John Cahlan was an important part of Las Vegas journalism and life for more than half a century. Born in Reno in 1902, he was the grandson of men who had moved to Nevada before the Comstock Lode's discovery. Cahlan graduated from the University of Nevada and worked for the Nevada State Journal when its owner was longtime Nevada Democratic politician James Scrugham.

When Nevada's ore production dropped precipitously after 1877, the population steadily declined and public officials searched for ways to attract new citizens and bolster the tax base. Eventually, the Hebrew Agricultural Society of the United States unveiled a plan to triple Nevada's population with thousands of eastern European Jews. In 1897, Governor Reinhold Sadler commissioned Jewish entrepreneurs Morris Cohn and Theodore Hofer to take out an option on a 5,500 acre spread in Wellington, forty-five miles south of Carson City.

Jeanne Russell Janish was the first female graduate from Stanford University with a master's degree in geology. Her botanical illustrations are recognized nationally and generations of Nevadans have learned local botany from her field guide illustrations.

Janish was born in 1902 in Marshall, Iowa, but grew up in California. She graduated from Vassar College in 1924 with a major in Latin and a minor in geology. She continued studies at Stanford and in 1926, became the first woman to receive a master of science degree in geology from the university.

The town of Jackpot, which sits on Nevada's northeastern border, began to emerge after Idaho outlawed slot machines in 1953. The Horseshu Club was built in 1954, and it was followed by the establishment of Cactus Pete's two years later. The two casinos immediately drew customers from Idaho, and in that same year they succeeded in doubling the number of vehicles traveling along Highway 93, which bisects the town's business section.