Blue Diamond
Blue Diamond, a historic mining village near the base of the Spring Mountain Range and Red Rock Canyon, was originally known as Cottonwood Springs, then Cottonwood Ranch. Early in the 20th Century, prospectors discovered high quality gypsum in the neighboring hills, 23 miles west of Las Vegas. After the Blue Diamond Company bought the mining claims and the Ranch, it provided housing for workers and their families at the mining site, then later in the community that it established on the Ranch property. The community was known as Blue Diamond. Before there was a school in the Blue Diamond area, records show that Arden, the closest community, had a school in 1912. We don’t know if there were any children from Cottonwood Ranch who attended that school. The Blue Diamond School began in 1929 and is one of the oldest continually operating elementary schools in Clark County. The school location varied. It began in Cottonwood Ranch, was moved to the top of the hill near the mine, and then returned to the Village. The current Village school, built in 1942, was in the Blue Diamond School District until consolidation of Clark County Schools 1956.
While Education in the Neon Shadow features a section on Blue Diamond, not all of the Archive Committee's collection fit into the publication. To view additional artifacts on this community, take the Blue Diamond tour. Begin by clicking the below START button or click on thumbnails to jump to an individual page.
Blue Diamond Tour
