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Perhaps it's becasue some people like the dessert.I have eben in mnay areas I could live but some like the areas. People are just different and like different things.
I've often wondered why places like Nevada were populated. Is there even any potential for agriculture out there? Like, yeah the plains states have extreme weather but they can also grow a lot of crops there. When I think of Nevada I just think of miles and miles of dirt and emptiness because there's very little water. Doesn't sound like the ideal place to plant your roots (literally and figuratively!).
I lived in Las Vegas for a good several years. If it weren't for Clark County (where Vegas is), Nevada would literally be less populated than Alaska, it is just that inhospitable. Up north you have Reno, which is within view of the eastern side of the Sierras, and you have the capital Carson City which sits in a valley that has leafy trees and green grass even in August even though the surrounding hills look like Mars. There are little towns up and down the eastern Sierras that have some agriculture; there's a town, I forget the name, that is known for its melons.
The rest of Nevada? Mining. The world's second biggest gold mine is up in the northeast, for example, and Nevada is called the "Silver State" for a reason. Settlers wouldn't have much bothered otherwise. As for the Las Vegas Valley, even the indigenous Southern Paiutes would make for the mountains in summertime with due haste. They weren't dummies. It was a pee stop along the Old Spanish Trail (between L.A. and Santa Fe) until a few Mormons attempted to ranch in the mid 1800s. There was really a whole lot of nothing there until the railroad came through in 1910. The Desert Warfare Center (built just prior to WWII) and Hoover Dam really made the town what it became. That and the fact that Nevada refused to outlaw gambling; some in Congress actually attempted to revoke their statehood over that!
As for why you have to drive to Pahrump (Nye County) for legal hookers, basically the Army said to Clark County "you can have gambling or you can have hookers. You can't have both." Soldiers and dam workers were a huge market for vice, Hollywood celebrities were lounging at dude ranches as early as the 1920s to take advantage of Nevada's lax divorce laws, and then the mob showed up in the 50s and the rest, as they say, is history.
Not exactly. It seems like a desert compared to Ohio, but compared to southern Nevada it's the frickin' Garden of Eden. Technically it's "chapperal." Go up into the surrounding hills and there's grass that turns green during the cooler months, and some impressive old oak trees.
I lived in Las Vegas for a good several years. If it weren't for Clark County (where Vegas is), Nevada would literally be less populated than Alaska, it is just that inhospitable. Up north you have Reno, which is within view of the eastern side of the Sierras, and you have the capital Carson City which sits in a valley that has leafy trees and green grass even in August even though the surrounding hills look like Mars. There are little towns up and down the eastern Sierras that have some agriculture; there's a town, I forget the name, that is known for its melons.
The rest of Nevada? Mining. The world's second biggest gold mine is up in the northeast, for example, and Nevada is called the "Silver State" for a reason. Settlers wouldn't have much bothered otherwise. As for the Las Vegas Valley, even the indigenous Southern Paiutes would make for the mountains in summertime with due haste. They weren't dummies. It was a pee stop along the Old Spanish Trail (between L.A. and Santa Fe) until a few Mormons attempted to ranch in the mid 1800s. There was really a whole lot of nothing there until the railroad came through in 1910. The Desert Warfare Center (built just prior to WWII) and Hoover Dam really made the town what it became. That and the fact that Nevada refused to outlaw gambling; some in Congress actually attempted to revoke their statehood over that!
As for why you have to drive to Pahrump (Nye County) for legal hookers, basically the Army said to Clark County "you can have gambling or you can have hookers. You can't have both." Soldiers and dam workers were a huge market for vice, Hollywood celebrities were lounging at dude ranches as early as the 1920s to take advantage of Nevada's lax divorce laws, and then the mob showed up in the 50s and the rest, as they say, is history.
Most of them are not there due to politics and instead it's simple economics; they moved to where they could afford a house and that was in a less desirable area. Game, set, match.
I've also noticed that many of them don't place as much importance on California's amenities (beaches, etc.). I grew up in L.A. County and even though I didn't go to the beach very often, just knowing it was there and that I could go there any time I wanted to really counted for something. It really did. I lived in Vegas for a while and it tormented me that going to the beach (the real beach, not Lake Mead) involved a weekend trip with all its hassles. Most people who ditched California seemed not to care nearly as much as I did. I'd ask them about it and they'd just shrug or think it was a silly question.
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