John Wittwer was employed as the District Agricultural Agent for the University of Nevada Extension project from 1921-1954 in the area around the Moapa and Virgin Valleys in Clark County. Born on November 21, 1880, Wittwer came to southern Nevada in 1921 from Uintah County, Utah, where he had been an agricultural county agent for five years. Wittwer had previously worked as a teacher in Utah; this experience would prove invaluable in his work to educate farmers and promote new agricultural and conservation programs in southern Nevada's rural communities. In 1908, Wittwer married Anna Syphus, daughter of a prominent local Mormon family, and had two daughters and two sons. She died from influenza in 1922, one year after relocating to Nevada. Wittwer would marry his second wife, Della Parley, in 1935. John Wittwer was also an accomplished illustrator and draughtsman, and many of his reports include hand-drawn maps and surveys of the Moapa and Virgin Valleys. After retiring at age seventy-one, Wittwer pursued art and higher education at universities throughout the west. He died on August 20, 1977.
From the description of John Wittwer Collection. 1898-1972. (University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries). WorldCat record id: 300478207
