Chapter Eighteen: Hawaii

As the textbook mentions "The Hawaiian island chain is the visible portion of a series of massive volcanoes" (360). Now most of us would not associate volcanoes with Vegas (the only one that may come to mind is the fake one that sits in front of the Mirage hotel), but a little further north of Las Vegas there is a volcano. The Timber Mountain volcano is 1675 meters in elevation, and last erupted a little less than 10000 years ago. The Timber Mountain volcano is not the only volcano in Nevada, there are more than ten most of which are inactive, but are volcanoes nonetheless. The volcanoes in Nevada are all, for the most part, either hawaiite or alkali basalt in composition which is the main difference between these volcanoes and the volcanoes of the Hawaiian islands that are considered to be shield volcanoes made of fluid lava flows. Las Vegas is often referred to as Hawaii's ninth island (due to the high native Hawaiian population that lives there) and rightfully so as it seems that both have a lot more in common than meets the eye.

www.vulcan.wr.usgs.gov, www.volcanolive.com, www.pacificweb.org

Chapter Sixteen: The North Pacific Coast

Las Vegas has nothing in common with the North Pacific Coast physically or culturally, however many of the landmarks in the North Pacific Coast can also be seen on the Las Vegas strip. Mount St. Helen, as the textbook mentions, is "one of a series of volcanic peaks that punctuate the Southern Cascades" (326). In Vegas, at the Mirage hotel they have an imitation volcano that according to Las Vegas Weekly's Vegas' Best is the " Best man made wonder" (http://www.mirage.com/). Every night the volcano erupts, and continues to entertain the tourists passing by, whereas Mount St. Helens has only had minor activity, and besides it's physical beauty is rather boring, and causes much more damage when it does erupt. Another landmark that has been reproduced is the Space Needle of Seattle. At the end of the Vegas strip sits the Stratosphere hotel, which is a direct imitation of the Space Needle. The Space Needle offers breath taking views of Seattle, a place to shop, and a restaurant. The Stratosphere on the other hand has three thrilling rides, shops, and an observation deck where the whole strip can be seen from. Now with all due respect to the late Tom McCall (governor of Oregon 1967-1975) and the residents of the North Pacific Coast, why would anyone want to live there when Vegas has everything they have to offer plus more.

http://www.mirage.com/, http://www.stratospherehotel.com/, http://www.spaceneedle.com/, http://www.mountsthelens.com/

Chapter Fifteen: California

As we all know, California is home to many wildfires each year, but Las Vegas has another type of fire that invades the city, hotel fires. There have been few fires in Vegas and the two that are most publicly known are the Bally's (previously the MGM Grand) fire, and the fire that occurred at the historic Moulin Rouge hotel. The MGM Grand hotel fire occurred on November 21, 1980 due to what can be considered an accident. The fire was caused by an electrical fault (the electrics that malfunctioned were used to power a refrigerator in the hotel's deli) and continued to be fueled by flammable materials as it made its way through the hotel. This fire killed 85 people and injured 650 of the guests (most of the injuries and deaths were due to an immense amount of toxic smoke intake). The hotel was later remodeled, and sold to Bally's Entertainment, who have now renamed the hotel Bally's Las Vegas. The fire that occurred at the Moulin Rouge hotel on May 29, 2003 did not take anoyones life, but left two people injured. The fire is believed to have been caused by an arsonist, who according to www.lasvegasnow.com, could face federal prosecution due to the fact that the hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (the hotel is seen as historic as it was the first integrated hotel in the 1950s when it was built). Even though the hotel fires that the people of Las Vegas have to face are different from the wildfires that the residents of California have to deal with, they both take peoples lives, and ruin places that hold many memories.

www.economicexpert.com, www.lasvegasnow.com, www.lvrj.com, www.reviewjournal.com

Chapter Fourteen: The Southwest Border Area: Tricultural Development

Las Vegas is not included in the Southwest Border Area, but according to the map on page 277 in the textbook, the outskirts of the city border the transitional area. Included in the title of this chapter is the word 'Tricultural' meaning that there are three different cultures that make up the Southwest Border Area; American Indians, Hispanics, and Anglos. The population of Las Vegas is also very culturally diverse. Vegas does not have a very large American Indian population; In 2000 Native Americans accounted for 0.8% of the entire population (279). On the other hand Vegas does have a fair amount of Hispanic Americans living in the area. In the 2000 census Hispanics made up 24.9% of the population, this number is high in Nevada's eyes, but nothing in comparison to counties in New Mexico and Texas where Hispanics are prevalent (70-99.7% of the population (279)). In a report conducted by the UNLV the writers claim that the high rate in which Hispanics have been immigrating from Central and South America is due to the fact that the service, ranching, and mining industries have significantly grown. The city is not complaining about the high volume of immigrants that have found their way to Las Vegas, if anything they are more than grateful as there is a need for people to work in the booming service and construction industries. Luckily for the immigrants that choose to make Las Vegas their new home, both the service and construction industries do not require training, and English is not necessary, so as soon as the immigrants arrive they, so to speak, have "struck it lucky" in sin city.

http://www.unlv.edu/

Chapter Thirteen: The Empty Interior

The Empty Interior is the region that is home to Las Vegas. The land that Las Vegas occupies, according to the textbook, is owned by The Bureau of Land Management and other Federal agencies (258). In other words none of it is owned by the public, in fact "the U.S. government controls almost 90 percent of all land" (257-259). Las Vegas does not house any of the lakes from the Pleistocene era (the nearest is Pyramid Lake in Northern Nevada), nor does it contain any of the national parks (which may be due to the fact that all of the parks are created "to preserve the unique or highly unusual sections of the natural environment" (260) and Las Vegas, as we know, does not have much of a 'natural' environment.) One thing that Las Vegas does have a lot of is tourists. Las Vegas' economy is fueled by its gaming industry which brings over $800 million in revenue a month. Legalised in 1931, gambling became more than just a game of high stakes, it became an industry, and now "the state gambling taxes account for 45 percent of Nevada's revenues" (267). Even though many people are still visiting Vegas the most recent economic recession has taken its toll on the city; Gambling revenues are down 4 percent, and many construction projects have been placed on hold. Despite all of the financial restraints, Las Vegas has still managed to "stay alive" and keep every display of lights shining bright.

www.casinotimes.co.uk, www.newsweek.com

Chapter twelve: The Great Plains and Prairies

At first glance Las Vegas and the Great Plains region seem to be in no way similar to one another. The only characteristics that both the Great Plains and Vegas may share is that they are relatively dry in terms of the land that they belong to, and the fact that they have made the most of the land that they were given. As the text says "Once it was a dry wasteland and now it is a land full of rich opportunities." (230) The Great Plains has turned the dry land in their area into an agricultural gold mine whereas Las Vegas turned their dry land into a major tourist attraction. They also have a similarity in their climate with both areas having very hot summers and colder than normal winters. Unlike the Great Plains, Vegas does not have any severe/extreme weather. The people of Las Vegas 'struck it lucky' due to the fact that the only bad weather conditions they face are the wide range of temperatures which is nothing in comparison to the blizzards, tornadoes, and Chinook winds in the Great Plains.

Chapter Eleven: The Agricultural Core

Las Vegas is miles away from the agricultural core, and could not be more different from it. The main economic activity in Vegas is tourism, but the brightly lit city does have plans to expand their horizons and create a vertical farm. A vertical farm is a building that is placed in the middle of an urban area, and houses an indoor farm. This is a relatively new idea, but it is supposed to be more cost efficient, and environmentally friendly if done correctly. With Vegas being famous for its skyscrapers the vertical farm will feel right at home with 30 storeys housing 100 different crops. The project is estimated to cost $200 million, but despite this large figure there is much anticipation for the "living skyscraper" to go up. It is said that it will produce enough food for 72000 people a year which is the equivalent of $25 million in agricultural products. There are no locations or dates set for the living skyscraper to take over the urban skyline, but when it does perhaps Vegas will gain a few eco-friendly tourists that they may have lost due to the immense amount of electricity they use.

www.nextenergynews.com, www.verticalfarm.com

Chapter Ten: The Southern Coastlands- On The Subtropical Margin

Nevada like many other states is landlocked, and nowhere near the coast. Even though there is not any major water bodies actually in the city of Las Vegas there are a couple just outside of it, Lake Mead being one of them. Lake Mead is in Clark County (the same county that Las Vegas is in) and holds 28.5 million acre feet of water. Lake Mead is one of the largest manmade lakes and reservoirs in the United States, and it gets its water from the closest major river, The Colorado River, through the Hoover Dam. Lake Mead, like many/most water bodies in the World, is drying up due to global warming, increased demand, and natural affects such as evaporation. The lake, as of May 2009, was only holding 43% of its capacity, and researchers have claimed that the lake may dry up within the next decade. Since May there have not been any significant changes to the water level in the lake, and due to the fact that the lake receives minimum rainfall every year I doubt that we will see a dramatic increase in the water level any time soon.

www.nps.gov/lame, www.lakemead.areaparks.com, www.ens-newswire.com

Chapter Nine: The Changing South

Las Vegas was not really a big part of the African slave trade, but one type of slave trade they have become known for in recent years is the sex slave trade. Many of us may think that prostitution is legal in Las Vegas when in fact it is not it is just a perception. According to Shared Hope International the ages of children being sold for prostitution in Las Vegas is, on average, between 12 and 14, this number is alarming, but unfortunately not unusual. On the Las Vegas strip, specifically at night time, people advertise prostitution through flyers, and offer services such as delivering the girl to your hotel room, or even driving you to the brothel. This type of victimization is driven by the demand for it, and sadly demand is high. Much like the African slaves, these young girls are kidnapped and then taken to Vegas where they are sold/ auctioned off to pimps (slaves from Africa were taken from their homes and sold/ auctioned off to their white master). Even though these are two completely different situations it all comes down to the fact that they are both inhumane acts that have and are occurring in our society. "Las Vegas is known as the city where anything goes, but when it comes to the illegal sex trade that is going too far" (Reporter for MSNBC: Las Vegas).

www.youtube.com, www.sharedhope.org

Chapter Eight: Appalachia & the Ozarks

Las Vegas is obviously not a part of Appalachia, and I would argue that it is a polar opposite of the eastern region. One of the main differences between the two lies in their economies, and the affects it has had on the people. The estimated median household income for a family living in Vegas is $54,357 whereas in Appalachia that number is below $18,400. This means that most of the population in Appalachia are living below the poverty level. One of the differences regarding poverty in both of these areas is that the white race is not affected nearly as much in Vegas as it is in Appalachia. "Appalachia is the largest predominantly white region in the United States" (152) and almost 100 percent of them live in poverty. In Las Vegas the opposite is true, only 6.5 percent of the white residents live in poverty. Both of these regions are very different from one another in more than just the economic aspects, but if Appalachia continues to attract more vacationers to their ski resorts, and elderly people looking for remote retirement homes then who knows, maybe one day it will become one of the up and coming regions in America.

www.city-data.com

Chapter Seven: The bypassed east

The bypassed east and Las Vegas are the ultimate opposites, one is surrounded by water whereas the other is land locked, one is full of life, giant m&m's and probably uses more electricity in a day than the other uses in a year. Unlike the bypassed east, Las Vegas is usually always hot, does not receive a large amount of precipitation, and is definitely not the city most think of when asked about mountain ranges or any other type of physical region for that matter. One thing that Las Vegas and the bypassed east have in common is that farming is not easy in either place. In the bypassed east "farming has declined due to the rocky soils and hilly terrain." (130) Las Vegas is not the ideal place for farming either as it is in the middle of the desert, and this type of terrain, as one can imagine, is not desirable among farmers. Vegas has become heavily populated in recent years which is one of the main differences between itself and the bypassed east which is a sparsely populated region. There are many differences between the bypassed east and Las Vegas, but if these differences did not exist then Vegas would not be the unique place that we know and love.

Regional Landscapes of the United States and Canada

Chapter Five: The North American manufacturing core

Las Vegas is not a part of the North American manufacturing core, as is true for all of the cities on the west side of the United States. One of the main topics in this chapter is minerals, and even though Vegas does not look like the most mineral rich city it does have a couple of active mines. The first mine is one that produces 2 million tons of limestone a year, and the second mine produces gypsum at a rate of 1,148,642 tons per year. Limestone is primarily used in the construction industry, which due to the increase in population over the past couple of years in Vegas, definitely comes in handy. The company that owns the mine in Las Vegas extracts the limestone and uses it to produce materials that are used to create buildings. Gypsum is used as a strengthening agent, especially when mixing concrete and materials used to make wall boards. Vegas may not be a part of the North American manufacturing core, but they could be referred to as the tourism core of Nevada.

www.minerals.state.nv.us, www.rinkerpipe.com, www.pabcogypsum.com

Chapter Four: Megalopolis

Las Vegas, even though it is not in the megalopolis described in the text book, it is one of the many up and coming cities in the United States. Downtown Las Vegas is full of high rise buildings as any other downtown city is. Downtown is the center of Las Vegas and can be called the Central Business District. The main difference between downtown Las Vegas and downtown New York is that the downtown in Vegas is filled with casinos and hotels. Downtown Las Vegas is much like "the strip" only on a smaller scale, but there are plans to expand the area and make it into a mini strip. Over the past 25 years Las Vegas has expanded across the desert in all directions (the pictures above show the change). This expansion is due to the fact that more than 5000 people move to Las Vegas on a monthly basis. I could never imagine living in Vegas, I think all the bright lights would give me a headache.

www.playatlvc.com, www.lasvegasnevada.gov

Chapter Three: Foundations of Human Activity

In 2005 American Indians amounted to 0.7 percent of the total population in Las Vegas. The main Indian tribe of the city is the Las Vegas Paiute's. It is said that these Indians have lived on the land for tens of thousands of years. Even though the tribe had been settled for this length of time they were not recognized until 1970. The Paiute tribe continues to live in Las Vegas, just a little north of downtown, with the 3,800 acres of land they were given in 1983. Rafael Rivera, a Spanish explorer, is said to be the first European to set foot in Las Vegas. Rafael named the city Las Vegas because translated it means "the meadows," and when he arrived the city was very green, and looked like a never ending meadow. The largest immigrant groups from Europe were the English and the Irish. Both the English and the Irish were very influential in the mining and railroad industries. The total population in Las Vegas as of 2005 was 599,087, and 80 percent of the population followed a religion. The dominant religion of "sin city" is Roman Catholic with 27 percent of the population supporting it.

www.lvpaiutetribe.com, www.lasvegasnevada.gov

Chapter Two: Geographic patterns of the physical environment

When we think of Las Vegas we automatically think of "the strip", but there is more to this city than flashing lights, and casinos. Las Vegas is surrounded by mountains, and those that have visited the city know from the heat that it is a desert. Mount Charleston is the highest peak of the Spring Mountains which are located west of Las Vegas. Mount Charleston is constantly cooler than the desert below, which makes it the perfect weekend getaway for the many that live in Las Vegas. The climate of Las Vegas, according to our text book, is BWk which means it is a mid latitude desert (29). The coldest months in Vegas are January and December when temperatures range from a record low of 8 degrees Fahrenheit to 36 degrees. During the hottest month of July temperatures have reached up to 118 degrees Fahrenheit. The annual average precipitation is between 4.0 and 4.49 inches. There is not much vegetation in the Las Vegas we know, but on the outskirts the land is full of cacti, and scrubs.

http://www.weather.com/, www.Peakbagger.com

Chapter One: Regions & Themes

Las Vegas, as many of us know is located in the state of Nevada. It is in the southern most part of the state and is close in proximity to California, Arizona, and Utah. Las Vegas is in Clark County which is one of the sixteen counties of Nevada. According to the map on page 7 of our text Las Vegas is on the border of a region that the authors call the "empty interior." Las Vegas has grown in size therefore becoming more urbanized. "Most large cities grew for specific reasons, reasons that still sustain them and give them their special character." (10) When most of us hear Las Vegas we think of the strip famous for it's hotels and bright lights, and it is this specific area of Vegas that gives the region its unique character. The strip has contributed most to the urbanization of the city. The main economic activities are tourism and construction. Tourism is the more obvious of the two as 'sin city' is one of the many places that most people want to visit in the United States. The construction industry is constantly growing in Las Vegas. More than 20% of it's population in 2005 was originally from overseas. Due to this sudden increase in population more than 21,000 new homes had to be built to accommodate everyone. Beneath all of the glitz and glamour of Vegas there is a poverty level of 9.7% which shows us that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.