Southern Nevada Facts
- In Nevada it is mandatory that all video slot machines pay a minimum average of 75 percent.
- Over 42 million people visit Las Vegas each year.
- The average annual room rate in Las Vegas was $93.00/night in 2010.
- The only city in Nevada where gambling is ILLEGAL is Boulder City, located 24 miles south of Las Vegas. However, liquor sales are allowed.
- Approximately 45% of Nevada's general fund revenues drive from taxes on gambling.
- The exact odds of hitting the Royal Flush on any video poker machine is 1 out of 645,253.
- There are nearly 150,000 slot machines in Clark County alone -- that's about one for every nine people.
- The Las Vegas Strip has over 15,000 miles of neon lights along its three mile length.
- About 150 couples get married in Las Vegas each day.
- Opening in 1906, the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino was the first hotel and casino to open in Las Vegas.
- The Stratosphere is the tallest, free-standing, observation tower in the US and the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River.
- Seventeen of the 20 biggest hotels in the U.S. are in Las Vegas
- Approximately 40% of Nevada is covered by sagebrush.
- Nevada has a total of 315 counted mountain ranges, making it the most mountainous state in America.
- There are 9 mountain ranges in Nevada that have one or more peaks exceeding 11,000 feet in height.
- There are 5 mountain peaks in Nevada that measure more than 12,000 in height. They are: Boundary Peak (13,140), Wheeler Peak (13,063), Jeff Davis (12,771), Mount Baker (12,298) and Mount Moriah (12,067).
- The lowest recorded temperature ever recorded in Nevada was -50 degrees and occured on January 8, 1937 at the outpost of San Jacinto (about 20 miles south of Jackpot).
- The highest recorded temperature ever recorded in Nevada was 125 degrees, recorded on June 29, 1994 in Laughlin.
- The amount of forest land in Nevada is a staggering 8.6 million acres
- Nevada has more open space than any place in the lower 48 states. Over 80% of Nevada land is for public and recreation use.
- Nevada is the driest state in America, with a statewide annual rainfall of 9 inches.
- Nevada has the largest number of wild horses -- 75%, or an estimated 28,000, of the wild horses roaming free in the U.S are found in Nevada.
- Nevada is the only state to possess a complete skeleton, approximately 55 feet long of an Ichthyosaur, an extinct marine reptile.
- The only Nevada lake with an outlet to the sea is man-made Lake Mead.
- The only river in Nevada to flow to the sea is the Colorado River. Even then, the river sometimes never makes it to the ocean after diversions for agriculture by both California and Mexico.
- Nevada has more than 44,000 acres of man-made reservoirs, 2,760 miles of streams and 14 designated wilderness areas covering 798,067 acres.
- The best time for photography is very early in the morning. Exactly at and just after sunrise, the light is perfect to shoot pictures of the Wilson Cliffs. The sunlight, at that angle, highlights the red colors in the cliffs because they face east and reveals the subtle colors in the sandstone best.
- The easiest way to see Red Rock is to just drive through the place. Any kind of weather will work for a drive through. When stormy the visual effect of the clouds against the mountains and cliffs is dramatic. When the weather is good, hiking and picnicking are recommended because you will have a lot to choose from. There are picnic areas and hiking trails in Calico Basin, the Scenic Drive, and the Spring Mountain Ranch.
- While most of the Wilson Cliffs are visible from the Las Vegas Valley, much of Red Rock Canyon is nestled below them and out of sight from the city of Las Vegas. The red sandstone that makes Red Rock so unique, is part of the same geologic formation, the Navaho Formation, that is found in the Valley of Fire Zion National Park throughout many parts of the southwestern United States and southern Nevada. The contrast of red sandstone layered through gray limestone is impressive against the tall sheer cliff faces of - as high as - 600 meters or about 1,800 feet.
- The structure of valley that Red Rock forms, is typical of theGreat Basin north-south orientation found throughout Nevada and many parts of the Southwest.
- The mountains that make up the western edge of Red Rock the Wilson Cliffs, are formed by several mountains, Bridge Point, Bridge Mountain, Rainbow Mountain, Mount Wilson, Indecision Peak and Sandstone Mountain.
- On the north part of this small valley is the BLM Scenic Drive and Visitor Center. To most visitors this is the area thought of as Red Rock Canyon Las Vegas.
- The eastern boundary of this valley consists of a series of low hills collectively known as Blue Diamond Hill. Between these mountains and hills is the valley that State Highway 159 runs through. From Highway 159, you can drive though the entire valley that Red Rock occupies.
- In the southern part of the valley is Blue Diamond a mining community. This small hamlet is a great place to live because it is close to Las Vegas but is also in Red Rock.
- Hoover Dam is 726 feet high, 45 feet thick at the top and 660 feet at the bottom, and is larger than the Great Pyramid of Cheops.
- No pets are allowed on the Dam.
- Hoover Dam is filled with 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete, enough to pave a strip 16 feet wide and 8 inches thick from San Francisco to New York City.
- Dam workers improvised hard hats by coating cloth hats with coal tar. The hats were so good at protecting the worker’s heads that Six Companies, the contractor, ordered commercially made hard hats of this same design for every man.
- High scalers, the workers who hung from ropes on the canyon walls as they drilled with jackhammers and packed dynamite, included circus acrobats, among others.
- Sometimes for fun when the foremen weren’t looking, high scalers would swing out from the canyon walls and perform stunts for the workers below.
- From the Nevada side of the dam you can see the silhouette of a World War II gun emplacement standing on the Arizona side of Lake Mead. A major source of power for the defense industry, Hoover Dam was considered a primary military target.
- On the wall across from the escalator to the dam tour is a plaque dedicated to the Hoover Dam mascot, a stray dog who “adopted” the dam and its workers. He is buried nearby.
- Hoover Dam is named for Herbert Hoover, the nation’s 31st president. After he left office, the names “Boulder Canyon Dam” and “Boulder Dam” were frequently used, allegedly because the new Secretary of the Interior did not like the former president.
- Two winged figures, 30 feet tall and made of bronze, stand on the Nevada side’s approach to the dam. Legend has it that rubbing their toes brings good luck.
- The winged figures rest on a black marble star chart that represents the stars’ positions on the day the dam was dedicated, September 30, 1935.
- On the dam tour, you can see gleaming terrazzo floors imbedded with Southwestern Indian designs adapted from baskets, pottery, and sand paintings by Italian craftsmen.
- Boulder City, formerly the town where dam workers were housed, still does not allow gambling within town limits, a regulation imposed in the 1930s. Boulder City is the only town in Nevada to prohibit gambling.
- On their time off, exhausted dam workers would often go to the Boulder City cinema, one of the two buildings with air conditioning. Most of them slept through the movies.
- There is only one summit in Nevada to have four consecutive numbers for its elevation, Geiger Summit in Storey County, at an elevation of 6,789 feet.
- In Nyala - a man is forbidden from buying drinks for more than three people other than himself at any one period during the day.
(Nyala is an obscure 'community' that lies about 20 miles N of NV 375 via a dirt road in Nye County). - There are about 119,000 weddings performed annually in Las Vegas alone.
- Nevada ranks 1st in silver production in the U.S, producing 10 million troy ounces of silver in 2003!
- Nevada is the largest gold-producing state in the nation and 2nd in the world behind South Africa!
- Hoover Dam, the largest single public works project in the history of the United States, contains 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete, which is enough to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York.
- Nevada has one of the least population densities in America with only 21 people per square mile.
- Nevada has the lowest percentage of native born residents. Only 1 of every 5 Nevadans were born in the state.
- Nevada has one of the highest count of cattle ranches in the U.S with about 1,600 statewide.
- Nevada has more male residents than female. Of all the states, Nevada has the 2nd highest ratio of males to females, 104 to 100.
- Pershing County located in Cowboy Country features only 1 of 2 round courthouses in the United States. The other is in Bucks County, PA constructed in 1960.
- Nevada has about 50,000 miles of paved road, much of it featured in films like "Vanishing Point," "Breakdown," "Rainman," and "Lethal Weapon 4."
- About 25 million vehicles enter Nevada by way of its Interstates, US Routes and state highways.
- The smallest incorporated city in Nevada is Gabbs, 140 miles S of Reno.
- To drive from Los Angeles to Reno, the direction traveled is to the west. Yes, because of the shape of California's coastline, Reno is actually located slightly WEST of Los Angeles.
- Wyatt Earp started his career as a lawman as Sheriff of Tonopah.
- Nevada only has two area codes: 775 for the northern half and much of rural Nevada and 702 for Las Vegas and the southern end.
- Las Vegas offers unique medical laboratory meeting facilities for hands-on bio-skills labs and surgical training; a clinical simulation center; and specialized continuing medical and dental education training facilities in addition to traditional convention space. These venues offer dedicated lab managers and lab technicians; complete diagnostic and pathology equipment; surgical lighting; c-arms and endoscopy towers; general instrumentation; autoclaves; high-definition video equipment; auditoriums; on-site catering; and trained staff to assist with the unique needs of medical meeting planners, including anatomical procurement services.
- In addition to 16 hospitals and nearly 3,500 patient beds, Las Vegas is home to the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada affiliated with UCLA Clinical Trials and the US Oncology Network; St. Rose Neurosurgery Clinic affiliated with Stanford Hospital & Clinics ; the Sher Fertility Institute of Las Vegas; Cenegenics; and the first Veterans Affairs Medical Center to be built in the country since the end of the Gulf War.
