I got a wonderful fix of Las Vegas history tonight at The Springs Preserve. The class, called Untold Stories, focused on the railroad cottages. As most of you know, Las Vegas began as a railroad town. It was a major stop for what would later become the Union Pacific railroad.

The passenger terminal was located where the Plaza hotel stands today. There were actually 4 terminals. There was an original terminal that was barely a water stop terminal. After the land auction and people began moving to Las Vegas, they built a new terminal in the old Spanish Mission style. In the 30's, they built an ultra modern style terminal. And when they built the Union Plaza resort, they had a terminal in the casino of the resort.

When the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad became serious with Las Vegas, they built a railroad town for the workers and their families. This started in 1900 with 64 cottages and grew to include about 160 cottages with less than 1000 sq ft of space. There are only about a dozen remaining today. They came in 2, 3, and 4 bedroom models. Rent was $20 per month, and the homes came with specific landscaping including 3 cottonwood trees. The owners were expected to keep the trees trimmed, the landscape neat and clean, and pay the rent on time. The cottages were made of concrete blocks and wood. This was probably the first master planned residential community and the first homeowners association in the country, two traditions that still run strong in this town.

The discussion panel had a man from the historical society, two ladies that moved here in the 30s, and one man who moved here in the 30s. One of the ladies had a father who was a boss at the roundhouse where the turntable was that moved the trains around for maintenance and for getting them on the right track going the right direction. The other lady grew up in a regular house, but most of the houses of the day were the cottages.

The stories these people told were amazing. They were very educational but so interesting that I didn't realize how much I was learning. At the time of the railroad boom, the Hoover dam was being built too. The whole panel had stories of how the railroad workers and the dam workers would all come to town on the weekends. It seems a lot of drinking took place and it turned into a rivalry. When Monday morning came around, there were a lot of dam workers and rail workers that were too sick, in jail, or otherwise unable to come to work. It got so bad that the rail road decided to move it's maintenance operations to Barstow. Barstow is still a major stop for the trains today, even though Las Vegas would be a better choice based on geographical location.

Some of the people that were discussed included Mayme Stocker. Some of you may know her as the first person in Nevada to have a gaming license. She had license number 1. But in reality she knew little or nothing about the games of chance. It seems her husband was the gamer. Her husband worked for the railroad and the railroad had very strict rules about keeping up a certain image, and running a casino was a no-no. And that's how and why Mayme got the license. She and her husband Oscar opened the Northern Club. Northern was a code name to mean there was a back room with illegal delights.

There were tons and tons of stories. It's still sinking in for me. Next month will be on the early families. Just a little insight to that topic, the popular stories would make you believe that Las Vegas was segregated. The whole panel strongly opposed that idea and said it was a multi-cultural town from the start. There was a very mixed crowd of Japanese, Mexican, whites, blacks, Indians, and everything inbetween. They even showed some class pictures from elementary and high schools from the 20's to 50's. White kids usually numbered about 50 percent of the class. There were several Japanese families that were American citizens that were very productive. The most famous were the Tomiyasu family. They farmed land from about where Sunset Park is today towards Wayne Newtons house. They were like a rolling farmers market as they would load up their fruits and veggies on a wagon and take it into town. Even in WWII, none of the Japs in Las Vegas went to the internment camps. Some went to fight on the Americans side.

This class is pretty fascinating stuff to me. I don't know of any other city the size of Las Vegas where you can get history lessons from the first and second generations of people that made the history. If the people on the panel didn't do it, they witnessed it first hand as their parents made history.

JMT, Here are a couple of comments and questions for you:

I used to take that train ride from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and debark at the Plaza Hotel. That was very convenient.

I have not been in back of the Plaza lately and often wonder if the station set-up is still there as it used to be when the Desert WInd stopped there on a daily basis. Have you been back there lately?

Also,,,, why did the train cease stopping in Las Vegas? I assume that is still runs along that track on its way to Salt Lake City. Do you have any information on those details?

Thanks, JMT.

I actually have and investigated that question a few years ago. If a charter train wanted to make stop there or a passenger train had an emergency stop there, there is no platform or off loading ramp, no walkway to the casino, no double glass doors leading to fame and fortune. There is a high security fence back there that insures nobody gets on the wrong side of the tracks. There are some gates in the fence under tight locks. It "seems" like it could be converted to a passenger station for a price. I have never noticed a passenger train on the tracks since I moved here and I don't know where the circus trains park. For some reason, I think I have seen commercial trains parked near the Rio property.

It is my understanding that the Union Pacific does not want passenger service there for the same reasons FedEx and UPS don't want to carry passengers. That's why Amtrak is government backed and airlines lose money, while freight carriers make money.

I went to the Amtrak website. Just by looking at the route map, it does not appear that ANY of their trains come through Vegas. I know that I have never seen one. The LA to Salt Lake route goes through Oakland. The LA to Flagstaff route uses Barstow, Needles, and Kingman to circumvent Las Vegas.

There have been countless proposals for high speed rail service from LA to Las Vegas. It is my opinion that a regular speed train could make money on that route, by making it a party train to get people pumped up and excited and make them forget the time. And I think the Union Pacific says, "Not on my tracks".