Why were settlements started in places like Las Vegas and Pheonix if they had no viable farmland and aren’t connected to a river that connected to the ocean (e.g., the Mississippi River) for trade?
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I’d challenge your assumption that they had no viable farmland. The early settlers of Phoenix diverted water from the nearby Salt River to irrigate their crops. The soil was rich enough and there were few rocks, plus the climate in the winter, spring and fall allows for longer growing seasons. Irrigation is a more controllable source of water as long as the source doesn’t dry up.
Las Vegas was originally intended as a railroad stop between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles.
It is in fact near Lake Mead providing a critical water source for the city.
Trains were slower back then and needed to be re-fueled more frequently and there’s a plethora of towns that were founded originally as rail stops. When you think about it Vegas being a tourist destination today isn’t that far off from its originally intended purpose.
The small town my Dad grew up in is one such town. The government founded settlements at various points along the newly built rail line both to develop the surrounding land and to provide fuel and water stops for the train. The problem though being that these towns were founded in what were essentially arbitrary locations.
Some of the towns were lucky and were founded near a lot of undiscovered natural resources and as such developed industries. These towns grew and continue to have strong economies today.
While others were founded in a swamp or on a rock pile with little usable land. Such towns began as backwater farming communities and over 100 years have become little more than ghost towns filled full of elderly residents.
Gambling was famously legalized in Vegas in 1931 to help the city combat the effects of the Great Depression and made it into the tourist mecca that it is today.
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