Learning a bit more about a place before you visit is a great way to make the trip more interesting. Every area has interesting history and Las Vegas is no exception. In fact, Las Vegas might even be a little more exciting than many towns you´ll visit . . . take the Hoover Dam, for example.

Las Vegas was still fairly small back when the decision to harness the power of the Colorado River was made. It was just after the fall of the stock market and the Depression had begun, leaving many families desperate for money. The result? They flocked to Las Vegas in hopes of getting in on the action with the planned dam . . . but it wasn´t ready to be built yet and Las Vegas was nowhere near ready to accommodate the thousands of people that suddenly showed up with their few possessions, no money and hungry mouths to feed!

Las Vegas has its soft side, so the townspeople got together and made sure that the immigrants had at least food to eat, though they had to live out of makeshift tents. The government pushed the building date up six months so the workers could start sooner and everyone moved out to Black Canyon which was closer to the building site. With an intense heat that actually killed 25 people that first summer, there was no way to maintain fresh food or even milk for the babies. The men were working for just fifty cents an hour and couldn´t afford much at all, but there was a young man named Murl Emery who saw the need and opened up a store in Black Canyon, which was supplied daily from Las Vegas. He allowed people to pay what they could afford and even offered credit to the very poor. It was a godsend to the poor inhabitants of the tent city commonly known as Ragtown.

Eventually, the town of Boulder was built and in Boulder City, there are still some of those Ragtown children. They came to Las Vegas as tiny kids and continue to live where their parents worked so hard to build the Hoover Dam, an engineering marvel that still stands there as proof and hope for those who suffered through the Great Depression. Now, when you go visit Las Vegas and take tours of Boulder City, Black Canyon and the Hoover Dam, you´ll have a whole new appreciation for it!