Evening star., 1943-11-22
Booming Las Vegas
Facing New Problems
Due. 10 Congestion
BY JAMES LINDSLEY,

dAtSi 1870 Las vegas never expert
enced anything more serious than
acute growing pains.
Las Vegas has been boom town
for so long it now accepts the con-
dition as normal. Right now, it's
almost boom-boom town.
Boulder Dam is the answer to the
towns prosperity In the midst of
depression. In 1890 Las Vegas
static population was SIT. There
was certain amount of tourist
trade, quite a divorce and marriage
business and some agriculture, stock
raising and mining. But. all in all,
1t was just another Western desert
town.
Then the dam builders moved in
with more than 5000 workmen, lusty
well-paid gents for the most part
who found Las Vegas liberal outlook
on life very attractive, indeed, espe-
cially on payday. And Las Vegas
first major boom was under way.
BY the time the dam was COM
pleted and the workmen moved out
Las Vegas had become a tourist
center of national repute.
Became Marriage Center.
Nevada's easy-going divorce laws
had long been on the books, and
people desirous of effecting a quick
"cure," as they call it here, had
discovered that the statutes applied
in Las Vegas as well as in Reno
Then some unsung genius discovered
1t also was an ideal place to be mar
ried, so another source of important
revenue developed.
Right now, though, Las Vegas
marriage business is mighty slow
Gas rationing is one prime reason,
and repeal Of CALIFORNIA; three-day
marriage law is another. California
until recently required a three-day
wait between applying for a license
and the marriage ceremony, so i'm
petuous young Californians had
formed the habit of barging across
the line, to Nevada, where you can
obtain your license and get married
in a matter of minutes.
All the divorce trade and a lot of
the marriage business is handled by
District Judge George E. Marshall,
a big, strapping Western jurist who
has grown just bit cynical about
the whole thing. Mr.. Marshall has
married about $500 couples in the
last five years. AS district Judge he
has granted about $500 divorces.
Granted Sc in Afternoon.
my record is Sc in one afternoon
he recalls. That isn't a record for
the court, though. My predecessor
granted more than 10 in one day,
they tell me"
The town had grown to around
1900 or 10000 when the war broke
out. Then along came the Govern
ment with $140,O0O,000 and, on a
harsh, sunbaked tract 10 or u miles
from here, built Basic Magnesium,
Inc, the largest plant of its kind in
the world, to extract from ores
which abound in the forbidding
country vast quantities of material
used in construction of airplanes,
bombs and the like.
When this job was at it's peak.
1858 men were employed, and they,
like the Boulder Dam gangs, were
salty characters who held Las Vegas
gambling tables and other diversions
in the highest esteem.
Gambling Is the reason why Ne
vada's taxes are SO low. Craps and
roulette tables are licensed by the
State at $3.50 a quarter, and in Las
Vegas the city puts the finger on
them for an additional 10 per cent.
The big casinos pay 1900 to 81 300
In State taxes quarterly.
Has Boom Town Problems.
Las Vegas problems are the prob
lens of any war-boomed town:
Housing. education, things like that
But Las Vegas is on the road to
solving all of them.
A year ago, all regular housing
facilities were crammed, and huge
overflow had taken refuge in a hide
Gus collection of shacks, tents and
packing cases under conditions SO
congested that fastidious sardine
would have moved out.
Since then the Government has
come through with a series of hous-
ing projects. Hotels have expanded
and new ones have been built.
The shanty district still exists
But the cure is at hand in a Gov
ernment-established series of hous-
ing projects, one of them, Carver
Park, exclusively for colored fam
flies.
The problem, Mayor E. w. Cra-
gin says, is to induce the colored
families to leave their squalid quar-
terS for the modern structures. They
aren't taking advantage of the op-
pertunity as rapidly as Mayor Cra-
gin would like.
AS far as the Government is con-
cerned, A. c. Grant, executive di-
rector of the Federal Housing AL
thority for Clark County, says the
housing problem has been whipped.
Within six months, three big prof.
ects have been completed, with ac-
commodations for more than 5000
persons. Ninety per cent of the units
are furnished, and rents range from
$40 to $47.50 monthly, depending on
size. All are air-conditioned.
5 New Schools Built.
AS to education, Miss Maude Fra
zier, superintendent of schools, feels
she has the upper hand on this too
with Government help we built
five new schools during the summer
and constructed additions at three
existing ones. The high school has
never been a serious problem be-
cause the armed services have cut
down attendance considerably"
Right now, the businessmen are
wondering whether the Govern.
ment will continue to operate Basic
Magnesium, Inc, after the war. NJ
one seems to know the answer bu,
neither is any one worrying much
II the plant is closed, they say, some.
thing else will turn up.