Nevada

Nevada became a state because Abraham Lincoln needed the votes. In 1864, with the Civil War raging and a presidential election eight days away, Lincoln fast-tracked Nevada into the Union even though it had fewer than 40,000 people, well short of the usual 60,000 required.

Supporters were so desperate to get it done that they telegraphed the entire state constitution to Washington. All 16,543 words. It cost thousands of dollars and was the longest telegram ever sent at the time.

Lincoln wanted Nevada's three electoral votes in Congress and its support for the 13th Amendment to end slavery. Nevada delivered on both. Its nickname, "Battle Born," still sits on the state flag today.

Washoe, Northern Paiute, Southern Paiute, and Western Shoshone peoples lived across this desert landscape for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. The Washoe centered their life around Lake Tahoe, which gets its name from the Washoe word for "the lake."

Everything changed in 1859 when miners struck the Comstock Lode near Virginia City, the first major silver discovery in the United States. Over the next two decades, the mines produced more than $300 million in silver and gold.

That fortune helped fund the Union war effort, built San Francisco, and turned Virginia City into one of the richest towns in the West. A young reporter named Mark Twain got his start writing for the local newspaper there.

When the silver ran out, Nevada reinvented itself. The state legalized gambling in 1931, and the completion of Hoover Dam in 1936 gave Las Vegas the electricity to light up.

From 1951 to 1992, the government tested 928 nuclear weapons at a site just 65 miles from the city. In the early years, mushroom clouds were visible from hotel rooftops.

You can tour the 726-foot-tall Hoover Dam and peer down into Black Canyon, hike through 3,000-year-old petroglyphs at Valley of Fire State Park, or stroll the wooden boardwalks of Virginia City, where the entire town is a National Historic Landmark.

In Las Vegas, the Mob Museum explores organized crime from a real 1933 courthouse, and the Neon Museum displays over 250 retired casino signs in its outdoor boneyard.