Saturday, May 23, 2009

SILVER FEVER & THE BIG BONANZA

SILVER STATE HISTORY


BRINGING LIFE TO A DESERT PLACE

Gold & Silver Fever, plus the lure to Get-Rich-Quick, are what created the Great State of Nevada. It's colorful history is richly filled with the hopes, dreams and visions of a fortune-filled Lucky Strike.


The expectation of success and improvement are what drew hundreds of thousands of early pioneers to find their dreams in the Promised Land of the silver laded Territory of Nevada.


The quest for Instant Wealth was the magnetic attraction that lured these many men away from their roots and birthplaces.


In Nevada, 'the magnetic field of potential prosperity' came alive with the 1850 discovery of gold, near Dayton. Nine years later, the discovery of Virginia City's Comstock Lode pulled over 20,000 prospectors and merchants over the formidable Sierra Nevada Mountain Range - to search for Mother Nature's mineral blessing.


The forces unleashed by the Big Bonanza led to the official 1864 Battle Born formation of the Silver State of Nevada : the 36th state of the USA.


Nevada is a State of Mind and a State of Hope. Unlike any other state, Nevada started on a canvas of nothingness as a barren, forsaken, and hopelessly deserted place. With hardly any workable soil, with temperatures as extreme as they come, without the abundant agricultural resources of California, the timberland of the North Pacific, the grazing fields of the Mid-West, the oil deposits of Texas, or the seaport industries of the Atlantic states - the Territory of Nevada barely had any chance to exist, much less thrive in any conceivable way.


Yet, through the grace of Mother Nature's bountiful deposits of gold and silver ore, the 1850s provided Nevada with a fighting chance for survival. If God's Hand was responsible in fulfilling America's Manifest Destiny - to populate every United State - it was through the fortuitous deposits of minerals and Man's discovery of them, from which the State of Nevada was born.


After Nevada's first Big Bonanza was mined and played-out, over 500 once flourishing mining camps were left as ghosts of their former selves, abandoned and long-forgotten. But, in 1901 another Lucky Strike was found in the Southland of Nevada, which gave birth to the short-lived town of Goldfield (located less than 100 miles north-west of current day Las Vegas).


If anything, Goldfield was the template for early Las Vegas with its boisterous, mining town nature and its opulent and arrogant, pioneering spirit.


The story of Nevada and Goldfield and the early days of Las Vegas can all be found in my In Old Las Vegas Website, where you can see and read more about the ways Las Vegas grew as large as it has now become.


After the Mining Days of Old Nevada, Las Vegas was left to its own devices to seek a way to survive. The creation of Boulder Dam gave Las Vegas its fighting chance and from that point on the Mind of Men would take things from there.


With minimal resources at hand, other than almost perpetual sunlight during the winter months and a bit of magnesium deposits, Las Vegans milked their limited resources for all they were worth.


With not much more than a rich mining history and good winter weather, Las Vegas began transforming itself into a tourist destination and promoted itself as a free-wheeling Frontier Town, with liberal gambling laws in place, a pioneering past and a rambunctious Saloon Spirit.


It is this Saloon Spirit, which dates back to the Big Bonanza, that Las Vegas offers our nation and the world. This is basically Las Vegas' only resource and we harvest it to full advantage, just as every other city is required and expected to do.


From its very inception, Nevada has been THEE place to Get-Rich-Quick. Its been a place where personal freedom comes first and individual merit and showmanship is honored. The Saloon Spirit is in our blood and is what Nevada provides and sells, just like Maine sells lobsters and Hollywood sells movies.


Las Vegas believes in the American Dream to Get-Rich-Quick or at least have one hell of a time trying. In this way we remain true to our Silver Rush Roots. Fore we Las Vegans are Battle Born, Fortune Seekers and darned proud of the fact. God Bless Nevada!




Visit

IN OLD LAS VEGAS - A COMPLETE PHOTO HISTORY OF CASINO CULTURE 1905-75


Thursday, May 21, 2009

MY FAVORITE LAS VEGAS BLOG

The photo above is of UNLV's David G. Schwartz, whose blog I highly recommend.

Erik Wunstell - Host (VEGAS - NOW & THEN, WEST VEGAS and IN OLD LAS VEGAS).
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The only blog that I read consistently is called the Die Is Cast. It's written by Dr. David G. Schwartz, the Director of Gaming Studies at UNLV.

Dave is the author of 'Suburban Xanadu' and 'Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling'.

Before moving to Las Vegas Dave attended the University of Pennsylvania and UCLA. He also worked for Atlantic City casinos as a security consultant.

Over ten years ago, while in his early twenties, David became the Director of the Gaming Studies Center at UNLV.

During those last ten years Dave has been at the very center of 'all things Las Vegas'. If anyone has their finger on the pulse of what is happening in Las Vegas it is him.

Which is why I read and recommend his Die is Cast blog.

Gaming executives, film producers, webmasters and news departments all seek out Dr. Dave for advice, information, analysis and input.

If you need some accurate and well-thought out info, relating to the gaming industry or Las Vegas, then David Schwartz is the person to see.

If you want to keep up with the daily issues relating to gaming and Las Vegas, check out his blog. He covers what's important, interesting, and what's just plain funny.

David and the other great people at UNLV (more about them sometime later) also publish a daily guide to Gaming Industry News on their

Take a good look at that website to see all the resources that UNLV offers to scholars and researchers.

And please be sure to view the Special Collection's Department pages to find out when and how to view their vast collection of Las Vegas historical photography, books and papers.