‘Hot & Dusty’ Film Brings Back Scenes From the Past

By CORRINE MESSER

The Progress

The Lost City Museum screened some never-before scene historic film footage at this year’s Hot & Dusty festival on Saturday, August 26.

Upon entrance to the main gallery, various items, such as beautifully hand-crafted jewelry, historical books, and framed prints, were on display to be sold by silent auction. Around the corner, the museum’s docent council sold popcorn, chips, and candy. All proceeds from the auction and concessions will fund programs and workshops and help to build a new collections building.

The lecture/film was held in the main gallery of the museum. Hanging on the walls were several photos of the original Lost City excavation site, which was first called Pueblo Grande de Nevada. Also on display were photos of the construction of the current Lost City Museum.

The room was filled with excitement a nearly 100 guests anticipated viewing the rare historical footage.

Tracy Sprague, Lost City Museum Director, welcomed the guests and mentioned that the presentation showed photos of the early days of the Pueblo Grande de Nevada’s discoveries and actual footage of the pageant, that they hadn’t seen before.

Next, museum Archaeologist, Virginia Lucas explained that some old film was found in the museum’s collections, and because of a donation by museum docent Jim Reilly, they were able to have the film digitized. When they viewed the digitized film, they were pleasantly surprised to see actual footage shot in the 1920s of the original Lost City’s ruins, and actual film of the 1925-26 pageant near the then-thriving community of St. Thomas.

Lucas explained that in the late 1860s, early explorers became aware of ancient civilization sites of a people that previously lived in the Moapa Valley. But it wasn’t until 1924 when modern explorations. That was when local residents, John and Fay Perkins reached out to then-Governor James Scrugham about the ruins.

Scrugham contacted renowned archeologist Mark Harrington who came to Moapa Valley and recognized the ruins as Puebloan in style. These were closely related to other native groups in the southwest, such as the American Pueblo peoples from the Zuni River Valley in New Mexico.

Dr. Harrington and Governor Scrugham named the Moapa Valley ruins “Pueblo Grande de Nevada.” It was determined the native Puebloans in this area lived here from about 300 BC until around AD 1150: an amazing 1,450 years!
“The 1920s was an era of exploration,” said Lucas. “With the discovery of King Tut in 1922, the enthusiasm for finding ancient digs escalated.”

As a result, it was decided to create a pageant on the actual site of the Pueblo Grande de Nevada. Using the original foundations, the buildings were rebuilt with help from members of the Zuni tribe from New Mexico, who were familiar with this method of construction.

Advertising of the Pageant went nationwide from Alaska to Chicago to Los Angeles. Although incorrect, the media over-sensationalized it, deeming Pueblo Grande de Nevada as the “oldest and largest city in the world.” That was when it was renamed by the media as “The Lost City.”

Round trip fares to St. Thomas from Las Vegas, were advertised as $3.75 on the Union Pacific Railroad. There were also special excursion fares from all stations on the Union Pacific in California, Nevada, and Utah to St. Thomas during the week of the Pageant for the two years of 1925-26.

The film, which was a “silent-film” style, showed photos of the train in St. Thomas in the 1920s which carried thousands of people to the Pageant over the two-year period. Lucas said 12,000 people attended the Pageant. The film also showed native Zuni and Paiute dancers performing on the actual set during the Pageant.

Later, when Hoover Dam (then called Boulder Dam) was being constructed, two crews of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) personnel, were brought from the Dam to help excavate more digs.
“The CCC moved a ton of dirt to reach the ancient foundations,” said Lucas. “They had to dig very deep to reach some of them; as much as ten feet.”

The CCC also helped to build the current museum in 1934, making hundreds of adobe bricks. It took seven months to build it. Lucas mentioned the ancient dwellings next to the museum are also rebuilt on original foundations.

When the Dam was finished, the waters of Lake Mead covered up the Lost City. The film showed a photo of the waters nearing the Pageant site.
Also new to the museum were items from the 1920s excavations that had previously been boxed up and rediscovered in a museum in Carson City.

Recently displayed in the entrance, was the original painting ”Pueblo Grande de Nevada at Sunrise.” Commissioned in 1937 during Lewis A. Ramsey’s time with the Works Progress Administration. The painting was to be hung in the Boulder Dam Park Museum (currently the Lost City Museum). The painting was removed from the museum by the NPS and was later placed in the Alan Bible Visitor’s Center at Lake Mead National Recreation Area outside Boulder City, Nevada.

The painting has been off of public display for several years. Thanks to a joint effort between the Lost City Museum and Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the painting has returned and will remain until it is ready to leave for restoration.

Locals Scott and Linda Carson were glad they attended the presentation. “I never knew, until tonight, that a railroad went to St. Thomas and brought thousands of people to a Pageant,” Scott Carson said.

He also liked the original painting and he hoped they will have prints of it for sale in the future.
Linda Carson stressed how interesting it was to learn about the Pageant and that replica dwellings were built right on top of the original Lost City. That is something that most likely wouldn’t happen today,” she said.

“This is a fantastic museum!” said museum docent Jim Reilly. “So many people here don’t realize what we have in our own backyard. The year 2025 will be the 100th anniversary of the Pageant. I’d love to raise enough money to re-create it.”