Although there was a slow, steady influx of cars at the Gilcrease Orchard last Sunday—Father’s Day—neighbors say that they have come to suspect, and fear, that the Las Vegas Valley’s sole orchard is approaching its doom.
And with good reason, as several signs seem to indicate it is so.
First, the Valley’s urban sprawl, wild and fertile, began encroaching upon the Gilcrease family’s vast desert acreage, north of the U.S. 95 Durango exit, at the turn of the new millennium; and in 2001, the family sold land adjacent to the orchard to allow the building of Arbor View High School. Next, suburban development sprouted with great proliferation in the far northwest region of the valley, where the Gilcrease family settled 87 years ago and accomplished the inconceivable feat of making produce grow in the desert; and in 2005, the family, succumbing to the rising cost of living that adheres to metropolitan growth, was forced to sell more than one-third of the orchard (about 40 acres) to a developer who’s had the land’s zoning changed to permit more suburban housing.
And now, starting this year, the family has been forced to charge an entrance fee into the orchard. Two dollars for adults and $1 for children.
“For what reasons?” I asked Gilcrease employee Karen Brown.“None,” she said, “that I can say for you to print in your paper.”