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Octavius Decatur Gass
1827-1924
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| Octavius
Decatur Gass
Photo courtesy of
UNLV Special Collections |
Octavius Decatur Gass was seeking fortune when he came
to Las Vegas. Heading west in search of gold, Gass eventually ended up in
Southern Nevada, where he took over the Old
Mormon Fort.
Gass worked to make it a half-way point across the desert for travelers
between California and Utah.
Finding
the Mormon Fort
Born in Richland County, Ohio in 1827, Gass moved to California as a young
man in search of gold. People from all over the country were moving out
West in hopes of striking it rich. Gass spent a few years searching for
gold in California and Arizona. In 1865, he found the abandoned Mormon
Fort.
With the help of some friends, Gass restored the Mormon
Fort to make it habitable. Gass recognized that it would be a good place
for travelers on the Old Spanish Trail to stop and rest.
Near the fort, springs bubbed up from an underground artesian
well. These springs were a welcome sight to travelers in the midst of
an arid desert. Gass earned a few dollars from travelers stopping at the
fort and from selling his crops to settlements along the Virgin River.
He renamed the fort the Las Vegas Rancho.
The springs gave
the ranch the means to produce grain and vegetables. Nearby, the orchards
blossomed with apples, peaches, figs, apricots and grapes. Horses and
cattle also were kept on the ranch. The new ranch was the perfect rest
stop for travelers on the road from Southern California to Salt Lake City.
They could rest under the shade of the cottonwood trees, bathe in the
warm springs that flowed through the ranch and repair their wagons at
the ranch's blacksmith shop.
Losing the Ranch
In 1872, Gass married Mary Virginia Simpson, a niece of Ulysses S. Grant.
She moved into the ranch with her husband, where she bore six children.
It seemed that Octavius Decatur Gass was now a successful family man and
rancher, but he was heavily in debt. His crops, a big part of his livelihood,
were destroyed by bad weather, and he was forced to seek a loan.
In 1879, Gass met Archibald Stewart, who was a successful
gold miner. He agreed to loan Gass $5,000, using the 160-acre ranch as
collateral. Gass was to pay the loan back within one year, with an additional
2.5 percent interest for each month. Gass was not able to pay back the
loan. Archibald Stewart and his family moved to Southern Nevada to take
over the ranch.
In 1881, Gass packed up his family and moved to Southern
California, where he lived until his death in 1924.
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