Floyd Lamb Park is ripe for family fun
It’s not easy being green in Las Vegas, at least where its desert landscape is concerned. But at the Floyd Lamb Park, the grass lawn, cottonwood trees, and ponds offer a colorful oasis along with lots of fun family things to do.
With, picnic areas, barbecues, scenic paths, four stocked ponds, and volleyball and horseshoe facilities on 2,040 acres, there is opportunity for a full day of activities. Visitors with a Nevada fishing license can fish in any of the park's ponds but are limited to three fish per person
But there is another aspect to Floyd Lamb Park, which after three decades of being a state park is now operated by the City of Las Vegas. Located in the area of the city, this popular spot, which once served as a watering hole for Indians and prospectors traveling across Nevada, is full of history of other kinds.
Inside the park is the Tule Springs Ranch, an area ripe for exploring. Called one of the best examples of a Pleistocene paleontologic site in western North America, Tule Springs was once inhabited by large prehistoric animals such as giant sloths, mammoths, bison, horses, camels and others. Their fossil remains have been found and preserved here.
In terms of the humans that came much later and found the site desirable, in 1916 John Herbert (Bert) Nay was the first non-Indian to file for water rights. As he acquired more property at Tule Springs, he built a blacksmith shop and a storage room.
Deciding to move to California in 1928, Nay sold his interest in the property. It remained vacant until prospector Jacob Goumond purchased the land as a private retreat for his friends. Taking advantage of Nevada's changing divorce laws, he established a dude ranch on the land for prospective divorcees. There, guests would wait out the six-week residency requirement to file papers. It was the shortest waiting period in the country and Tule Springs Ranch subsequently became a resort glamorized by divorce-minded movie stars.
Many of the functional wooden buildings still exist on the site. One hundred acres of Tule Springs had been set aside to raise cattle and other animals, as well as growing alfalfa and other vegetables to sell, making the ranch self-supporting..
When Goumond' died in 1954, his granddaughter inherited the ranch. She sold it to a group of businessmen who formed the Tule Springs Investment Company. They leased out the ranch until the city of Las Vegas bought it in 1964. It was converted into a city park and was renamed in honor of State Senator Floyd Lamb.
- by Bobbie Katz, Las Vegas Reporter for HelloMetro
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