An interesting history lesson...

The state of Nevada was admitted to the union on October 31, 1864. So do the math and Las Vegans can celebrate 143 years of statehood. Right? Not really. It turns out that our part of the state was late to the party.

There's always been a bit of a north-south rivalry in Nevada, and partisans in Reno and Carson City might be tempted to say something like "We've been part of Nevada longer than you." You know what? They'd be right. Clark County residents can celebrate just 140 years of statehood. Or if you want to take a radical view...just 25.

"Las Vegas was not in the deal in 1864," says Michael Green, a history professor at the College of Southern Nevada. "There wasn't much around here. The real reason for statehood involved the population around the Comstock Lode area of Virginia City. There were some mining towns in Central Nevada that had been settled. But Nevada was a much smaller state at the outset than it is today."

Take a look at an early map, showing Nevada as a territory. "The original Nevada Territory did not include most of Eastern Nevada as we now know it, and none of Southern Nevada as we know it," points out Green. "The eastern part of Nevada stayed as Utah Territory. The southern portion was originally part of New Mexico Territory."

Which means our Las Vegas couldn't even exist under that name.

"When Mormon Missionaries came here in 1855 and they got a post office here...it was called Bringhurst, New Mexico, in honor of the founder of the Mission William Bringhurst. Because there was already a Las Vegas, New Mexico."

But things changed fast. Nevada was made a territory in 1861. Just two years later, New Mexico Territory was split, putting our area in present day Arizona. Then came statehood in 1864. At the time, what would become Las Vegas was a ranch run by Octavius Decatur Gass, who was elected to the Arizona assembly.

"And he got legislation passed to create Pah-Ute County," continues Green. "Not spelled Paiute with the "i", but P-A-H-hyphen-U-T-E, which was how they spelled Paiute back then."

Gass was perfectly happy as the king of Pah-Ute county, but in stepped the feds.

"Congress 'got' O.D. Gass," says Green. "A lot of people 'got' O.D. Gass at some point in his life. But what happened was in 1866 congress added the eastern portion of what is now Nevada from Utah territory. The next year, 1867, they added the southern portion from Arizona territory.

OK, so by 1867, Las Vegas is in Nevada and everything is settled. Right? Not so fast. In the "whoops" department...even though congress redrew the lines, Nevada did not officially accept them until a popular vote in 1982, after jurisdiction had been challenged in a couple of high profile murder trials. Those challenges failed.

"The reason is, it was a congressional act," explains Green. "But the only thing that wasn't changed was the boundary listed in the Nevada constitution. Well, federal supersedes ...so it didn't matter the Nevada constitution."

So 25 years ago, the issue was laid to rest once and for all. but you know what's interesting? Let's look at the numbers from that 1982 vote. 127,836 votes were cast to formally accept the 1867 boundaries, but 65,810 voted against.

That means about a third of Nevadans voted against this measure which was just a technicality. That would seem to mean a lot of Southerners wanted to secede from the state...and/or a lot of Northerners wanted to kick us out!

Can't we just get along?