Griffith, Robert B., 1899-1979

Robert B. Griffith was born in 1899 in California and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada with his father E. W. Griffith, a Las Vegas contractor and settler, in 1905. He attended the University of Nevada, Reno and graduated in 1923 with a degree in civil engineering. That same year he married Ruth Atcheson and returned to Las Vegas. In 1925 upon his appointment as postmaster, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce assigned Griffith the task of determining whether the city could accommodate airmail services. As part of this task, Griffith helped the city lease Anderson Field, later renamed Rockwell Field as part of the lease agreement. Upon the expiration of the lease, Rockwell Field's owners sold the land and Griffith selected a new site later known as Nellis Air Force Base. Griffith retired as postmaster in 1930, but continued to serve as an aviation expert for the community. He was instrumental in the development of both the Nellis Air Force Base and McCarran International Airport.

During World War II, Griffith began working towards securing water access for southern Nevada. Starting in 1957, Griffith served on the Colorado River Commission and served as chair in 1966. Griffith, along with other community leaders, convinced the federal government to assist in the building of a water pipeline that went from Lake Mead to the Las Vegas Valley, Nevada. The project, initially named the Southern Nevada Water Project, supplied water to Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, and Nellis Air Force Base. Griffith passed away in 1979. In 1982, the city renamed the project the Robert B. Griffith Water Project, and in the early 1990s, the project was incorporated into the Southern Nevada Water System Treatment and Transmission Facility (SNWS TTF). As of 2020, the SNWS TFF continues to supplement the Griffith Project.

Sources:

Stoldal, Robert. “Robert Griffith.” Las Vegas Review-Journal. February 7, 1999. Accessed June 27, 2018. https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/robert-griffith/.

Rogers, Jedediah. “Robert B. Griffith Water Project.” Bureau of Reclamation. 2006. Accessed June 27, 2018. https://www.usbr.gov/projects/pdf.php?id=181.

"R. B. Griffith Project." Bureau of Reclamation. 2020. Accessed January 30, 2020. https://www.usbr.gov/projects/index.php?id=385