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October 20, 1950 W 2>3 | ? # i fjppl |§||j pS||f‘||| | • pf Miss Sandra Pennington Carlisle School 11101 Independence Avenue Kansas City, Missouri Osar Sandra: this is in reply to your latter requesting Information on the water supply of this city. I am very glad that you selected las Vegas, beoause water is very closely tied in with the history of this olty, and, in fast, was the reason why the town was established here In the flrat place. When the railroad was being built through . this part of the oountry shortly after 1900, to oonneot up the interior of our country with the P&olfio Coast, one of the essentials was, of course, water, which had to be had In order to use in the sttea locomotives, as well ss for con­struction gangs* As you may imagine, in this arid oountry water was vary scarce, but the rail­road builders heard of a place names "has Vegas* (which means *fhe Meadows' in Spanish) where the Indian# said there were two springs that would furnish ample water for the locomotives and the construction men* Arrangements were made to purohase the two springe and the land on which the springe were located, and thus the £<&s Vegas land and WaterCorapany was bom* there are no rivers in this immediate vicinity, the closest being the Colorado River, tome 25 miles away, and it la necessary to secure cur water supply from the underground channel, either through natural springs or by drilling artesian wells, for quits a long time, ths two springs supplied the town with water, but when the influx of population was felt with the beginning of construction of the famous Boulder Bern, It was