Desert bighorn sheep look back as the Las Vegas skyline provides a background while standing atop a luxury home lot on Soaring Rock Court in the Ascaya development. Infrastructure for Ascaya, carved into the McCullough Mountain range in Henderson, Nevada, was completed with materials mined from the site.

Two security guards stand by a large cake at the Desert Inn's first anniversary party in Las Vegas, Nevada. The cake is decorated with an icing portrait of Desert Inn owner Wilbur Clark and topped with a cactus decoration. Site Name: Desert Inn (Las Vegas, Nev.)

Royal Air Force officers greeted by Senior Airman Dale Prentice (left). The trio are crew members of a British Vulcan Bomber taking part in Red Flag combat training at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. Site Name: Nellis Air Force Base (Nev.)

Left to right: Staff Sergeant Thomas Gouzy; Col. Thomas Wolters. Wolters had recently turned over his command of the 474th Tactical Fighter Wing. Co. Wolters appears to be the recipient of a water prank. Site Name: Nellis Air Force Base (Nev.)

A nighttime photograph of the Thunderbird marquee advertising "Kings IV, Buckley and Collins," and "Thoroughly Modern Minsky World Famous Burlesque produced by Harold Minsky in the Continental Theatre." On September 2, 1948, the Thunderbird Hotel was the fourth resort to open on the Las Vegas Strip. The resort was built by developer Marion Hicks and owned by Lieutenant Governor of Nevada Clifford A. Jones. The resort had a Native American theme and featured portraits, a Navajo-based restaurant, the only bowling alley ever on the Strip, and a showroom. In 1955, articles surfaced in the Las Vegas Sun saying that Meyer Lansky and other underworld figures held hidden shares in the hotel. In 1964, the casino was purchased by Del Webb for $10 million. He ran the resort until 1972, when he sold it to Caesars World, owner of Caesars Palace, for $13.6 million. A $150-million, 2,000-room resort called the Mark Anthony was planned for the site, but Caesars was unable to find financing, and sold the property four years later to banker E. Parry Thomas at a loss of $5.7 million. Thomas later sold it to Major Riddle, owner of the Dunes Hotel, who renamed the resort as the Silverbird in 1976. The Thunderbird has the distinction of being the resort where singer Rosemary Clooney made her first appearance in Las Vegas in 1951, and where Judy Garland made her final Vegas appearance in 1965. Site Name: Thunderbird Hotel (Las Vegas, Nev.) Street Address: 2755 South Las Vegas Boulevard

Photographer's notes: "Aerial view showing relationships among Hoover Dam, the original road between Arizona and Nevada, and the Hoover Dam Bypass under construction, May 22, 2009." Site Name: Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge