Wendover, Nevada: History and Description
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Wendover
Population: 2,842 (est. 1995)Elevation: 4500 feet
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Nevadaca
On the way into Wendover from the west, the freeway tops a rise and then
sweeps down toward the Bonneville Salt Flats below. If you pull over to
the side of the road at the crest and park for a few minutes, you can study
a view unlike anything else in the world. The Salt Flats extend in a broad
white plain, the desert’s skin stretched tight, as far as the eye can see –
and it curves. The horizon line is a clear arc from side to side, and the
two stripes of freeway pavement curve away across the alkali toward the
vanishing point. Nowhere else on land can you actually the curvature of
the earth.
Columbus was right!
Almost as amazing as its shape is the earth’s texture and color here,
spread out in horrid immensity: surely the cruelest desert your eyes will
ever see. And where the bleached and crusty sea of alkali meets a
shoreline of dead brown hills, is Wendover.
Feast your eyes on that scene for a while. You’ll never forget it.
This remarkable settlement was established in the 1920s when Bill Smith
built a gas station beside the road here. The light bulb he erected on a
tall pole was only a tiny speck of light in the black desert night, but for
years it served westbound motorists as a welcome beacon as they crossed the
Bonneville Salt Flats. Thus Wendover developed as an outpost of
civilization in the midst of isolation.
Wendover boomed during the war when the Army Air Corps built a bomber
training base here. The B-29 crews who dropped the atomic bombs on
Nagasaki and Hiroshima trained for their missions here. Some of the base
has been converted to civilian use, but most of it has simply been left to
warp and tatter in the baking heat and the scouring winds. The roaring
engines of the Enola Gay have faded to a distant drone, gone forever from
the hot blue sky.
Now a neon cowboy greets the travelers along Interstate 80 and Wendover is
booming again. Booming almost beyond description, in fact. Ten years ago
Wendover, Utah, looked like a village in Turkey, and Wendover, Nevada, was
just the Stateline Club and a lot of substandard employee housing left over
from the war. The Rock, they called it.
The Rock has been upholstered since then. Now Wendover has five large
casinos and one tiny casino tucked down behind the hill. Bill Smith’s old
place, the Stateline, is a major casino hotel now, and the Smith family’s
new Silver Smith, across the street, is twice as big. Between them they
offer more than 800 rooms and seven ambitious restaurants, ranging from
coffee shop through buffet to gourmet restaurant. The Peppermill, Nevada
Crossing and Red Garter down the street provide customers with more
choices, and the Hide-A-Way Casino maintains a popular steak house. You
can also get Chinese food, pizza and burgers at non-casino restaurants.
Ten years ago is already “the old days” in Wendover. In those days a sign
in the desert grit said, “You missed Las Vegas-Don’t Miss Wendover.” Now
you may have missed Wendover too. The population of Wendover, Utah, has
been drifting westward across the border as fast as new housing has been
developed in Wendover, Nevada. The elementary school that opened in 1985
was immediately enrolled to capacity with kids whose families moved to town
to run businesses in the shopping center overlooking the 18-hole golf
course. Wendover’s population has moved from 2,500 in 1985 (both states)
when development slowed on account of the credit crunch, to 5,500 in 1990.
Some of Wendover’s newcomers, too, are retired people. They like desert
life and that eye-popping view, and the glamor and convenience of the great
casinos, with Salt Lake City and all its metropolitan touches just two
hours’ drive across the curve of the salt flats.
Incorporated as a city (officially West Wendover) in 1991, the little
gambling center on the Nevada side is about to expand by 800 acres of
residential housing, a large water park and a Factory Outlet mall. There’s
a two-screen movie house, and as if to validate Wendover’s new permanence,
a large cemetery has been dedicated on a hill above town.Already it
contains a handful of graves, some of them marked.
Wendover resembles an old-time mining town in the way it has sprung
vigorously to life in the desert wilderness, progressing from
next-to-nothing to rambunctious little city in just a few fast years. It
is served by a colorful newspaper, the High Desert Advocate, which covers
the vast expanses of White Pine and Elko counties with zest and dedication,
its front pages blurting out the latest news from Ely, Elko, Wells and
Jackpot under headlines that widen the eye. On a late summer visit a
couple of years ago I asked one of the editors whether newspapering in a
boom town was as interesting and enjoyable as it has been painted (by Mark
Twain among others). “It’s actually pretty quiet,” he told me. “Oh, there
was a shooting at one of the casinos last week, but mostly we’re in our
silly season now.”
Bill Smith’s little light bulb would be lost in the glare of Wendover’s
splashy brilliance now, but the Stateline Club still operates on his
original gaming license issued in 1931.
To stretch your legs, take the short climb to Danger Cave: drive east into
Utah on I-80 and take the first offramp to the truckstop. Continue past
the truck stop and turn left at the dirt road just beyond. As you drive
west, you can see Danger Cave on the hillside off to the left ahead of you.
You’ll find your way with no trouble. Not far away, but more difficult to
reach, is Juke Box Cave, which got its name when it was used for dances by
the airmen at the base during WWII. The concrete dance floor still
remains, as do petroglyphs near the entrance. This was the venue of choice
for dances because it was cool even at the height of summer, and because it
could be lighted without breaking the wartime black-out.
Wendover
Calendar of Annual Events
JANUARY
Chariot Racing702-752-3721
APRIL
A Taste of Wendover702-664-3414
MAY
Cinco de Mayo702-664-3414
JUNE
Bordertown Bike Challenge208-342-3910
JULY
Gala 4th of July Celebration702-664-3414
Land Speed Opener – USFRA801-785-5364
AUGUST
Bonneville Speed Week805-526-1805
SEPTEMBER
World of Speed – USFRA801-785-5364
OCTOBER
Bonneville’s World Finals – SCTA805-526-1805
Deer Widow’s Weekend702-664-3414
NOVEMBER
Wendover 100–Hare & Hound208-342-3910
Welcome to Wendover
Local Area Travel Information
WENDOVER, U.S.A.
Across from the Peppermill. 702-664-3414. Motoring east
or west on Interstate 80 at the Nevada/Utah state line you will discover
the twin cities of Wendover USA. An oasis after the barren expanse of the
Bonneville Salt Flats, your first or last chance to enjoy Nevada style
gaming. History past, present and future await you.
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Nevada Travel Pages
David W. Toll
Nevadaca