Contrary to what Barry Levinson would have you believe, Las Vegas wasn’t founded by Bugsy Seigel. It was founded by a group of Mormons sent out to colonize the west by Brigham Young in 1855.

It would be nearly 100 years until Mormons fell in love with slot machines and a few years after that before they decided to make Mesquite the Mormon Vegas since it required less driving.

But back to the fort. Little remains of the original structure. There is a nice museum there, just a few miles north of the strip.

Also features some groovy remnants from the Neon Boneyard which, if I’m not mistaken, would be a great name for a band.

I decided to become a Friend of the Fort (also a good name for a band) in order to get the cool map of the Mormon westward migration, since in the next month, Brother Funk and I will basically be following that map in reverse, from Salt Lake to Palmyra and all points in between.