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 &ved=0CAYQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usbr.gov%2Flc%2Fhooverdam%2Ffaqs%2F damfaqs.html&ei=chQvVa3zFoj8yQSYkYDgDA&bvm=bv ,d.aWw&psig=AFQjCN FCzo8wKNadSrZju9StbMglavwyDg&ust= Gragg, Larry. “Las Vegas:Who Built America’s Playground?.” History Today 57.2 (2007): OmniFile Full Text Select (H.W. Wilson). Web. 13 Mar Velotta, Richard M. “Las Vegas Sets Record with 39.7 Million Visitors in 2012.” VegasInc.com. Vegas Inc., 08 Feb Web. 13 Mar