John Wittwer Collection on Agriculture in Nevada (MS-00181)

John Wittwer was employed as the District Agricultural Agent for the University of Nevada Extension project from 1921-1954 in the area around the Moapa and Virgin Valleys in Clark County, Nevada. Born on November 21, 1880, Wittwer came to southern Nevada in 1921 from Uintah County, Utah where he had been an agricultural county agent for five years. Wittwer had previously worked as a teacher in Utah; this experience would prove invaluable in his work to educate farmers and promote new agricultural and conservation programs in southern Nevada's rural communities. In 1908, Wittwer married Anna Syphus, daughter of a prominent local Mormon family, and had two daughters and two sons. She died from influenza in 1922, one year after relocating to Nevada. Wittwer would marry his second wife, Della Parley, in 1935.

According to Wittwer, one pressing need in southern Nevada was to find a way to enhance methods of soil improvement and conservation. Wittwer's first responsibility as an agent was to establish an experiment station in cooperation with the U. S. Bureau of Soils and the University of Nevada. Experiment stations were initially charged with finding solutions for depleted soils and improving the health of farm animals. Thereafter, Wittwer was involved with other rural experiment station projects that were put into place to provide educational assistance to farmers in gardening, livestock, farm and range, community economics, community welfare, water and sanitation.

Wittwer identified water issues such as water storage, drainage, and flood control as the second major set of problems that plagued southern Nevada. It would take decades of agent recommendations and government planning to overcome all of the monumental water problems facing southwestern states in this regard. Dam projects would take priority in the Southwest during the 1930s in the Roosevelt years with Wittwer helping to organize and set up large camps for two hundred of the Civilian Conservation Corps working on Hoover Dam. As a part of this enormous project, he also assisted in establishing another ten camps of operations for flood control.

Three additional areas within Wittwer's agricultural responsibilities were the development of the dairy industry, vegetable production and marketing, and the 4-H Clubs in southern Nevada. The first two, the dairy industry and vegetable production and marketing development, came about as a result of the construction of Boulder (later Hoover) Dam and the effects of the Great Depression. After Congress passed the Boulder Dam Bill in 1929, Las Vegas and Boulder City became the base of operations for construction of the Dam and housed thousands of workers. As food supplies and milk were critical for feeding workers, new methods for the increased development of dairy herds and vegetable production were explored and pursued. Wittwer's other major responsibility was the 4-H Clubs (Head, Heart, Hand, and Health). In his memoirs, Wittwer warmly addresses his pride in the accomplishments and growth of 4-H, and in the citizenship found among the boys and girls of isolated desert communities.

John Wittwer was also an accomplished illustrator and draughtsman, and many of his reports include hand-drawn maps and surveys of the Moapa and Virgin Valleys. After retiring at age seventy-one, Wittwer pursued art and higher education at universities throughout the west. He died on August 20, 1977.