The city，s savvy method of luring visitor，s from all over the world is due to its ability to change. One of the most important changes the city has undergone in the past several years has been to modify its image as the ultimate adult playground into a first class resort styled destination with something for everyone in the family. Now in addition to casinos and adult styled entertainment there are numerous theme parks， arcades， museums and shops for children. Las Vegas is also sprucing up its image in the downtown area and on the brightly lit Fremont Street. The Fremont Street Experience open December 1995. This spectacularspectacular adj.引人入胜的， 壮观的 extravaganza is as exciting as the any of the new megaresorts on the Las Vegas Strip.
To fully understand the magnificence of Las Vegas you have to understand its history and how this multimillion dollar Mecca was once just a watering hole in the middle of a very large and lonely desert.
History
Las Vegas is a relatively young town but its history can be traced all the way back to 1829， when Antonio Armijo lead a party of 60 on the Old Spanish Trail to Los Angeles. While the caravan camped about 100 miles northeast of the present site of Las Vegas， a scouting party set out to look for water. Rafael Rivera， a young Mexican scout who left the main party and headed due west over the unexplored desert， discovered an oasis. The abundance of artesian springartesian spring 自流泉 water he found here shortened the Spanish trail to Los Angeles by allowing travelers to cut directly through rather than around， the vast desert. Spanish traders who used this route were thankful for the shortened trip and they named this convenient desert oasisoasis n.(沙漠中)绿洲， (不毛之地中的)沃洲， 舒适的地方 Las Vegas Spanish for “the Meadows”.
John C. Fremont was the next visitor to the Las Vegas Springs. In 1844 he led one of his many explorations to the Far West. He is still remembered today and his name graces one of the most spectacular streets in Las Vegas， Fremont Street， located downtown.
Ten years later Mormon settlers were sent by BrighamYoung from Salt Lake City to colonize the valley. They built a 150 square foot adobe brick fort， part of which still stands today as the oldest structure in Las Vegas and is appropriately named the Mormon Fort. The Mormons spent two years here before the harsh desert defeated their ambitionsambition n.野心， 雄心. By 1857 the fort was abandoned.
Things really didn，t start happening for Las Vegas until 1904， when the San Pedro， Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad laid its tracks through the Las Vegas Valley. The Railroad purchased prime land， bought the water rights and surveyed a town site for its railroad servicing and repair facilities. In 1905， the railroad held an auction and sold 700 lots. Las Vegas became a small watering stop with a few hotels， stores， a saloon and a few thousand residents.
By the early 1940s， downtown Las Vegas had several luxury hotels and a dozen small but successful gambling clubs. In 1941 a businessman by the name of Thomas Hull， who owned a string of motor inns in California， decided to open the El Rancho Las Vegas， just outside the city limits right off the highway from Los Angeles. The El Rancho had 100 motel rooms， a western styled casinocasino n.娱乐场(供表演跳舞、赌博的地方)， (=cassino)一种由二至四人玩的纸牌游戏， it was located right off the highway and had a large parking lot with an inviting swimming pool in the middle. The El Rancho，s quick success led to the building of another property down the road called the Last Frontier Hotel. Thus the Las Vegas Strip was born.