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Nevada Essay

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In population Nevada is one of the smallest states of the fifty states in the Union, but it invites and receives more intense national publicity than many others. “It is a testing ground for unorthodox social theories and an outpost of solid American conservatism” (313). Because the state is so large and its centers of population is so widely scattered, no single generalization about it will suffice for a historical summary. Nevada, with its 110,000 square miles, would cover more than half of Spain. Nevada is not the largest state in the Union, but it is big enough to inspire awe in its visitors” (2). About 86 percent of the land in Nevada was still under the control of the federal government as the year 2000 opened (3). It was …show more content…

The Helldorado Parade was established in Las Vegas in 1935, and defined Las Vegas as a Western town. Participants dressed up as cowboys and marched up downtown streets to large crowds. After the El Rancho was established, three more Western Casinos opened for business. In 1941, El Cortez opened as the first large hotel downtown. The hotel Last Frontier opened on the strip in 1942, and in 1946, the Golden Nugget opened downtown. The one big casino to the Western motif was Benjamin Siegel’s The Flamingo which opened in 1946. Siegel was a mobster with ties to the Chicago and California networks, envisioned a “jewel in the desert.” The Flamingo was not a success and was temporarily closed. It then re-opened and had a diverse theme-oriented style in the hotel casino industry in Las Vegas. With the Corporate Gaming Act of 1969, Las Vegas began a slow transition towards “respectability.” Gambling in Las Vegas was gaining in popularity in the 1950’s and 1960’s, but the mob presence itself was preventing Las Vegas from attracting the necessary outside funds to turn it into a dominant Metropolis (204). “Nevada seemed to be shedding this image in favor of the many new family-oriented “theme resorts” that were being built, especially in Las Vegas (204). Then there’s The Rat

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