Padre Francisco Garces

If you have ever traveled the LV Bulevard twards Fremont St., Downtown, you will notice that one of the Street’s is named for this man. Well, since the majority of residents hit town after the rat pack did, you may be hard pressed to find any Vegan, let alone a cabbie who can tell you who this man was, but I can. Many local Vegas History Buffs, like myself, know that William A. Clark named all of the East to West Streets in his newly formed town after famous explorers and local residents, who had been significant to the Region before his Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad completed.

Garcés was a solitary explorer who preferred to risk his own life. He made extensive expeditions along the Gila, Colorado, and Mojave Rivers. He is the first recorded white man to enter what is now the state of Nevada. the first recorded white man to enter what is now the state of Nevada. In 1780, Father Garcés founded the missions of Conception and San Pedro. He was killed by angry Yumas at the San Pedro Mission on July 19, 1781.

Find more information about garces at the following sites:

http://darinnevada.org/lorenzipark.htm

http://jeff.scott.tripod.com/garces.html

Monte Carlo Fire – Up Close But Not Personal

Monte Carlo Fire
Originally uploaded by zariok

Well first of all, I was on the job and in my cab when the fire broke out, but I was at McCarren about to pickup and that trip took me to the Bellagio just up the street. As one of the more intelligent drivers, I knew that Harmon, next to Planet Hollywood, would be the best route. I quickly picked up, went to the Palazzo, and from there I went on to the Premium Outlets near Downtown. There I sat for almost half an hour, knowing that any effort to get to a busier stand would be more difficult and less benifitual to my paycheck. This gave me a break to speak to other drivers and to call a few of my relatives about what was happening with me and Vegas.

For certain, I am sure, this has now affected many who had intended to experience Vegas differently this week end. Fortunately, as the gloomy reports go, no one was seriously hurt. If you are not aware, the Magician Lance Burton will not be able to perform and most of the hotel’s workers are being asked to call a hot line to get the word on when to return to work. It was reported that they are however receiving pay while the casino is closed. I will be watching closely the Miss America Pagent tonight on TLC to see if the fire is on the minds of those involved. This event is being held again at Planet Hollywood just across the street.

Since I was not directly involved and do not work at the casino, I can only give very little of my local history/cabbie perspective on what went on at the Monte Carlo yesterday. I can tell you that you should not have any intent to go near the place at the current time as they are closed. And you are far better off not being among the overly curious who stupidly believe that an up close and personal, touchy feelly, and extremely dangerous spectator experience will be worth the risk of being harmed or even arrested. I personally, as a professional driver, will leave those up close personal experiances to someone who is getting paid to take such a risk, and I will only go there if a customer must and I’m permitted to enter this private property with my cab.

After the deadly fires at the MGM Grand in Nov. of 1980 and Hilton in Feb. 1981, legistlation was passed to make the Las Vegas Strip the location of the most fire safe hotels in the world. As a result, when a tourist stays at a Vegas Hotel today, the likelihood that they will die from a tower fire is extremely slim. If you wish to read more about the 1980 fire and this important legsilation, or view Clark County’s current fire code please go to the following web sites:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jan/25/las-vegas-fire-history/#/El_Rancho_Vegas_burns/

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Nov-20-Sun-2005/news/4306613.html

http://fire.co.clark.nv.us/(S(tuvlc5fhxxlh2f3gfbgueda4))/Fire%20Codes.aspx

If you would like to have a good report and photos from a local news team try these web links:

www.fox5vegas.com/news/15138622/detail.html

www.reviewjournal.com/media/video/mcfire.html

www.lvrj.com/news/14369312.html

www.lvrj.com/news/14450817.html

www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/news/2008/jan/25/fire-monte-carlo/

www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jan/26/good-outcome/

The Monte Carlo itself is located on property once owned by the Dunes and was built through a joint undertaking of the Circus Circus Enterprises and Mr. Wynn’s Mirage Resorts. Mr. Kerkorian and Wynn still reminisce fondly of this co-operative venture. As in the case of many construction projects in Vegas, it was first known as the Grand Victoria and opened in 1996 with a price tag of $344 million US. It had been designed to attract the middle income tourist who wished to expirance a budget friendly European Style Casino.

More details on the Monte Carlo Casino at this web site:

www.montecarlo.com/

www.answers.com/topic/monte-carlo-resort-and-casino

Have fun and be safe. : ) Mark

John C Fremont (pt. 2 Conquest of California)

Continuation of blog John C Fremont (pt. 1).

In 1842, Mexico makes one more effort to regain control over the rebellious California, by sending Manuel Micheltorena and an army of cholos (former convicts employed as soldiers). Micheltorena announced his new function as governor and then marched to Monterey. His army commits acts of rape, pillage, and looting against the Californios on the march to Monterey. Governor Alvarado is forced to surrender to Micheltorena, who regains control of California.

By 1845, the Californios-under Alvarado and Jose Castro’s command, raise an army and engage in battle with Micheltorena. Micheltorena is defeated and leaves with his army for Mexico. Castro becomes military comandante of California and returns to Monterey and Pio Picos becomes governor of California and governs from Los Angeles.

In December 1845, Captain Fremont continued on from the Las Vegas region with his force of sixty men and entered into the Mexican province of Alta California under the support of the congressionally commisioned mission of mapping the west coast area. Although he officially made contact with Mexican authorities, his movements around the province was a point of consternation to Mexico’s Northern Regional Commander, General Jose Castro. In particular, the latter did not care for Fremont’s contact and sympathy for American settlers and emigrants.

Soon after his arrivial in California, Captain Fremont did make an agreement with Comandante Castro that he was only going to stay in the San Joaquin Valley for winter than head north to Oregon.

As American settlers moved into Mexican-controlled California, most groups settled either in the Sonoma-Napa area, or north of Sutter’s Fort near present day Sacramento. A very few of them obtained grants of land from the Mexican authorities, which put the legality of the settlers’ claims to land into question. In April of 1846, Mexican Governor Jose Castro proclaimed that the purchase or acquisition of land by foreigners who had not been naturalized as Mexicans “will be null and void, and they will be subject (if they do not retire involuntary from the country) to be expelled whenever the country might find it convenient.”

The Fremont Party having traversed the territory as far north as Klamath on the California/Oregon border, turned south upon hearing that a proclamation had been issued by General Castro, aimed at driving out foreigners from the province, would soon be enforced. Several leaders of the settlers discussed their concerns of Mexican aggression with U.S. Army Captain John C. Fremont at a meeting. Fremont, though sympathetic could not commit U.S. Forces to aid the settlers. Nevertheless, he did decide to stay and advise those who chose to confront the Mexican authorities. Captain Fremont established his base camp at the base of four buttes (Sutter Buttes) in the Sacramento Valley a few miles north of John Sutter’s Fort.

Word of the camp reached a group of settlers who were most vociferous in their dislike of the province’s government. Leader of this group calling themselves Osos (Spanish for Bears), was Ezekiel “Stuttering” Merritt. Merritt was well known in the territory, and the west, for having been a fur trapper in the Rocky Mountains. Captain Fremont gladly accepted the twenty Osos, and went so far as to appoint Zeke Merritt a lieutenant of the irregulars.

Fremont remained in the background of events, not wishing to involve the United States in any altercations the Osos might be involved in; however, he and his force had already been branded “bandits” by General Castro, after an alleged horse stealing episode near Salinas during May 1846. Hence, in early June, Captain Fremont gave advice to capture the Northern Headquarters of General Mariano Vallejo at Sonoma. On June 14, the Osos took the town of Sonoma in the early dawn light without firing a shot. And with the acceptance of General Vallejo’s surrender the Osos declared California a Republic, and raised the Bear Flag over the plaza.

Captain Fremont saluted the Bear Flaggers, whose force now numbered ninety, when both the flag of the United States and California Republic were raised on July 4, 1846, in celebration of United States and California Independence.

Following the celebration, Captain Fremont proposed that a unified force be organized, under his command. A discussion was held July 5, with William Brown Ide (Grigsby-Ide emigrant party of 1845), who the Bear Flaggers had elected as their Commander-in-Chief. A compact was drawn up for all volunteers to sign, which in part read: Not to violate the chastity of Women; conduct their revolution honorably; and pledge obedience to their officers. With the signatures or marks of the men, the California Battalion was formed. Fremont appointed a Marine Corps Officer, Captain Archibald H. Gillespie, his Adjutant. Captain Gillespie had joined Fremont when the latter was at the Oregon Border. Gillespie had crossed the Mexican nation and entered California about the time hostilities broke out with the opening of the Mexican War, May 1846. Fremont requested the Battalion’s volunteers to elect their officers from the ranks. Chosen were: Richard Owens, John Grigsby, Granville P. Swift, and Henry L. Ford.

The California Battalion was given further legitimacy when on July 23, it was recognized by the American military leader in California, Commodore Robert Field Stockton, Commander of U.S. Naval Forces in the Pacific. J.C. Fremont was promoted to Major by Commodore Stockton, and given command of all Volunteer Militia. Major Fremont and the California Battalion eventually came under the command of Brigadier General Stephen Watt Kearney. Following this command change the Battalion came into prominence when in January 1847 they accepted the surrender of the Californios, thereby ending the conflict in California.

(continued in Part 3)

John C Fremont (pt. 1 Introduction of a Path Finder)

General John C Femont

John Charles Frémont was born in Savannah, Georgia, January 21, 1813.

His ancestry is disputed by historians. In a biography of Andrew Jackson, written by H.W. Brands and published in 2005, the writer claims that Fremont was the son of Anne and Charles Fremon, and that Fremont added the accented “e” and the “t” to his name later in life. But, according to the 1902 genealogy of the Frémont family, he was the son of Anne Beverley Whiting, a prominent Virginia society woman, who after his birth, married Louis-René Frémont, a penniless French refugee, in Norfolk on May 14, 1807. This Louis-René Frémont was the son of a Québec City merchant, Jean-Louis Frémont, who was himself the immigrant son of Charles-Louis Frémont from Saint Germain en Laye near Paris. Most historians do agree however, that he was born illegitimate, and it was a social stigma at that time which he had to overcome before he could be accept into the social class he aspired to. It is also clamed that after the Fremont’s father died, his mother moved her family to Charleston.

In 1828, after a year’s special preparation, young Fremont entered the junior class of the college of Charleston. Here he displayed a remarkable aptitude for learning and excelled, especially in mathematics, but his irregular attendance and disregard of college discipline led to his expulsion from the institution, but still granted him a degree in 1836. In 1833 he was appointed teacher of mathematics on board the sloop of war “Natchez”, and soon after embarked on a cruise along the South American coast which lasted for about two and a half years. Soon after the sloop returned to Charleston, the United States Navy appointed him professor of mathematics, but he instead chose to serve as assistant engineer of a survey undertaken chiefly for the purpose of finding a pass through the mountains for a proposed railway from Charleston to Cincinnati. In July 1838 he was appointed second lieutenant of Topographical Engineers in the United States Army, and for the next three years he was assistant to the French explorer, Jean Nicholas Nicollet (1786-1843), employed by the war department to survey and map a large part of the country lying between the upper waters of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

Senator Benton Jessie Benton Fremont

In 1841 Frémont surveyed, for the government, the lower course of the Des Moines river. Upon his return to Washington to file his report with the war department, the then 28 year old Fremont meets the radiantly beautiful 17 year old Jessie, the daughter of a powerful Missouri Senator, Thomas Hart Benton, at several long westward expansion interviews at the senator’s home, and despite the strong opposition of her father, they eloped on October 19, of that year. Although this was a great upset for Benton, he felt that he needed Fremont mapping ability to satisfy his political and financial goals, and as the Democratic Party leader, he used his great influence with the government, so that Fremont was enabled to accomplish within the next few years the exploration of much of the territory between the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific Ocean.

During the summer of 1842, Frémont met the American frontiersman, Kit Carson, on a Missouri River steamboat in St. Louis, Missouri. Frémont was preparing to lead his first expedition and was looking for a guide to take him to South Pass. The two men made acquaintance, and as he had spent much time in the area, Carson offered his services. The five-month journey, made with 25 men, was a success, and Fremont’s report was published by the U.S. Congress. This famous Frémont report was said to have “touched off a wave of wagon caravans filled with hopeful emigrants” heading west.

From 1842 to 1846, Frémont and his guide Carson led expedition parties on the Oregon Trail and into the Sierra Nevada. During his expeditions in the Sierra Nevada, it is generally acknowledged that Frémont became the first European American to view Lake Tahoe. He is also credited with determining that the Great Basin had no outlet to the sea. He also mapped volcanoes such as Mount St. Helens.

In May 1843, Fremont’s second expedition was to map the area between the Rockies and the Pacific Ocean. The expedition was well-equipped and especially well-armed. The men carried breechloading rifles — though the Army would retain muzzleloaders for another 25 years.

They also dragged along a small howitzer — the “Fremont Cannon” of Nevada lore — which nearly ended the expedition before it started. The Topographical Corps didn’t need any confrontations with Mexican military in California or the British in Oregon. It sent Fremont a letter demanding he return to Washington and explain why he was taking a cannon on a peaceful, scientific expedition. Fremont’s wife intercepted the letter and, instead of forwarding it, sent him a message that he had better head west without further preparation.

The term “plausible deniability” would not come into common use for another 130 years or so, but Washington-reared Jessie Fremont understood the concept.

Fremont pushed through what is now Utah and into Oregon. Then he turned south seeking three important geographical features described by earlier explorers — the Rio Buenaventura, Klamath Lake and Mary’s Lake. He found Klamath Lake in short order but the other two, it turned out, do not exist.

By January 1844, Fremont abandoned the howitzer in heavy snowdrifts in Northern Nevada. History buffs and treasure hunters have been looking for it ever since. A copy was made and is a revolving trophy for football games between UNLV and UNR.

The expedition beat its way across the Sierra Nevada to Sutter’s Fort, arriving with only 33 of the 67 horses and mules that started the trek. Fremont then headed south to strike the Spanish Trail toward Santa Fe.

Fremont described the march in his memoirs:

“Our cavalcade made a strange and grotesque appearance, and it was impossible to avoid reflecting upon our position and composition in this remote solitude. Within two degrees of the Pacific Ocean; already far south of the latitude of Monterey; and still forced on south by a desert on one hand, and a mountain range on the other; guided by a civilized Indian, attended by two wild ones from the Sierra; a Chinook from the Columbia; and our own mixture of American, French, German — all armed; four or five languages heard at once; above a hundred horses and mules, half wild; American, Spanish, and Indian dresses and equipments intermingle; — such was our composition. Our march was a sort of procession. Scouts ahead, and on the flanks; a front and rear division; the pack animals, baggage, and horned cattle in the centre; and the whole stretching a quarter of a mile along our dreary path. In this form we journey; looking more like we belonged to Asia than to the United States of America.”

They made their way down the Mojave River, which runs only intermittently, and the cattle were growing weak from want of water and grazing. On April 24, Fremont stopped to slaughter three and dry the meat.

“In the afternoon we were surprised by the sudden appearance in the camp of two Mexicans — a man and a boy. The name of the man was Andreas Fuentes; and that of the boy (a handsome lad, 11 years old) Pablo Hernandez. They belonged to a party consisting of six persons, the remaining four being the wife of Fuentes, the father and mother of Pablo, and Santiago Giacome, a resident of New Mexico.”

The group had been herding horses from Los Angeles toward Santa Fe when it was attacked by perhaps 100 Indians, said the fugitives. “The Indians charged down into their camp, shouting as they advanced, and discharging flights of arrows … Fuentes drove the animals over and through the assailants, in spite of their arrows; and, abandoning the rest to their fate, carried them off at speed across the plain.”

Eventually, they left their horses to water at Agua de Tomaso and continued until they came upon Fremont.

Fuentes guided Fremont back over his own trail.

On April 25 Fremont’s men reached Agua de Tomaso, but the herd had been driven away. Fuentes, Carson and another scout, Alexander Godey set off in pursuit, but Fuentes turned back because his horse went lame.

“In the afternoon of the next day, a war-whoop was heard, such as Indians make when returning from a victorious enterprise; and soon Carson and Godey appeared, driving before them a band of horses, recognized by Fuentes to be part of those they had lost. Two bloody scalps, dangling from the end of Godey’s gun, announced that they had overtaken the Indians as well as the horses.”

On April 29, Fremont’s group reached the spring where Fuentes’ party had been attacked — near today’s Tecopa, on the California-Nevada border.

“The dead silence of the place was ominous,” wrote Fremont, “and galloping rapidly up, we found only the corpses of the two men; everything else was gone. They were naked, mutilated, and pierced with arrows … Of the women no trace could be found, and it was evident they had been carried off captive. A little lap-dog, which had belonged to Pablo’s mother, remained with the dead bodies, and was frantic with joy at seeing Pablo; he, poor child, was frantic with grief, and filled the air with lamentations for his father and mother. Mi padre! mi madre! was his incessant cry.”

Pablo Hernandez was adopted by Benton’s family and became a good scholar, but upon reaching adulthood returned to Mexico. The last Fremont heard of him — a report he could not verify — was that he had moved to California and become an outlaw. Fuentes became a good explorer and would accompany Fremont on another expedition.

Now that Fremont was far off the main route to New Mexico, Fuentes became his guide along the alternate. On May 1, they encamped at a spring in the mountains — probably today’s Mountain Spring. They made but 12 miles the next day, camping, probably, in the region of Blue Diamond or Oak Creek Canyon.

And on May 3: “After a day’s journey of 18 miles, in a northeasterly direction, we encamped in the midst of another very large basin, at a camping ground called Las Vegas — a term which the Spaniards use to signify fertile or marshy plains, in contradistinction to llanos, which they apply to dry and sterile plains. Two narrow streams of clear water, four or five feet deep, gush suddenly with a quick current, from two singularly large springs; these, and other waters of the basin, pass out in a gap to the eastward. The taste of the water is good, but rather too warm to be agreeable; the temperature being 71 in the one and 73 in the other. They, however, afford a delightful bathing place.”

It was all Fremont would write about the location that would become Sin City.

His departure route, to the northeast, was difficult and dangerous. “Skeletons of horses … between 50 and 60 miles without a drop of water,” he noted. “We ate occasionally the (barrel cactus) and moistened our mouths with the acid of the sour dock.”

On the Muddy River, Paiutes spotted Fremont, suspected he was raiding for slaves, and made a show of force. “They were barefooted and nearly naked; their hair gathered up in a knot behind, and with his bow, each man carried a quiver with thirty or forty arrows partially drawn out. Besides these, each held in his hand two or three arrows for instant service. Their arrows are barbed with a very clear translucent stone, a species of opal, nearly as hard as the diamond; and shot from their long bow, are almost as effective as a gunshot,” he wrote. Fremont negotiated peace here, but on the Virgin River, a day’s march further northeast, one man fell behind and was never seen again. Those who tracked him found signs of struggle and death.

Yet for all its dangers, the route through Las Vegas became well traveled, simply because it became well-known. Congress printed 20,000 copies of Fremont’s 1845 report of this trip and its map. “This meant anybody who wanted one could have it,” said Warren. “It became so important that if a group of emigrants did NOT have one, that fact would be mentioned in diaries.”

(continued in Part 2)

Before Vegas was put on a Map

This blog entry will attempt to give you a viewpoint of what vegas was like, before John C. Fremont, “The Great Pathfinder,” rode though here with Kit Carson and placed Las Vegas on a map for pioneers to use on their travels west. A copy of Fremont’s map can be found here:
http://digital.library.unlv.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/LV_Maps&CISOPTR=419&CISOMODE=grid

Somewhere around 10 thousand years ago, but no one can be certain of the time, Paleo-Indians first visited the Las Vegas valley. They lived as nomads, traveling and camping in different locations. These people left behind petroglyphs that help us tell our early history.

Prehistoric Southern Nevada was a virtual marsh of abundant water and vegetation.

As eons passed, the marsh receded. Rivers disappeared beneath the surface. The once teeming wetlands evolved into a parched, arid landscape that supported only the hardiest of plants and animals. Water trapped underground in the complicated geologic formations of the Las Vegas Valley sporadically surfaced to nourish luxuriant plants, creating an oasis in the desert as the life- giving water flowed to the Colorado River.

Construction workers in 1993 discovered the remains of a Columbian mammoth that roamed the area during prehistoric times. Paleontologists estimate the bones to be 8,000 to 15,000 years old. Hidden for centuries from all but native Americans, the Las Vegas Valley oasis was protected from discovery by the surrounding harsh and unforgiving Mojave Desert.

A display of the Columbian mammoth can be found at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas.

Then about 2 thousand years ago, the Anasazi Indians move into southern Nevada and live along the Muddy and Virgin rivers. The “Lost City” are ruins of the Anasazi community that can be found in Overton, Nevada, northwest of Las Vegas. The Pauite people also explored the Las Vegas area.

The Pauite are still living in Las Vegas and have a reservation near downtown due to the contribution of ranch land by Helen Stewart.

Las Vegas Paiute Tribe -Native American Indian Tribes
Map of 1 Paiute Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89106

In 1829, a young scout named Rafael Rivera is the first person of European ancestry to look upon the valley. His discovery of a valley with abundant wild grasses growing and a plentiful water supply reduces the journey by several days. The valley is named Las Vegas, Spanish for “The Meadows.”

In 1844, John C. Fremont, along with frontiersman Kit Carson, arrived in Las Vegas and kept a journal describing two springs he found. His enthusiastic reports created wide interest in Western scenery and Western concerns. Congress made 20000 copies of the map above and it was used by many pioneers during the gold rush of 1849.

Next historical blog entry will be on John C. Fremont.

Have fun and be safe. : ) Mark

Introduction to My Las Vegas Histroy Blogs

Hello Everyone,

As I have already indicated in this blog, I’m a Las Vegas History buff. I have already read a good amount of books here already, but still have a great amount left. I don’t proclaim to always get things right the first time, but will quickly make a correction when it is necessary. I expect to gather most of the information found here online, but I will also add some that I find in the library and papers as well.

One of the best sources of historical documents is located at the UNLV libuary and at their online web site:

University Libraries, UNLV, 4505 Maryland Parkway Box 457001, Las Vegas, NV 89154-7001, (702) 895-2286
http://www.library.unlv.edu/nvlasvegas/

Another very good place for historical research here is the Clark Country Libuary:

Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89119, (702) 507-3400
http://www.lvccld.org/library/info_guides/guide.cfm?guideID=30

Both of these locations are very close to the strip, are worth checking out if you’re as curious as I am about how Las Vegas has become what it is today.

I hope to make this one of the best sources for LV History found anywhere on the net, so feel free to make comments. I hope you truly enjoy what you find here.

My feeling is that if you wish to leave your mark in the world, you should live your life to the best of you’re ability, and with some luck, history will remember you favorably for your contributions and achievements. And so with out further ado, our journey through time begins.

Have fun and be safe. : ) Mark

The Frontier is Going Down 11/13/07!

Well all I can say here is “Another one bites the dust.” Tomorrow morning (Tuesday) at approximately 2 a.m. the Frontier will be imploded. This is to make way for the new Plaza hotel and casino. I may try to catch the action, but I rather just not be as bone shaking close as I was for the Boardwalk. That one got a few guest out of bed at the Monte Carlo, (and the poor old ladies that I had taken there in my cab required a few moments on near by a hotel bench to recover).

Here is a few not well known Frontier facts:

Opened as the Last Frontier in 1942, it was the Second Hotel Resort Casino on the Arrowhead Trail or Arrowhead Highway (US 91) (Bugsy’s Flamingo was the 3rd).

The Little Chapel of the West located South of the Mandalay Bay Resort was once part of the Last Frontier and was moved to its current location in 1996 when Hacienda was closed (more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Church_of_the_West and http://www.littlechurchlv.com/ )

Steve Wynn was invested in and worked his first Vegas Job at the Frontier. (See http://www.1st100.com/part3/wynn.html )

Siegfried & Roy first Vegas Headlining Show as at the Frontier in 1981 called Beyond Belief. (See http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2007_2nd/May07_FrontierRuffin.html )

This was the location of the longest Union work stoppage in US History. (See http://www.lvrj.com/news/7530232.html )

Howard Hughes bought the Frontier in 1967 and dropped “New” from the hotel’s title. (This also put Wynn out of a job.) (See http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2007_2nd/May07_FrontierRuffin.html and http://www.1st100.com/part3/wynn.html )

Here is a good place to go on the internet, if you would like a few details on this happening:

http://www.leavinglv.net/frontier.html

http://www.vegastodayandtomorrow.com/the-plaza.htm