The Entire History of Las Vegas in 35 Minutes

A lake is falling, and it's giving things back. This is the entire history of Las Vegas, told in nine big bets against the desert: the springs that named it, a widow who built a coffin out of her own doors, a town sold at auction in two days, the dam, the mob, the bomb, the billionaire behind the curtain, the volcano, and a tunnel drilled into the bottom of Lake Mead. In 2026, the lake hit a record low. So how long can this city keep winning?

Chapters:
0:00 Nine bets against the desert
0:52 The Meadows
2:20 Bet One: The Fort and the Widow
4:26 Bet Two: The Auction
6:18 Bet Three: The Wall
9:04 Bet Four: Six Weeks
10:44 Bet Five: The Flamingo
12:52 Bet Six: The Bomb
15:01 The Mississippi of the West
16:49 The Day the Springs Stopped
18:41 Bet Seven: The Man Behind the Curtain
20:32 The Skim
22:25 Fire
23:58 Bet Eight: The Volcano and the Dynamite
26:13 Under the Neon
27:46 Ten Minutes
29:20 Bet Nine: The Third Straw
33:12 Today
34:17 The Finale

Tell us in the comments: have you been to Vegas, and what surprised you? And which city should we rebuild next?

Visuals: AI reconstructions are illustrations of places and moments that were never photographed. Archive photographs and maps are public domain or free to use (via Wikimedia Commons, Library of Congress, National Archives, National Park Service, NNSA). Modern footage: Pixabay.

Photo credits (CC BY):
Lake Mead, Chris M Morris, CC BY 2.0
Lake Mead, Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0
Las Vegas Strip at Night August 2016 Eschipul, Ed Schipul, CC BY 2.0
Old Mormon Fort, David Stanley, CC BY 2.0
Las Vegas Strip panorama, Matthew Field, CC BY 2.5
Usa Las Vegas, Steffen, CC BY 3.0
Gas station Last Frontier hotel, Janice Waltzer, CC BY 2.0
Highway 172 crosses the Colorado at Hoover Dam, at the west end of Lake Mead, Doc Searls, CC BY 2.0
StarDust Casino on the final night, Dpo1013, CC BY 2.5
The Mirage, Las Vegas, Andrew Milligan sumo, CC BY 2.0
The Neon Museum, Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 2.0
Binion's Horseshoe sign, Neon Boneyard, Las Vegas, Julie Mac, CC BY 2.0
I-11, US-95, US-93 concurrence (triple routing) in Henderson, TheYearbookTeacher, CC BY 4.0
Lake Mead, Joao Carlos Medau, CC BY 2.0
Gold Butte Lake Mead, BLM Nevada, CC BY 2.0
New bridge at Hoover Dam, Doc Searls, CC BY 2.0
Fountains @ Bellagio, Las Vegas, Rob Young, CC BY 2.0
St. Thomas standing building, Prosfilaes, CC BY 3.0
Sphere - Las Vegas, Shelby L. Bell, CC BY 2.0
07 Las Vegas OYO Hotel and Casino, formerly known as Hooters Casino Las Vegas, Marek Ślusarczyk (Tupungato), CC BY 3.0
Hoover Dam Arizona Generator Gallery, Jeffrey G. Katz, CC BY 3.0
Nevada - Las Vegas Intersection of the Strip and Sahara Avenue, Reinhard Link, CC BY 2.0
Springs Preserve, Renee Grayson, CC BY 2.0
Las Vegas Lake Mead 432 pan crop 15, Pierre Markuse, CC BY 2.0
All via Wikimedia Commons. License texts: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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