With close to 650,000 residents (as of 2021), Las Vegas is the nation’s 25th-largest city. But in 1939, when Union Pacific issued this brochure, it had barely 8,000 residents, making it “still a frontier town,” according to this brochure. The completion of Boulder/Hoover dam just three years before (along with the invention of air conditioning) enabled the city to rapidly grow into one of the nation’s leading entertainment centers.

Click image to download a 19.6-MB PDF of this brochure, which is from the David Rumsey Map Collection.

The colorful map in this brochure includes cute pictures of yellow Union Pacific streamliners, a couple getting a divorce at the Clark County Courthouse, and even a scantily clad woman enticing a man to enter her doorway over which is mounted a red light. The map barely hints at casinos or gambling but instead focuses more on natural resources such as Red Rock Canyon, Death Valley, Zion, and of course Boulder Dam. Similarly, the photo collage on the back has one picture of a roulette table and 18 of scenery, a rodeo, and the dam.

The map and cover art are signed Raymond Winters, who was born in Denver in 1892 and moved to Los Angeles in 1915. As an artist, he often illustrated the covers of Westway magazine, which then as now was published by the Automobile Club of Southern California. Sadly, he died in 1939, the same year this brochure was published.

At 726 feet, Boulder Dam was the tallest in the world when it was completed. Although it wasn’t formally done until 1936, it was dedicated by President Roosevelt in September, 1935. Union Pacific published this brochure just one month later. The dam was a source of pride for Americans, and for Union Pacific it was a source of revenue as most of the construction materials were brought in by rail.

Click image to download a 19.6-MB PDF of this brochure.

The name “Boulder Dam” is a misnomer as a dam was originally proposed for Boulder Canyon but ended up being built in Black Canyon. The 1928 law authorizing a dam “at Black Canyon or Boulder Canyon” was called the Boulder Canyon Project Act, but didn’t name the dam. When construction began in 1930, the Secretary of the Interior declared it should be named after President Hoover, who was an engineer himself. But when Roosevelt became president, the Democrats didn’t want to finish a dam named after a defeated opponent, so insisted it be called Boulder Dam. In 1947, however, Congress declared that it should be named Hoover Dam. Continue reading →

Despite the name on the cover, the map on the back of this brochure only shows the Salt Lake Basin north of Ogden. Moreover, it extends well beyond the basin into the Snake River and Missouri River headwaters. Basically, it is a map showing Union Pacific’s branch line to Butte, but it also shows a rail line extending to Helena, which Union Pacific didn’t reach.

Click image to download a 31.5-MB PDF of this brochure.

Union Pacific once went as far as Garrison, Montana, about 50 miles north of Butte. The Butte-Garrison portion was called the Montana Union Railway and it was jointly owned by Northern Pacific and Union Pacific. In 1898, five years after this brochure was published, UP decided it didn’t need to reach Garrison, so it leased its half of the line to Northern Pacific for 999 years. Continue reading →