By DELMAR LEATHAM
Arrow Canyon on the north end of Moapa Township was once used by the native Paiute tribes as a gathering place to renew commitments of peace to each other.
Tribes from the Alamo area would meet there with the Paiutes from the Moapa Valley and Las Vegas areas. They would shoot arrows into the cliff walls indicating their peaceful intentions to one another.
The canyon was also a draw to early settlers in the Moapa area. They would often assemble for picnics at Arrow Canyon. They would shoot their rifles into the cliff side knocking down arrowheads.
In the 1860’s and 70’s the trail to St Thomas from Alamo ran through Arrow Canyon.
The Moapa Valley Water District has a large well at the mouth of Arrow canyon that supplies Moapa Valley with high quality water. This water contains natural fluoride and iron. If you want strong teeth and life sustaining blood, enjoy a glass a day to ensure good health.
Local Boy Scout troops would often use the canyon for award ceremonies. A pile of wood would be stacked up and a wire ran to the top of the cliff. When the leader called down fire from the skies a scouter on the Canyon rim would send a flare sliding down the wire igniting the pile of wood. At the end of the ceremony the leader would send the fire back into the sky by shooting off a fire work.
On one occasion the firework did not go off. The scout leader investigated, only to have the firework explode and seriously burn the side of his face. The leaders rushed him to Las Vegas for medical assistance. As they were driving through North Las Vegas at 1:00 in the morning they were stopped for speeding. It took them a few minutes to explain to the officer that they were not members of the mob and why they had a man in the backseat with a serious powder burned to his face. It was fortunate that on that particular evening a noted plastic surgeon was at the hospital and was able to treat this young man. That scout leader bears no scars from the event but flinches a bit on the Fourth of July.
While hunting for desert big horn sheep in the Muddy Mountains just west of Arrow canyon, my friend and I came across an ancient Paiute trail. It runs from the Meadows Springs in Las Vegas to the Warm Springs area in Moapa. The trail continues on to Arrow canyon or turns south across the Mormon Mesa and leads to the salt mine.
The salt mine is located on the banks of Lake Mead. Low water levels on Lake Mead have exposed the area where the mine should be.
One intrepid explorer from the valley tried to find the mine. He licked every rock along the shore tasting for salt but his only reward was blisters on his tongue.
Louis l’Amour wrote a book called the lonesome gods. It detailed the practice of the Anasazi Indians of placing a stone at the start of a trail. It was an offering to the God of that trail or area and large piles of stone often marked the beginning of trails.
Early settlers believe there were hidden treasures at the bottom of these piles of stone. They would remove the stones only to find a stone free patch of ground.
In the 1930s the CCC workers built a dam in Arrow canyon. The dam is approximately 40 feet high by 50 to 60 feet wide. The dam helped to prevent flooding.
During rain storms it backed up flood waters. But it caused silt to be deposited, covering up many of the Indian petroglyphs in the canyon. The silt is almost 30 feet deep and today the dam merely slows the flood waters.
During this holiday season it might be well for all of us to gather at Arrow Canyon and renew our friendships and celebrate our mutual history with a glass of freshly pumped Arrow Canyon water.
