where does the name las vegas come from
History of Las Vegas 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,[1][2][3][4] 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.