where does the name las vegas come from
The name Las Vegas was given to the area in 1821 by Rafael Rivera, a member of the Antonio Armijo trading party that was traveling to Los Angeles, and stopped for water there on the Old Spanish Trail from New Mexico. At that time, several parts of the valley contained artesian wells surrounded by extensive green areas; Las Vegas means the meadows in Spanish. The flows from the wells fed the Las Vegas Wash, which runs to the Colorado River.