How Vegas Became Vegas!

Las Vegas was first discovered by a caravan of Spanish traders looking to find a route through the Mojave Desert to Los Angeles. The Vegas valley was founded as the best place to resupply before the final stretch into California, something that would define the valley for the next 200 years.

Thank The Spaniards..

Naming it Las Vegas because of the natural springs that were bubbling up across the valley, all of these oasis made "The Meadows" the most unique place in the entire Mojave Desert. Until John C. Fremont traveled to Vegas in 1944, the valley was officially at the time a part of Mexico. Under assignment from the U.S. government, Fremont was tasked with leading a small expeditionary force of engineers and scouts to establish a fort in the valley due to the possibility of a war with Mexico.

Once the group arrived they erected the fort at the well known Las Vegas Springs and when the war with Mexico finally came to a head, Las Vegas had already been claimed as part of the United States.

While the military fort that Fremont and his men used would stand for a number of years, there wouldn't be a more permanent presence in the valley until 1855 when a group of Mormon missionaries came from Utah and established a new fort at the Las Vegas springs. Using flood irrigation to water their crops, the fort managed to survive until the end of the summer of 1857, when tensions within the group and the extreme heat of the valley finally broke the missionaries.

After they abandoned the Springs Fort, the Mormons had returned to Utah, leaving the fort available for anyone who wished to use it. While the area would remained largely unoccupied, a handful of mountain men, hunters and travelers would utilize the two forts in the Springs, leaving little besides a temporary waypoint for passing travelers to resupply.

What About The Paiutes?

By 1865, a treaty had been established with the local Paiutes, and in return for supplies they would relocate away from the springs and the areas around the forts. Octavius Gass would end up taking one of the old forts and establishing the first ranch in the valley, "Los Vegas Rancho."

Here Octavius made wine and provided the key stop for the Mormon trail through the valley. By 1872 Gass expanded his ranch to nearly twice the size and used his position as a local Legislator to have his ranch rezoned for Nevada instead of Arizona, but less than ten years later due to financial miscalculations, Gass would give up the ranch to Archibald Stewart.

Archibald would own the ranch up until his death and in the early 1900's the ranch would be acquired by the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Rake Railroad, adding more jobs and more reason for others to make The Meadows a permanent place to call home.

As more Mormons migrated to the area, Agriculture would end up being the number one industry building up Las Vegas for the next 20 years. While in 1910 Nevada was hit with a strict and thorough gambling prohibition, it wouldn't be until the 1930's that Nevada would see the need to revitalize its soon to be titanic entertainment industry.

That would be when the building of the historic Hoover Dam was commissioned, and in 1931 Las Vegas would see its local population swell from around 5,000 citizens up to around 25,000 within a matter of months! While most were unemployed males looking for a job opportunity, many families followed the men to the desert with a promise of a better life.

The Hoover Dam Proved The Catalyst..

While many business owners and crime financiers would jump on the new market by creating a series of casino and showgirl theaters meant to entertain the rougher crowds, soon the Government decided it would be better for its workers to not to be under the influence of alcohol, so the decision to build Boulder City as an official labor town under federal supervision was made.

It was this rush of migratory workers that helped spur the first business owners like Thomas Hull to open the very first resort on the Strip, "The El Rancho!" While the resort was more famous for its buffet than anything else, the well had been tapped and since the days of the El Rancho Las Vegas has become the entertainment capital of the world and one of the number 1 tourist destinations in the entire world!

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