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Rafael Rivera statue |
Rafael Rivera
In 1829, a merchant named Antonio Armijo from
New Mexico led an expedition to find a new path between New Mexico and California.
The men rode horses along the Virgin River to a place where it joins the
Muddy River. They stopped to set up camp and rest. A group of scouts went
out to find water and camp sites for the next part of their journey. One
of the scouts was a teenage boy named Rafael Rivera.
On Christmas Day, Rivera wandered away from the rest
of the scouts and got lost. He found the Las
Vegas Wash. He camped out on top of the mesa where the Southern Nevada
Vocational Technical Center ("Vo-Tech") is now located. From
the mesa, Rivera could see a colorful meadow in the middle of the desert!
He knew a meadow can't exist without water.
The Old Spanish Trail
After nearly two weeks away from the group, Rivera
found his expedition group again. He told them about the meadow in the
middle of the desert and led them back to the valley. The men called the
area "Las Vegas," which
is Spanish for "the meadows."
 The
group followed the Las Vegas Wash
through a pass out of Nevada and into California. This route through Nevada
was just what they had been looking for. The new trail through Southern
Nevada became known as the "Old Spanish Trail."
You can see a statue of Rivera at the Rafael Rivera
Community Center in downtown Las Vegas. The center is at 2900 Stewart
Ave.
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