C.S. Fly, Orient Saloon at Bisbee, Arizona, Faro Game, c. 1900, National Archives.

Generally I distrust generalizations, but I’ve got this generalized story-line in my head about what happens in Nevada. Think of two of the state’s three important books :

• Roughing It, Mark Twain, 1872, illustrated by various artists. Twain’s semi-autobiographical romp through the silver mining towns of Nevada, set in 1861. It includes a wild stagecoach journey west with his companion, an attorney, various wild scrapes and outrageous cultural observations, and the author’s ultimate retreat from the territory in dubious circumstances.
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream, Hunter S. Thompson, 1971. Illustrated by Ralph Steadman. Thompson’s semi-autobiographical romp through a Nevada gambling town, including a wild journey east in a convertible with his companion, an attorney, various wild scrapes and outrageous cultural observations, and the author’s ultimate retreat from the state in dubious circumstances.

The third important Nevada book, Basin and Range, 1980, by John McPhee, is about geology, but even it has a Harvard geology professor who goes west in part to look at road cuts and in part to look for silver. Everyone goes to Nevada to get rich, along with other wild and crazy stuff. Basin and Range also has long discussions about the history of the science of geology, and the nature of geologic time. It’s really the most depressing book of the lot, given how insignificant we are, and how certain it makes it seem that this will all end badly.

Maybe that’s the Vegas story line after all. More on that story line later.

Almost nobody living in Nevada comes from Nevada. They never have. In 1860, Nevada’s population was 6,857. It’s largest population over the rest of the century was in 1880, with 62,266. That’s a growth in 20 years of 808%. Since in 1860 there were only 760 women in Nevada, I’m guessing that the population increase wasn’t solely caused by the birth rate. That would be a lot of labor for 760 women.

That’s not the last time Nevada boomed. Between 1900 and 1910 there was another mining boom, almost doubling the population from 42,335 in 1900 to 81,875 ten years later. This time mining was accompanied by labor violence and the rise of the Industrial Workers of the World, the Wobblies, in the Nevada mines. That was the closest Nevada ever came to an industrial-syndicalist utopia, though it did come close to a Mormon utopia back before silver was discovered. That didn’t turn out well either. I’m not sure whose utopia it is now.

Like Hawaii, Modern Nevada wouldn’t exist without airlines. On a random Sunday in May I can choose from six nonstops from Houston to Vegas on Southwest Airlines. If that’s not enough there are another 15 Southwest flights that will take me to Vegas with a layover, and United has four additional nonstops. If I want to get to Vegas I can get to Vegas.

And the combination of airplanes and sin is unbeatable. In 1940, the population was 110,247. Over 30 years that’s not really much different than the 81,875 population of 1910. Between 1940 and 1960, the population grew 158 percent, to 285,278. That’s a pretty good increase, but then things really took off. Between 1960 and 2000 Nevada was the fastest growing state in the Union, with growth of 600 percent, to 1,998,257. The population estimate as of 2018 is 3,034,392, another 51 percent.

Airplanes. You can’t have modern Nevada without airplanes.

By population Nevada’s not a particularly big state. It ranks 31st, after Iowa and before Arkansas, and this in a state that is 7th in area, after Arizona but before Colorado. Western states are just bigger.

Like everyplace else Nevada’s population isn’t evenly distributed, but Nevada’s can be peculiarly uneven. An estimated 2,112,436 people live in Clark County, the site of the former railroad town known as Viva Las Vegas! That’s almost 70 percent of the total state population. Another 15 percent live in and around Reno. That puts 85 percent of Nevada’s population in roughly 13 percent of its area.

Nevada is a vast state, with a lot of vast emptiness. Seven counties, White Pine, Pershing, Lander, Lincoln, Mineral, Storey, Eureka, and Esmeralda (which is Spanish for Emerald) have populations smaller than 10,000 people. That puts less than two percent of the population in about 30 percent of the area.

Population distribution might be affected by federal ownership of 81 percent of Nevada land, but I suspect it’s just not very hospitable land. Federal ownership of land is one of the radical Western conflicts, giving rise to Nevada’s Cliven Bundy’s and endless constitutional theoretics. All I know is that I’m not excited about giving up my share for the Bundys, and I like national parks. Get over it.

Only about 24 percent of Nevadans are born in Nevada, but the transience tends to be urban. A higher percentage of residents are native born in the hinterlands, there’s just not enough population in the hinterlands to make much difference. The biggest source for immigration is California, but foreign-born immigrants, legal and otherwise, comprise about 19 percent of the population. It is a diverse population, about 67 percent white, 8 percent Asian, 9 percent African American, and 10 percent other. Of the total population approximately 34 percent is Hispanic.

Sorry, this is getting down in the weeds, isn’t it? Summary, Nevada has grown fast. Everybody in Nevada pretty much lives in Vegas, or maybe Reno. At least in Vegas and Reno it’s pretty diverse, and about a third of the population works in leisure, hospitality, or food services. There are strong unions in the service industries, one supposes because of mob/union ties back in the 60s, but it’s no longer the Wobblies.

Like everyplace we’ve been but Mississippi, that rural/urban split plays out in the state’s politics. Red rural, blue urban. Republicans controlled state offices from 2015 to 2018, but in the 2018 elections they lost control to Democrats. Both US senators are Democrats, as are three of the four members of congress. Its six electoral college votes have gone for the Democrat since Barrack Obama’s first election. In 2016, the state went marginally for Clinton, 47.92 percent to 45.5 percent, with the Reno and Vegas urban counties voting Democratic while all or the rural counties voted red.

I’m down in the weeds again. Summary: Nevada currently leans Democratic, with the usual rural/urban split.

But back to the Nevada story line in my head. I’ll tell the story this time through song. Sing along if you’d like.

• I’m going to Las Vegas, I’m going to have a good time/get drunk/win a lot money/get laid/get married/get divorced/see Elton John/turn 21/and my life will be something better than better. “Vegas,” Sara Bareilles. “Gonna sell my car and go to Vegas/’Cause somebody told me/That’s where dreams would be . . . ” “Reno,” R.E.M., “You know who you are/You’re gonna be a star.” “Viva Las Vegas.”

Bright light city gonna set my soul
Gonna set my soul on fire
Got a whole lot of money that’s ready to burn,
So get those stakes up higher
There’s a thousand pretty women waitin’ out there
And they’re all livin’ devil may care
And I’m just the devil with love to spare
Viva Las Vegas, viva Las Vegas

• Have mercy Jesus what have I done. “Ooh Las Vegas,” Gram Parsons. “Ooh, Las Vegas ain’t no place for a poor boy like me/Every time I hit your crystal city/You know you gonna make a wreck out of me.” “Vegas Lights,” Panic at the Disco. “We’re swimming with the sharks until we drown.” “Waking Up in Vegas,” Katy Perry.

You gotta help me out
It’s all a blur last night
We need a taxi ’cause you’re hung-over and I’m broke
I lost my fake id but you lost the motel key

• It’s time to leave now. I’ve done the damage get me home. “Friend of the Devil,” Grateful Dead. “Leaving Las Vegas,” Sheryl Crow.

I’m Leaving Las Vegas
Lights so bright
Palm sweat, blackjack
On a Saturday night
Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving for good, for good

Meantime in Houston it’s time for the warbler migration, when the warblers leave the Yucatan and fly across the Gulf heading to warbler sex and parties at their summer place in Ohio. Kris drives most every day to Galveston an hour away to watch for the birds. These guys like the warblers too.

I’m always dubious about identifications of cottonmouths, because to Texans every water snake in or near the water is a cottonmouth. This is a no doubt proper identification, and Kris was probably wise not to walk on by. It’s cousin the copperhead also likes the wee birdies.