By: Lucas Watts

SIN CITY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT

QUESTION AT HAND

• Why is the notorious “Sin City” full of its morning regrets, extreme hangovers, and leaky strip joints located in the middle of the desert in Nevada? Why not in a major metropolitan area?

• Most common answer given, “Mob boss Ben Siegel and his gangsters”

• So who is really the reason for the location of Sin City, the mob, or the original gangster of geography?

EARLY HISTORY OF SIN CITY

• Created in 1905 as a division point of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroads

• Central location for repair shops to service people traveling to and from Salt Lake City and Los Angeles

• In 1910, Las Vegas only had 947 people that inhabited it

• With multiple railroad strikes and mines running out of resources, Las Vegas was quickly heading towards becoming a ghost town until…

• Now known as the Hoover Dam, The Boulder Dam was approved for construction by the Calvin Coolidge Administration in 1931

• Located 30 miles away from Las Vegas

• Cost $19 million and employed over 5,000 workers in 1934 who collectively earned $750,000

• Workers looked for a place to get away and escape the extremely long work days and hard physical labor

THE BOULDER DAM

THE BEGINNING OF SIN CITY

• Vegas became home to multiple speakeasies and tons of bootleggers began to call Las Vegas home, making tons of money on weekends from workers

• Very shortly after this, Las Vegas was home to over 300 prostitutes

• Hype began to spread and real estate developer Thomas Carrol encouraged locals to vote for men of legislature who supported wide open, legal, gambling

• In early 1931 city commissioners had already licensed 66 slot machines

• Only a decade later, there were over 500 slot machines in Las Vegas and five major gambling clubs controlled Vegas: The Apache Casino, Northern Club, Las Vegas Club, Frontier Club, and Boulder Club

THE BEGINNING OF SIN CITY CONT.• Las Vegas passed a law that allowed people to get divorced just after six

weeks of being married • Shortest of any state in America

• Nevada was the only state that didn’t require a waiting period or health certificates in order to receive a marriage license

• Finally in 1942 mob boss Ben Siegel and company saw Vegas as a place to launder their money and to further their operations

• Spent over $6 million dollars and created the first “modern” casino, The Flamingo

BUT WHERE IS THE MOB?

IN CONCLUSION

• The mob showed up ten years late, they contributed to Vegas, but had nothing to do with starting it

• If it wasn’t for the Boulder Dam, Sin City would be nothing but a wanna be Pueblo, a bunch of tumbleweeds and nothing to do

SOURCES• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas

• https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAYQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usbr.gov%2Flc%2Fhooverdam%2Ffaqs%2Fdamfaqs.html&ei=chQvVa3zFoj8yQSYkYDgDA&bvm=bv.91071109,d.aWw&psig=AFQjCNFCzo8wKNadSrZju9StbMglavwyDg&ust=1429235129058217

• Gragg, Larry. “Las Vegas:Who Built America’s Playground?.” History Today 57.2 (2007): 51-57. OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 13 Mar. 2015.

• Velotta, Richard M. “Las Vegas Sets Record with 39.7 Million Visitors in 2012.” VegasInc.com. Vegas Inc., 08 Feb. 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2015

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Braxton