recreation, the water no longer flows here, but we always start in this area where the plants and the water are, to talk about the indigenous people that were here first, the Southern Paiute.

This area that we're in, all these plants were their hardware store, their grocery store, and their pharmacy.

Everything they needed is right here with these plants.

- What's growing here?

- Cattails.

They have a root that's similar to a potato, so you could pull that out and eat it like a potato.

And this tree above us is a mesquite.

Now the mesquite that drew here then was a Screwbean mesquite, and they would grind or boil those pods and make little pancakes out of them.

So right here we have like potatoes and pancakes.

And the other thing is an acacia tree.

That would be a medicinal plant.

Of course, you'd have to be very qualified and knowledgeable to make it medicine, but they knew how.

Over here is a willow plant and that would be their hardware store.

So they then make toys, maybe their housing.

- Well, and I imagine too with the cattails, there's probably maybe some weaving that you could do with them.

- Exactly.

That's very astute.

They were great basket weavers and cattails may have been one of the reeds that they used for their baskets.

- The fact that there's water here, I imagine in Las Vegas, not only is that incredibly important now, but that was probably even more important then.

- It was the reason that the indigenous people were here first.

And the reason that the Mormon missionaries came here.

Water provides life for everybody.

And that was the main reason they were here.

(lively music) We became a state park in 1991, but before that, several entities owned it, including the city of Las Vegas, the Elks Club.

And the reason this all got preserved is because the Daughters of Utah Pioneers advocated that this building never be tore down no matter who owned it because their ancestors built it.

- [Chris] What was this structure originally?

- It originally started as part of the Fort Wall, and over decades, pioneers came and repurposed the bricks for other things.

And at one point it was a house, a blacksmith shop but the biggest, coolest thing I think, is in 1929, the Bureau of Reclamation came and they wanted a place to test concrete before Hoover Dam was built.

And they chose this building.

So the way this building looks today is because the Bureau of Reclamation did some extensive improvements.

They raised the ceiling, they put in electricity, they put the roof in.

And the amazing thing that preserved this building is the bricks that you see back here, those are originally from 1855.

And rather than tearing them down and putting new bricks in, they repurposed it so they left the walls.

- [Chris] Considering the role reclamation played in the Vegas area, that construction or reconstruction actually makes this even more historic, if that's possible.

- [Sherri] Yeah, it has a Hoover Dam connection, has a Mormon missionaries connection.

- And originally indigenous connection too because of the spring and the plants.

- That's right.

The indigenous connection, of course, was first.

The Paiute actually helped the Mormon missionaries build these bricks.

(gentle music) - Well, now I'm really seeing the fort that's in the name.

- [Sherri] Yeah, now you see what Nevada state parks thought was crucial to help you understand what this place looked like.

This is a recreation of the original fort and we know those dimensions exactly because of their journals.

So we recreated part of it.

We added a secret element to our bricks.

It was built brick by brick and we added cement to our bricks to help it stand the test of time.

- [Chris] So why would they build a fort in this location?

What were they protecting themselves from?

- This was the architecture of the time.

Everybody thought they needed to be fortified from unknown danger, I guess.

So they built this fort as they did all their other forts foresighted.

There were two gates and two bastions, which is the tower over there.

So it was just a fortification and it protected them initially from any invasion of anything.

So if they were foresighted and locked in, they actually lived inside here for a brief period.

Over the years, they've irrigated and they had, they were growing crops.

The Mormon missionaries were only here two years.

The history of this place is decades longer than that with Pioneers.

There were apple orchards with future Pioneers as far as the eye could see.

Grapes, peaches, all kinds of things but initially they lived inside and then they went outside after that when they saw there was no threat from the local people.

- You know, you think about fruit trees and you think of grapes, you're not thinking Las Vegas desert.

- I know.

Isn't that amazing?

Still on site today in this three acres we call a state park, you'll find almonds, walnuts, lemons, pomegranates, artichokes, grapes, mulberries, pears, peaches.

It's with very little water and a good gardening practice, you can grow nearly anything you want.

It's really great that this was preserved and not only this building, a small space, but they took three acres and they made it seem like a little oasis in the middle of downtown Las Vegas.

That flag is site specific.

So the Mormon missionaries arrived in June and they decided when July came, they should celebrate the 4th of July.

So they decided to make their own flag.

And that flag is site specific here, made of a red shirt, a pair of blue jeans and a white sheet.

And the star in the middle is the star of Deseret.

Before Utah as a state, the Mormons thought they would make it the State of Deseret.

And that symbol is the Deseret symbol.

- [Chris] So I see the old wagon.

Is that an original?

- [Sherri] Yeah, that wagon is authentic.

It's on loan to us from a museum in Utah.

We take care of it.

But the wagon was crucial to the original missionaries that came here.

They traveled by wagon and I always say that wagon is the family minivan.

And our freight wagon is the Amazon semi-truck.

So the kids get an analogy of what these wagons were used for.

- [Chris] You can almost imagine someone walking out of that structure over there, walking out of the doorway or people sitting around on the stumps.

- [Sherri] Yeah, but they did a really good job of recreating everything and giving us an idea of what it looked like.

- We leave Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort State Park and take highway 93 out of town, driving 150 miles through the communities of Alamo and Ash Springs before entering Caliente.

From there, it's another 15 miles to Panaca.

I stop at the Panaca Heritage Center where I meet Linda Lee.

So tell me a little bit about the Panaca Heritage Center.

- Well, the building was built in 1880 by a man named James Allen Wadsworth, who came across the ocean.

He was a pioneer, a Mormon pioneer.

Back in the sixties, when I was in high school, we used it for a spook alley 'cause it was an old, ugly, abandoned building.

(both laughs) But we started working on gathering the Heritage Center information, the pioneers that came here.

We opened it one day a year.

- Oh, just one day a year?

- The 24th of July.

- Why the 24th of July?

- Well that's our pioneer celebration.

- So what are some of the important items that the Heritage Center has?

- Well, these are probably the oldest in the building.

They came across from England on ship.

This is an old crock that had their starter in it.

- Oh their sourdough starter?

- Sourdough starter.

This is a whale oil lamp.

And this is what they called a candle box that they kept their important papers in this.

So, those are treasures for the Wadsworth family.

- So in some ways, when we talk about having your Go Bag ready or really your essential things for your household, this would've been it.

- Yeah, you gotta have your starter, your light- - And your papers.

- And your papers.

(both laughs) The Francis Lee and Jane Vail Johnson family came in May in 1864.

They came from the prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

They sent him here to settle this area.

It was a beautiful little valley, has a natural spring to the northeast.

And so the valley was covered with grass, and good for their animals.

- [Chris] And natural farmland in that case.

What is your family roots in the area?

- Well, my third great-grandfather was Francis Lee, and he's the one that came in and settled the valley.

There are a lot of names in my family that are here.

In fact, one of my great, great-grandfather's was the leader of the Mormon Fort in Las Vegas.

(lively music) These are potties, indoor potties they put under the bed.

(Chris laughs) Who wants to go out to the outhouse at 10 below zero?

(chuckles) - That is true.

- In the middle of the night.

- Do you find you have visitors that come in during the Heritage Day there in July that are doing family research?

- Oh yes, we have.

Yeah, this place gets pretty crowded, especially open one day a year.

(both laughs) - Just outside of the Heritage Center, I meet Steve Heiselbetz for a tour of the community.

This is a beautiful statue.

- It's a statue of Jane Vail Johnson and Francis Lee who settled this valley.

May 4th, 1864 is when they came into the valley.

Francis and Jane are my great great grandparents.

- Then Lester Lee, who, the great grandson who made the century, he's a relative of yours?

- He was a great, great grandson too.

(lively music) - [Chris] So you got a historic marker for the community?

- Yes, it's been here since 1964 when we had the centennial celebration.

A gentleman that grew up here in Panacas, his name was Albert Edwards, come up with the idea of the state historical marker system.

And he did most of the narrative and all the state markers that are here.

(lively music) - Tell me a little bit about this building - In the late later 1800s, this building was constructed as a cultural center.

The LDS church and many of the older pioneering areas always constructed a building where they could have dances and events that the town could come to.

And that's what this served as.

There's a older church and we'll have to go see that.

(lively music) - So this is the original church?

- Yes, it was built between 1867 and 1868.

And it served many purposes while it was in use.

It was actually the first church, of course, in town and also where the children all went to school.

- I was gonna say it's a pretty big building considering the time it was built.

- Yeah and it served the members of the church here until about 1935.

- [Narrator] I'm noticing it's got a beautiful bell tower on that.

Is that also original?

- Yes, it wasn't put on though until maybe about 10 years after the building was first constructed.

The local bishop at the time went to Salt Lake to a foundry, purchased the bell and brought it back.

And then he and others of the community went ahead and put it in the place that it's in right now.

And it's, to my knowledge, and from what I've been told, it's never been removed since about 1875.

We might want to go and see the Panaca co-op, which was the first general store.

- So I know that there was some confusion about whether we were in Nevada or Utah when Panaca first started.

- In 1864, when Nevada was first made a state, Panaca actually wasn't within the boundaries of Nevada.

Two years after, they included about 50-60 miles of Utah territory into the state of Nevada.

They still didn't know at that time whether that included Panaca or not.

And after they did survey and they found out they were in Nevada, they came and they wanted back taxes.

They didn't pay taxes and there were some problems.

The district court judge sent the sheriff to Panaca to seize the keys of the Panaca co-op.

And then they put guards on the store right at this location, right where we're at.

The community, they kind of armed themselves and came to the store and told the deputies it might be better if they give them the keys and leave.

And that's what they did.

They left without a fight.

Later on, in about 1871, the district judge found in favor of the residence in Panaca.

And an agreement was made that if they would pay Nevada Lincoln County taxes from then on, they would forego the back taxes.

And that was kind of the end of the dispute.

- This is still the main store for town, isn't it?

- It is, yeah.

I mean, things haven't changed here maybe as much as they would in a bigger city.

And you know, I think the residents here, the older ones like myself, are thankful of that.

- [Chris] It's enlightening to explore this part of the state and follow the path of some of Nevada's earliest immigrants.

I head back to Highway 93 and retrace the path to Caliente for a good night's rest.

(train honking) The next morning I'm up and ready for the short trip on Highway 317 to Kershaw-Ryan State Park.

It's only about three miles, but a very scenic and enjoyable drive.

Not far from Kershaw-Ryan's entrance, I enter the gardens that the park is well known for, and meet Ranger Ethan Mower.

- Hi Chris.

- Thanks for meeting me out here.

This is beautiful.

- It's, isn't this a great spot?

I love it here - It is lush.

It really feels like an oasis.

- There's a lot of things to see here.

There's a lot of springs right here.

There's a lot of water just coming out of the ground, coming out of cliff walls.

And that supports all of the trees, all of the vines you see here.

And then it does not take you very long hiking on one of these trails to get up out of this oasis.

And then you're just smack into the high desert environment that typifies Nevada.

- So why are there lush oasis like gardens in the middle of the high desert?

- This canyon was settled by Samuel Kershaw, Samuel and Hannah.

They immigrated from England and Wales in the 1800s and they settled here and they established a ranch.

And from everything we've been able to tell from newspaper articles in the time and journal entries from the time, they all talked about Kershaw's Gardens.

After Samuel and Hannah were done, they sold the property to James Ryan, who was a local rancher.

And he continued with the gardens.

And then when the Ryan's were done ranching, they donated this area to the state.

And the state has tried to continue with the tradition of having it just be a lush oasis in the middle of the desert.

(bright music) - [Chris] You know, it really feels almost like that city park experience but instead of being surrounded by a city or an urban environment, you're surrounded by these beautiful canyon walls.

- Yeah, it's a super cool juxtaposition, right?

Because we've got these very manicured lawns.

We try to manicure the road coming up here.

We try to cultivate that urban park feel.

And it's just really cool to have that in contrast to just right up there where it's complete, you know, wilderness almost.

It's a really unique spot and that's what makes my job the best one in the state.

I really want Kershaw to be a space where people can, can not only come and enjoy and sit and have a picnic, but I also want people to come and say, "Oh, that's a cool plant.

What is that?

Oh, I think I could plant that in my garden."

I definitely want this to be a place of inspiration for people.

- So this is kind of a unique looking structure.

- Yeah, so this is the old CCC bathroom.

The CCC built a lot of, the civilian conservation Corps, they built a lot of things here.

And this is the only thing left out of the flood in the 1980s that destroyed this whole park.

- [Chris] So this park is really kind of a reconstruction of what it used to be?

- Yeah, it looks a lot different.

The campground used to be up here and it got destroyed and so when it was reconstructed in the 90s, the campground got moved down to the bottom of the canyon where it was a little more protected.

And then this was rebuilt as a day use area.

- Kershaw Ryan packs a lot of park into a small area.

Within the park, you can find picnic areas, volleyball courts, playgrounds, horseshoe pits, and even a waiting pool, something for everyone.

What's your favorite part of the park?

- You know, it might be right here actually.

I love coming around this bend.

- You really, here you can see that transition from green to desert.

- [Ethan] I love this vantage point.

I love standing here on this bridge for that reason 'cause you can really, you can see everything that the park has to offer.

- [Chris] So as we get out of here into the desert, I can feel the environment changing.

How does a person prepare themselves to explore in this kind of environment?

- So it's pretty important as you're out hiking, you can feel it get hotter, right?

And so you're definitely gonna want to bring your water.

You don't wanna be caught out in the hot desert with no water.

You want closed toed shoes.

Because there's sharp things, there's pokey things and there's poisonous things out here that'll get your feet.

- All of the things you don't want to expose your toes to.

Right?

- Exactly.

And then you definitely want a hat and some sunscreen to protect you from the sun because it gets hot here and the sun is very intense.

So you're gonna want all of those things that protect you.

(gentle music) - [Chris] It's canyon walls are really striking.

- [Ethan] Yeah, this is all volcanic deposition that happened from volcanic eruptions 30 million years ago.

But it really gives you a sense of the scale of those eruptions.

(gentle music) - You know, the views up here are just amazing, everywhere you look.

- Isn't it just gorgeous.

Yeah.

- We look down and you see the desert transitioning into the park.

- Yes.

- Really pretty.

- And you know, the layers of color from the far mountain range, you got different layers of blue, gives way to the tan of the desert.

You get this little peak of green down there where Meadow Valley Wash goes through the bottom of Rainbow Canyon and then you're back into the tans coming up here and then there's just bam, this emerald oasis right here.

- And you would not know that this little oasis is just tucked up in this canyon, right?

I mean, all you would see is that rugged canyon exterior unless you make that little drive.

- Um hm.

Yep.

And you know, as you come up that road, there's kind of a point where you come around to bend and you just start seeing hints of the trees.

And then you come up over the hill and the temperature drops 10 degrees and you're like, whoa, this is cool.

This is really a gem in our state.

(lively music) - [Chris] Ethan and I head just outside of the park to sample a new attraction in Lincoln County, a growing and improved network of single track mountain bike trails.

- Our main trail is called the Redemption Loop, and it's about six and a half, seven miles.

And then within that loop, we've got a bunch more trails that bisect the Redemption Loop.

The majority of the trails here are beginner trails to intermediate.

We've got some pretty gnarly downhill trails for people who are interested in that.

- I'll probably be avoiding those today.

- Yeah, I do too.

(Chris laughs) I don't want break my face.

I like what I got going on here.

And then we've got this really cool, I don't want to call it a downhill trail, it's more of a cross country trail because there is some pedaling involved.

But it starts at Ella Mountain, which is that peak way over there.

You can see- - [Chris] Oh yeah.

- [Ethan] The towers- - [Chris] Way, way over there.

- Way off from the distance.

That's the highest peak in the area.

And so this trail starts at Ella Mountain and actually comes all the way down to Kershaw-Ryan.

- [Chris] Oh wow.

- And it's a beautiful trail.

It's between 20-25 miles.

- Well, I'm excited to sample maybe a small, easy portion of it.

- Okay, sounds good.

(lively music) - Years ago, a few county, state and federal agencies partnered to identify this area as an alternative to the crowded trails in southern Utah.

Now, there are trails all over Lincoln County and the city of Caliente built some practice trails designed to help riders hone their skills before coming up here.

(lively music) You could literally ride for days out here, but for me, this brief ride is enough to wet my appetite for a return visit.

That's all I've got time for in this episode.

But it's been fascinating getting to visit the earliest days of Las Vegas and into the remote and scenic communities of Panaca and Caliente, following the paths in history of some of the earliest settlers of southeastern Nevada.

If you want more information about this Wild Nevada episode or any in the series, visit our website at pbsreno.org and stream us with the PBS app.

And until my next Wild Nevada adventure, I hope you get to have some Nevada adventures (rain pouring) of your own.

- [Narrator] Support for PBS Reno and Wild Nevada comes in part from the William N. Pennington Foundation.

Bill Pennington was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and gaming pioneer who built a legacy of community service in Nevada.

- [Narrator] And by Thelma B.

& Thomas P. Hart Foundation; Kristine Perry, Margaret Burback, Mark & Susan Herron; in memory of Sue McDowell; Lloyd Rogers & Gaia Brown; Stanley & Neila Shumaker; and by individual members.

(upbeat bright music)