Report, Civilian Conservation Corps work on the flood menace in Southern Nevada, after 1935

CCC WORK ON THE FLOOD MENACE IN SOUTHERN NEVADA It should be borne in mind that the attack on Southern Nevada's Flood menace as it concerned farming areas was first made far back in 1910 when an effort was made to overcome such devastation as was experienced during the 1910 flood, efforts from that time to 1925 were, however, practically fruitless. But the con-tinuous damages suffered by people of especially Moapa Valley, spurred a few community leaders to approach the problem from really scientific procedure; namely, through the comprehensive survey method. This resulted in securing through the King & Malone Engineers of Reno, Nevada, by the close of 1928, a fairly well defined outline of flood control covering the entire Meadow Valley Wash Watershed in each Clark and Lincoln Counties, and, in addition preliminary plans for control measures on the Upper (Muddy) Moapa Valley and in the Lower Moapa Valley by way of Flood Channel improvement which to that time presented hazards of "night-mare" proportions. However, owing to lack of finances in sufficient amounts with which to proceed with any degree of success, structural programs lay dormant until the summer and fall of 1933 when the CCC organization came into being. Surveys and plans that had been completed served as one of the primary stimuli to establish the CCC in the Moapa Area in the Fall of 1933. Under supervision of the U, S. Forest Service in cooperation with the C. S. Aray, the Nevada and Clark County Extension Service and the Muddy Valley Irrigation Company with the establishment of the first CCC Camp at the Warm Springs Ranch in the Upper Moapa Valley, more detailed surveys were conducted covering the Panaca, the Clover Valley, and Pahranagat Valley areas in Lincoln County, and an overall survey of flood hazards on all Moapa Valley areas and on the Virgin River as concerned communities in Clark County, Nevada. -2- Out of this introductory procedure there have come to the various Southern Nevada communities the following results: 1. The Panaca Town Flood Control which has since its inception and completion in 1935, with reinforcements since that tine through the CCC under the Soil Conservation Service, many times saved that community from flood damage of serious proportions. 2. Similar protection was likewise provided the High School buildings in Alamo and various ranchers in Pahranagat Valley during and since 1934. 3. Extensive river bank control was effected along the Virgin River banks at Mesquite and Bunkerville where the CCC under the Soil Conservation Service has greatly intensified the work begun under Forest Service supervision by way of protecting farm lands and irrigation systems from the terrific onslaughts of high water seasons known only to residents of that area because of the unrelentlesness of flood waters of that Virgin River watershed extending far into Utah and Arizona. The work of the CCC in that area has been the means of virtually enabling the people of those cow-unities "holding their place in the sun". 4. Probably no other one single locality in the entire southwest has received each outstanding results as those that have come to the people of the Moapa area. Owing to the arrangement of the CCC Camp established in the area moving to and from the Charleston Mountain Area near Las Vegas for Summer,to the Wells Siding Camp near Logandale, Nevada, Moapa Valley for winter months, there has been a continuous program carried on moat effectively under forest Service supervision through cooperation of the Soil Conservation Service, local residents, through the Muddy Valley Irrigation Company and the Soil Conservation District Supervisors, in addition to the State Engineer's office, members of all Congressional Delegations since the advent of the CCC, County Commissioners and Chambers of Commerce and other local agencies in each the Moapa and Las Vegas areas. -3- Outstanding among accomplishments in the Moapa Area are the structural programs at: (1) Each the Arrowhead Canyon, White Narrows No. 2 (by the U. S. Indian Service), and Hogan Wash No. 1, each in their way having prevented incalculable losses yearly since their construction in not only the Upper but Lower Moapa Valley areas. (2) Spreading grounds on the Lower Meadow Valley Wash about 5 to 7 miles north of the Glendale Service Station designed to dissipate flood waters in connection with structural works at each the Wells Siding and Bowman's Reservoir, inducing improvements along the Flood Channel throughout the Valley From Wells Siding to near Lake Mead have prevented losses that otherwise would have been ruinous to a large proportion of farms and residents in the area.