The Moulin Rouge on Bonanza, opened in 1955. It was the first black-owned hotel/casino in Las Vegas. It was co-owned by heavyweight boxing champ Joe Lewis. The Moulin Rouge only lasted for seven months.

The Imperial Palace on the Las Vegas strip is the nation's first off-airport airline baggage check-in service.

There were 16,067 slots in Nevada in 1960. In 1999 Nevada had 205,726 slot machines, one for every 10 residents.

Mark Twain began his writing career as a reporter for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.

In Tonopah the young Jack Dempsey was once the bartender and the bouncer at the still popular Mizpah Hotel and Casino.

Clara Dunham Crowell was Nevada's first woman sheriff, Lander County, 1919.

Fort Churchill, the first important military establishment in Nevada, once a proud fort, is nothing more than a memory now.  The bell tower rope in the St. George's Episcopal Church (built in 1878) in Austin was placed in the men's room. One had to stand on the toilet to ring the church bells.

Misfits Flats off Highway 50 near Stagecoach takes its name from the John Huston film. Huston used the privately owned area to film a complicated wild horse round up with Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift.

Nevada is the largest gold-producing state in the nation. It is second 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. The dam face was used in an amazing stunt for Roland Emerich's "Universal Soldier" and has been seen in such films as "Viva Las Vegas" and "Fools Rush In."

Nevada's smallest incorporated city is Gabbs located about 140 miles southeast of Reno.   However, a recent update reports Gabbs, what was Nevada's smallest city was disincorporated on May 8, 2001.

Las Vegas has more hotel rooms than any other place on earth, and the majority of the largest hotels in the world.

Camels were used as pack animals in Nevada as late as 1870.

The longest Morse code telegram ever sent was the Nevada state constitution. Sent from Carson City to Washington D.C.

Area 51 is acknowledged with State Route 375 officially christened "The Extraterrestrial Highway" in a ceremony featuring the director and cast of the movie "Independence Day." The highway runs between Warm Springs and Crystal Springs. There is a tiny restaurant stop at the Little Ale' Inn at Rachel.

Most of the state is desert but the Sierra Nevada mountain range near Reno and the Ruby Mountains near Elko have snow for half the year.

Principal Lakes - Natural: Lake Tahoe, on California-Nevada border west of Carson City; Pyramid Lake, largest natural lake in state, north of Reno; Walker Lake, north of Hawthorne; Topaz Lake on California-Nevada border, south of Gardnerville; Ruby Lake, south of Elko. Manmade: Lake Mead, largest manmade lake in the state, with a 550-mile shoreline, forms southern boundary of state, east of Las Vegas, backed up by Hoover Dam on Colorado River; Lake Mohave, south of Las Vegas, backed up by Davis Dam on Colorado River; lake Lahontan, near Fallon; and Rye Patch Reservoir near Lovelock.

Principal Mountains - Highest peak: Boundary Peak on Nevada-California border south of Hawthorne, 13,145 feet; other principal peaks: Wheeler Peak, east of Ely, 13,061; Mt. Charleston, west of Las Vegas, 11,910; North Schell Peak, north of Ely, 11,890; 51 peaks above 9,000 feet.

Principal Rivers - Longest: Humboldt River, 500 miles from Humboldt Mountains, east of Elko to Humboldt Sink south of Lovelock; Carson River, Truckee River, Walker River, Colorado River.

Pahrump - the name is derived from Southern Paiute, meaning "water-stone" - pa ("water") and timpi ("stone"). The name was modified from Pahrimp.

Bertha was a performing elephant that entertained for 37 years at John Ascuaga's Nugget casino located in Sparks. She was 48 years old when she died.

Pershing County located in Cowboy Country features the only round courthouse in the United States. Update: {the Bucks County Courthouse in Pennsylvania, constructed in 1960, is considered round. Now there are two.}

Singer Bing Crosby owned a large ranch at North Fork, about 40 miles north of Elko, and was named honorary Mayor of Elko.

Primm is Nevada's newest town, located on I-15 in southern Nevada.  It was known as Stateline for years prior, but officially changed in 1998 to Primm, the family that developed it.

Las Vegas does not sit in Las Vegas Valley as everyone believes.  Because it is not a valley.  A valley is sided by two mountain ranges, whereas the area commonly known as Vegas Valley, is sided by four mountain ranges, thereby making it a "bowl".  The four mountain ranges are:  EAST- Frenchman Mountain Range; WEST - Spring Mountain Range; NORTH - Sheep Mountain Range; and SOUTH - McCullough Mountain Range