The city began as a stopover on the pioneer trails to the west and became a popular railroad town in the early 1900s.
It was a staging point for all the mines in the surrounding area that shipped their goods out to the rest of the country. With the growth of the railroads, Las Vegas was temporarily by-passed and became less important, but the completion of the nearby Hoover Dam resulted in substantial growth in tourism, which, along with the legalisation of gambling, led to the advent of the casino-hotels for which the City is famous.
Have Bag, Will Travel 