Bordering the Mormon Settlements, Nevada’s harsh environment helped shape its history and culture. With few natural resources of its own, Nevada is known instead for its gambling and history of nuclear testing in the desert. Nevada also has certain tax benefits as a result of the taxation on its very lucrative business of gambling – primarily in Las Vegas but in Reno as well.
On this day October 31st, in 1864 Nevada is accepted as the 36th state of the United States. Only eight days before the Presidential election 1864, Statehood was established to ensure that President Lincoln would have Republican dominance in Congress.
Nevada was one of the only states established that had less than the required 40,000 residents. Nevada later became the 7th largest state and the 35th most populous, in addition to being the fourth largest producer of gold in the world. Over two-thirds of Nevada’s population resides in Clark County, which includes the Las Vegas metropolitan area.