"Another important marker fallen to the wayside. If I was forced to choose an MIA to bring back, of all the missing plaques in Clark County it would be this one ... #40, the very piece of history that roots Las Vegas ..." -- March 2009

Inside the Springs Preserve, 333 S. Valley View Blvd. - Las Vegas

Las Vegas
36.170608, -115.188967

Original Date Visited: 3/17/09
Last Confirmed: 11/16/22
Signed: No

Money Talks at Marker 40

Oh, Marker 40. What a history we have together.

Mr. 40 used to be located at the busy crossroads of Charleston and Valley View Blvds: placed approximately on the northeast corner at the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) Headquarters. Any long-term Las Vegan knows this intersection well. This was a road project that never seemed to end. Around 2002, Nevada's largest city began renovations on the intersection at the same time when the LVVWD Headquarters began reconstruction of their facility. From my research, though, landscapers came in and started full renovation on the entire northeast corner after the intersection had been widened by NDOT. With their powers combined both entities completely decimated this intersection.

And well, in all courses of renovation, Marker 40 fell by the wayside.

Fortunately, this marker was magically replaced during Nevada's 150th sesquicentennial marker re-vamping program in 2015 ... coincidentally, a few years after the wonderfully celebrated debut opening of the Springs Preserve! In fact, I was elated that the SHPO chose the Springs Preserve as its home location considering that the marker was written to represent the very foundings of the Las Vegas Valley ... right here at the preserve. However ... and this is a big one that grinds me to the core ... the marker's on-the-nose placement has left a bit of a headache for us casual marker hunters. While we're grateful for its return, the SHPO thought it was a good idea to place it inside the confines of the Preserve-- frustratingly locking it behind a paywall.

This is weird and oddly unique, because no other marker has this problem, except possibly - 209 - Chollar Mine.

This frustrating experience proved to be a problem during my re-visit in 2022. I was short on time and couldn't fully revisit the marker (hence the lack of a slideshow below!), but I did get a bit of valuable insight about how you can get around this.

- First, you can request to view only the marker by way of a "temporary pass," a cost of $5, which allows a maximum time limit of 10 minutes inside of the preserve. The docents keep your driver's license as collateral and guarantee that you won't exceed the ten minutes. If you go over ten minutes, you need to pay the standard $25 entrance fee as well as a penalty fee. Damn. There are no exceptions, and no freebies here.

Got that out of the way? Good because here's how you get this one.

- Once you pay for entry, proceed all the way through the museum toward the rear and make a right down the walking path in the direction of the "Springs Cafe." This will open up onto a pretty amphitheatre. Follow this path a little further to find the marker in between the restaurant and the gift shop. Although I can understand what they were trying to do here given the historical aspect of the Preserve, this is a very frustrating process. Rather than place it within the confines of the preserve, thoroughly locking it away, Marker 40 would be better located outside of the grounds to avoid the restricted visiting hours and entrance fees. Specifically, I recommend the bench at the entrance to the Nevada State Museum or the Preserve Gate (the photo above).

In any case, I recommend combining Mr. 40 as a half-day adventure to fully explore and walk the entire Springs Preserve. When you combine this with the included Nevada State Museum, this is a lovely visit and welcomed destination away from the Strip.

Street View

Here's what you'll see!

Exact Description:
The famous Las Vegas Springs rose from the desert floor here, sending two streams of water across the valley to nurture the native grasses and create lush meadows in the valley near Sunrise Mountain. The water gushed forth with such force that a man could not sink in the Springs. The natural oasis of meadow and mesquite forest was the winter homeland of Paiutes, who spent the summers in the Charleston Mountains.

An unknown Spanish-speaking sojourner, whether padre, trapper or trader, named Las Vegas "The Meadows," and marked it as such on a map of the Southwestern Desert.

Antonio Armijo stopped at the Springs in 1829-30, traveling a route which became known as the Old Spanish Trail. After 1830, the route was traveled by Spanish traders, emigrants and frontiersmen, who rested beside the Springs. On one of his western explorations trips, John C. Fremont camped here on May 3, 1844.

Because of artesian water here, Mormons established the Las Vegas Mission and Fort in 1855; the Valley became a huge cattle ranch from 1866 to 1904; and the San Pedro, Los Angeles, Salt Lake Railroad Company acquired water rights and land and created the City of Las Vegas in 1905.