@Beth Gallagher In my case, I "earned" a whole lot of skilled abilities through self-training, hit and miss, making mistakes ONLY ONCE, and remembering them. Some of the kids I've heard of and known grew up amongst unlimited money and meager up-bringing, yet some options must have been exercised by their parents. For example, Don Laughlin had the foresight to borrow money to establish a small hotel-casino along the Colorado River, across from a tiny hamlet which grew out of the Desert to house workers constructing Davis Dam, just to the north. Now whether you feel gambling is evil, or not, those dam workers had been imported from all over the country, around 1950, and needed an "outlet": whoring alone did not cut it, gambling and good food helped. Laughlin's initial requests for funding support, made to the "big guys" in Vegas, went unanswered. Yet, he persevered, Postal Service established a P.O. there near his motel, the Postmaster declaring they had no name for it: why not Laughlin? Laughlin, Nevada! Founded in 1964. Here is where it is located: The squiggly line denotes the course of the Colorado River. Modern-day with the existing hotel/casino facilities: "The early town consisted of a motel and bar that catered to gold and silver miners, construction workers building Davis Dam, and fishing enthusiasts. In the 1950s, construction workers left, and the town all but disappeared. In 1964, Don Laughlin, owner of the 101 Club in Las Vegas, flew over the site and saw its tourism potential. He offered to buy the land, and within a few years, the small motel and casino, consisting of only 12 slots and two live tables, was bustling. In 1966, the Riverside Resort built the first 14-floor high-rise; in 1972, 48 rooms were added, followed by several additions. A second casino, the Bobcat Club, opened in 1967, where the Golden Nugget Laughlin currently operates. In 1968, a third casino, the Monte Carlo, opened its doors. Across the river, Bullhead City, Arizona, sat in the glow of the casino light. Shuttle boats transported customers from the Arizona side of the river to Laughlin's resorts and back. The 1980s saw the construction of several more hotels and casinos. The Colorado Hotel (now the Pioneer), The Regency, Sam's Town Gold River (now the Laughlin River Lodge), and The Edgewater opened in the early 1980s. Other investors saw the growth as an opportunity to get in on the action. A second boom resulted in the construction of The Colorado Belle, Harrah's Del Rio, and The Ramada Express (now The Tropicana Express). In 1987, Don Laughlin funded and built the Laughlin Bridge at a cost of $3.5 million. He donated the bridge to the states of Nevada and Arizona. The bridge carries 30,000 vehicles daily. In 1988, a megaresort called the Emerald Resort, that would have been the biggest in southern Nevada, was announced but its first tower was left unfinished due to the junk bond market's collapse in 1990. Only the project's golf course opened and it operated from 1991 to 2005.[8] The Flamingo Hilton, now known as The Aquarius, was built in 1990. Today there are nine hotel/casinos and one motel in Laughlin providing over 10,000 rooms, 154,000 square feet (14,300 m2) of meeting space, 60 restaurants, two museums, a 34-lane bowling center, and a variety of boutiques, spas, and salons. More than 14,000 casino workers now cross the Colorado by shuttle boat or the Laughlin Bridge each day. Laughlin currently attracts 2 million visitors annually who visit to gamble, enjoy water sports on the Colorado River, or attend many high-profile special events hosted by the community." The little town built for dam construction, Bullhead City, lies across the river from Laughlin, in Arizona. Unlike Laughlin, pop. 9000, BHC now has 40,000, making it second-largest in the county of Mohave, 7th. largest county in the U.S. Below, Davis Dam, 1.5 miles north of Laughlin: A view from the air of Laughlin looking north, Davis Dam causing Lake Mohave to skinny down becoming the Colorado River. Not an unusual catch, around here! Don Laughlin's kids? Don himself, now 89, has turned over general operations to his grandson; I know little else about his family. Don's net worth is now estimated in the billions of dollars. Frank
We toured the Davis Dam...saw the sluice gates, spillway, ductwork, generators, and power transformers for long distance delivery of power. Veddy Interesting! Hal
@Hal Pollner Hoover Dam provides insight making Davis look rather tiny: you really should take it's tour if you can. Frank
Frank, I could never take the self-driving tour of hoover Dam, because the height of the approach road scares the hell out of me, being so close alongside the steep canyon wall. Even movies of it cause me to turn away! I could take the tour if I was shielded from the sight of the approach road, however. I have a bad case of Acrophobia.