Birth of Vegas

The city of Las Vegas sits today in a land totally opposed to its original state when Antonio Armijo stormed to the valley, in 1829. Mr. Armijo was a merchant traveling south from New Mexico using the artesian wells when he found out the valley and Rafael Rivera one of the expeditions scouts gave the place the name Las Vegas which means “meadows”. With the artesian wells all bursting in water the valley supported extensive green vegetation, which is the reason for the name.

After found Mr. Armijo established a camp that served to travelers moving north to south along the Old Spanish Trail, by 1844, next was Mr. John C. Fremont lead a group of scientists and scouts into the new grounds 10 days after the annexation. By 1900 the town was a water stop for the wagon trains crossing the area and later to the railroads, which at the end, got the town out of the map when by popularization effect dimished the traffic on the town and it wasn’t until the construction of the Hover Dam project that the town capitalized on the income was receiving from the exterior, from then on the town started its real sustained growth that took him to the actual status.

Las Vegas, legalization of gambling and end of the 2^nd Act

The growth that the town received from the project of the Hover Dam, the thriving industry of entertainment that was generated around the town caught the attention of the Nevada legislature. Coupled that with the new flow of tourist coming to see the completion of the project. Nevada decided to open gates of gambling as a way to deceive also the illegal industry of gambling and the corruption of its official. That event coincided with prohibition of the gambling ships on California because of the shootings on them that generated that organized crime cartels operating in California moved to Nevada were their skills where in real need, because of the new legal gambling industry.