LAS VEGAS ( FOX5 ) — Las Vegas found itself growing out of luck and good circumstances.

Union Pacific finished construction of its new Los Angeles to Salt Lake City route in 1905. The halfway point landed right in Las Vegas.

“Having a rail connection was literally the life or death of a community,” said Christopher MacMahon, director of the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Boulder City. “Las Vegas wasn’t a destination city. It was a dusty little town.”

Mining activity at the turn of the 20th century led to a cycle of economic boom and bust for the region.

“Vegas is starting to become this little hub of activity in a way that it hadn’t been before and wouldn’t have been had it not been for the railroad,” said MacMahon.

The sale and transport of precious mineral ores created a need for

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