Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/53603
Leaving Nevada A In the deserts outside Sin City, frontier dreams still fl ourish BY ANDREW FINDLAY S I DRIFT ALONG LAS VEGAS BOULEVARD, the Bellagio hotel fountains send choreographed geysers of water into the air, in defi ance of the fact that the city sits in the Mojave Desert, one of the driest places in North America. Nevada is many things – subtle is not one of them. Even if you've never had the urge to swagger up to a poker table, it's hard not to be dazzled by the Strip, that glittering expression of American bombast. Just as it's hard not to be rendered speechless by the view of the Amargosa Desert from the ghost town of Rhyolite – a vista so threadbare that the mere act of observation makes you thirsty. And if you're like me, you'll be unwittingly swept up in star-spangled patrio- tism as you peer over the Hoover Dam into the abyss, while a propaganda video trumpets this Depression-era marvel as the world's greatest engineering achievement. You may even share a conspiratorial wink with the good folks of Pahrump as they inform you that their out- wardly conservative-looking, inwardly naughty community is home to tax-paying brothels on the outskirts, where asphalt meets cactus. This is Nevada, a bold and brash paradox – modern excess mixed with natural wonder and a dash of frontier attitude. On a late autumn week, armed with my Canadian skepticism of all things proud- ly Yankee, I decide to peer into the larger-than-life zeitgeist of Las Vegas and southern Nevada. A LIGHT BREEZE BLOWS AS I KICK THE DUST ON A barren knoll 10 minutes from the magnifi cent skyline of Vegas, which looks a bit like an urban 32 WESTWORLD >> FEBRUARY 2012 d mountain range etched in neon. Contrary to the silver screen myth about the City of Sin being the brainchild of crime bosses, it actually started here, at the Las Vegas Springs, with a land auc- tion in 1905. Investors were lured to this unas- suming oasis with promises of unlimited access to spring water, and Las Vegas sprouted up like a stubborn cactus, smack in the centre of the sear- ing hot Mojave. Today, the 73-hectare Las Vegas Springs Preserve provides an earthy antidote to the glitz of the Strip, showcasing the fascinating human and natural history of the region and the genesis of a city aptly dubbed the Miracle in the Desert. "This is the birthplace of Vegas, but it's not exactly the most hospitable place for civilization to crop up," says Springs Preserve spokesperson Jim Johnson, pointing to one of the original der- ricks, now a rusty skeleton that once pumped water from the ground. Interpretive displays take us deep into the miracle of desert life. In spite of an environment that seems uncompromisingly hostile, the Patayan and Paiute people thrived here thousands of years before the age of air con. So, too, did ani- mals; species such as the desert tortoise, kit fox and kangaroo rat. "So when you look closely, it's far from a lifeless environment," Johnson says. OUT BEYOND THE MONOTONOUS SUBURBS OF west Las Vegas, tidy xeriscape gardens and swim- ming pools abruptly give way to cactus, creosote bushes and ochre rock walls that soar up from the desert fl atlands. This is Red Rock Canyon and the Desert National Wildlife Range. (clockwise from top left) Getty Images, D.Hurst/All Canada Photos, Cultura/Masterfi le, Niebrugge/All Canada Photos, Brian Sytnyk/Masterfi le