Las Vegas Was Built on Water That No Longer Exists

Las Vegas sits in one of the driest deserts in North America. It gets almost no rain, summer temperatures regularly pass 110°F, and the nearest major river is miles away. Yet more than two million people live here. So why did anyone build a city in this exact spot? The answer starts with something most visitors never hear about: the name "Las Vegas" means "the meadows" in Spanish. Long before the casinos, there was water here. In this documentary, we follow how a desert stop became one of the most famous cities on Earth, from hidden springs and a railroad land auction to Hoover Dam, legalized gambling, and the shrinking Lake Mead that the city depends on today. And we look at the question nobody in Vegas likes to ask: how long can it last? CHAPTERS 0:00 Why here? 1:40 The meadows in the desert 4:02 The railroad that sold a town 5:38 Hoover Dam 6:43 Gambling and the great thirst 8:11 Lake Mead's record low 10:39 The springs that ran dry Which city do you think is next to run out of the water that built it? Tell me in the comments. 🔔 Subscribe for more documentaries about the strangest places and forgotten stories of history. Image credit: Astronaut photograph ISS026-E-6255, courtesy of NASA Johnson Space Center. #lasvegas #history #documentary #hooverdam #mojavedesert #desertcity #americanhistory #historydocumentary